18 replies to this topic

[rg]

points taken, N.
maybe we'll never know.
another suggestion was a slave from Jacobson's SPARTAK but the bow would make little or no sense in that case, so.....

[Natalia]

You're welcome, RG! I truly love looking up anything related to Kirov-Mariinsky lore in my collection. If only I could afford to do only this, time-wise. (Wouldn't we all, eh?)

Since you mentioned SPARTAK:  No SPARTAK in YS' rep. I just checked this in the 2004 tome. It's a rather trustworthy list, compiled by Vadim Kiselev of the St. Petersburg Theater Museum --  from YS' first role as a 'friend of the prince' in Swan Lake (1958) to his last debut as Romeo in R&J (1975).

[Natalia]

A quick final check of a couple of English-language sources has yielded results:

Gennadi Smakov's The Great Russian Dancers, Soloviev chapter, mentions that YS performed two pas de deux at his graduation in 1958:

1. Diana & Acteon pdd (bingo!)...hence, the photo in the '58 graduation section  in my 2004 tome...the costume in YOUR postcard, RG. So all clues point to Acteon...not Okean or anything else.

and

2. Bluebird pdd from Sleeping Beauty.

Independently, I heard from a scholar-author friend in St-P who confirms that YS' female partner in the latter was Makarova as Florine (although Makarova did not graduate until '59).

OK - I'll stop looking. Too much fun.

[rg]

thanks, again, N.
i'll consult my Smakov for your hot tip.