Tatiana Terekhova
Tatiana Terekhova is a true product of St Petersburg.
Born in that city on 21 November 1952 she studied at the Vaganova Choreographic Institute under Elena Shiripina.
She graduated in 1970 and performed the lead role in the divertissement from Paquita at the graduation
concert. She made a dynamic impact on the audience by her very powerful and clear technique.
She was immediately taken into the Kirov Company. Although she was recognised as a
strong technician from the very outset she did however spend five years in the corps de ballet.
In her early years with the Kirov she was entrusted with many smaller solo roles and variations
in Raymonda, Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire where she made an excellent impression. Her
real break came with her performance as Gamzatti in La Bayadère. The technical and dramatic
demands of this role fitted her stage persona like a glove and she has made an indelible mark on this role.
Another role of her early career has been Myrtha in Giselle where her
powerful, yet delicate elevation was shown to amazing effect. The height and
lightness of her jumps, along with her magnificent batterie all added a
genuine coolness to her ice-cold and authoritative Myrtha, which she
despatched with great confidence, stamping her authority on the second act of
the ballet completely and it was indeed in this role that she first came to
the attention of western audiences.
Because of this it would be easy to categorise Terekhova as a purely technical dancer but this is an
over-simplification. Her technical facility and strength have amazed audiences worldwide in roles such as
Medora, Kitri, and Aurora. But she brings much more than a superb technique to these roles.
She is a strong actress who is able to colour the dance very dramatically and in the best
Kirov/Maryinsky tradition unites the two elements. Some of her best roles have sadly
never been seen by Western audiences: Raymonda, Siumbike in Shuraleh, Laurentia, the Mistress
of the Copper Mountain in Grigorovich's Stone Flower and Shirin in Legend of Love.
Luckily however her excellent performances as Kitri, Myrtha, Mistress of the Copper
Mountain and Gamzatti have been preserved on video. Her performance as Kitri gives an
excellent assessment of her abilities with her strong, at times intentionally piquant interpretation in
act 1, contrasting with the softness of the Dulcinea scene in act 2. But, some of her most
impressive interpretations have been in the ballets Napoli and La Sylphide where
she was able to soften her strong physical classicism to accommodate the delicacy of gesture required by
the romantic style. Indeed the lightness of her performance in the title role of La Sylphide in 1990,
combined with her strong acting ability was a revelation.
Whilst the strength and stamina of her technique lends itself well to the whole milieu of the classical
dance and the mastery of all aspects of virtuosic elements, the extensive physical demands required by
the Russian choreographers of the Soviet period found a superb exponent in Terekhova, where her
technique easily mastered the difficult styles of Grigorovich, Vassiliev and Kasatkina,
Jacobson and Vinogradov.
Terekhova was a one of the most popular figures in the Kirov/Maryinsky tours of the 1980's enjoying
particular success in Sleeping Beauty and Le Corsaire and Paquita. Her Myrtha in Giselle
was considered the finest since Alla Shelest. She was also often cast as Odette-Odile
in Swan Lake and in 1990 danced Giselle for the first time. She rarely performed with the
Maryinsky Company after 1993. After this time she toured extensively with Nina Ananiashvili's Company of
international ballet stars, continuing to perform Myrthe and numerous classical pas de deux
in addition to guest performances with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow as Gamzatti and with Boston Ballet
in Swan Lake.
She is a laureate of competitions in Moscow and Tokyo where her performances in the pas de
deux Diana & Acteon created a sensation. In 1983 she was made a People's Artist of Russia.
In recent years she has been working as ballet mistress with the Boston
ballet, alongside her husband Sergei Berezhnoi.
She had previously worked as repetiteur at the Maryinsky where she coached
Larissa Lezhnina and Marina Chirkova in preparation for leading roles.
Geoff Whitlock
Her repertoire includes:
- Soloist in Paquita
- Myrtha in Giselle
- Gamzatti in La Bayadère
- Medora in Le Corsaire
- Kitri in Don Quixote
- Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote
- Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty
- Diamond Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty
- title role in Giselle
- Peasant Pas de deux in Giselle
- title role in La Sylphide
- Odette-Odile in Swan Lake
- title role in Raymonda
- Diana & Acteon Pas de deux
- Teresina in Napoli
- Fanny Cerrito in Pas de Quatre
- title role in Laurentia
- Siumbike in Shuraleh
- Shirin in Legend of Love
- Mistress of Copper Mountain in The Stone Flower
- Devil's Wife in Creation of the World
- Tora in Fairy of the Rondsky Mountains (chor. Vinogradov)
- Asiat in Goryanka (chor. Vinogradov)
Copyright © 2001
Biography of Tatiana Terekhova Copyright © 2001 Geoff Whitlock. All rights reserved.