Raisa Struchkova - Practising and Performing ‘Don Quixote’

I first became aware of Raisa Struchkova (1925-2005) when I was a kid, and for me she became the personification of a certain kind of flamboyant and exuberant Bolshoi style that seemed typical of the company at a period in its history. This footage of the ballerina practising and then performing bits of ‘Don Quixote’ seems to capture something of the extravert vibrancy of the Struchkova I saw in the 1960s, particularly her work on stage. I was always a bit surprised the ballerina did not achieve very much international fame, in comparison for example with Galina Ulanova Maya Plisetskaya, even taking into account her lesser talent.