site.btaJanuary 1 Marks Prima Ballerina Vera Kirova's 85th Birthday

Bulgarian prima ballerina Vera Kirova was born on January 1, 1940, in Petrich (Southwestern Bulgaria) into a family of hereditary musicians. Her mother introduced her to ballet after recognizing Vera’s innate flexibility and musicality.

In 1958, Vera Kirova graduated from the State Choreographic School in Sofia. In 1960, she became a full-time member of the cast of the Sofia National Opera.

At the age of 18, she successfully performed her first major role - Aurora in Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, under the guidance of renowned Soviet ballet teacher Feya Balabina.

Kirova specialized at the Bolshoi Theatre under Marina Semyonova. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with a number of distinguished ballet masters, including George Skibine, Jean Babilée, Peter Van Dyk, Yukiko Tomoi, Chabukiani, Lavrovsky, Grigorovich, Harangozo, Borkowski.

Kirova became a soloist in 1967. Soon after, she became a prima ballerina of the Sofia National Opera.

She has danced with Maya Plisetskaya and Natalia Bessmertnova, Alicia Alonso, Suzanne Farrel, Noella Pontois, Yoko Morishita, Claude Bessy, Eva Evdokimova, and Carla Fracci, among others. Kirova's iconic roles include Odette and Odile in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Juliet in Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Scheherazade in Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Raymonda in Glazunov's Raymonda, Cinderella in Prokofiev's Cinderella, Francesca in Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini, The Princess in Bartok's The Wooden Prince, Gayane in Khachaturian's Gayane, Chloe in Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe, The Mistress of the Copper Mountain in Prokofiev's The Tale of the Stone Flower, and Maria in Asafiev's The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, to name but a few.

The Bulgarian prima ballerina has toured with great success across the Soviet Union, France, Italy, East and West Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Japan, India, Singapore, Denmark, Cuba, Mexico, Greece, Turkiye, Czechoslovakia, and Romania.

International critics have hailed her as one of the successors to Anna Pavlova.

Numerous ballet performances featuring Vera Kirova have been filmed. These include film versions of Adam's Giselle, created for Danish, Japanese, and French television, as well as Prokofiev's Cinderella, directed by ballet master Peter van Dyk.

Kirova has also served as a jury member for several prestigious international ballet competitions in Moscow, Varna, and Tokyo.

Vera Kirova is married to journalist Boyan Traykov (1932-2014), who served as BTA’s Director General from 1981 to 1990.

In addition to numerous international awards, in 2021, the prima ballerina was awarded with the honorary sign of the head of State by President Rumen Radev in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the development of Bulgarian ballet art.