Nadezhda Gracheva

Biography

She was born in Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan). She studied at the Alma-Ata Ballet School. In 1986, having shown herself to good account at the International Competition of Ballet Dancers in Varna (junior group), she was given the opportunity of completing her training at the Moscow College of Choreography (Sophia Golovkina’s class). Having completed her training in 1988, she joined the Bolshoi Ballet Company where she immediately made her debut as soloist.

She rehearsed the major part of her repertory with Galina Ulanova (she was Ulanova’s last pupil). Then for a long time she rehearsed with Marina Kondratieva — until the end of her own career as a ballet dancer.

Now she is a teacher-repetiteur of Svetlana Lunkina, Evgenia Obraztsova, Ekaterina Shipulina, Anna Tikhomirova, Yanina Parienko.

Repertoire

1988

Queen of Dryads (Don Quixote by L. Minkus, choreography by A. Gorsky)

1989

Ghost of Princess Mlada and Empress Cleopatra (opera-ballet Mlada by N. Rimsky-Korsakov, choreography by A. Petrov)

1990

Myrtha (Giselle by A. Adam; choreography by J. Coralli, J. Perrot, M. Petipa, production by Y. Grigorovich)
Mazur (Chopiniana to music by F. Chopin, choreography by M. Fokine)
Henrietta (Raimonda by A.Glazunov. Choreography by M. Petipa in the version of Y. Grigorovich)
The Mistress of the Copper Mountain (Stone Flower by S. Prokofiev, choreography by Y. Grigorovich)

1991

Nikia (La Bayadère by L. Minkus. Choreography by M. Petipa, Y. Grigorovich production) — creator of the role
Odette-Odile (Swan Lake; choreography by A. Gorsky, M. Petipa, L. Ivanov in the version by Y. Grigorovich)

1992

Medora (Le Corsaire by A. Adam. Choreography by K. Sergeev after M. Petipa) — creator of the role at Bolshoi Theater

1993

Princess Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty by P.Tchaikovsky, choreography by M. Petipa, Y. Grigorovich version)
Giselle (Giselle)

1994

Medora (Le Corsaire by A. Adam. Choreography by K. Sergeev after M. Petipa, in the version by Y. Grigorovich) — creator of the role
Sylph (Herman Lovenskjold’s La Sylphide; choreography A. Bournonville in a version by E.M. von Rosen) — creator of the role at Bolshoi Theater

1995

Kitri (Don Quixote by L. Minkus, choreography by M. Petipa, A. Gorsky, in the version by Y. Grigorovich)
Aegina (A. Khachaturian’s Spartacus, production by Y. Grigorovich, 1968)
Mekhmene Banu (A Legend of Love. Music by A. Melikov. choreography by Y. Grigorovich, 1965)
Juliet (Romeo and Juliet by S. Prokofiev. Choreography by L. Lavrovsky)

1996

Joan (The Last Tango. Music by A. Piazzolla, choreography by V. Gordeev)

1999

Soloist in part I (Symphony C-major to music by G. Bizet, choreography by G. Balanchine) — creator of the role at Bolshoi Theater

2000

Aspicia (C. Pugni’s La Fille du Pharaon; P. Lacotte production after M. Petipa)

2002

Odette-Odile (Swan Lake, in the 2nd version by Yuri Grigorovich)

2003

Raimonda (Raimonda)

2004

Soloist in part II (Symphony C-major)

Pas de deux Sylvia (music by L. Delibes, choreography by G. Balanchine) — creator of the role at Bolshoi Theater
Leah (Leah to music by L. Bernstein. A. Ratmansky production, the second version) — creator of the role

2008

Paquita (creator of the role), variation (Grand Pas classique for the ballet Paquita by L.Minkus, choreography by M. Petipa, new choreographic version by Y. Burlaka)

She took part in the Bolshoi Theatre New Year Premieres (1997), appearing in the solo part in Jorg Mannes’s Four Kisses to music by J. S. Bach.

Tours

She was the guest ballerina at Belgrade’s National Theatre where, from 1994-5, she danced the lead roles in Don Quixote, Giselle (partner — Konstantin Kostyukov, National Theatre Belgrade soloist) and Swan Lake (partner — Andrei Uvarov). She was awarded with a medal “For outstanding services to the National Theatre”.

In 2008 she appeared in gala concerts at the International Rudolf Nureyev Festival of Classical Ballet (Kazan), dancing the pas de deux from La Sylphide (choreography by A. Bournonville, (partner — The Staatsballett Berlin soloist Dinu Tamazlakaru).

Interview

Odette will not die. Interview to Natalia Kuzina. Tribune, 9.2.2003.

A fishing swan. Interview to Svetlana Nikonova, New Izvestia, 27.7.2002.

I do not convert ballet into work. Interview to Anna Galaide. Newspaper “Bolshoi Theater”, № 8,

And the soul flies away... Interview to Anna Galaide. The Evening Moscow, 7.6.1999.