Very sad news. Zina Vladimirsky died in Frankfurt on her way home. Probably asthma.
Zina is one of the very first members of the club being with us since the day one. She has such a bright, wonderful, positive personality keeping the spirit of dancing. She helped dancers, teachers and the development of the community a lot. We are so missing dancing with you, Zina !
Zina is unique. All Zina's family is dancing tango: both of her sons, her daughter-in-law, and her husband, Boris who is the organizer of our club.
We are together here. We are dancing in close embrace. It makes such things especially difficult when something happens. But it also gives us support: we are not alone. Zina, you are always with us. In my heart Zina, you have made an imprint and gave my dancing a part of your soul which I will carry to everyone else. -- Igor Polk
On the photo: Above, Zina dancing with her husband. Below, Zina dancing with her son.
In this video you can see Zina dancing with Boris :
Video Yuki Kubota
Zina with Luis Bianchi :
Zina also was a dramatic actor. Here you can see her in the role of Faina Ranevskaya:
Zina, Zinochka, Zinulya, Zinka ….
What happened? Why it happened? All these questions will be asked and
never answered.
The slender woman, beautiful long hair, always with a smile. Great family:
the loving wife, adored by her husband, perfect mother loved by her
children, great daughter, sister and aunt. Great dancer who introduced
many of us to the Tango. Unbelievable friend! Her house was always
open for us and full of her spirit. All Baby Boomers productions,
Russian fairs and many more never could have happened without Zina.
The traditional Shabbat in Z&B house. She could come late but it was
always a miracle: big pot with 'Borsch' or 'blinchiki', or… 'Zina,
when did you make it, you were almost 24 hrs at work? ' - 'I made it,
don't pay attention to this', and she was running around with her
unforgettable smile and she was the 'spirit' of the Shabbat.
She was so happy about Sasha and Sveta's wedding and how beautiful she
was at the wedding and how she danced with her sons!
I will remember her laugh during the movie sessions and our
discussions on Saturday morning, our letters to each other, her
reaction to the jokes we used to send to her.
We were planning to start going to SF milonga at least once a month
after her return….
-- Larisa
I met beautiful Zina at the Starlite Ballroom. She was wonderful to dance Argentine Tango with. Although she was a highly intelligent professional, she danced from a heart-felt depth of feelings, not from the intellect and that made her a treasure for any leader to dance with. She felt light as a feather.
Zina convinced me to go to Igor's tango classes, a sincere guy with the charming accent of "Borat" who, among other things, wrote about looking into the mirror of yourself and of your partner. At Igor's, I met more of Zina's family. She was so social and I believe that her whole family including daughter-in-laws are tango dancers. Zina was thrilled by her sons and their wives, and she loved her husband Boris. Once I danced in the House of Four Winds at Monterey with a lady doctor from the former USSR who knew Zina. The doctor told me that Zina worked almost 24 hours a day but that wherever she went Zina was the center of life that each event circled around.
The last time that Zina and I danced was a milonga tanda just before she travelled to Ukraine on her final journey in this life. During the dance Zina laughed from her heart at my silly new milonga creations, and kissed me good night when she left. I will always treasure her laugh.
I cried and cried for days after I heard the tragic news that she would not return to us except in our memories. She was so young and vibrant with beautiful, very beautiful peaked eyes and she will live in my memories.
Even though I am very sad, Zina constantly left her world a happier place.
-- Bob from Santa Cruz
There were a lot of people came to the memorial service. The room was filled and even more people came to funerals. Zina and her family have a lot of friends. Few people have that many friends. How passionately people talked about her ! Zina was a loving wife and mother, a great friend. She got involved into people radiating such participation that no one was untouched. They talked about her being a proof that love can change the world. She made bridges between people solving their problems.
A day before we all were talking about Zina, where is she, when is she going to come back to us. And now we realize that it will not happen again in our lives.
But Zina was so strong and influential that we will carry a piece of her with us. She lives in us and continues her destiny through us.
Zina's final passion was for tango dancing. Just at this day I realized that our tango club started essentially as a Zina's family & friends tango club. She discovered it herself and tried to convey us how great tango is to worm up the soul and be together. People at the reception asked me to write about it, that we will continue dancing tango. That is what Zina would want.
-- Igor Polk
Zina's funeral Took place on Sunday, 9/21/08.
11am -- Memorial Service
Sinai Memorial Chapel
1501 Divisadero St.,
San Francisco, CA 94115
1pm -- Burial Ceremony
Eternal Home Cemetery
1051 El Camino Real,
Colma, CA 94014
3pm -- Remembrance Reception
Shorebreeze Apartments
Office Building
460 N.Shoreline Blvd.,
Mountain View, CA 94043