Raymonda

The Bolshoi never announces casting when tickets go on sale online. If you are planning a trip, but you want to see a particular dancer in a particular role, it is best to buy a ticket for each performance. You can return the tickets for a full refund online as long as you do so 10 days before the performance. By then the Bolshoi will have listed casting on his website. You can return the tickets for the dancers you don’t want to see and keep the ticket for the dancers you do want to see. However, if it is a premiere of a new work, they may not list casting until a few days before the performance. In that instance, best to buy a ticket only for the night you will be in Moscow. The tickets for every performance sell out months before. In contrast, the Maryinsky lists the casting for the tickets that are on sale. They cost a lot less than the Bolshoi even though the theater has fewer seats. They also do not sell out as quickly. However it is a good idea to purchase the tickets as soon as they go on sale for the best seats. I don’t know what their return policy is

When I saw Nina Kaptsova at the Bolshoi dance Marguerite in Lady of the Camelias, I couldn’t stop sobbing for an hour after. She is one of the great dance actresses of all time. She danced the third act PDD at a gala in Moscow, which Marcia Haydee attended. A friend of mine who sat near her heard her say to a friend, “I feel like I’m watching myself.”

Corrections to several comments: Ekaterina Krysanova was promoted to principal dancer in 2012, the same year that Nina Kaptsova and Ekaterina Shipulina were promoted to principal. Igor Tsvirko was promoted from the corps de ballet to soloist in 2013, first solist in 2014, and leading soloist in 2015. He is not a principal.