Irina Dvorovenko and Irina Kolpakova, May 18, 2013, Irina's Final ABT Performance

Kolpakova is a Ballet Master at ABT. She was a prima ballerina of the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (now the Mariinsky Theater) in St. Petersburg. From 1974 to 1979, she served as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (highest legislative body in the Soviet Union and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments).

Kolpakova was made a People's Artist of USSR (an honorary title granted to citizens of the Soviet Union) in 1965 and a Hero of Socialist Labor (an honorary title of the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. It was the highest degree of distinction for exceptional achievements in national economy and culture) in 1983. She was awarded the Order of Lenin (highest civilian award of the U.S.S.R. awarded to individuals, collectives, institutions, or organizations for outstanding achievements in research, art, technology, or economics or for tasks vital to the state) in 1983 and was awarded a pension by presidential decree in 1996 for outstanding contribution to the development of national art. She is married to the noted ballet dancer Vladilen Semenov, also a People's Artist of USSR.

See Wikipedia for more detail.

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