Oleg Tupine

Son of a refugee Russian Army colonel and his wife, Tupine was born stateless aboard the last ship sailing from Crimea following the Bolshevik Revolution. He grew up in France and received his dance training under Lubov Egorova in Paris. He had a short-lived marriage to ballerina Natalie Clare. With a passport issued in Switzerland, Tupine danced internationally with the Original Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, the Markova-Dolin Company, and the de Cuevas Company. He became an American citizen in 1951. In 1962, he co-founded the National Ballet of Washington, D.C. After retiring in 1965, Tupine became co-director of the Virginia Ballet Company and School with Tatiana (Tania) Rousseau, who later became his second wife.