Nina Popova | |
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Born | |
Died | August 7, 2020 | (aged 97)
Occupation | Ballet dancer |
Nina Popova (October 20, 1922 – August 7, 2020) [1] was a Russian-born American ballet dancer.
Popova was born in Novorossiysk, Russia. Her family left for Paris shortly after her birth. She studied ballet with other Russian émigrés and, as a teenager, performed with Lyubov Yegorova's Ballet de la Jeunesse. [1] In the late 1930s she performed with the Original Ballet Russe in Australia and Cuba. In 1939, she joined the Ballet Theatre, now called the American Ballet Theatre, in New York. [1] Popova danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo from 1943 to 1945. [2] She performed on the television program Your Show of Shows and on Broadway.
From 1954 to 1967, Popova taught at New York's High School of Performing Arts. [1] From 1967 to 1975 she was the Artistic Director of the Houston Ballet, where she established a professional dance company. [3] [4]
Popova died from COVID-19 complications in St. Augustine, Florida, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida. [1]