Nina Popova

Nina Popova (October 20, 1922 – August 7, 2020) was a Russian-American ballet dancer and Broadway performer born in Novorossiysk, Russia. Her family relocated to Paris shortly after her birth, where she trained in ballet alongside other White Russian émigrés. As a teenager, she performed with Lyubov Yegorova's Ballet de la Jeunesse. Her early career took her to Australia and Cuba with the Original Ballet Russe in the late 1930s before she joined Ballet Theatre — now known as the American Ballet Theatre — in New York in 1939. From 1943 to 1945, she danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

Popova's stage career extended to Broadway, where she appeared in productions spanning 1944 to 1959. Her Broadway credits included the musical The Merry Widow Burlesque, the musical Kiss Me!, the revue The Girls Against the Boys, the musical On Your Toes, and Music in My Heart, among other productions. She also appeared on the television program Your Show of Shows.

Beyond performing, Popova built a significant career in dance education and administration. From 1954 to 1967, she taught at New York's High School of Performing Arts. She then served as Artistic Director of the Houston Ballet from 1967 to 1975, during which time she established a professional dance company there. Popova died on August 7, 2020, in St. Augustine, Florida, from complications related to COVID-19.