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VERA KRASOVSKAYA (Vera Mikhailinova Krasnovskaia), 84, a Russian ballet critic and historian, died Aug. 19. She was born Aug. 19, 1915 in Petrograd and graduated from the Leningrad ballet school. In 1933, she joined the Kirov Ballet and danced there until 1941. Her first press articles appeared in 1941; she earned a doctorate in art criticism, and later a professorship, at the Leningrad Ostrovsky Institute of the Theater.

Krasovkaya wrote over 200 articles for Russian and foreign periodicals; most were profiles on Russian dancers and choreographers, analyses of their work, and surveys of Leningrad ballet seasons. Her book Ballet Theater in Russia assessed the aesthetic principles of Marius Petipa and Michel Fokine, while her magnum opus, Western European Ballet Theater offered a comprehensive history of ballet outside Russia to appear in Russia since 1917.

DOROTHY ETHERIDGE, 79, a former member of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and a teacher and choreographer, died at her Boston home Aug. 20. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Etheridge studied ballet with Lilias Courtney. She joined Ballet Russe in Europe in 1938, one of only three Americans to do so, then returned to the U.S. when the company moved its base to New York during World War II. She was a member of the company until 1945, and toured with them through the U.S. and Canada in that time.

Choreographers with whom she worked included Leonide Massine, Bronislava Nijinska, George Balanchine, and Agnes de Mille. After leaving the company, she appeared in Broadway shows, a touring production of Gentleman Prefer Blondes, and on television in the "Paul Whiteman Revue. She taught at the Boston Ballet for several years, and at several local studios, and assisted de Mille in setting Rodeo on the Boston Ballet.

ALEXI RAMOV, 82, artistic director emeritus of the Ballet Guild of Lehigh Valley, Inc, died Sept. 2 at his home in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Ramov, nee Joseph Kowatch, a sergeant major in the U.S. Army during World War II, studied with George Balanchine at the School of American Ballet Theater and performed with a variety of ballet companies, including Ballet Russe. He was ballet master at several dance schools and workshops, and organized the first Northeast Regional Ballet Festival in 1959. He was founder and president of the Northeast Regional Ballet Association, founder-director of the Scranton Ballet Company, and founder-chairman of the Northeast Regional Choreographic Workshop. He also served as resident choreographer of the Lehigh Valley Ballet in Bethlehem and director of the Ballet Guild Academy. He choreographed works for the Pennsylvania Ballet, Arkansas State Ballet, Little Rock Civic Light Opera, and several other companies. Several of his students, including several young men, went on to become professional dancers. Ramov received the Lehigh Valley Dance Forum's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.

FRANK WAGNER, 77, jazz teacher, choreographer, and director, died Sept. 12 in Fort Myers, Florida. Wagner was known for his precise teaching style and emphasis on isolations. He taught at Carnegie Hall and the International Dance Festival in Cologne, Germany, and was the only jazz teacher to work with Copenhagen's Royal Danish Ballet.

For 12 years, he choreographed and directed Julius Monk's Upstairs and Downstairs at the Plaza Hotel. His theatrical credits include New Faces of 1968, which included Robert Klein and Madeline Kahn, Ziegfield Follies with Beatrice Lillie and Billy de Wolfe, and a Charleston sequence for Dame Judith Anderson in Comes a Day. He did several Christmas Spectaculars at Radio City Music Hall and musicals at the Jones Beach Theater on Long Island. He spent his last 18 years on Sanibel Island, Florida, serving as arts and entertainment editor for the local paper. He also directed the Southwest Florida staged readings for The Company, of which his wife, former New York City Ballet dancer Marsha Reynolds, is a member.

GAIL ANNA JENSEN, 58, assistant director of New York's American Chamber Ballet Company, died Oct. 13 at her home in Kenosha, Wisconsin. She toured extensively as a teacher for Dance Caravan, and taught summer courses at the University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana, as well as private schools in Wisconsin. She was a member of the Professional Dance Teachers Association and served as an artistic advisor for the Madison-based Performing Arts for Children. After a post-graduation stint as associate producer for NBC, she was named assistant director of the American Chamber Ballet, and in her performing, teaching, and choreographing career, she toured the U.S. the U.K., Europe, and Central America.