Russian ballet legend Maya Plisetskaya dies at 89

Maya Plisetskaya, considered one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century, has died in Germany at the age of 89. Plisetskaya danced for half a century and her modern choreography and performances charged with eroticism flouted Soviet convention.

"She died of a severe heart attack. The doctors tried everything, but there was nothing they could do," Valdimi Urin, the director of the Bolshoi, said, after being informed by the ballerina's husband, Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin.

Urin said he had seen Plisetskaya just a few weeks ago and "she was in good health and making jokes".

"Not just Russia, but the entire world knew that Maya Plisetskaya was the symbol of Russian ballet in the 20th century," he added.

President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to her family. She will be laid to rest in Russia.

Born in Moscow on November 20, 1925, Plisetskaya was deprived of her parents early in life. Her engineer father was shot under Stalin's regime in 1938 for being "an enemy of the people", and her actress mother was accused of being a traitor and sent to a labour camp in Kazakhstan.

Maya Plisetskaya was taken in by her aunt and uncle.