Raisa Struchkova & Boris Khokhlov | Pas de deux from Don Quixote & Sleeping Beauty

1. Pas de deux from Don Quixote (1966)
Choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus.
Dancers: Raisa Struchkova, Boris Khokhlov
Orchestra Conducted by Algis Zhuraitis

2. Pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty (1971)
Choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Dancers: Raisa Struchkova, Boris Khokhlov

- Raisa Stepanovna Struchkova (5 October 1925, Moscow – 2 May 2005, Moscow) was a Russian dancer and People's Artist of the USSR. Struchkova was born on 5 October 1925 in Moscow to a factory worker. She studied at the Moscow Ballet School, her teacher was Elizaveta Gerdt. In 1944, she graduated from Bolshoi Ballet school and became its member the same year. Unlike other famous female ballet dancers of that time like Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya she didn't become an international star, but the Cinderella role made her famous nationwide.

Throughout her career she danced as a leading role in such ballets as Giselle, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, the Sleeping Beauty, the Nutcracker, and many, many others. Later on, she became a ballet teacher in 1962 at the State Theatrical Institute of the Arts and in 1978 became ballet coach at Bolshoi. She died in Moscow on 2 May 2005 at the age of 79.

- Boris Ivanovich Khokhlov ( 22 February 1932 , Moscow – 23 June 2000 , Moscow) was a Russian Soviet ballet dancer, teacher, and People's Artist of the RSFSR (1969). In 1951, he graduated from the Moscow Choreographic School of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR.

From 1951 to 1972, he was a ballet dancer with the Bolshoi Theater . He was known as a danseur noble—the ideal performer of princes and romantic heroes. A virtuoso in his technique, he was also an outstanding master of duet dancing. Ballerinas valued him as an extremely reliable partner. In 1972, he retired from acting. From 1976 to 1977, he was a teacher and rehearsal director for the Bolshoi Theater's mime ensemble. In 1981, he graduated from the ballet masters department of GITIS . From 1981 to 1988, he taught in the choreography department there.

He died on June 23, 2000 in Moscow and was buried at the Troekurovskoye Cemetery .