Yekaterina Vasilyevna Geltzer (November 2, 1876 – December 12, 1962) was a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet who danced in the theatre from 1898 to 1935.
Her most famous post-revolutionary role was a Chinese dancer in the premiere of Glière's The Red Poppy.
After the divorce, Yekaterina Geltzer and Vasily Tikhomirov remained onstage partners.
Once backstage at the Bolshoi Theatre, and well past the age of 60, Geltzer was heard telling her colleagues "help me get myself up en pointe, after that I know what to do."
[1][2][3] For years, there has been a rumor in Russia that Mannerheim and Geltzer would have secretly married, accidentally ended up apart, and jointly had a "son" Emil,[4][5] whose descendants would still live in South America today, but Mannerheim scholars have only reacted negatively and characterized the claim just a "Russian fairy tale.