Kirsten Ralov (26 March 1922 – 30 May 1999) was a Danish ballerina. She was born to Kai and Kaja Gnatt, née Olsen, a family of dancers living in Baden, Austria. Kirsten's mother encouraged her, and her brother

Poul Poul is a Danish masculine given name. It is the Danish cognate of the name Paul. Poul may refer to: People * Poul Andersen (1922–2006), Danish printer *Poul Anderson (1926–2001), American writer *Poul Erik Andreasen (born 1949), Danish foot ...

, to train as dancers. She entered the school of the

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world and originates from 1748, when the Ro ...

at the age of 22, and was associated with that troupe throughout her career. Her theatrical debut was as a child in '' Konservatoriet'' in 1933. Her first solo performance as an adult was in 1941 in ''

La Ventana La Ventana is a small fishing village on the shore of La Ventana Bay south of La Paz on the eastern side of the Baja California peninsula in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. The village was founded in the early 1940s by the La Paz pear ...

''. Throughout her artistic career, she primarily performed on the stage of the

Royal Theater Royal Theatre or Royal Theater may refer to: Venues Australia * Royal Theatre, Canberra Belgium * Royal Theatre of La Monnaie, Brussels * Royal Park Theatre, Brussels * Royal Flemish Theatre, Brussels Canada * Royal Theatre, Victoria, Briti ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, where she was most notable for her ballet performances of the works of

August Bournonville August Bournonville (21 August 1805 – 30 November 1879) was a Danish ballet master and choreographer. He was the son of Antoine Bournonville, a dancer and choreographer trained under the French choreographer, Jean Georges Noverre, and the nep ...

. Her farewell performance was in 1962, where she danced the Ballerina Doll in ''

Petrouchka ''Petrushka'' (french: link=no, Pétrouchka; russian: link=no, Петрушка) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1911 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes compan ...

'' by

Michel Fokine Michael Fokine, ''Mikhail Mikhaylovich Fokin'', group=lower-alpha ( – 22 August 1942) was a groundbreaking Imperial Russian choreographer and dancer. Career Early years Fokine was born in Saint Petersburg to a prosperous merchant and a ...

. Thereafter, she became the ballet mistress for the Royal Danish Ballet. From 1978 to 1988 she was the associate director under

Henning Kronstam Henning Kronstam (June 29, 1934 – May 28, 1995) was a famous Danish ballet dancer, ballet master and company director. Life and career Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, he began training with the Royal Danish Ballet at the age of nine. He later j ...

. Her four part work, ''The Bournonville School'' (1979), includes daily classes teaching the Bournonville technique, along with the associated

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

. She was first married to Børge Ralov, then later to Fredbjorn Bjornsson; both Danish dancers. She had two sons.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ralov, Kirsten 1922 births 1999 deaths Danish ballerinas Ballet mistresses Royal Danish Ballet dancers 20th-century ballet dancers Austrian emigrants to Denmark Burials at the Garrison Cemetery, Copenhagen

See also

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