Natalia Kasatkina

Kasatkina, Natalia (b Moscow, 7 June 1934). Soviet dancer and choreographer. She graduated from the Moscow Ballet School into the Bolshoi Ballet in 1954 where she became one of the company's leading character dancers. Later she began to choreograph with her husband V. Vasiliov, creating their first joint ballet Vanina Vanini (mus. Karetnikov) in 1962. Other works by them include Heroic Poem (The Geologists) (mus. Karetnikov, 1964), Le Sacre du printemps (mus. Stravinsky, 1965, a version set in the second millennium BC), Preludes and Fugues (mus. Bach, 1968), and Romeo and Juliet (mus. Prokofiev, 1972). They also created The Creation of the World (mus. A. Petrov, 1971) for the Kirov. She and Vasiliov subsequently became directors of the Moscow Classical Ballet, an internationally touring company for which they have created many works.