Tiara

I happen to like Maria Shirinkina very much and consider her to be a lovely lyrical classical ballerina with some of the most beautiful arms in the Mariinsky. She is not a bravura, virtuoso type ballerina, but she has not been cast as one, and I personally found her very effective and loved her performances as Giselle, Syuimbike, Shirin, Masha and others. I think Cinderella will be a very good role for her and wish her every success. Shirinkina graduated from an 8 year ballet programme in Perm and joined Mariinsky Theatre immediately after her graduation in 2006. At that time, Vaziev was ballet director and many will say that he used the youngsters in good roles, too much, to the detriment of veterans with great experience. However, Shirinkina cannot be blamed for taking her opportunities. In this environment which Shirinkina entered, in her first Mariinsky Festival, during her first season in spring 2007, she danced the role of Amor in Don Quixote, which featured Natalia Osipova, Leonid Sarafanov and Alina Somova. Nowadays, Vaganova graduates cannot dance in their first Mariinsky Festival at such an early age as Shirinkina, since in 2007, Vaganova changed to a 9 year program. The youth lover, Vaziev, has been replaced by Fateyev, who seems to not comprehend that there are differences in the stage talent of the young dancers.. He seems to think that all dancers need time to develop as professionals, but now they are starting one year older than previously because of Vaganova's 9 year program, replacing the 8 years that always existed since Vaganova died. In addition, because of Vaganova entrance requirements on height, many students now start later meaning that some graduate at as old as 20 or 21, which hardly ever happened before. Marchuk graduated at an older age than Maria Shirinkina and with the exception of Martynyuk, it is not possible to find a more suited dancer for Amor, than Marchuk. Marchuk has never danced Amor and she will now enter her 3rd Mariinsky season, after going through Vaganova's long 9 year programme. Something must be seriously wrong with Fateyev if he is unable to give a relatively easy role, Amor, to a dancer with such amazing natural gifts for that role. We are not talking about Giselle which requires much more skill and diverse talents than Amor, a role which any good Vaganova student can dance. Don Quixote is scheduled for 19th and 28th October, and would be a wonderful opportunity for Fateyev to give this lovely dancer her chance in the role.

According to the Mariinsky website, Novikova now replaces Tereshkina for the opening night Raymonda. I also read, but I cannot remember where now, that she, Somova and Matvienko may not dance in America, so Somova's Washington Cinderella will be recast, as will be her, Tereshkina's and Matvienko's Swan Lakes in California. This would seem to be an excellent opportunity for Yuri Fateyev to revive his bored ballet audiences with some new and much-deserved casting of underappreciated ballerinas. A Marchuk CInderella and a Stepanova Swan Lake would both be wonderful substitutes.

I saw the Mariinsky's Cinderella in Edinburgh yesterday, and here was another perfect example of Yuri Fateyev wasting opportunities. Oksana Marchuk, discussed earlier in this thread, featured twice - as one of the autumn season fairy attendants, and as one of the dancers in red and black two piece costume in the final act. She is one of those dancers who you just notice instantly every time they come on stage - she has such a wonderful radiant quality, exquisite flowing arms and is so beautiful: her smile lights up the whole stage. Every time I see her dance I think the same thing - why is she not being given principal roles? She should be dancing Aurora, Giselle and Juliet. Good though Osmolkina was as Cinderella - and she was only good - in my opinion Oksana Marchuk would have been outstanding and was just made for this ballet. She certainly has all the expressive qualities and beauty. She also has a light, clean technique, as seen in her lovely Effie in Sylphide, and wonderful lyricism - Cinderella would be such a perfect role for her. If only Yuri Fateyev could understand that the public wants to see new, young ballerinas such as Marchuk given opportunities to show off their star quality. Apparently he does like the name Oksana though, but he is choosing the wrong one to pitchfork up the company promotion ladder.

Here is Yulia Stepanova's Aegina variation from Act 3 of Spartacus, 16th January 2011. After this performance she did not dance a principal role again until her Firebird debut on July 14th, 2012. Stepanova is scheduled to dance Big Swan and Spanish Dance in Swan Lake in America in October, plainly an insult to a ballerina with so much talent, artistry and beauty, who is worthy of the principal role of Odette/Odile.

In fact, dancers like Komleva, Sizova, Maximova, Bessmertnova, Sorokina were dancing principal roles in the 1950s and early 1960s as teenagers and early 20 year olds, both at the Bolshoi and the Kirov. In the 60s, Vaganova student, Valentina Semyukova, danced Lilac Fairy at the Kirov with Asylmuratova's teacher, Zubkovsakaya dancing Kitri/Dulcinea, so during Soviet times, talented dancers were not trapped in the corps and were given opportunities for soloist and principal roles. Just ask Nina Ananiashvili, who graduated around 1981 in Soviet times. Also, more recently, Yulia Makhalina danced principal roles in the late 80s as a teenager and Larissa Lezhnina at age 19 or 20 was filmed in 1989 for the commercial video Sleeping Beauty. Young dancers in the Soviet Union certainly were given principal roles, but under Fateyev, this does not happen - unless your name is Oksana Skorik.

I too have seen Yulia Stepanova perform, and her Firebird was absolutely outstanding by any standard, showing superb technique and, in particular, her fabulous jump. She does have a unique fluidity to her movement, and is an instinctive actress, with extraordinarily beautiful arms and upper body. She dances mainly in the corps, although she has had a few solo roles, but she has such wonderful ports de bras and presence that she stands out on stage no matter what she does. I remember seeing her as Aegina in the Yacobson production of Spartacus back in 2010, where she set the stage on fire with her glamour and sensuality, and danced with an inborn musicality. I thought then that her beauty alone would be enough to guarantee full houses, and expected to see her given more leading roles straightaway, but this did not happen. I do not understand how Yuri Fateyev can have such a wonderfully giited ballerina in his corps de ballet and not be casting her right now in every one of the principal roles in the repertoire. It really is the final proof of his complete ineptitude that apparently he does not even recognize a future star when he sees one.

There is no deeper pool of talent than the Mariinsky's - the Mariinsky currently has more corps de ballet members in its ranks than the whole of NYCB, every one of whom could walk into a soloist position anywhere in the world, and yet despite this Yuri Fateyev does not choose to use them. He has enough dancers at his disposal to be able to cast every ballet countless times over and yet his dancers sit demoralized at home waiting for the opportunity to dance. He is not a great choreographer, promoter of talent, or innovator himself, but a former dancer turned coach who should have never gone into ballet administration. He has neither the ability, nor the discernment nor the inclination to preserve the traditions of the Mariinsky, which should have been his primary goal, and which he should be ashamed to have failed in. His recent choice of ballets in which to showcase his dancers shows him to be veering even further from the classical repertoire in which the Mariinsky excels. I suggest that if he wants to work with dancers in a predominantly modern repertoire, instead of turning the Mariinsky into a third rate polyglot company, perhaps he would like to go and work for an overseas company himself, and leave the Mariinsky to recover from the wounds he has inflicted upon it? I hear the Seychelles Ballet Company has a vacancy

Regardless of the general opinion on Chinara Alizade, the points I have been trying to make are primarily concerned with Mariinsky Theatre and its mismanagement by Yuri Fateyev.In every ballet company, you can watch act 2 of Giselle and say that you like Moyna better than Zulma or vice-versa. There is always difference of opinion according to personal taste. Similarly, you can say that you prefer one of the 3 shades in Kingdom of the Shades or you can say that you prefer one of the 3 odalisques more than the others. My point is this: unfortunately, with the bungling casting decisions of Fateyev, you can watch act 2 of Giselle and not only are there better girls in the corps than Moyna or Zulma, but there are better girls in the corps than Myrtha. This is a shameful situation. The same can be said about Kingdom of the Shades. In almost every performance of Bayadere, you can choose at least 3 girls from the corps who will be better than every shade that Fateyev has chosen and since he has no variety in casts, it is almost always the same girls, every time in those roles. What is so tragic about Bayadere, although every Nikiya is talented and worthy of the role of Nikiya, is that there are girls in the corps, better than some of the Nikyas, although all the Nikiyas are good. There is such an amazing depth of talent in the Mariinsky corps and yet Fateyev keeps using the lesser talents and depriving the true artists what they deserve and the world deserves to see. In fact, you can go throughout the whole repertoire and see this in all ballets where the power of Fateyev has made bad casting decisions, lazy decisions and decisions not in the best interests of the majority of his company members. When it comes to choosing dancers, Yuri Fateyev is at kindergarten level, with no hope of progressing even as far as 1st grade. Unfortunately, Fateyev has corps girls deserving PHD degrees and he keeps them as university first year students.

I'm not sure that everything is sweetness and light at the Bolshoi either, though audiences haven't spotted any rot ....yet. If Bolshoi casting is so good, why hasn't Chinara Alizade danced a leading role by now? With regard to Chinara Alizade, she certainly has danced at least one leading role - I recall in November 2010 she danced Kitri in Don Quixote with Mikhail Lobukhin as her partner. This was not in Moscow however, but elsewhere in Russia, and I cannot remember where, but she definitely danced it. Moreover, Alizade has danced many good roles - for example, she danced peasant pdd in the Bolshoi movie version of Lunkina-Gudanov Giselle that was shown worldwide. Of course, everyone wants to see their own favourite dancers dance more - I too would like to see Alizade dance more roles - but at Mariinsky Theatre there are many supremely talented girls in the corps who deserve to be stars and who are completely overlooked and just stagnating, while others such as Oksana Skorik, are unfairly promoted.

It seems that the the dissatisfaction with Yuri Fateyev is widespread. Oksana Marchuk is a complete delight, with those wonderfully fluid arms and hands and bright presence. Yuri Fateyev is choosing the wrong horse to back with his thrusting up the promotion ladder of Oksana Skorik, who can hardly be said to have pure Vaganova style. Any right minded director would have cast the charming Marchuk as Florine immediately, or, even better, Aurora. Certainly the Bolshoi management show much more enterprise and dynamism and would have leapt at the opportunity to promote this lovely young dancer, as they did with Angelina Vorontseva and are now doing with Olga Smirnova. Yuri Fateyev it seems, is content to waste his opportunities, and cannot see talent when it is under his nose.

Sarafanov is one of the most brilliant virtuoso dancers in the world today and fully deserved his principal status at the Mariinsky: his departure was a tragic loss for the company. However, his arrival had one other disastrous consequence for Mariinsky ballerinas - his wife, Nadezhda Gonchar, was recruited along with him, in what can only be called a two for the price of one deal, when clearly this Kiev trained ballerina in no way justified her contract. She is now a Second Soloist, yet her arms and upper body are vastly inferior to those of the Vaganova trained ballerinas in the ranks below her, and her technique is also generally deficient, yet she is evidently on Fateyev's Favoured List since she is cast so much - at the Berkeley Swan Lakes she dances 4 of the 6 Two Swans and 3 of the 6 pas de trois. This is another example of not only unimaginative, repetitative casting but also favoritism, and why should a dancer such as her be favoured over so many other talented ballerinas? I recently saw Gonchar's debut as Clemence in the Lopatkina/Korsuntsev Raymonda. Clemence has one of the most difficult adagio solos in the ballerina repertoire, and Gonchar's performance was so full of technical errors and lacking in fluidity generally that it was actually embarrassing to watch: she is not an adagio ballerina. Any corps de ballet dancer or coryphee would have done a better job and have been delighted to have been given the opportunity. I really wonder what is going through Yuri Fateyev's head when he makes these decisions, but the answer can only be ... very little.

I have seen several performances of Shurale and rate it as one of my favourite ballets! I love everything about it, including the music! It has folkloric elements and much work for the character dancers and dancer-actors and children as well as the classical elements. Syuimbike is an ideal role for a lyrical, expressive ballerina, such as Obraztsova and Shirinkina in the performances I saw! Obraztsova was just luminous in it! The whole of the second act is a beautiful spectacle - music, costume, set. and just so moving and heart-warming in its story-line! If only this could be toured abroad instead of the horrible Ratmansky Cinderella because it is really an unknown gem in the Mariinsky repertoire!

As I see it, the main casting problem for the men is connected with the number of recent losses and missed opportunities. As a further sign of the disastrous effect of the Fateyev-regime, men have been leaving the sinking ship in droves. The rot probably started with the departure for management pastures new of supremely elegant danseur Andrian Fadeev - what a tragic loss he was. Mikhail Lobukhin suffered from the same fate as Evgenia Obraztsova in that he was never given the opportunities he should have been given and was forced to go to the Bolshoi to become a star. The brilliant virtuoso Sarafanov is now dancing all the principal roles at the Mikhailovsky and recently Matvienko has also left to take up a directorship elsewhere. So now all that is left at the top is a merry band of almost-pensioners - Ivanchenko, Korsuntsev and Kolb, plus Zelensky, who does not really count since he is almost never there. These get most of the prime roles - they are the easy option and mainly technically proficient, but hardly exciting to watch. I must make an exception for Korsuntsev who undoubtedly is one of the best partners in the company and deserves his status for that reason alone. Shklyarov alone of the principals has the bravura and glamour to make audiences sit up and take note. Recent graduates Lebedev and Strelkov who would have been recruited by any right-minded director were allowed to go to the Mikhailovsky. Both of these are outstanding virtuosos so why did Yuri Fateyev not snap them up instantly? Has he got something against male dancers in general? One man who could have made all the difference is Andrei Batalov, an amazing virtuoso, actually in the same graduating class as Ivanchenko, but sadly denied all the opportunities of his classmate. I recently saw him at the Liepa gala, where his alasebesque entrance as Ali, and thrilling height of his jetes drew gasps from the audience. He also danced the Nutcracker pdd with touching elegance and beautiful soft, Vaganova port de bras. This man should have been a big star and is still capable of dancing all the principal roles - but he has never been allowed to do so. He could bring some much needed excitement into the ranks of male dancing - but Fateyev never casts him. It is a complete waste of talent and inexcusable. Yuri Fateyev is guilty of unimaginative casting for men when he has a Second Soloist category just bursting at the seams with men who deserve to be promoted and dancing more roles. The supremely talented Andrey Ermakov, with his wonderful easy jumps is tall, handsome and a magnificent partner of both Lopatkina and Kondaurova. Why is he not promoted and given all the principal roles now? Filipp Stepin also has a wonderful, brilliant technique and recently was an outstanding James and Basilio - but he too needs to dance the danseur roles. Not a chance with Ivanchenko and Korsuntsev getting all the princes. And then there are Zyuzin and Timofeyev, who both deserve to be cast more often. In the corps there are also two exciting prospects - Popov, who made a distinguished debut as James last year, and Konstantin Ivkin, who probably has the best elevation and ballon in the company. There is just so much talent, but it is underused and not seen. One man though who is certainly not underused is recent recruit Timur Askerov, who appears to be blazing like a death-star through the ranks of the Mariinsky, scattering rightful stars left, right and centre along with his partner-in-crime, Oksana Skorik. Having seen him dance on a number of occasions I am completely at a loss as to what Fateyev sees in this slightly clumsy, inexpressive dancer, whose arms and upper body in general leave much to be desired. Why Mr Fateyev brought in a dancer to propel to stardom is inexplicable when he has so much true Vaganova talent he could exploit. I find Askerov completely wooden and lacking in acting ability. I recently saw him in Bayadere and have to say that, to anyone who saw the exoticism and flair of Ruzimatov as Solor, seeing Askerov in this role was like going to the desert expecting to swept off one's feet by Sheikh Omar Sharif and finding he had sent his teenaged eunuch along to do the job.

A very good example: she danced Juliet in London and was much admired by the hard-to-please ROH audience. Technically and artistically she is superior to certain dancers habitually given principal roles. Juliet is indeed a wonderful role for Golub's dramatic gifts and general artistry. If only she could dance it more frequently. However, not only does she dance little swans, but I have also seen her as Dance Instructor's Assistant in the horrible Ratmansky Cinderella (a ballet best forgotten), flower seller and friend of Kitri in Don Quixote, when she should be dancing Kitri herself, and other roles suitable only for a coryphee or corps de ballet dancer and certainly not a First Soloist. On the very rare occasion she is given a role worthy of her she is outstanding and quitie clearly deserving of more principal roles. I recently saw her Henriette in Raymonda, which was both technically and stylistically accomplished and highly charming, and as for her Carmen in the Concert Hall ... all I can say is she stalked the stage like a real sex-kitten in that gorgeous red costume, and absolutely smouldered as Carmen. I can only imagine her effect on the men in the audience! I do think that the fact that she even accepts these corps and coryphee level roles, that are so much below her obvious talent, shows how bad casting has become at the Mariinsky. It is as though she is grasping at straws and accepting any role in order to be able to perform. This is a complete disgrace. Apart from her technical prowess, she is highly musical, a wonderful actress and so very beautiful that just the sight of her on Mariinsky publicity material would probably sell tickets. I really wonder whether Yuri Fateyev in fact has some unofficial "Black List" - because that is the only reason I can think of for his continual misuse of this highly talented ballerina.

The Berkeley Swan Lake casting kindly provided by alexaa1a provides yet another example of unimaginative casting by Yuri Fateyev. The same four ballerinas are featured at every single performance for both big swans and little swans. This is ridiculous, when there are so many talented ballerinas who deserve a chance to be seen, and just smacks of laziness and unoriginality. Not only that, both Neapolitan and Hungarian also have the same ballerina for each performance - poor Lavrinenko will be tapping that tambourine in her sleep. Gonchar dances 4 of the 6 two swans performances ... WHY? Also the same for every performance are the princesses - there are so many ballerinas in the corps who never get a chance and this is a role that could so easily be rotated amongst the corps members. I would even like to suggest that the princesses be given to the youngest and newest recruits to the corps de ballet, as a means of introducing them to the audience and giving them much needed stage experience. Foreign audiences who rarely see the Mariinsky would love to see its newest members, but they never get this chance. Yuri Fateyev should be taking pride in his company and taking this opportunity to show off its wealth and depth of talent instead of confining his casting to the same dancers time and time again. I am particularly disturbed by the (mis)casting of Irina Golub. She is a First Soloist, and a talented, musical ballerina with many principal roles in her repertoire. Of late, she is being given fewer and fewer roles, and now she is cast as a little swan? This is actually an insult to a ballerina who should be dancing major roles and she must be completely demoralized. Mariinsky management should be ashamed of their treatment of this lovely ballerina. I actually wonder if the problem is that Yuri Fateyev just cannot recognize real talent when he sees it, since there are so many ballerinas who never get a chance? Or is he just unable to take the advice of his assistants and the Mariinsky coaches? Furthermore, can he not see that touring is his chance to let the world see a vibrant company bursting with talent and he should actually be promoting all his young dancers and giving them opportunities to be seen? It really is mystifying. I suppose though, he must be congratulated on at least one thing: making US ballet press life easier, since they will be able to catch up on much needed sleep during the performances, secure in the knowledge that they won't have missed anyone new.

I have seen Swan Lake more times than I care to remember, as a result of trawling cheap airline sites in order to feed my addiction of visiting the Mariinsky! I love it, and do feel that the little swans, as an iconic part of Swan Lake, is something that the Mariinsky has got right - in one respect. I actually haven't seen it badly danced ever. To me it has always been a perfect example of textbook synchronicity, both of style and execution - something very precious and rarely seen outside the Mariinsky. It is awe-inspiring to see clearly defined footwork, pas de chats all identical, same degree of turnout, heads and arms the same etc etc. All the casts I have seen have been well matched for height as well. I really can't remember any exceptions to this. However, I actually got out my programmes to look and the casting of little swans does highlight another problem. Of the seven times I have seen it recently, one dancer, Valeria Martinyuk, danced little swans every single time! After that we have lucky Svetlana Ivanova who only danced it six times, Yana Selina who danced it five times, Liza Cheprasova who got so tired of dancing it (but only four times) that she actually left to dance elsewhere! Pretty Lavrinenko danced it twice, and then there are a few others who danced it once - Chmil, Shirinkina, Firsova and Akhmatova! Mainly little swans was danced by the same four dancers with only a few variants. This is ridiculous! These dancers are all small and were well matched, but how many other coryphees and corps de ballet members are there? I need to count! Also, a number of those little swans are actually Second Soloists, and as such should be dancing other roles anyway. I do think Yuri Fateyev is guilty of chronical laziness and misjudgement in casting and little swans is a prime example. The four bayaderes and grand pas in Bayadere is another - nearly always the same dancers cast with very few variants - but his whole casting "policy" is just appalling. Why does he not rotate his casts and give opportunities to the wealth of talent in the corps? Why is he allowing the casting to stagnate? The entire corps must feel completely demoralized by the lack of opportunities given to them. This attitude of "don't care" is prevalent throughout his casting "strategy." I do wonder what Gergiev is thinking of allowing Fateyev to continue with this madness. Does he not realize that in allowing this stagnation of the best ballet company in the world, he is allowing *himself* to look stupid? He has the best dancers in the world, but, apparently, not the intelligence to use them correctly. A maladjusted chimpanzee would show more discernment in his selection.

Interesting that Lopatkina is brought up at this point in the discussion. Whether or not she persohally likes the reconstruction Sleeping Beauty, I believe she cannot be blamed for its non-appearance on the Mariinsky schedule. Also, just because she has not danced Aurora herself does not mean that she would want Sleeping Beauty performances reduced. She is far too intelligent for that, an upholder of tradition, and knows that Sleeping Beauty is a cornerstone of Mariinsky repertoire and as such, must always be performed. Furthermore, she must know also that not every ballerina can or should dance every single role - Aurora is not her role and that is why she has never danced it in my opinion, but she has been superlative enough in so many other roles for her reputation as a great dancer to be assured without dancing Aurora. If she has danced Lilac Fairy in recent years, I would be astonished and have certainly not seen it. Actually, the Mariinsky needs look no further than Uliana Lopatkina as a replacement for Yuri Fateyev if they want to see the Mariinsky steered back into calm waters and not allowed to sink entirely under the weight of trivial, modern ballets, a catastrophic situation into which Yuri Fateyev is "leading" the company - he is diluting the repertoire with ballets for which Mariinsky dancers were not trained and which are not worthy of this great company. Lopatkina is a pure Petipa ballerina and inheritor of Vaganova style - a wonderful ballerina who wishes to see tradition upheld, who chooses the ballets she herself performs with intelligence and care and would apply the same discernment to the repertoire of the Mariinsky. I doubt very much if she would ever have allowed the dreadful Ratmansky ballets to be seen on her home stage, let alone abroad. I believe as a classical ballerina herself, she would put the emphasis back where it belongs - on the great classical repertoire, the Petipa classics and the great classics of other traditions. As has also been mentioned above, ballets such as La Fille Mal Gardee and Coppelia would enhance the Mariinsky repertoire in a way far more in harmony with the training of its dancers than the Wheeldon, Forsythe etc ballets we are promised. This is the mistake Yuri Fateyev has made as he appears to have forgottten that the Mariinsky is *the* great thoroughbred classical company of the world, and not a mongrel of indeterminate parentage with a mish-mash of styles. He should pay attention to the wishes of the ballet-going public, who wish to see the Mariinsky returned to its former glory and not diluted in style and repertoire.

I just checked the Mariinsky website, and Mr Fateyev's title is actually listed as Deputy Director of the Ballet Company of the Mariinsky Theatre Ballet Master.

Birdsall - well whoever is responsible, I hope they realize that the ballet public at least is very unhappy (And you are completely right - My Fair Lady in the repertoire of the world-class Mariinsky Theatre is just a joke - no matter how much I love "The Street Where You Live"!) It's as though the management is dumbing down the theatre as a whole in an attempt to reel in the paying public no matter what. But even worse is the feeling that the ballet management just does not care about the way in which it (mis)uses the talented dancers the Mariinsky has actually managed to keep. The list of crimes against dancers is endless. There are so many examples I can only mention a few here ... but worst is Andrei Batalov, who should have been a superstar with his virtuoso ability - sidelined and forgotten; wonderful First Soloists Novikova and Osmolkina only ever given, I think, one Swan Lake each, beautiful Anastasia Kolegova, who is underused and hardly ever dances Giselle on her home stage; Second Soloist Yana Selina, who is cast as the perpetual variation girl, sometimes twice in an evening, when she should have been given fewer but more important roles, which would then free up her many roles for others. Amongst the men, the best actor in the Mariinsky, Ilya Kuznetsov, is hardly ever used for principal roles, whereas Ivanchenko, who cannot act at all, is all too prevalent. Not to mention the corps de ballet, which is bursting with talent and contains several dancers which, if they had gone to the Bolshoi, would have been fast-tracked to stardom. Casting is just terrible. Principal dancer Alina Somova not given any role at all in the recent Midsummer Night's Dream? Tiny Maria Shirinkina paired with very tall Konstantin Zverev in Giselle? Shklyarov with statuesque Kondaurova? I really can't understand what the management is thinking. Even in the smaller roles - Prince's Friends in Swan Lake, or the Peasant Pas in Giselle, the same dancers are used over and over again without variation. Where is the drive and dynamism in management that that this magnificent company needs to keep it in its rightful place at the pinnacle of world ballet? To me it smacks of laziness, unoriginality and just plain uncaring. I truly feel sorry for the Mariinsky dancers.

Yuri Fateyev is responsible for many of the ills that have befallen the Mariinsky and the direction the repertoire is taking is just one example of his ill judgement, in my opinion. As if the truly dreadful Simonov Nutcracker wasn't bad enough, when there is a beautiful Vainonen Nutcracker in the repertoire, the humdrum Ratmansky ballets are featured at home and abroad. Personally I dislike Le Parc also and then we are promised Wheeldon, Forsythe etc. Mme Vaganova must be rolling in her grave. The Mariinsky is a wonderful classical ballet company with a centuries old tradition of purity in its style and yet its dancers are not showcased in ballets that would best show off their wonderful technique. Rather than bring in all these modern ballets, why not Coppelia or La Fille Mal Gardee, or Laurencia, or some Ashton or MacMillan is something "new" is required? Mr Fateyev is allowing this wonderful company to lose its direction. Furthermore, his dancers are leaving the sinking ship in droves. Not just Sarafanov among the men, but also Mikhail Lobukhin forced to go to the Bolshoi to get much deserved principal status, and the hugely talented recent graduates Lebedev and Strelkov who he "lost" to the Mikhailovsky. The amazing Andrei Batalov is allowed to stagnate as a First Soloist and has never been given the principal roles he deserved. Not to mention Obraztsova whowent to the Bolshoi to become the prima she should have been long ago and also recent graduates Smirnova and Shapran whose talent also should have graced the Mariinsky . The list of lost potential goes on and on.... What on earth is going on with the Mariinsky management? Why are they allowing this to happen? It spells disaster for the Mariinsky and all who love it. Yuri Fateyev has a lot to answer for.

I have seen Maria Shirinkina in many of her roles and I am very happy she is to debut as Cinderella - it will be an ideal role for her. She is essentially a lyrical ballerina with outstandingly beautiful arms and lovely flow of movement and is at her best when given roles that showcase these qualities. I saw her Nutcracker debut as Masha with Filipp Stepin, where she was wonderfully lyrical and touching, with beautiful arms that are amongst the best in the Mariinsky. They did have a few partnering errors, which did not detract from my enjoyment of her performance. Her Shirin in Legend of Love showed a promising partnership with Shklyarov. Her Giselle Act 2 in my opinion was outstanding, where she completely gave the impression of a floating spirit that could not stay on the earth, and some of the most exquisite, other-worldly arms I have seen; she also gave a very moving mad scene in Act 1. I must also say that her Butterfly showed delicate batterie and here she was ideally cast also. I believe there is room for ballerinas of many varying types and talents with the Mariinsky and each one will shine in a different repertoire. Shirinkina is not a fiery virtuoso and is not being given these roles: so far I think she has been well cast and I wish her every success in her Cinderella.

Maria Shirinkina's debuts in Sleeping Beauty and Giselle recently were with Maxim Zyuzin and Konstantin Zverev respectively, both also Second Soloists.

Ksenia Zhiganshina was rehearsing several pdd which she did not perform at graduation. However, she did actually participate as one of the corps girls in Le Jardin Anime, although she may not have been listed in the programme. She was not injured. Following that she went to Finland on 3rd July to take part in some master classes there for Finnish schools, and will be returning there in August. She received several offers from Russian companies after her examinations but, as has been noted elsewhere, will be studying for another 2 years at Vaganova.

Hello! I am new here but had to respond to this! I saw the YouTube video on Oksana Skorik and was very glad to see it, because actually on YouTube the general quality of videos is low, largely consisting of short, poor quality extracts which are very badly filmed, and often virtually indistinguishable. To see such beautifully filmed, quality extracts was a true delight. However, I saw Oksana Skorik's Swan Lake, and have to agree with the opinions stated in the video - her Odette/Odile was actually a catalogue of disasters and any Vaganova trained corps de ballet member could have done better. Her pointe technique seems particularly weak and she shows little elevation: in particular, she lacks expressiveness and musicality. It is a matter of concern to all who love the Mariinsky that this ballerina is being promoted over other Vaganova-trained ballerinas who are most unfairly being denied the opportunities given to Oksana Skorik.