Nadezhda Sergeevna Nadezhdina (Russian: Надежда Надеждина) (1904/8–1979) was a Russian choreographer, ballerina, and former director of the Russian female dance troupe Beroyzka ("little birch") from its inception in 1948 until her death. She is the daughter of prominent writer Aleksandra Iakovlevna. She is known for the way she taught her dancers to move across a stage without seeming to move their feet. Beneath long, nearly floor-length gowns, her dancers learned to walk on the very tips of their toes, resulting in the impression that they are floating or gliding across the stage. Winner of the

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

of the third degree in 1950 and the

Frederic Joliot-Curie Prize Frederic may refer to: Places United States * Frederic, Wisconsin, a village in Polk County * Frederic Township, Michigan, a township in Crawford County ** Frederic, Michigan, an unincorporated community Other uses * Frederic (band), a Japanese r ...

in 1959. She based her dances on regional folk forms but had music specially composed for her troupe. She added men to her choreography in 1961. The first performers of the dance "Beroyzka" were young collective farmers of the Kalinin (now

Tver Tver ( rus, Тверь, p=tvʲerʲ) is a city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is northwest of Moscow. Population: Tver was formerly the capital of a powerful medieval state and a model provincial town in the Russian ...

) region, participating in the festival of rural folk talent in 1948. The performances involved twenty girls in long sundresses, stately and with a beautiful bearing, walking silently around the stage in a patterned dance, holding young birch branches in their hands.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nadezhdina, Nadezhda Stalin Prize winners Heroes of Socialist Labour Russian choreographers Russian women choreographers Soviet choreographers Year of birth uncertain 1900s births 1979 deaths Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery