Galina Stepanenko named Interim Artistic Director at Bolshoi

Following the attack on Sergei Filin, Principal Dancer Galina Stepanenko has been named Interim Artistic Director at the Bolshoi. A promotion not for the faint of heart! She is said to be very loyal to Filin and he trusts her to act as his deputy.



Born in Moscow. She completed her studies with distinction at the Moscow College of Choreography (today the Moscow State Academy of Choreography), where she trained in Sophia Golovkina’s graduates’ class.

From 1984-88, she was a soloist with the Moscow Classical Ballet Company (today the State Academic Theatre of Classical Ballet led by Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasiliyov) where she danced, among other parts, the title role in Nathalie, ou La Laitiere Suisse, music by Adalbert Gyrowetz, in a production by Pierre Lacotte after Filippo Taglioni, the part of She-devil in Andrei Petrov’s The Creation of the World produced by Natalya Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasilyov. She also danced in Theme and Variations to music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, thus becoming one of the few ballerinas at that time to have danced in a George Balanchine ballet whose works were then virtually not performed in Russia. She created the lead role in Bachiana to music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, produced for her and Vladimir Malakhov by Alberto Alonso.

From 1988-90, she danced for the Moscow Academic Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Ballet Company where she performed the following, among other, roles: Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, Kupava in The Snow Maiden to music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (both works by Vladimir Bourmeister), Medora in Le Corsaire in a production by Dmitri Bryantsev.

In 1990, she joined the Bolshoi Ballet Company.
She rehearsed under the guidance of Marina Semyonova, with whom she prepared the majority of the roles in her repertoire, and also with Marina Kondrateva, Raisa Struchkova and Yekaterina Maximova.

In 1992, she completed her studies at the Russian Academy of Theatre Art (teacher Marina Semyonova), qualifying as teacher-choreographer.

Main Repertoire

1991
Odette-Odile (Swan Lake, choreography Alexander Gorsky, Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov in a version by Yuri Grigorovich)
Title role (Giselle; Yuri Grigorovich production; later, she also danced this role in the Vladimir Vasiliev version of the ballet)
Nikia (La Bayadere; Yuri Grigorovich production)

1992
Medora (Le Corsaire; choreography by Konstantin Sergeyeyev after Marius Petipa, and later in a version by Yuri Grigorovich)
Bacchante (Walpurgis Night divertissement in Charles Gounod’s opera Faust, choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky)

1993
Title role (Raymonda; choreography by Marius Petipa in a version by Yuri Grigorovich)

1994
Rita (Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Golden Age; choreography by Yuri Grigorovich)
Kitri (Don Quixote; choreography by Marius Petipa, Alexander Gorsky in a version by Yuri Grigorovich) — creator of the role

1995
Title role (La Sylphide by Herman Lшvenskjold, choreography by August Bournonville in a version by E. M. von Rosen)
Aegina (Spartacus; choreography by Yuri Grigorovich)
Title role (Romeo and Juliet; choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky)

1996
Princess-Swan (Swan Lake in a version by Vladimir Vasiliev)
Title role (Anyuta to music by Vladimir Gavrilin, choreography Vladimir Vasiliev)

1997
Princess Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty; Yuri Grigorovich production)

1998
Gamzatti (La Bayadere)

1999
Soloist Part 4 (Symphony in C)
Seventh Waltz and Prelude (Chopiniana; choreography by Mikhail Fokine)
Priest’s Wife (Balda to music by Dmitri Shostakovich, choreography by Vladimir Vasiliev) — creator of the role

2002
Odette-Odile (Swan Lake in Yuri Grigorovich’s second version)

2004
Tarantella (choreography by George Balanchine)
Ballerina (Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Bright Stream; choreography by Alexei Ratmansky)

2006
Title role (Carmen Suite; choreography by Alberto Alonso)

2009
Paquita (Paquita. Staging and new choreographic version by Yuri Burlaka)

Awards

In 1984, she won lst prize at the All-Union Competition of Ballet Dancers and special prize of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet.
In 1985, she won 2^nd prize, and in 1989 — lst prize at the Moscow International Ballet Dancers Competition.
In 1994, she was awarded the title of Merited Artist of the Russian Federation.
In 1995, for her interpretation of Kitri she won the Benois de la danse International Dance Association prize and the Italian journal Danza-Danza prize.
In 1996, she was awarded the title of People’s Artist of the Russian Federation.
In 2001, she was awarded the Order of Honor.
In 2004, she won the Russian Ballet journal Soul of Dance prize (in the Queen of Dance nomination).

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