Nina Kaptsova and Denis Savin in The Golden Age

Nina Kaptsova (Нина Капцова) and Denis Savin (Денис Савин) in The Golden Age (Tango), music by Dmitri Shostakovich, choreography by Yuri Grigorovich. Dance Open 2017 Gala, shot 24.4.2017 in the Alexandrinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, Russia.

See all galleries from Dance Open 2017 Gala evening

See all galleries from Dance Open 2017 Gala evening

The Golden Age (Rus.: Золотой век), is a ballet in three acts and six scenes by Dmitri Shostakovich to a libretto by Alexander Ivanovsky. Choreographed by Vasili Vainonen (first act), Leonid Jacobson (second act) and V. Chesnakov (third act), it premiered on 26 October 1930 at the Kirov Theatre. The work was performed eighteen times and was initially censored due to its inclusion of modern European dance styles. The ballet is a satirical take on the political and cultural change in 1920s’ Europe. It follows a Soviet football team in a Western city where they come into contact with many politically incorrect bad characters such as the Diva, the Fascist, the Agent Provocateur, the Negro and others. The team fall victim to match rigging, police harassment, and unjust imprisonment by the evil bourgeoisie. The team are freed from jail when the local workers overthrow their capitalist overlords and the ballet ends with a dance of solidarity between the workers and the football team.

Nina Kaptsova (Rus. Нина Капцова) is Prima Ballerina with the Bolshoi Theatre. She was born in 1978 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. She studied at the Moscow Choreographic College (today the Academy), in the class of Sophia Golovkina. Upon graduating in 1996 she joined the Bolshoi Ballet Company. For a long time her coach at the Bolshoi was Marina Kondratieva. Now she rehearses under Nina Semizorova.

Denis Savin (Rus. Денис Савин) is a leading soloist with Bolshoi Ballet. Born in Moscow. In 2002, on completing his studies at Bolshoi Ballet Academy (Igor Uksusnikov’s class), he joined the corps de allet of the Bolshoi theatre. Actually from the outset he was entrusted with solo parts. The next season at the theatre he received the title role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet to music by S. Prokofiev (production by Declan Donnelan, choreography by Radu Poklitary, 2003). He danced this part at the first night performance. His repetiteur is Victor Barykin.

In 1982, Yury Grigorovich and Isaak Glikman revived the ballet with a new libretto. Grigorovich also chose to integrate other works of Shostakovich into the score. In 1983, he created The Golden Age for Irek Mukhamedov, who defined the role of Boris, the young workers’ leader, for successive generations of Bolshoi dancers. They moved the action to the USSR in the 1920s to a restaurant called “The Golden Age”. Conflict unfolded between the Soviet Komsomol and the gang. The premiere took place on 4 November 1982 in Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre.

Photos by Jack Devant Ballet Photography with kind permission of the Dance Open, special thanks to Ekaterina Galanova and Kristina Proku.