Sofia Golovkina - Bolshoi Principal Ballerina 1933-1959

Sofia Golovkina was a Bolshoi principal ballerina that has only just come onto my radar. I suspect this invisibility outside Russia has in part been due to her being a Soviet era dancer, being an exponent of the sometime acrobatic style of that period and appearing in propaganda-driven ballets. On retiring from the stage, Golovkina turned to teaching, with her most famous student being Natalia Bessmertnova. She became director of the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet School, a position she held for 41 years. Here are four little segments of footage of her in performance, beginning with a solo from ‘Raymonda’. The music for the pas de deux music (waltz) is from 'Die Fledermaus' - originally an operetta, music composed by Johann Strauss II. This information comes from TheBallet1 who kindly commented this to us. Joan Katsi tells us that her partner here is Pyotr Gysev. There's not a lot around the net about Sofia Golovkina - does anyone know a little about this ballerina? Enjo