Mariia Sergeyevna Surovshchikova-Petipa (1836–1882), was prima ballerina to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres and wife of the noted choreographer Marius Petipa

Marius Petipa

Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa was a French ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. Petipa is considered to be the most influential ballet master and choreographer of ballet that has ever lived....

.

Life

Mariia Sergeyevna Surovshchikova was born in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, the illegitimate daughter of a milliner. She studied at the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet School, graduating in 1854. After her graduation from the institute she entered into the corps de ballet of the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, and in 1854 married Marius Petipa, who at that time served as premier danseur to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. Upon her marriage she took the name of Surovshchikova-Petipa.

Her rise to the rank of Ballerina coincided with Petipa's own rise from fledgling choreographer to Ballet Master

Ballet Master

Ballet Master is the term used for an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company...

 of the Imperial Theatres. As Petipa was given more and more opportunities to stage his own early works, it was Surovshchikova-Petipa who danced the principal roles. Petipa also revived many already-existing ballets for her, including Joseph Mazilier

Joseph Mazilier

Joseph Mazilier was a 19th-century French dancer, balletmaster and choreographer. He was most noted for his ballets Paquita and Le Corsaire...

's Le Corsaire

Le Corsaire

Le Corsaire is a ballet typically presented in three acts, with a libretto originally created by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges loosely based on the poem The Corsair by Lord Byron. Originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to the music of Adolphe Adam, it was first presented by the ballet of...

in 1863.

She bore Petipa two children—Marie Mariusovna Petipa

Marie Petipa

Marie Mariusovna Petipa was a noted Russian ballerina. She was the daughter of Marius Petipa and Maria Petipa. Her debut was at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1875 in Le Dahlia bleu and danced until 1911, mainly in the character dance repertoire...

 (1857–1930), the noted ballerina and character dancer who danced in many of her father's works; and Jean Mariusovich Petipa (1859–1871).

Upon her retirement she became an actress with the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, performing in the plays of Pushkin, among others. In 1875 Petipa and Surovshchikova-Petipa divorced. She died in 1882 of virulent smallpox

Smallpox

Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

 in Pyatigorsk

Pyatigorsk

Pyatigorsk is a city in Stavropol Krai on the Podkumok River, about from Mineralnye Vody. Since January 19, 2010 it has been the administrative center of the North Caucasian Federal District of Russia...

, Russia.