Serafima Astafieva (1876, 1934, London) studied at the School-Studio of the Bolshoi Theater and graduated from the Mariinsky Theater ballet school in 1895. In 1896, she married Yuzef Kshesinski, a renowned performer of character dance. From 1909 to 1911, Astafieva performed with Sergei Diaghilev's Russian Ballets. After retiring from the stage, she founded the Russian Dance Academy in The Pheasantry building on King's Road in Chelsea, London. Among her notable students were Anton Dolin, Margot Fonteyn, Alicia Markova, and Hermione Darnborough.

In 1968, a blue memorial plaque was installed in her honor at 152 King's Road, Chelsea.

T. S. Eliot mentioned her as "Grishkina" in his poem "The Whisper of Immortality." Astafieva was a relative of Leo Tolstoy.