37 replies to this topic

[Natalia]

cinnamonswirl, on 16 February 2012 - 10:47 AM, said:

...What I meant and didn't express very well, was what changed within the Mariinsky administration so that they decided to hire her/sponsor her visa now, rather than two years ago. I assume she has a champion within the company who kept pushing until Fateev agreed to hire her?

I wonder if she'll any open resentment from other dancers. The Mariinsky, Bolshoi, POB -- they seem like difficult companies to be a foreigner in.

Exactly my points. She must have lobbied good and hard with 'the powers that be' when she visited last summer, one year after her graduation.

It also could be tactical. Had she been taken-in upon graduation, there's no way that she would have been appointed Choryphee...and, as I pointed out above, the top ladies in the Class of 2010, such as Marchuk, and even 2009 (Stepanova et al) remain in the Corps de Ballet. I believe that one lady from the Class of 2008, Nikitina, was recently appointed Choryphee.

'Marketing Possibilities' could be playing a big part in this. It could be that Kampa's hyper-extensions & razz-matazz style fit-in with Fateev's latest uber-moderne craze and ambitions for more 'Kings of Dance' sorts of ventures? Maybe Ardani & Fateev are preparing a 'Gumby Queens of Dance' tour for City Center in Spring 2013 - Somova, Skorik, Kampa? Reality-TV cameras in the wings, no doubt. Maybe due to Kekhman's changes at the Mikhailovsky, the ballet scene in StP has become very money-centric, 'moderne'/anti-Petipa and 'jazzed up.' (Duato at the Mik, Bejart revivals at the Mariinsky, Vishneva doing her 'Dialogues,' etc.) Moscow now has the more elegant ballet companies (Bolshoi & Stanislavski) of Russia. Hard to believe but true.

p.s. Unrelated thought: The Bejart program could very well pique the interest of Farrell (head of ballet programming at the Kennedy Center), who danced with the MB troupe in the 70s and remains a huge Bejart proponent. Let's brace ourselves for possibly the "All-Bejart Spectacular" in 2013...forget Raymonda and the like.

[Helene]

There isn't much an employee can do to "lobby with the powers that be", since the governement issues the work visas: it would be The Powers That Be who lobby with the government.

There was a beautifuly Canadian dancer at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Alexandra Dickson, who had to leave the Company for a couple of years because of work visa issues -- the US would not grant one -- but eventually, PNB was able to sort it out so that she was able to return.  However, it can take years.

The work visa environment for foreign dancers in Russia has opened a bit, as we can see from the Bolshoi's abiliity to hire David Hallberg.  The argument for Kampa is that she attended the school for training.  (She was "finished" there, since she didn't start as a child).  There are a number of younger students at the Bolshoi School who are coming up the ranks with a full/almost a full dance education from the school.  The government had to decided whether to allow foreign-trained dancers to work in Russia, and this is a good sign for the kids at the Bolshoi's school that there is a chance for them if they earn it.

Has anyone seen Kampa dance with the Boston Ballet?  If so, I'd appreciate it you would comment on her dancing and style over the last few years.

[cinnamonswirl]

I like Kampa's dancing, from what's on YT. But looking at still photos, her hips are so tilted in a la seconde, they're pratically vertical! Example from her Facebook: http://www.facebook....&type=3

It'll be interesting to see what happens in the next few years.

[Natalia]

Helene, on 16 February 2012 - 12:01 PM, said:

There isn't much an employee can do to "lobby with the powers that be", since the governement issues the work visas:...

This assumes that obtaining a visa was the only reason why she was not taken into the company in June 2010, upon her graduation.

[Solnishka79]

Maybe this has already been discussed but Maya Dumchenko is now on the Coaches/Rep. list and gone from the roster of dancers on the website.

[Natalia]

_{Thanks. This must have been a recent change. Well, another sad story of 'What could have/should have been.' I had hope that she was back on the way up when we saw her Juliet at the Kennedy Center 5 or so years ago but she ended up doing virtually nothing back home, after that tour.  She graduated in '95...same year as Vishneva, Iosifidi, Gumerova, Fadeev, Kuznetsov, etc. That was the year when she won the Vaganova Prix, among with Fadeev. To think that those two 'bright lights of 1995' ended up retiring prematurely (for different reasons) is very sad.}

[vrsfanatic]

M. Dumchenko was a marvelous dancer and a very kind person. She will be a wonderful asset to the coaching staff of Mariinsky. Odd to think so much time has passed.

[polyphonyfan]

Lidewij,

Lidewij, on 26 January 2012 - 02:30 PM, said:

This makes me sad.  I like to think of the Mariinsky as the "best company of the world" (that's what my mother said to me when she first showed me a ballet video when I was 6 or 7), and when I see (or usually: see on youtube) that the standards are not as high as they used to be, it makes me really sad.

That is interesting. I might just be me, but I kind of think that today's Mariinsky dancers are not quite as supremely graceful as they used to be (although I still think that they are probably the most graceful company in the world), I think that most of the principal dancers still have that supreme grace, especially of course, Lopatkina and Vishneva, and no doubt others that I haven't seen videos of.   What aspects of decline do you notice?