Ninel Kurgapkina [SEP] sex or gender
), Odette-Odile ("Swan Lake"), Kitri ("Don Quixote"), Jeanne ("Flames of Paris") and Parasha ("The Bronze Horseman").
Despite their age difference, Ninel Kurgapkina was the first female ballet partner to Rudolf Nureyev, and later also to Mikhail Baryshnikov, both of whom were trained at the Kirov.
From 1969 she was a primary coach at the Kirov and also taught master classes at institutions including the New York City Ballet, the Paris Opera
Ninel Kurgapkina
Ninel Alexandrovna Kurgapkina (; 13 February 1929 in Leningrad – 8 May 2009, near St. Petersburg) was a Russian dance teacher and former prima ballerina for the Kirov Ballet with over 50 years stage experience. She was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1974.
Ninel Kurgapkina was one of the last pupils of Agrippina Vaganova. She graduated her ballet school and joined the Kirov Ballet in 1947, where she danced such roles as Aurora ("The Sleeping Beauty"), Myrtha ("Giselle"