Tiara

I love watching Oksana Marchuk - she is one of my favourites, and a beautiful classical ballerina with an imcomparable, radiant presence on stage. When I watch Mariinsky I always look out for her, but it is not hard, since her gifts make her very noticeable on stage! I would hate for her to leave Mariinsky though - wahtever problems it may be having, it is still the greatest ballet company in the world, and the greatest stage for the greatest dancers!

Unfortunately, this is also what is happening on the male roster, with Mickey Mouse frequently cast in the lead. The principal ranks are decidedly lacklustre, with aging dancers repeatedly cast, such as Ivanchenko, while the new and up and coming talent is denied its chances. On June 6th the new 3D Swan Lake will be seen by millions, and in the role of Siegfried will be Timur Askerov, who in my opinion is a very average dancer, characterized by stiff upper body, lack of expression and no acting ability. He is not even a true representative of the Vaganova/Mariinsky tradition, having graduated from the Baku School of Dance in 2008. Daria Pavlenko in her recent letter to the Minister of Culture, widely quoted, complained about the iniquitous system inside the Mariinsky, where dancers often are able to buy roles, penalized for various misdemeanours, and many gifted dancers not given roles, while the favoured few flourish.

With regard to Skorik representing the "new" Mariinsky aesthetic - well, this is an interesting point. Fateev is actually considered by many of the dancers to be an unforgiving person, so I think that if he had total freedom concerning Skorik, he would not have allowed her to carry on making one terrible mistake after another. I believe there are some other factors at play here. And Fateev may prefer tall, skinny, leggy girls, but this is only his preference, and I believe that once he leaves, this "look" will no longer become so desired, simply because there are just too many girls within the company who do not fit this look, and whose talent cannot be ignored. True talent cannot be ignored forever.

True. The difference is that others -- Mezentseva, Lopatkina and Zakharova, for starters -- were (are) talented and technically adept from the get-go. "Limbs alone don't do it." Exactly so. Oxana Skorik is about as far from Mezentseva, Lopatkina and Zakharova as it is possible to get, and none of those three ballerinas were ever so consistently miscast as Skorik has been, and continues to be.

Cygnet, I agree completely with everything you say, and also see the problems at Mariinsky as having one root: Yuri Fateev. The loss of both Makhalina and Ayupova as coaches is downright inexplicable. Two wonderful ballerinas, who exemplfied all that is best in the Kirov tradition, and they are unable to pass on the legacy of their training to the younger generation of ballerinas. It is inexplicable. To the list of those dancers who have been "lost" are the supremely talented graduates Olga Smirnova, Kristina Shapran, Viktor Lebedev and Sergei Strelkov, all of whom chose to dance elsewhere. And, particularly with the current desperately poor male principal roster, the losses of Leo Sarafanov and Mikhail Lobukhin were also devastating. Fateev has a wonderful depth of talent in his company, but he chooses to ignore it and instead promote one vastly inferior ballerina: Oxana Skorik. It seems we are all banging our heads against a brick wall complaining about her, but complain we must. If nobody complained, there would never even be a chance of change. There are unfortunately just so many problems "in the system" at the moment. The Vaganova study programme is now 9 years instead of 8 and so the dancers who graduate into the company do so at a later age, some of them 21, and the dancers who the management seem to prefer are the tall, skinny, leggy ones, regardless of talent. We do look to the graduation performances each year with hope, and this year there is one dancer who I believe we can pin our hopes on, and also, she represents the Kirov/Mariinsky legacy as her teacher is Veronika Ivanova, herself a beautiful pure stylist - and this is her first graduation class. Sofya Ivanova-Skoblikova is a lovely dancer, a great technician with real presence and personality on stage and the most beautiful arms and movement. Last year as an undergraduate she danced the Fairy of Dolls and she was absolutely superb. I think she is definitely one to watch. Assylmuratova's own daughter, Anastasia Zaklinskaya, also graduates this year. Also in evidence at the graduation performances will be Ksenia Zhiganshina and Svetlana Strebko - two more talented young ballerinas. Vaganova Academy can still produce fabulous, beautifully trained representatives in the Vaganova tradition, and really it is up to Fateev to use them as they deserve. That he does not is truly iniquitous. Unfortunately for her, Ivanova is a short ballerina, and given Fateev's preference for tall ballerinas, I already worry that this lovely dancer will not be given the chance she should be. I do feel that all is not lost, as the wonderful legacy is still there, and there are still wonderful dancers coming through - but Yuri Fateev needs to see sense and either resign or change his casting policy. Does he really want to go down in history as the man who single-handedly destroyed the centuries old Mariinsky tradition, because that is exactly what he is doing?

Batoeva!! You should see her in Rubies - she is absolutely stunning! Actually, she is absolutely stunning in everything she does! She should be a principal!

I completely agree with you, and if, like me, you had watched her make mistakes in live performance, you would be even angrier. I have never seen her give a perfect performance. And the scandal is that Oxana Skorik is cast repeatedly, despite continuing to make mistakes. How many Swan Lakes did she do over the last year? It must be over 20, and there are so many wonderful ballerinas in the junior ranks who have never had one attempt at the role. Why keep giving roles to a ballerina who keeps making mistakes? It is ludicrous. Yes, she can produce beautiful line in isolated poses, but where is the quality of movement and beautiful, flowing arms? She does not have it - and is singularly lacking in expression. To see her cast so frequently at the expense of many of my favourite younger dancers makes me absolutely furious.

Unfortunately, many audience members are forced to watch these inferior performances of Skorik's. Subscribers have to pay a lot of money to buy a set number of performances in advance without knowing which ballerinas are performing. People from abroad (like myself) who go to Mariinsky a few times a year and want to see certain ballets have to wait to see which casts are put on the playbill in order to avoid seeing Oxana Skorik, or have to not see certain ballets if she is cast. I know of many Russian ballet fans who sell their tickets often at a loss if she is cast. No - no-one has to buy it, but the management is very guilty of making it extremely difficult to avoid seeing her, since she is cast so frequently.

It is good to be positive, but I think some of the problem is there are too many people who have given Oxana Skorik the benefit of the doubt too many times. There is a difference between hoping someone will improve and giving her a chance, and knowing when to quit because this is not going to happen. The Mariinsky audience suffers because it does not see a truly Great Mariinsky Ballerina, and other dancers suffer because they are denied chances to dance. Mariinsky management is completely at fault for all this.

The only interesting fact about Oxana Skorik to me is the fact that she is cast at all despite her inadequacies. Far from having a "gentle overall expression" she is one of the least expressive dancers I have seen, having a very still face that does not communicate emotion to the audience. The number of mistakes that she makes renders her completely unfit to be a Mariinsky soloist in my opinion, and far from having wonderful flow of movement, I see a dancer who merely moves between poses. I completely fail to understand how anyone can enjoy her dancing and I have seen her dance on Mariinsky stage many times.

I completely agree with you, and I also find this "break" in the wrists and sharp fingers very distracting - actually I found her arms generally, especially as Odile, to be stiff. She does have speed, great technique and brilliant turns, but I don't think she has any wonderful flow of movement. I found her Odette very cold and involving. She was more suited to Odile, but even here, she is aloof. It is interesting that she herself says, as quoted above, "in Mariinsky theatre, my dance would be considered as more spiritual and refined, but Bolshoi audiences sometimes might judge it as cold." Actually, I feel many Mariinsky audience members would consider her cold also: this is my main criticism of her. I look at her and never can engage with her - she is not a warm, expressive dancer and not a natural actress, and so I cannot like her.

Have you seen Skorik's Kitri debut recently? She was truely awful with no musicality, no gracefulness, no expressing upper body, no acting skills, etc... Fififi, ITA with you. Skorik (or other tall & hyper-thin adagio dancers) should never have been cast as Kitri. I truly admire Skorik's line, including use of arms and fingers. When she slowly unfolds her limbs in an adagio, she is ravishing. She is not a zippy allegro dancer. I don't know why Mariinsky casts her (or Kampa) in such roles. Natalia, LOL! I agree with the first part of your post - and Skorik's Kitri was "truely awful with no musicality, no gracefulness, no expressing upper body, no acting skills, etc.." but I am sorry, and I just cannot agree with you that she is ravishing in adagio. Please tell me where you have seen her be ravishing in adagio?! I do find her far too thin, especially those very angular arms, to be beautiful in adagio work. Yes, she can make good lines in isolated poses, but I do not see any wonderful flow of movement. The lines have to be there for a meaning - they have to be part of the expression of a character, or an inner meaning but with Skorik, the movements are just empty. Her lines in poses convey nothing. To me she just goes from position to position, often at the expense of the musical phrase, with little feeling. I do not see her soul in her dancing, and so for me, she can never be ravishing.

Couldn't agree more. Why pick Skorik at all? What about Stepanova, Batoeva, Nikitina, Marchuk, Krasnokutskaya, Petushkova, Adzhamova ... there are so many wonderful ballerinas who had the necessary speed, jump, brilliance, personality for Kitri. Skorik has none of these qualities. Nikitina has a far more brilliant technique and all the requisite qualities for a Kitri yet she has had no principal role debuts at all, or even secondary role debuts, despite being a coryphee. Why is Mariinsky management giving this one ballerina every principal role in its repertoire and then allowing her to dance it so many times? How many Odette/Odiles did she dance last season? How many other debuts in the role were there? What about the opportunities for other dancers? They must all be totally demoralized by their lack of opportunity and be wondering what on earth they must do to get roles. Why Skorik?

Martynyuk is a great Kitri - full of panache, brilliant speed and footwork, and having so much fun - whereas Skorik just makes the viewer feel tired along with her. Her variation is so slow, and walking to start her pirouette diagonale??? Had she forgotten she was Kitri? She should not be doing this role at all - she is completely unsuited for it, but then she should not be doing so many roles. Mariinsky management is greatly at fault for promoting this inferior ballerina at the expense of so many more worthy ones.

Historically, ballet directors have been experienced businessmen, with Kekhman at Mikhailovsky as a current example. It is generally not advisable to have a director of opera or music or ballet as director of the entire theatre, making decisions on his speciality and possibly discriminating against one of the other areas, particularly if he is known as not liking one field, which is its most important field. Gergiev has proved that he is not qualified to run the entire theatre due to his obvious discrimination against the field which has built the Mariinsky tradition during Tsarist times, during Soviet times and today: BALLET. Anyone looking at ticket prices will realize that Gergiev knows which is his money maker because ballet performances have much higher prices than operas and concerts. Opera and concerts will offer many more discount tickets to Russian citizens than what is offered for ballet. Gergiev knows which is his top money maker, but he treats the ballet company like slaves and the opera and music company much more favorably. Anyone looking at what has been happening with the May playbill, will see that MT1 opera casting came out more than 7 days prior to ballet casting and the final 5 ballets currently shown have no casts. Today, MT2 programs have been listed for the end of the month, but only operas and concerts have been listed today, no ballets. There are 11 days of MT2 performances with many open dates and no ballets shown. Gergiev may charge much more money for ballet, but he treats ballet as being subservient to opera and music.

Yes, the ballet is incidental and not high on Gergiev's agenda. And, with the current frequent casting of such dancers as Kampa and Skorik, I am afraid I do wish to know casting in advance so that I can avoid these dancers. And in the current financial climate at MT, where it is not the best, most talented dancers who get to perform, yes, I do want to know in advance exactly which dancers I will be seeing. The wonderful performances the audiences deserve to see are few and far between, and there are many discerning balletomanes who deserve to be able to have a choice of who to see. Mariinsky management is guilty of extreme arrogance in thinking any name will sell its performances out. They need to look at the displeasure expressed by members of this and other forums and realize that knowledgeable fans are not happy about who is being given roles, and that this information needs to be shown on their antiquated website long in advance so that audiences can have the opportunity to vote with their feet and veto these performances. Perhaps MT management thinks the only way they will sell tickets to see certain dancers is if the audiences do not know until the last minute that they will be performing? I will continue going to see the Mariinsky, but I will not waste my money on seeing dancers who I know are not worthy to be dancing on the Mariinsky stage. I want to see a detailed playbill with detailed casting before I buy my tickets and Mariinsky management needs to take the wishes of its audience into consideration.

She is now listed in the corps de ballet, so unless there is someone with exactly the same name in the corps de ballet, it would appear she has been demoted.

Yes, perhaps Mariinsky does this because it can, but it does not display a very good shopfront to the world. The opening of the new theatre was long known about and any efficiently run company would have had the website prepared for this occasion. I do think their lack of efficiency in this regard shows a total disregard for dancers and audiences alike.

For years now Mariinsky management have been planning the building of their new Mariinsky 2 Theatre, due to open on May 1st. What a shame they have not given the same attention to the design of a new website. Next month I hope to go to St Petersburg, but only today, two weeks before the beginning of the month. has the casting started to appear for May. As for June - it is nowhere in sight Not even the playbill is listed. Just to really drive home how completely prehistoric MT is, today in the post (mail to you Americans) I received my Friends of Covent Garden quarterly magazine together with fully illustrated 90 page Season Guide for 2013/14. This lists every single ballet and opera scheduled for the whole Royal Opera House season up until mid June 2014, with each performance date and time and also when booking opens for each part of the season. Every ballet and opera has an illustrated synopsis. Also, the magazine gives every casting until end January. I consider Mariinsky Theatre to be the greatest in the world, yet its technology, PR, publicity and management are probably some of the worst. The dancers themselves do not know what they will be dancing often until it appears on the website. Ballet-goers are forced to "buy blind" at extortionate prices, often without any prior knowledge of casts. St Petersburg residents and tourists alike, no-one even knows what will be on the playbill until the month before. This is a ridiculous situation. What do others think of this?

I hope not - it is so beautiful just as it is and I would hate for it to have all its atmospheric decor spoiled by "updating!"

I believe Mariinsky does have a reason for giving Kampa so much exposure and this was discussed by Natalia further up the thread. Kampa was brought in "with special sponsors and even a reality-TV project in the works and a documentary reality film. " Clearly any subject of any tv project or documentary reality film would need to be given roles to warrant this type of exposure, regardless of how fit she was or wasn't to dance them, in the same way that any company sponsoring an individual expects that individual to be seen prominently.

Being "prepared" for a role and actually being able to perform it are two different things. As far as I can see, Keenan Kampa could be coached all year for a role and would still not look like a Mariinsky ballerina. She does not have the expressive use of the upper body, the fluidity and beautiful arms that come naturally to a girl who has had the full Vaganova training. Kampa has a thin veneer of Vaganova training, but that is all: put simply, she just does not have what it takes.

In answer to your question, this is why I wrote above, This disastrous slip-up is bad enough, but when one allies it with Kampa's other shortfalls - her lack of fluidity, her stiff arms and upper body, her lack of expression and indeed air of ill-ease every time she steps on the stage, any ballet lover must surely say "Enough! Where are the true Mariinsky ballerinas?"

I agree with you - sometimes the truth hurts, and yes, it is unpalatable and unpleasant, but the fact is, as you say, this is the great Mariinsky we are talking about, and Miss Kampa is neither a student nor even now a debutante in this role. I, too, have seen the doctored version on YouTube, with the faulty fouettes conveniently edited out. Mistakes can, of course, be forgiven, but this is a major one and Miss Kampa seems to be following in the footsteps of Oxana Skorik, who also can do no wrong in management eyes and keeps on being cast in roles for which she is entirely unsuited, no matter how mistakes she makes. This disastrous slip-up is bad enough, but when one allies it with Kampa's other shortfalls - her lack of fluidity, her stiff arms and upper body, her lack of expression and indeed air of ill-ease every time she steps on the stage, any ballet lover must surely say "Enough! Where are the true Mariinsky ballerinas?" The answer is very clear - they are in the corps or coryphee ranks, but they are just not being given the same opportunities as either Miss Kampa or Miss Skorik. Batoeva, Stepanova, Nikitina, Krasnokutskaya, Petushkova ... all would be wonderful Kitris, but where are their debuts in this role?

I recently saw two performances both with Valeria Zapasnikova in Laurencia at Mikhailovsky Theatre. She is an outstanding ballerina, with virtuoso technique and great presence. The scenes where she incites the villagers to go and fight and her triumphant final scenes were just amazing - especially her expression, which penetrated to the very back row of the theatre. She is a great talent. Lebedev is a truly elegant danseur, with smooth, creamy technique and was in the pas de six, clearly the best male dancer on the stage, also deserving of principal status in any company, and by far better than Marat Shemiunov, whose Frondoso was really extremely sloppy technically.