MOSCOW — The general director of the Bolshoi Theater confirmed on Monday that the organization will postpone a much-anticipated ballet depicting the life of the dance legend Rudolf Nureyev, but rejected accusations that he was bowing to state censorship because of the ballet’s gay themes and controversial director.

The Bolshoi first announced the postponement in a short news release on Saturday, three days before the scheduled premiere of “Nureyev,” sending shock waves through the Russian cultural elite.

Vladimir G. Urin, general director of the Bolshoi, told a packed news conference here on Monday that the management, after watching a final dress rehearsal last week, felt that the choreography, by Yuri Possokhov, still needed work. “We were very depressed by what we saw,” he said.

With a cast of more than 100, including opera singers, a chorus, actors and musicians onstage as well as the dancers, the ballet requires an extraordinary level of coordination, Mr. Urin said.