Lyudmila Semenyaka, fairytale Gizelle and inspired Odile

On January 16, ballet dancer Lyudmila Semenyaka celebrates her 60th birthday.

She started dancing aged nine, which is rather late for ballet. However, an exception was made for the slender girl when she entered ballet school. A year later, Lyudmila became a student of the famous Vaganova Ballet Academy.

Yuri Grigorovich and Galina Ulanova noticed the talented dancer during her performance at the First International Ballet Competition in 1969 in Moscow and invited her to the Bolshoi Theater.

Lyudmila Semenyaka became indispensable for the Bolshoi Theater. Yuri Grigorovich gave her key parts in his performances. She is the only ballerina who danced in every one of Grigorovich’s performances. Photo: Katerina - Lyudmila Semenyaka, Danila – Nikolai Dorokhov in a scene from the “Tale of the Stone Flower.”

Lyudmila danced Odette and Odile in “Swan Lake” (pictured), Gizelle, Aurora in the “Sleeping Beauty,” Kitri in “Don Quixote”, Raymonda, Phrygia in “Spartacus” and many other parts.

“I wouldn’t have built such a career in a different theater,” says Lyudmila Semenyaka. Photo: a scene from “Raymonda.”

“She reminded me of a porcelain figurine that returned to life to appear as a fairytale-like graceful princess racked by violent passions,” said Mikhail Lavrovsky, leading dancer of the Bolshoi Theater and Lyudmila’s first husband.

Andris Liepa, 10 years younger than Lyudmila, became her second husband, but this marriage also ended in divorce.

The ballerina performed in Paris, London, Stokholm, Tokio, New York, Prague, and Budapest, danced for the English National Ballet and the Scottish National Ballet. Photo: Lyudmila Semenyaka as Kitri in “Don Quixote.”

British critic Clement Crisp wrote: “This is a classical dance in its greatness and purity, exquisite techniques, combined with extraordinary expressiveness.” Photo: Lyudmila Semenyaka as Giselle in a scene from “Gizelle.”