Yekaterina Geltzer

Who was Yekaterina Geltzer?

Yekaterina Vasilyevna Geltzer was a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet who danced in the theatre from 1898 to 1935. She worked with Marius Petipa, Sergei Diaghilev, and Reinhold Glière. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, she helped to preserve the art of ballet in Russia. She was the first ballet dancer to receive the title of "People's Artist of Russia". Her most famous post-revolutionary role was a Chinese dancer in the premiere of Gliere's Red Poppy. This production was staged by her husband Vasily Tikhomirov for her 50th birthday. In 1943, she was awarded a Stalin Prize and also received an Order of Lenin and an Order of the Red Banner of Labour.

Once backstage at the Bolshoi Theatre, and well past the age of 60, Geltzer was heard telling her colleagues "help me get myself up en pointe, after that I know what to do."