Ballerina. A longtime star of the Soviet stage, she shall be remembered for her career with the Kirov Ballet. Raised in what was then Leningrad, she hid in the Ural Mountains with her mother during World War II, evidenced her talent early, studied at the Vaganova Ballet School, was acclaimed a star following her student performance as Kitri, Queen of the Dryads, in "Don Quixote", and in 1958 graduated with a presentation of the pas de deux from "Le Corsaire" in which she partnered a young Rudolph Nureyev. Immediately accepted by the Kirov (now, Marinsky) as a soloist, she made her name in a variety of leading roles including Masha in "The Nutcracker", Florine and Aurora from "Sleeping Beauty", Myrtha in "Giselle", Katerina from "The Stone Flower", and the title lead of "Cinderella". Alla's career took a minor hit with Nureyev's 1961 defection to the West, though she soon went on to even greater success than previously, eventually sharing the stage with Mikhail Baryshnikov; a popular company member on the Kirov's tours, she had audiences falling at her feet after a November 1961 Metropolitan Opera presentation of "Sleeping Beauty". Remaining a headline performer until her 1988 retirement, she premiered several works including Igor Belsky's "Leningrad Symphony" and Konstantin Sergeyev's "Hamlet", was named People's Artist of the USSR, and after leaving the stage taught at her alma mater where she was both respected and, unusually for a Prima Ballerina, liked. As the Soviet Union imploded, she accepted a 1991 job offer from the Universal Ballet Academy of Washington, DC where she remained until returning to St. Petersburg following her son's 2004 death. Shunning society, Alla lived with her sister, became a recluse, developed Alzheimer's Disease, and died of cancer. A goodly number of her performances are preserved on DVD.