Galina Panov

Galina Panov (née Ragozina) was born in 1949 in Archangelsk, Russia.

She began studying ballet at age ten at the Perm Choreographic School and Ballet Academy with Ludmilla Sakharova and graduated in 1967. In 1968, she competed in Moscow, where she was discovered by ballerina Galina Ulanova, who invited her to train in preparation for the International Ballet Competition at Varna, Bulgaria, held that same year. She accepted and won a gold medal. In 1970, she was invited to join the Kirov in Leningrad and quickly began to dance lead roles as a prima ballerina. At the Kirov, she met her future husband Valery Panov.
In 1972, Panov and her husband applied for exit visas to Israel. This application led to a high-profile struggle against Soviet authorities which included the Panovs’ expulsion from the Kirov, brief imprisonment and ban on giving ballet lessons for two years. Public and political pressure by Israeli authorities and Western artists (including British Actor Laurence Olivier) finally led to their immigration to Israel in 1974.  Their debut performance in the West was held in 1975, with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1975-77, the Panovs danced as soloists in Batsheva and Bat-Dor and also participated in recitals by representative delegations worldwide.
Panov also performed as a ballerina with many other companies, including San Francisco Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Ballet du Louvre and the Royal Ballet of Flanders. In 1982-84 she performed in Broadway and London in the leading role in On Your Toes, choreographed by George Balanchine.
Throughout the years, Panov taught in New York, Baltimore, Texas, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Japan and Israel. In the early 2000s she moved to the US. Today she lives in North Carolina where she is Professor of Ballet at East Carolina University.