'Bravura' Classical Ballerina Nadia Nerina

Nadia Nerina, 80, an enchanting and virtuosic ballet dancer who inspired choreographer Frederick Ashton's enduring comedy "La Fille Mal Gardée" and outperformed Rudolf Nureyev, died Oct. 6 at her home in Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the French Riviera.

Ms. Nerina was one of the major classical ballet dancers of the 1950s and 1960s and a reigning presence in the Sadler's Wells company, which became the Royal Ballet.

Her dancing peers at the London-based organization included Margot Fonteyn, Svetlana Beriosova, Maryon Lane, Pamela May and, notably, Nureyev, the Soviet defector whose arrival in 1961 overshadowed nearly everyone save Fonteyn.

Until that moment, Ms. Nerina had thrived in the spotlight. She was revered for her physical beauty, delicacy of movement and perfect control in a range of prominent roles.

"I only once decided to show off, and if it was naughty, it was also great fun," she once said. "When Rudolf Nureyev did his first 'Giselle' in London, he caused a sensation by interpolating 16 superb entrechat-six into the second act." An entrechat-six is a high, light jump in which the legs crisscross swiftly in the air, blurring like hummingbird wings.

"It was a rare achievement," Ms. Nerina said, "but it caused dismay amongst some of the company, who could do as well but, not being guest artists, would not dare change the choreography."

Ms. Nerina said she took revenge a few nights later in "Swan Lake" while onstage with dancer Erik Bruhn, one of Nureyev's lovers.

"When we came to the Black Swan pas de deux, on a sudden impulse I decided to do 32 entrechat-six instead of the usual fouettés [a series of whipping turns on one leg]. I would show our guest artist what the Royal Ballet could do, for I knew that Nureyev was in the audience watching the performance.

"If I had thought about it, I don't suppose I could possibly have done them," she wrote. "But the audience loved it -- I know I did -- and so did the company."

Ms. Nerina was a favorite of Ashton, who showcased her daring leaps and featherlike qualities as Queen of the Earth in "Homage to the Queen" (1953) and her solo work in "Birthday Offering" (1956).

Her charm won her many soubrette, or coquettish, parts -- memorably as the daughter Lise, whose mother tries to arrange her marriage to a wealthy farmer's son in "La Fille Mal Gardée" (the title refers to a willful girl).

She outwits her elders with the help of her young lover Colas, played by her frequent stage partner David Blair. One of the production's achievements is the one-handed "fanny lift" in which Colas boosts Lise by the rear.