Interview: Elizaveta Kokoreva, the Bolshoi Ballet’s youngest star, comes to Rome
Elizaveta Kokoreva makes her debut in the West when she dances in the Les Étoiles galas in Rome on 4 and 5 January.
Elizaveta Kokoreva was promoted to the top rank of dancers at the Bolshoi Theatre in 2023 when she was 22, which makes her the theatre’s youngest-ever prima ballerina.
On 4 and 5 January, she will be making her first appearance outside Russia in the annual Les Étoiles galas in Rome. She will be dancing with Dmitry Smilevsky who was her partner on the night she became étoile. They will dance pas de deux from La Sylphide and Marco Spada.
“They told me [that I’d been promoted to étoile] after a show. I was in shock, but as it was the 1 April, I thought it was a joke. My teacher was crying so I realised it was true, and I bowed,” she told the Corriere della Sera.” At first, I wasn’t so happy because I felt the weight of responsibility. It all happened quickly – after three years I was a soloist and in my fourth year I was a prima ballerina.”
It wasn’t only the audience’s expectations that weighed on her: “When we were in makeup, I would hear some older dancers whispering… they thought that I must have friends in high places, or that I’m rich… Jealousy is part of my world, even if I have never had traumatic experiences, such as toothpaste in my pointe shoes.” And yes, she has seen the film Black Swan: “It has attracted attention and perhaps generated new audiences.”
Kokoreva’s mother is a psychologist and her father is a dancer. “He didn’t insist that I follow in his footsteps – he has other children from previous marriages, but I am the only dancer in the family. I decided to become a dancer after I saw Don Quixote.”
At 1.63 meters tall (5’4”) and weighing 42.5kg (93lbs) – “we Russians weigh less than the Europeans” – she is a dream partner. She has been dancing The Nutcracker at the Bolshoi with Smilevsky during December. The company will dance 45 performances of the ballet this season: “it’s a marathon, and we’re often rehearsing three other shows at the same time.” Does she worry that she won’t complete the marathon? “Well, I do Pilates, but my physical concerns are more about working with new choreographers whose modern ballets activate different muscles than usual.”
“I am focused on giving my best even when dancing a secondary role. I have to live up to the Bolshoi’s standards. But I don’t belong to those who dedicate 100 per cent of their lives to ballet, though I know my worth. I have a normal life. One day I will get married and have children. I’m a lucky girl.”
In Rome, she will find herself on the same stage as Olga Smirnova, the former prima ballerina of the Bolshoi who left Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kokoreva says that the “military operation” is talked about “only among family. We are all worried about the young people who die, and the relations between two fraternal peoples that have been ruined, In the theatre we only think about work.
“It’s my first time in the West, and Rome is a dream come true. I’m expecting a very warm audience. I would like to see the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain, and throw a coin in – I saw it done by Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. But not only the museums, I want to enjoy the city.”
As recounted to the Corriere della Sera.
