Agrippina Yakovlena Vaganova was born in St. Petersburg in 1879. She graduated from the Imperial Ballet School in 1897 and joined the Maryinsky Theater Ballet that same year. She was promoted to soloist in 1905 and to Prima Ballerina in 1915. She began teaching at the State Theater School in Leningrad in 1921 and at the State Theater Ballet (later known as the Kirov Ballet) in 1922. She was Director of that company from 1931-37 and of the education department at the State School from 1934-41. She died in her hometown in 1951.
