Kaptsova Promoted to Principal

[cinnamonswirl]

Nina Kaptsova was promoted to Principal Dancer after dancing Aurora last night.

Announcement on the Bolshoi site (in Russian): http://www.bolshoi.r...cles/2011/1982/

Congratulations to Miss Kaptsova!!

[Eileen]

Thanks to Helene Kaplan's cast list, I see Kapstova danced Princess Florine in the bluebird pas de deux in the filmed performance we saw on Sunday.

[Natalia]

Actually, Kaptsova danced 2nd-cast Aurora on Saturday, Nov 19, to Volshkov's Desire:

from the Boslhoi website castings -

19 ноября 2011

Принцесса Аврора - Нина Капцова

Принц Дезире - Александр Волчков

So she was promoted as Aurora and, the next day, danced Florine, which we saw during the live screening...not realizing that the lady had FINALLY been promoted a few hours earlier! AT LONG LAST!

Maybe the next surprise will be that Karim Abdullin will make it out of the corps de ballet?

[abatt]

Does anyone surmise that Osipova's departure created additional room at the top for this promotion.

[Natalia]

Kaptsova was already dancing Principal roles while Osipova was a student at the Moscow Academy. For ex, Kaptsova debuted her Aurora in the year 2000! I believe that it has more to do with Filin 'getting the message' that dancers should not be held back by their 'emploi' than the departure of Osipova, per se. For over 12 years, Kapsova danced lead after lead, yet was considered too much the 'soubrette' to be a Principal.

Maybe the Mariinsky will follow suit and promote to Principal certain 'First Soloist' dancers who they deem mere 'soubrettes' (e.g., Obraztsova...who is already a 'Guest Principal' on the Bolshoi roster)?

BRAVO, Sergei Filin!

p.s. How difficult could it have been for the Polyglot Backstage Emcee of the live-in-cinemas screening (the Bolshoi's p.r. representative) to have mentioned this little factoid in the same breath when she mentioned Nina Kaptsova's name? It would have been nice to have known that as we watched Kaptsova dancing Florine yesterday.

[ksk04]

Good on her--she is just divine. I would have liked to see her Aurora in the broadcast rather than Zakharova's. I thought she would never make it to the top since she seemed like she was stuck at the soloist level for so long.

[cinnamonswirl]

Here's a vid of her in Aurora's first variation. Utterly charming.

The same channel has more videos of Kaptsova (including other parts of Sleeping Beauty).

[Natalia]

Thank you, cinnamonswirl. She is gorgeous and so 'warm,' unlike the chilly Zakharova. Imagine if she would dance this (or any other ballet) with Hallberg some day!

[Cygnet]

This is excellent news! Congratulations to Miss Kaptsova !

[Lidewij]

Does anyone surmise that Osipova's departure created additional room at the top for this promotion.

Also, Nadezhda Gracheva retired.

Congratulations to Nina Kaptsova! I thought she would be stuck at soloist level for the rest of her career, and she really deserves her principal status.

[Natalia]

Osipova was promoted not long after Gracheva retired. To think that Kaptsova graduated in 1996 -- a year before Alexandrova & Lunkina -- and finally achieved Principal status 15 years later. Good things come to those who wait!

Galina Stepanenko is still on the Principals roster & deserves a medal for longevity, although I don't recall her dancing in a while, not since her Aegina in the 'Spartacus Gala' (a different set of soloists for each act) a couple of years ago. Another 'vet' is Loparevich, our Carabosse in the live screening, who was interviewed during the show. (Of course, nobody at the Bolshoi can match the longevity of the Mariinsky's Vladimir Ponomarev -- Vaganova Class of 1964!)