Career My teachers

She graduated from the Leningrad State Choreographic School. From 1952 to 1974, she was a ballet dancer at the Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre named after S. M. Kirov (Mariinsky Theatre). She performed over 42 ballet roles and danced on numerous international stages during the theatre’s tours. From 1974 to 2001, she was a teacher for the lower grades at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. From 1991 to 1997, she taught classical dance at a ballet studio in Columbus. There, L. Melnikova staged several ballet numbers, with her American students performing these pieces at concerts in the Columbus theatre – an endeavor significantly aided by her previous experience of similar work at the Gorky Palace of Culture.