Mariinsky under Fateyev

[MadameP]

That wasn't my question, which was, weren't the majority of corps members career corps members, dancing third swan from the back, with no chance for solos after their graduation performances? In Soviet times, they couldn't leave and take those soloist and principal positions in other companies.

That certainly wasn't the case for Altynai Asylmuratova. In this interview http://www.for-ballet-lovers-only.com/interviews-asylmuratova.html

she says she herself was in the corps de ballet for four years, before moving up through the ranks.

[MadameP]

I read this thread with interest - there are many informative interviews and links! - and I have to say I do find some of Yuri Fateyev's management policies mystifying, to say the least. I was looking through the recently updated playbill on the Mariinsky website, and saw in the Don Quixote of 5th December an unknown ballerina danced as Queen of the Dryads - Evgenia Gonzales. She dances the same role again on 24th January and has a few other solo roles already with the company. Her bio says she is a 2015 graduate of the Royal Swedish school I know that two year groups graduated Vaganova this year - years 8 and 9, as this will be the last year there is a year 9 class. All those girls graduating, and many were not even employed by Mariinsky, and yet a girl who was not even at Vaganova is given this coveted role, a role that is danced still by several first soloists, and even principal dancers of the company. I do not understand it.

[Birdsall]

MadameP, I don't understand it either. It would be different if Fateyev were hiring major superstars from elsewhere like ABT does (Gomes, Osipova, etc). That would at least make sense for overall ticket sales and "buzz" for the company. I don't think I would really want that either, BUT at least that would make sense from a management point of view. It seems very strange to import people from other places for the corps and promote them actively when most Mariinsky lovers love the Mariinsky for the unique style due to Vaganova training. If he starts importing people into the corps from all over the place and the corps is no longer mainly Vaganova graduates one day and even the future principals rank ends up being completely filled with these outside, non-Vaganova dancers who are promoted quickly, the unique style will be lost forever, I suspect. Then, there will be no point to go to St. Petersburg and see the Mariinsky.

[Natalia]

I see that the Mariinsky Ballet's corps includes a Japanese lady, Kumiko Ishii. I'm wondering if she is related to Rika Ishii, who used to guest regularly with the Mariinsky during the early 1990s (Vinogradov late era)?

Seeing an occasional non-Russian on the company's roster is nothing new, ie, Ti En Ryu, Rasta Thomas, Keenan Kampa, Xander Parish, Kimin Kim, Kumiko Ishii, etc. That hasn't stopped me from going.

[MadameP]

I see that the Mariinsky Ballet's corps includes a Japanese lady, Kumiko Ishii. I'm wondering if she is related to Rika Ishii, who used to guest regularly with the Mariinsky during the early 1990s (Vinogradov late era)?

Seeing an occasional non-Russian on the company's roster is nothing new, ie, Ti En Ryu, Rasta Thomas, Keenan Kampa, Xander Parish, Kimin Kim, Kumiko Ishii, etc. That hasn't stopped me from going.

Interesting! I don't know whether Kumiko is related to Rika, but maybe! I agree there are non-Russians on the roster from time to time, at different levels, but at the moment there are actually a lot of new imports in the CORPS from other schools of dance inside the former Soviet Union apart from Vaganova, yet there are many Vaganova graduates who were not given a contract this year. OK, maybe SOME, a few, of them were not as good as others, but some of the girls who were dancing major roles at this year's graduation performances were not given contracts - Tshkvitaria and Skvortsova for example. WHY? It does seem odd, and as Birdsall says, why are the non Vaganova graduates actively promoted as well? I do think Yuri Fateyev is trying to make the company more "international" and it would be so awful it the unique Vaganova style was lost. At the moment though, I will still travel to St Petersburg to see Mariinsky, as I still believe it is the best company in the world, certainly the one I most enjoy watching.

[Natalia]

Link to photo of Evgeniya Gonzales (standing far right) last year. She won a prize at the 2014 Nordic Baltic Ballet Competition.

http://www.dansportalen.se/111/-fler-artiklar/nyhetsarkiv/2014-10-28-hart-arbete-och-talang-leder-till-resultat.html

And here is a close up shot:

http://www.dansportalen.se/111/-fler-artiklar/nyhetsarkiv/2014-10-25-framgang-i-grasse-for-evgeniya-och-frei.html

Some links to Kumiko Ishii, who graduated from Vaganova in 2013;

http://japandailypress.com/18-year-old-ballerina-becomes-first-japanese-to-join-russias-mariinsky-ballet-1732500/

...and her bio on the MT web:

http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet_mt_women/ishii/

[Natalia]

Compared to the past few years, very few members of the Vaganova Class of 2015 received contracts to the Mariinsky....Shakirova & Lukina of course. Also Fayeev's daughter, Ksenia Fateeva, and Alina Krasovskaya. Any men from among the 2015 grads? I don't even see Maxim Sevagin, who was the male class leader-valedictorian, on the corps roster. (Shakirova was the female leader, in ceremonies at Tsarskoe Selo.)

[MadameP]

Compared to the past few years, very few members of the Vaganova Class of 2015 received contracts to the Mariinsky....Shakirova & Lukina of course. Also Fayeev's daughter, Ksenia Fateeva, and Alina Krasovskaya. Any men from among the 2015 grads? I don't even see Maxim Sevagin, who was the male class leader-valedictorian, on the corps roster. (Shakirova was the female leader, in ceremonies at Tsarskoe Selo.)

I know that Evgeny Kuznetsov, who many considered the best male dancer graduating, was not given a contract and ended up at Stanislavsky, along with Tshkvitaria (sp?)

[Natalia]

Thanks, Mme P. Elena Solomiamko also went to the Stanislavsky.

Someone emailed me that German Borsai Capitan got a job with the ballet in Budapest. Another male grad of 2015, the American Adrian Blake Mitchell, went to the Mikhailovsky.

So no male graduates of 2015 at the Mariinsky, it seems.

So many (over 50?) dancers were hired by the MT since the opening of Mariinsky II in May 2013, that it left very few openings for the class of 2015. I hope that the upcoming graduation class (2016) may be more fortunate.

[naomikage]

I see that the Mariinsky Ballet's corps includes a Japanese lady, Kumiko Ishii. I'm wondering if she is related to Rika Ishii, who used to guest regularly with the Mariinsky during the early 1990s (Vinogradov late era)?

No she is not. Ishii is a common surname here. Rika Ishii was infamous to have bought her roles at Kirov

[Natalia]

No she is not. Ishii is a common surname here. Rika Ishii was infamous to have bought her roles at Kirov

Thanks. I always wondered. She or Julia Moon would appear out of the blue as guest stars at the Mariinsky. Not to say that their situations were similar...Julia had stronger tech.