Diana Vishneva--interview

[NO7]

I just admire Vishneva so much. That's why I can't help putting this link: http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_03/fe...ew_vishneva.htm

[Viviane]

Earlier this month, I found a similar, disappointing interview with Diana Vishneva in Dance Europe. After reading them I ended up with nothing else than questions. Aren't interviews supposed to learn something more about a dancer rather than idolizing paperfilling? It seems that nowadays the contents of interviews are often in sharp contrast with the colourful glamour pictures that are provided with it. It even made me decide to cut drastically in my purchases of (glossy) magazines ! (Two will remain without doubt : DanceView and Dance Now ;) ).

We all know that a renowned dancer like Vishneva has a hectic life, yet to my mind it's the interviewer's task to create a real dialogue with the dancer, by using thought-provoking questions. That didn't happen in any of the interviews here. For instance it would be a lot more interesting for a balletomane to hear something about Vishneva's work with her coaches, and not just their names, but rather what she actually learns from them (I can't believe that she is placing them on the same level as a videotape, while in the Dance Europe interview she doesn't even mention them, but talks about all the prizes she received.) That would have been more interesting than to read she is waiting for invitations from NYCB and Royal Ballet, or about the roles she is hoping to dance.

And where are we going if one of the Kirov's top ballerinas can't even give a straight answer about the situation of choreography in Russia or to what constitutes the strength of the Mariinsky Ballet and of the Vaganova system? - Altynai ! Help !

Maybe I don't need to search for answers in magazines and should ask for them here on the forum?! ;)

[Alexandra]

Vishneva is being interviewed all over the place. I'm copying over this from a post Ari made on Links a few days ago.

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The Baltimore Sun goes to St. Petersburg to interview artists about how they have made the transition from Soviet to post-Soviet rule.

In a world driven by profits, artists find that they must work faster as well as longer. A decade ago, dancers at the Mariinsky Theater — home to Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov before they defected — might rehearse for a month before taking a production to the stage.

Now, says a harried [Diana] Vishneva, they have just two weeks. "It's like the time started to flow more quickly. Before, there was a completely different tempo of life," says the casually athletic 26-year-old, who has performed in an exhausting range of roles over the past seven years and spends six months a year touring.

"One gets very tired of this," she says, slouching wearily at a table in the backstage staff canteen. "It's like some unbelievable race. The burden is becoming bigger and bigger."

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I haven't read any of these interviews (except for the excerpt above) and so can't comment on them -- I note that in this excerpt, we also learn that Vishneva is hardworking and harried.