Vera Trefilova (b Vladikavkaz, 8 Oct. 1875, d Paris, 11 July 1943) was a Russian dancer and teacher.

She studied at the Imperial Ballet School in St Petersburg with Ekaterina Vazem

Ekaterina Vazem

Ekaterina Vazem was a Russian prima ballerina. She was made famous for first dancing the role of Nikiya in 1877 Marius Petipa's ballet, La Bayadère...

 and graduated in 1894. She later studied with Evgenia Sokolova, Nikolai Legat, Catarina Beretta and Enrico Cecchetti

Enrico Cecchetti

Enrico Cecchetti was an Italian ballet dancer, mime, and founder of the Cecchetti method. The son of two dancers from Civitanova Marche, he was born in the costuming room of the Teatro Tordinona in Rome. After an illustrious career as a dancer in Europe, he went to dance for the Imperial Ballet in...

. She joined the ballet company at the Maryinsky Theatre in 1894 and was promoted to soloist in 1901. She created roles in Lev Ivanov

Lev Ivanov

Lev Ivanovich Ivanov was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet....

's Acis and Galatea (1896), N. and S. Legat's The Fairy Doll (1903), N. Legat's The Blood-Red Flower (1907), and Mikhail Fokine's The Night of Terpsichore (1907). In 1906 she was promoted to prima ballerina, known for her 32 fouettés. She triumphed as Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, but resigned in 1910, partly due to her dislike of Fokine’s innovations, but above all due to a rivalry with the Maryinsky's reigning ballerina, 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...

.

In 1915 she made her debut as an actress at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St Petersburg.

In 1917 she left Russia and opened a ballet school in Paris: among her pupils were Marina Svetlova

Marina Svetlova

Marina Svetlova was a French ballerina and ballet instructor.-Biography:Svetlova was born in Paris, France with the name Yvette von Hartmann to Russian parents. She began studying dance as a young child and made her professional debut as a child performer in Paris in 1931 with the experimental...

, Mary Skeaping

Mary Skeaping

Mary Skeaping was a British ballerina and choreographer. She was the ballet master of the Royal Swedish Ballet of the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in 1953-1962.Mary Skeaping was a part of the ballet of Anna Pavlova in 1925...

, Nina Vyroubova and Mari Bicknell

Mari Bicknell

Mari Bicknell was founder and director of the Cambridge Ballet Workshop and taught generations of young ballet dancers.She was born Mari Scott Henderson in Kensington, London, of Scottish parentage....

.

Diaghilev invited her to dance Aurora in his 1921 London production of The Sleeping Princess. In 1924, almost 50 years old, she danced Odette-Odile for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes

Ballets Russes

The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company from Russia which performed between 1909 and 1929 in many countries. Directed by Sergei Diaghilev, it is regarded as the greatest ballet company of the 20th century. Many of its dancers originated from the Imperial Ballet of Saint Petersburg...

 in Monte Carlo, still amazing audiences with her fouetté turns. She gave her final performance at His Majesty's Theatre in London in 1926. She was married to the dance critic Valerian Svetlov.