| STAGE NAME | Nina Stroganova |
| NATIONALITY | Danish-American, born in Copenhagen, Denmark |
| ACADEMIC EDUCATION | The Institute Jean d'Arc, Denmark |
| BALLET EDUCATION | teachers from the Royal Danish Ballet, Jenny Moller, Olga Preobrajenska, and Vladimir Dokoudovsky |
| PRINCIPAL COMPANIES | 1935-36 | Ballerina, Ballet Russe de l'Opera Comique (Paris) |
| 1937-40 | Ballerina, Mordkin Ballet (U.S.A.) | |
| 1940-42 | Ballerina (Prima), Ballet Theatre (U.S.A.) (A.B.T.) | |
| 1942-50 | Ballerina, de Basil Original Ballets Russes | |
| 1950 | Guest Ballerina, Royal Danish Ballet | |
| 1950-51 | Guest Ballerina, Monte Carlo Ballet Russe, others |
| ROLES (selected list) | 1941 Created the role of Lucile Grahn in Anton Dolin's Pas de Quatre and roles in Dolin's Capriccioso, Pas de Deux, and in a Chicago production, Love Song. |
| Les Sylphides (Mazurka) (Mikhail Fokine) | |
| Giselle (Giselle), Royal Danish Ballet | |
| Swan Lake (Odette), Royal Danish Ballet | |
| Carnaval (Columbine) (Fokine) | |
| Petrouchka(Ballerina) (Fokine) | |
| Firebird (Tsarevna) (Fokine) | |
| Les Presages (Passion, Frivolity) (Leonid Massine) | |
| Gala Performance (Russian Ballerina) | |
| Dark Elegies (Ballet Theatre premiere) (Antony Tudor) | |
| Peter and the Wolf (Cat), (Adolf Bolm) Mordkin Ballet, | |
| Graduation Ball (Pig-tailed Girl), (David Lichine) de Basil Ballets Russes |
| TEACHING | Ballet Arts, Carnegie Hall, New York |
| School of Classical Ballet, Englewood, New Jersey | |
| New York Conservatory of Dance | |
| City Center Theater Studios (until 1994) | |
| Guest with Toumine, Ottawa Canada; Birgir Bartholin, Copenhagen; others |
| PROMINENT STUDENTS | Kenneth MacKenzie, Eugene Collins, Alexandra Danilova, Agnes DeMille, Gemze DeLappe, Bambi Linn, Zizi Jeanmaire, Roland Petit, Nora Kovach, Inge Sand, Toni Lander, Bruce Marks, Istvan Rabovsky, Michael Maule, Andrea Vodehnal, Ludmila Dokoudovsky, Antoni Zalewski, (from Martha Graham Company:) Christine Dakin; (from the Joffrey Ballet:) Carl Corry, Daniel Baudendistel, Pascal Benichou, Nicole Duffy; (from N.Y. City Ballet:) Richard Marsden; (New England Ballet balletmistress:) Linda Palma (Giancaspro); (N.J. Ballet:) Akup Akupian, Trutti Gasparinetti and Marilyn D'Honau. |
This resume was revised by Saul Davis, from an original copy made by Nina Stroganova.
When restaging Les Sylphides for the Original Ballets Russes company, in rehearsal Mikhail Fokine went over to the pianist and complained, "Stroganova makes me so mad--I cannot find fault with her!"
Nina Stroganova died suddenly in July, 1994 of lymphoblastic leukemia, which was undetected by her doctors because they had failed to do a simple routine blood test. She spent her last weekend at the country home of her beloved, Kenneth MacKenzie, and lapsed into a coma just after their return to her apartment on West 56th Street in Manhattan. She died just hours later at Roosevelt Hospital. A memorial service was held at St. Peter's Lutheran Church, and her ashes were interred in a crypt built by Kenneth MacKenzie, and in a niche at Trinity Church Cemetery at Riverside Drive and 155th Street in Manhattan. She is forever deeply missed by those who were close to her and her many students and colleagues.
A memorial plaque was placed on the wall outside her studio at City Center Studios in New York, where she taught for many years. It unfortunately disappeared during later renovations. Her valuable collection of ballet memorabilia and original art including a ballet libretto by Celine, passed to her daughter, then son-in-law, both of whom are now deceased, and may be presumed lost into private hands. Nina maintained a notebook of all her classroom combinations as well as those of Olga Preobrajenska, especially her pointe classes. It is hoped that this material will someday be restored to the ballet world by its donation to the Lincoln Center Museum of the Performing Arts Dance Collection, where it was intended to go by Madame Stroganova after her daughter's death.