10 Facts About Mikhail Dudko

Mikhail Dudko was accepted into the Imperial theatre school at the St Petersburg Imperial troupe.

Mikhail Dudko's teachers were Samuil Andrianov, Viktor Semyonov, and Leonid Leontyev.

Mikhail Dudko showed his outstanding talent and was considered a future star of ballet.

Poets including Mikhail Kuzmin devoted poems to her, the Russian writer Konstantin Vaginov, even making her the prototype of his heroine.

Soviet dictionaries and encyclopedias stated that Mikhail Dudko had been a bad dancer and had performed the main roles solely because of his beautiful appearance, not because of his ballet professionalism.

Less biased sources consider Mikhail Dudko to be among the first ballet dancers of his time, mentioning his lyricism, the sculpturing of his poses, and the noble manner of his dance - all characteristics of the so-called French school of dance.

Mikhail Dudko was released from prison in 1953, but he did not receive permission to return to Leningrad.

Mikhail Dudko worked in provincial theatres of Ufa, Novosibirsk, Tbilisi, dancing for small roles.

Only at the end of his life was Mikhail Dudko allowed to move back to his native city.

Mikhail Andreyevich Dudko died on 11 September 1981 in Leningrad, at the age of 78.