Biography

A ballerina who studied in London and Paris before arriving in the U.S., she performed the role of Laurey in the dream ballet sequence in the original Broadway production of "Oklahoma!" in the 1940s. She also performed with the Mordkin Ballet, the American Ballet Theater, and the Ballet Russe.

She and her family emigrated to London during the Russian Revolution.

On 29 November 2003, the "Daily Telegraph" of London published an obituary for Ms. Sergava. Seeing this, the editors of "The New York Times" published their own obituary written by Jack Anderson, a freelance dance writer. The only problem was, she wasn't dead. The "Times" editors published the obit without checking on the status of Ms. Sergava, a longtime resident of Greenwich Village who was actually hospitallized at a nursing home at the time. When "The New York Post" found out about the latest mistake by the "Times," they gleefully published a story about it under the headline "Dead Wrong."