Story: Russians, Ukrainians and Baltic peoples

Galina and Wassili Wassiliew came to New Zealand as displaced persons after the Second World War. They married in Wellington in 1951, and in 1953 founded a school of Russian classical ballet in the city. Performances of the Galina Wassiliewa School gave many New Zealanders their first taste of ballet in the 1950s and 1960s. Galina, from Lithuania, is shown here (third from right) with some of her New Zealand students.