Evgeniia Kolosova
Kolosova, Evgeniia Ivanovna
(née Neelova). Born Dec. 15 (26), 1780; died Mar. 30 (Apr. 11), 1869. Russian ballerina.
Upon graduating from the St. Petersburg Theatrical School in 1799 (where she was a student of I. I. Val’berkh), she became a
soloist of the St. Petersburg state troupe. The characters of great tragic force created by Kolosova in the ballets Romeo and Juliet by Steibelt, Medea and Jason by Rodolphe, and Phaedra and Hippolitus by Cavos and Turik elicited ecstatic response from her audiences, including A. S. Pushkin. One of the first to embody a contemporary figure in the ballet (The Girl in New Werther by Titov), she also turned to Russian dances and successfully performed them on the ballet stage. She replaced the sumptuous stylized costumes with the classical chiton. Kolosova was also a dramatic actress. Her role as a teacher was important in creating a Russian school of choreography. Her influence shaped the dancing art of M. I. Danilova, A. I. Istomina, and A. A. Likhutina.