Mariia Sergeyevna Surovshchikova-Petipa (27 February 1836 – 16 March 1882) was

prima ballerina A ballet dancer is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancers ...

to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres and wife of the noted choreographer

Marius Petipa Marius Ivanovich Petipa (; born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa; 11 March 1818) was a French and Russian ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. He is considered one of the most influential ballet masters and choreographers in ballet history ...

Life

Mariia Sergeyevna Surovshchikova was born in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, the illegitimate daughter of a milliner. She studied at the St. Petersburg

Imperial Ballet School The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet is a school of classical ballet in St Petersburg, Russia. Established in 1738 during the reign of Empress Anna, the academy was known as the Imperial Ballet School until the Soviet era, when, after a brief ...

, graduating in 1854. After her graduation from the institute she entered into the ''corps de ballet'' of the

Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre The Saint Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre (The Big Stone Theatre of Saint Petersburg, ) was a theatre in Saint Petersburg. It was built in 1783 to Antonio Rinaldi's Neoclassical design as the Kamenny (i.e., Stone) Theatre; Giovann ...

, and in 1854 married Marius Petipa, who at that time served as ''premier danseur'' to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. Upon her marriage she took the name of Surovshchikova-Petipa. Her rise to the rank of ''Ballerina'' coincided with Petipa's own rise from fledgling choreographer to

ballet Master A ballet master (also balletmaster, ballet mistress, ''premier maître de ballet'' or ''premier maître de ballet en chef'') is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In mo ...

of the Imperial Theatres. As Petipa was given more and more opportunities to stage his own early works, it was Surovshchikova-Petipa who danced the principal roles. Petipa also revived many already-existing ballets for her, including

Joseph Mazilier Joseph Mazilier (1 March 1801 – 19 May 1868) was a 19th-century French dancer, balletmaster and choreographer. He was born as ''Giulio Mazarini''. He was most noted for his ballets ''Paquita'' (1844) and ''Le Corsaire'' (1856). He created the ...

's ''

Le Corsaire ''Le Corsaire'' is a ballet typically presented in three acts, with a libretto originally created by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges loosely based on the poem '' The Corsair'' by Lord Byron. Originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to ...

'' in 1863. She had one daughter and one son— Marie Mariusovna Petipa (1857–1930), the noted ballerina and character dancer who danced in many of her father's works, and Jean Mariusovich Petipa (1859–1871).Garafola, Lynn. ''Legacies of Twentieth-Century Dance.'' Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2005, pp. 35–38 Upon her retirement she became an actress with the

Alexandrinsky Theatre The Alexandrinsky Theatre () or National Drama Theatre of Russia is a theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The Alexandrinsky Theatre was built for the Imperial troupe of Petersburg (Imperial troupe was founded in 1756). Since 1832, the theatre ...

in St. Petersburg, performing in the plays of

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is conside ...

, among others. In 1875 Petipa and Surovshchikova-Petipa divorced. She died in 1882 of virulent

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

Pyatigorsk Pyatigorsk (; Circassian languages, Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, located on the Podkumok River, about from the town of Mineralnye Vody, which has an i ...

, Russia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Surovshchikova-Petipa, Maria 1836 births 1882 deaths Dancers from Saint Petersburg Prima ballerinas Ballerinas from the Russian Empire Surovshchikova-Petipa 19th-century ballet dancers from the Russian Empire

Life

See also

References