From her earliest days as a student at the Vaganova ballet school in St Petersburg, it was clear that Alla Sizova possessed a remarkable talent. So much so that Sizova, who has died aged 75, was cast in the taxing role of the Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote even before she had left the school. For her graduation she partnered her fellow student, Rudolf Nureyev, in the duet from Le Corsaire, a performance that gained both young dancers immediate attention from critics and ballet lovers alike. A film shot at the time shows the fluency of Sizova’s dancing, her pretty feet, the beautiful use of back and arms and her stupendous jump.
Both dancers graduated into the Kirov company as soloists, bypassing the usual period in the corps de ballet. The management clearly regarded Sizova and Nureyev as an ideal partnership and they were often cast together. But off stage there was mutual dislike and when, as a mark of favour, the pair were given a two-roomed flat, with the unspoken idea that proximity would result in marriage, Nureyev was furious. In fact, they lived separately in the property: Nureyev with his sister, Rosa, and Sizova with her mother.
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