Nina Rigmor Strom began her career in 1935-1936 as a ballerina in the Ballet Russe de l'Opera Comique of Paris. She was subsequently hired as a ballerina with the
Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo by
Leonid Massine and
René Blum, who then dubbed her Nina "Stroganova." She immigrated to The United States with her husband, Vladimir, in 1937 in order to join the Mordkin Ballet Company, where she and her husband performed together in
Peter and the Wolf. In 1940, fellow dancer
Lucia Chase hired her to be the prima ballerina in her new company, Ballet Theatre, later known as
American Ballet Theatre. With the onset of
World War II, Nina and Vladimir joined the
Original Ballet Russe company of
Colonel de Basil, which toured Latin America throughout the war years, allegedly to keep the male dancers from being drafted. After the war, Nina and Vladimir settled in
New York City. She performed as a guest artist at the
Royal Danish Ballet, along with her husband, in
Giselle and
Swan Lake, Act II. She also performed as a guest ballerina with the
Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo between 1950 and 1951. Nina and Vladimir headed the Stroganova-Dokoudovsky Ballet Company in several performances, including some at
Jacob's Pillow, where the ballet
The Abyss, featuring a commissioned score by
Alexander Tcherepnin, was premiered. They joined the faculty of the Ballet Arts school in
Carnegie Hall, where they led classes with well-known figures of the dance world for many years. They later founded their own school, the New York Conservatory of Dance, now led by Patricia Heyes Dokoudovsky. Nina Stroganova also taught at School of Classical Ballet in
Englewood, New Jersey and, after leaving the New York Conservatory, continued teaching noon classes at the studios of the
City Center Theater for a number of years until her sudden death at the age of 78. Students in Stroganova's noon classes included
Alexandra Danilova, Eugene Collins,
Gemze de Lappe,
Bambi Linn,
Agnes de Mille,
Zizi Jeanmaire,
Roland Petit,
Nora Kovach, Istvan Rabovsky, Inge Sand, Toni Lander,
Bruce Marks, Irina Lebedeva, Andrea Vodehnal,
Michael Maule, Richard Marsden, Carl Corry, Daniel Baudendistel, Nicole Fox,
Christine Dakin, Linda Giancaspro, Saul Davis, Charles Perrier, Diana Lasky, Trutti Gasparinetti, Marilyn D'Honau, and other professional and amateur dancers. == Leading roles ==