"Bis! Bis!"

Outside the Iron Curtain, the dancing genius of slender, 41-year-old Galina Ulanova was mainly legend. She had danced publicly only in the Soviet Union, had rarely traveled outside its borders. Last week, for the first time, a representative Western European audience had a chance to see Ulanova dance in a concert performance at Florence. The general verdict: she is the world's best.

Ballet has always been the center of Ulanova's existence. Her parents, members of the ballet at St. Petersburg's famed Mariinsky Theater, began training her as a child. She made her first public appearance when she was eight. At 18, she completed her formal training, began as a soloist, and over the years danced her supple way to stardom in Leningrad and at Moscow's Bolshoi Theater, where she has been a top-ranking ballerina for six years. She has become famous for her roles in Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet. For her poetic warmth based on flawless technique, critics lucky enough to have seen her dance rank her with Pavlova.

Long Hours. Recently, welcome word came to Italy that Ulanova would appear for a festival concert at Florence's Teatro Comunale. Into Florence, three weeks ago, came ten Russians, accompanied by the secretary of the Rome Embassy and an Italian Communist bigwig. Heading and herding the group was one Alexander Kholodilin, bearer of a jawbreaking title: Chief of the Central Delegation of the Musical Institution of the Art Committee of the U.S.S.R. Council of Ministers. His wards were the cream of Russian stars. Eight of them--three concert singers, two violinists, a pianist, two ballet dancers--had won the Stalin Prize.

Headman Kholodilin hovered over his group like an anxious mother hen. All conversations with the press or stagehands were filtered through the delegation's interpreter. Finally, after much speculation and two postponements, an audience which had paid steep prices for tickets (up to $8 for orchestra seats) sat down to judge Ulanova.

Loud Roars. Beginning with the Adagio from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, Ulanova, with muscular Partner Juri Kondratov, sparkled through a rigorous program with top polish and variety: a selection from Schumann's Carnaval, Chopin's Waltz No. 7, a bit from Gliere's Red Poppy, Death of the Swan to music by Saint-Saens, and an overawing acrobatic finale, Rubinstein's Waltz. Each number drew loud, continuous roars of "Bis! Bis!"

Next day both Italian and visiting critics agreed that Ulanova is a "very great ballerina." Wrote the Manchester Guardian's James Monhan: "She has the rarest sense of musical timing ... a grandeur of style and extraordinary fluency and expressiveness of arms and hands which no ballet dancer today can approach."

This month Ulanova is scheduled for two more performances in Florence. But would she accept an invitation from London? Tour Guide Kholodilin was doubtful, shrugged: "Ulanova has so many engagements in Russian cities; so many people are waiting to see her."

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