Академия русского балета имени А. Я. Вагановой
Timofeeva was born in Leningrad and graduated from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in 1953. She made her theatrical debut as a student in 1951, as Masha in Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker". From 1953 to 1956, she was a soloist with the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, and after that became a soloist with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Her major roles included