Elizaveta Pavlovna Gerdt was a Russian dancer and teacher whose career links the Russian imperial and Soviet schools of classical dance.

A daughter of celebrated Paul Gerdt, she studied under Michel Fokine

Michel Fokine

Michel Fokine was a groundbreaking Russian choreographer and dancer.-Biography:...

 at the Imperial Ballet School, where her chief partner was Vaslav Nijinsky

Vaslav Nijinsky

Vaslav Nijinsky was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish descent, cited as the greatest male dancer of the 20th century. He grew to be celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations...

. She married another popular danseur, Samuil Adrianov (1884-1917), who danced with Pierina Legnani

Pierina Legnani

Pierina Legnani was an Italian ballerina, a terre-à-terre virtuosa extraordinaire, considered one of the greatest ballerinas of all time.-Career:...

 and Mathilde Kschessinska

Mathilde Kschessinska

Mathilda-Marie Feliksovna Kschessinskaya She was known in the West as Mathilde Kschessinska or Matilda Kshesinskaya.- Life :Kschessinska was born at Ligovo, near Peterhof. Like all her Polish family, to whom she was known as Matylda Krzesińska, Mathilde performed at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre...

, two ballerinas she sought to emulate.

After the Russian Revolution

October Revolution

The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...

 Elizaveta Gerdt and Olga Spesivtseva

Olga Spesivtseva

Olga Alexandrovna Spessivtseva was a Russian ballerina whose brilliant stage career spanned from 1913 to 1939. She was one of the outstanding classical ballerinas of the 20th century.-Biography:...

 were the only world-class dancers who chose to remain in Russia, while others emigrated to the West. Quite unexpectedly, in 1928, she resolved to abandon the stage and devote herself to teaching in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

. She coached innumerable prima ballerinas of the Bolshoi Ballet

Bolshoi Ballet

The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies, however it only achieved worldwide acclaim by the early 20th century, when Moscow became the...

, including Alla Shelest, Sulamith Messerer

Sulamith Messerer

Sulamith Mikhailovna Messerer was a Russian ballerina and choreographer who laid the foundations for the classical ballet in Japan.Sulamith studied in the Moscow Ballet School under Vasily Tikhomirov and Elisabeth Gerdt and danced in the Bolshoi Theatre from 1926 until 1950. In 1933, she and her...

, Maya Plisetskaya

Maya Plisetskaya

Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya , born is a Russian ballet dancer, frequently cited as one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. Maya danced during the Soviet era at the same time as the great Galina Ulanova, and took over from her as prima ballerina assoluta of the Bolshoi in 1960...

, Ekaterina Maksimova, and Raisa Struchkova.