Russia mourns legendary ballerina

Aurora in Sleeping Beauty was just one of the leading roles Maximova performed

Ekaterina Maximova, a former prima ballerina with the Bolshoi ballet, has died at the age of 70.

Maximova joined the company in 1958 and danced all the major classical roles over the next three decades, earning the nickname Ekaterina the Great.

She worked as a ballet coach until the time of her death and was described as "a teacher from God" by colleagues.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said her death was a great loss to world culture as well as Russian art.

He continued: "With her brilliant dancing, astonishing grace and beauty she literally charmed audiences."

'Irretrievable loss'

The dancer had received Russia's highest artistic honour - the title of People's Artist of Russia - in 1973.

Maximova's death came as a shock as she was not known to be ill. She had been at work at the Bolshoi on the Sunday before her death, and attended a performance of Spartacus in the evening.

Artistic director of the Bolshoi, Yuri Burlaka, said that "all Russians will mourn" this "irretrievable loss".

Maximova and Vasiliev were partners on stage and off

The dancer's repertoire was unusually diverse and she claimed not to have a favourite part, saying "in each role I gave a little piece of my heart".

She was often partnered on stage by Vladimir Vasiliev, whom she went on to marry.

Their on stage work came to embody the Russian classical style for audiences around the world.

In 1959 they took part in the first tour of the United States the company made. Critics were delighted by them and dubbed the pair the "babies of the Bolshoi".

Unusually for the Soviet era, she also worked with foreign choreographers including Maurice Bejart and Roland Petit.

After her retirement in the 1990s, Maximova founded a charity to help former dancers who were in financial difficulties and became much in demand as a teacher.

'Great ballerina'

The dancer felt that "you must not simply be a professional teacher, you also have to be a human being, a friend".

Andrei Petrov, the artistic director of the Kremlin Ballet, where Maximova was also a teacher, paid tribute to her gifts at leading new generations of Russian dancers.

He said: "She was a great ballerina, a teacher from God, and at the same time she was always able to speak the truth no matter how bitter it might be."

In an interview last year with Ballet magazine, Maximova was frank about the changes she had seen to ballet during her career. "There has been an aesthetic and technical change" she said.

"In the past dancers didn't need all this, they danced from their hearts and from their souls, like an actress. Now it is different and you must jump and spin; many things have changed. It is like gymnastics."

In 2008, a series of galas was held in Russia to mark the 50 year anniversary of Maximova's debut with the Bolshoi.