Olga Zabotkina (18 January 1936-21 December 2001)

Olga Zabotkina was born on 18 January 1936 in Leningrad, USSR. She studied at the Leningrad Choreographic School (class of N. A. Kamkova and V. K. Ivanova). She graduated and joined the Kirov Ballet (now Mariinsky) in 1953 and danced with them until 1978. ​

Among her repertoire are Queen in Sleeping Beauty, Mercedes and Street Dancer in Don Quixote and character roles in Spartacus, Gayane, Legend of Love, Swan Lake, Raymonda, Stone Flower, Laurencia and Egyptian Nights.

Olga Zabotkina as Cleopatra in Fokine's Egyptian Nights.

Olga Zabotkina was also an actress, known for Don Sezar de Bazan (1957), Cherry Town (1963) and Neokonchennaya povest(1955). Famed for her rare beauty, her film career did not last as long as her career as a dancer which lasted until the late 70s.

She married Alexander Ivanov(1936-1996), who was a poet and humorist. The couple did not have any children.

After a long but difficult life which was saddened by illness in the last years, Olga Zabotkina died on 21 December 2001 in Moscow, Russia, and was buried in the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg.