Olga Spessivtzeva 1959 / Ольга Спесивцева 1959

The legendary Russian ballerina Olga Spessivtzeva (1895-1991) in video clips taken from the Russian two series documentary “Божественная Жизель“ (1997) about the life of this unique ballerina. The b/w sequences are originally from the British documentary “The Sleeping Ballerina“ (BBC1959) about Olga Spessivtzeva, whose brilliant stage career spanned from 1913 to 1939. She was one of the outstanding classical ballerinas of the 20th century. She was the Aurora of Diaghilevs production of The Sleeping Princess. Her carreer was abruptly interrupted by mental illness. As legend has it, she lost her memory on-stage performing the mad scene in “Giselle.“ In 1940 she was taken to a psychiatric hospital where she remained for 22 years. Ольга Спесивцева из фильма “Божественная Жизель“ (1997).