Vera Volkova (1905–1975). Russian dancer and teacher

Vera Volkova was born in Tomsk, Russia, in 1905. The family returned to St Petersburg in 1906, and she studied at the Imperial Ballet School and, later, at Akim Volynsky’s Russian Choreographic School with Maria Ramanova, Nicholas Legat and Agrippina Vaganova. At the end of her studies Volkova danced on various tours in different countries before settling in Shanghai in 1929, where she began to teach. Coincidentally, she was acquainted with the Hookham family, where Peggy Hookham (later Margot Fonteyn) was studying with George Goncharov. Volkova encouraged the family to return to Britain to further the prospects of their talented daughter.

Volkova opened a school in Hong Kong in 1932, but moved to London in 1936. It was there that she found her métier and future vocation. She developed into a teacher of huge depth and artistry, which was sought and acknowledged for the rest of her life by the greatest of dancers. Volkova’s studio in West Street was legendary, and she taught for the Sadler’s Wells Ballet from 1943 to 1950.

After a short stay as director of the Ballet of La Scala, Milan, Volkova joined the teaching staff of the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen in 1951, where she was to remain until her death in 1975. Whilst settled in Copenhagen, Volkova taught in many other places, and her reputation and significance for the future of the ballet world was second to none.