A Russian Ballet Proposal!

This is a much less tragic end to the Romeo and Juliet storyline…

The Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet theatre is the largest in Russia. Often called the ‘Siberian Coliseum’, it seats more than 1790 people and has a packed schedule of ballet and operatic performances throughout the year. Kseniya Zakharova and Nikolay Matlsev are the prima ballerina and premier dancer duo who capture hearts and eyes with their stunning performances at the theatre. Although, sadly, they don’t often get to dance together on stage. Oh, and they’re also a pretty cute couple.

One of the rare times when the couple shared the stage happened last month, and funnily enough, it was for a performance of Romeo and Juliet. It was the first night of the much anticipated show, so it was always going to be pretty special. But NIkolay decided to make it even more so by hatching a cunning plan months in advance, unknown to his love Kseniya…

Kseniya and Nikolay were standing on stage after the encore of the show as the audience applauded, when he decided to take on the spirit of Romeo. He reached behind the curtain as Kseniya took her bows, and when she turned around again he was on one knee with a ring in his hand… in front of the 1800-strong audience!

https://youtu.be/BCm4UdvcVJQ

Kseniya almost dropped her guard entirely, but regained enough composure to be able to accept the proposal. After even more enthusiastic cheering from the audience, they left the stage to be greeted with many hugs and handshakes from the troupe waiting behind the curtain (some of whom knew of NIkolay’s cunning plan).

Artyom Pukhalsky, Marketing Director for the theatre, said “it came as a big surprise for all of us. Of course, we are trying to dig out some details now. Obviously, he was preparing to do it for a while – he was waiting for the Romeo and Juliet ballet when they would be dancing together. They do not dance together very often. We have many performances and they have different parts.”

Congratulations to Kseniya and Nikolay!