Mathilde K

As I mentioned two days ago, the Academy of Russian Ballet had yet another celebration on June 26, the 135-th anniversary of Agrippina Vaganova's birth. It took place in the lovely interiors of the Hermitage Theatre in Petersburg. In the hall of the theatre there was an exhibition of rare artifacts, some exhibited for the first time, many from the personal collection of Nikolai Fyodorov, who has been living for the last 15 years in the apartment where Vaganova had once lived. On stage once again we could enjoy charming Pas de quatre from «Le Réveil de Flore» ("reconstructed" by Yuri Burlaka). One needs to be reminded that the part of Goddess Hebe in «Le Réveil de Flore» was the first solo part of Vaganova. The cast: Anastasia Lukina (Aurora), Aleksandra Dementieva (Diana), Ekaterina Yalynskaya (Hebe), Nika Ckhvitaria (Flora). Three recent publications by the Academy were presented: a book on Vaganova, a reissue of her Fundamentals of Classical Dance resembling the original edition of 1934, a book devoted to Natalya Dudinskaya and, finally, the first volume of the Chronicle of Ballet in Petersburg. It documents day by day all the events of ballet life in Petersburg from its beginnings to the end of the 18th Century, illustrating it with numerous quotes by witnesses of those events. In an intermission between the ballet pieces shown on stage, Andrei Kuznetsov, the son of Tatyana Vecheslova (who was one of the earliest and most famous among Vaganova's students, unsurpassed as Esmeralda), touchingly told the story of a meeting he had many years ago with Baryshnikov in New York after 18 years of not seeing each other. On that occasion Baryshnikov gave him the guitar that belonged to Balanchine. The guitar that must have belonged before to some Russian emigré was acquired by young Balanchine in Paris in 1920-ties. Kuznetsov finished his story by donating the guitar to the museum at the Academy. The following short videonews is worth taking a look at even if one doesn't understand Russian. http://www.rtr.spb.ru/vesti/vesti_2014/upload/27-6-2014/Vaganova.mp4 We see Goddess Aurora (Anastasia Lukina) on the stage of the Hermitage Theatre and then we hear the telling words of the commentary: руки должны дышать и говорить (the hands should breathe and speak)... Then we hear one of the last direct students of Vaganova, Lyudmila Safronova, saying about Vaganova: "she was very authoritative, very strong, her character was very strong". Safronova, a celebrated pedagogue of the Academy, seemingly still full of energy, had her last class graduated five years ago (Nadiezhda Batoeva and Yulia Stepanova were in that class). Unfortunately, she was denied by the former artistic director of the Academy taking charge of another class afterwards. Later we see Safronova in the front row together with two other students of Vaganova: Irina Gensler and Marina Pomeranceva.

I am glad to see that Sofiane Sylve is being paired with Luke Ingham. By the end of the SFB Spring Season I felt that Sylve made a better match for Ingham than any other principal in the company.

The Russian students (and a number of non Russian too) are generally hired by Mariinsky, Mikhailovsky or Eifman. They rarely need to look for employment abroad when they look as good as in this photograph (taken during an actual class earlier this year):

On June 24 the graduation ceremony took place at the Tsarskoye Selo palace outside Petersburg. One can acquaint oneself with the graduating students by watching the video: Almost all girls graduating with bachelor's degree are seated in the front row (these are the students who passed the exam at the end of the 7th grade and were admitted into a two year program leading to the degree; others graduate at the end of the 7th grade). Among the former ones four girls and two boys graduated with distinction: Shamala Guseinova, Aleksandra Dementieva, Svetlana Russkikh, Ksenia Zhiganshina, Leonid Leontiev, Nail Yenikeyev. The following photograph may be helpful for identification purposes: from left to right: Tamara Gimadieva (fabulous ball dress), Ekaterina Yalynskaya, Zinaida Gagarskaya, Ksenia Zhiganshina, Olga Rudnickaya, Shamala Guseinova (pale green dress), Natalya Klishina (dark green dress), Christina Harward (American, long red hair), Esther Dyer (a foreign student, not sure about the spelling), Deborah Davis (American, long blond hair, very slim), Berin Kocabaşoğlu (Turkish student), and Aleksandra Kirnaya (red dress) is the last visible on the right. Further to the right were seated Anastasia Tolstaya (beautiful white dress) and Aleksandra Dementieva (ample red hair) who are not visible. Finally, Svetlana Russkikh, was seated in the second row. After the ceremony a ball promenade took place. At the beginning one can see Christina Harward In the front row partnered by Vitali Amielishko (Byelarus). The promenade ends with a stately Polonaise. And today, June 26, one more celebration and one more concert: the 135-th anniversary of Agrippina Vaganova's birth is being celebrated at the Hermitage Theatre.

Not much can be inferred, I am afraid, from the fact that Messmer's name reappeared on the SFB site: a number of other dancers who we know will not be dancing next season reappeared as well. That may be simply a publicity move before the Summer tour anticipating that many European ballet goers would be visiting the SFB site to learn more about the company.

For me that was totally predictable from the very beginning. Having found that in spite of several étoiles retired her promotion to étoile was no more realistic now than a year ago, staying with one of the top US companies where she has been taken such a good care of is practically the only option for the ambitious ballerina at the height of her career.

For me, Ulyana Lopatkina exemplifies how to remain a Great Artist in the age when banality and vulgarity are invading every sphere of public space and discourse. In the latter I see, perhaps, the greatest danger for a classically trained dancer today: daily exposure and contact with banality and vulgarity that surround the modern man on every side. Many, by a combination of very hard work, an internal drive, and a steely will, are still able to acquire levels of technical and athletic skill that are comparable or exceed those of the best dancers of the past. They rigorously cultivate their body often unaware that they have also serious obligations towards their "soul". If they aspire to be great artists, of course. They should care about their "soul" as they care about their body, cultivate it daily, develop, and protect it from harmful influences. Lopatkina has been consciously doing this since her school years, and we can see it when she is on stage.

Lopatkina was very cautious and kept herself at a distance throughout, I didn't get an impression she enjoys or even watches similar shows herself. Ivan Urgant tried to be as courteous and mild spoken as he could. He began by presenting a photograph showing Lopatkina as a small child, simultaneously asking the audience how it was possible to guess in that photograph a future great ballerina. At this point she related an incident from her early childhood. Once, when her mother was not at home, Ulyana put her mother's dress on, got an LP with music by Bach, and while she was turning on the floor to Bach's music her mother arrived, startled by what she saw. That, Lopatkina said, was probably when her mother got an idea to commit her daughter to musical and ballet instruction. What followed was less interesting and quite predictable. Urgant asked Lopatkina whether and how did she distinguish ballet dancers on the street. Her answer was obvious. Then, he asked how did she prepare a new pair of pointes. She explained the essentially standard process with some details like holding the pointes over a boiling kettle before putting them on for the first time. Next, he asked her to show him the pose of a Black Swan. Afterwards, he pretended to take her by surprise and asked her to improvise anything she liked. She said she would dance Piazzola's Oblivion. He finished by taking Lopatkina to a nearby place selling donuts and ordered 8 donuts for her and for himself.

When the curtain rises, Lukina is on the left, in front of 9 ballerinas grouped in three rows, Yalynskaya is on the right, in front of a similar group of 9 ballerinas. Anastasia is dark blond, slim, with innocent smile. Concerning Shakirova: over the last two years Renata has been given multiple opportunities to perform with the Mariinsky troupe (she is expected to dance, for example, on July 17 in Concerto DSCH). This explains the level of assuredness and ease she is displaying on stage. .. .. .. In the second concert that took place on June 14, I will note only the changes compared to the first concert. Anastasia Lukina was replaced by Olga Rudnickaya in Консерватория and Evgeniy Kuznetsov — by Герман Борсай [German Borsay]. In Розарий, the part of Goddess Diana was danced this time by Aleksandra Dementieva, and of Hebe — by Ekaterina Yalynskaya. Tango was placed second in Divertissement, directly after Розарий, then came Children's Pas de deux, performed to thunderous applause by third-graders Дарья Устюжанина [Darya Ustiuzhanina] and Иван Поддубняк [ivan Poddubniak]. In the Sabre Dance that came next (Chaconne wasn't performed), Natalya Klishina was this time paired with Елисей Стрелавин [Elisey Strelavin]. Zinaida Gagarskaya and Leonid Leontyev were the soloists in the Castanets Dance from «Laurensia». In the Grand pas from «Paquita», the only change occurred in Pas de trois : Марат Нафиков [Marat Nafikov] replaced Romanbek Beishenaliev. According to the printed program Christina Harward (an American student, Кристина Харвард in Cyrillic) was supposed to dance in place of Tamara Gimadieva but she didn't.

...and with Anastasia Lukina.

Yesterday there was a general rehearsal and the concerts started today. In the program of the first concert I provide the names of the students dancing each piece and, for the graduating class, in parentheses also the names of their pedagogues. The first part of the concert consisted of a 20 minute long ballet «Conservatory», based on the choreography by Bournonville. The piece is absolutely charming and the costumes stunningly beautiful. Pas de trois was danced by: Екатерина Ялынская [Ekaterina Yalynskaya] (Васильева) as Victorina Евгений Кузнецов [Evgeniy Kuznetsov] as Ballet master Анастасия Лукина [Anastasia Lukina (with the final 'a' stressed)] as Elisa Anastasia Lukina, remarkably delicate and artistic, was a real discovery of the concert. She will be graduating next year. To me Lukina outshone the established "stars", Zhiganshina and Shakirova, in terms of finesse and artistry. It is a good sign of how serious she is and how focused she is on ballet, that there are no visible traces of her presence in the internet, despite the fact that she won Mikhailovsky's Grand Prix on November 10, 2013. After the intermission there was a Divertissement. It consisted of the following pieces. 1 Pas de quatre Розарий from «Le Réveil de Flore», a "reconstruction" by Yuri Burlaka another long, stunningly charming classical piece danced by Ника Цхвитария [Nika Ckhvitaria] as Flora Анастасия Лукина [Anastasia Lukina] as Aurora Ольга Рудницкая [Olga Rudnickaya] (Васильева) as Diana Александра Кирная [Aleksandra Kirnaya] (Ситникова) as Hebe Inclusion of this Pas de quatre from «Le Réveil de Flore» in the program has triple significance for the School. The printed program says that Burlaka's choreography is after Иван Хлюстин, in the West known as Ivan Clustine, a famous dancer, ballet master and pedagogue-repetiteur to Anna Pavlova. Pavlova danced her first principal part, of Goddess Flora, in «Le Réveil de Flore». This occurred on September 10, 1900. Finally, on the same day young Agrippina Vaganova danced her first solo part, of Goddess Hebe. 2 The Sabre Dance from «Gayane» Наталья Клишина [Natalya Klishina] (Васильева) Марат Нафиков [Marat Nafikov] (Еникеев) 3 Chaconne (music by Handel), chor. Viktor Baranov Екатерина Ялынская (Васильева) Игорь Ячменёв [igor Yachmenyov] (Щеглов) 4 Children's Pas de deux (music by Tchaikovsky), chor. Marat Gaziev, reworked by Nikolai Tsiskaridze danced delightfully by the third-graders Ксения Андреенко [Ksenia Andreenko] Дмитрий Задорожный [Dmitriy Zadorozhnyi] 5 Tango from the «Golden Age» (music by Shostakovich), chor. Yuri Grigorovich Зинаида Гагарская [Zinaida Gagarskaya] (Васильева) Леонид Леонтьев [Leonid Leontyev] (Щеглов) 6 Pas de deux Diana and Actaeon from «Esmeralda», chor. Agrippina Vaganova Soloists: Рената Шакирова [Renata Shakirova] Алишер Калибай [Alisher Kalibay] (Еникеев) — very well done, with the choreography not simplified 7 The Castanets Dance from the Soviet ballet «Laurensia» (music by Aleksandr Krein), chor. Vakhtang Chabukiani Soloists: Анастасия Толстая [Anastasia Tolstaya] (Ситникова) Наиль Еникеев [Nail Yenikeev] (Еникеев) The Grand pas from «Paquita», a feast of Russian Imperial Ballet, formed the third part of the concert. Agrippina Vaganova liked «Paquita» very much herself. It was in «Paquita» that she had finally been noticed among the ranks of the corps de ballet of the Imperial Theater. Many years later Vaganova used the Grand pas for her graduating class in 1930. This is why we have at least the Grand pas from «Paquita» preserved. Soloists: Ксения Жиганшина [Ksenia Zhiganshina] (Васильева) Виталий Амелишко [Vitaliy Amelishko] (Щеглов) both very professional Pas de trois: Тамара Гимадиева [Tamara Gimadieva] (Васильева) Александра Дементьева [Aleksandra Dementyeva] (Ситникова) Романбек Бейшеналиев [Romanbek Beishenaliev] (Щеглов) Variations: 1st variation (from «La Vestale») Алена Ковалева [Aliona Kovaliova] (6 grade) 2nd variation (Queen of the Waters from «The Little Humpbacked Horse»): Анастасия Лукина (8 grade) 3rd variation (from «Le Roi Candaule»): Ника Цхвитария (8 grade) Two girls wearing gold tutu: Зинаида Гагарская Александра Кирная Two girls wearing lilac tutu: Ника Цхвитария Deborah Davis (an American student) Two girls wearing azure tutu: Virginia (a student from Brazil, I don't know her last name) Альбина Сатеналиева and children in the Polish Dance. Principals in most professional companies would love to be able to do the fouettés the way Zhiganshina did in the coda yet in terms of artistry Kovaliova, Lukina and Ckhvitaria were more refined. Excellent program and preparation of students overall, and a veritable treasure for any lover of la danse classique. I have been to many ballet school concerts at various ballet schools around the world but this one has been certainly among the most artistically satisfying showcases I ever saw. Most companies would be proud to show it as their regular repertoire offering.

Ulyana Lopatkina last night at Mariinsky as Nikiya was breathtaking. A "priestess" in the Temple of High Arts, like Ulanova and Pavlova before her. I often remind ballerinas with big aspirations that to become a truly great artist you cannot afford any moment of "prose" when you are on stage, that you must keep oneself as far as possible from banality in life, you must strive for and cultivate Beauty around yourself. That Beauty you will later show on stage. Even how you enter and leave the stage will set you apart from merely "dancers". These were my thoughts after watching Lopatkina yesterday.

Agreed, and I don't think we should be getting "works in progress" from guest artists, which is what several here have called Smirnova's Nikiya. (I was not there.) We can (and should!) be getting "works in progress" from ABT's own soloists instead! How are they supposed to grow as artists within the company if they never get to dance the company's signature roles and if the company is instead giving those very opportunities for "progress" to non-company performers? It's one thing to have a Cojocaru come in and give a performance -- I do not like her dancing, personally, but even I would not say her performances are "works in progress." It's quite another thing to be giving one of the company's precious few evenings on the Met stage to an artist from outside who doesn't yet have a finished product to put forth. I share your sentiments. Unfortunately, this has been McKenzie's policy, for good or bad. The policy is certainly detrimental to the company's own dancers. Concerning Smirnova, she is still very much "a work in progress". Her "stardom", after all, was created by Filin who put all the resources at his disposal to develop her technically and artistically as a dancer. From the very beginning he has been casting her in leading parts in spite of multiple signs that she was not ready for many of those roles. No young ballerina has been as favored and promoted at Bolshoi as her for as long as I can remember. Olga is a very serious young woman, she was ready for the challenge from the start, seemingly unaffected by jealousy and "wishing her ill" by those in the troupe who were sidelined by Filin. That, however, only deepened the internal divisions and tensions in the troupe.

In April Joy Womack was awarded the Second Prize as well as a Special Prize for "creative individuality" at the «Arabesque 2014» competition in Perm. Having read her monologue that appeared in Russian «Esquire» and the interview with her on the eve of her debut as Gamzatti last March in Kazan (with excellent Kristina Andreeva dancing Nikiya's part), I must say I am truly impressed by Joy's eloquence and personality. Extraordinary for somebody so young and a dancer at that!

I felt disgusted and saddened after watching Mezzo's broadcast of Millpied's "ballets" Amoveo, Le Spectre de la Rose and Les Sylphides. When it was first announced that Madame Lefèvre had to be replaced my first thought was that she was being removed not because she had damaged great French Ballet but because she had not damaged it enough... Unfortunately, my worries materialized.

I had great expectations at the beginning of the season. To begin with, I admire refined qualities of French la danse classique. Last Winter in Paris I have been amply rewarded with observing on several occasions the finesse of the French school in ballet classes conducted by a renowned pedagogue (one young ballerina I saw was absolutely extraordinary, a true poetess of dance). Next, Froustey's outstanding frame is a rarity even among ballerinas and a thing to behold. I love her light touch and upper body (except for the face and the eyes whose placement and movement is not well coordinated with the arms and wrists), so I always was eagerly expecting her performances. However, as the season progressed, and I saw her around 20 times if not more, her weaknesses and limitations were becoming more and more noticeable and her charms less and less appealing. In order to attain the étoile level she has to address those weaknesses and devote all her energies to eradicate them. I sincerely hope she does and I truly wish she becomes an outstanding ballerina. At the moment, however, she is not at the étoile level.

I would say "precisely because of the lack of opportunities". I saw at least 30 SFB performances since the beginning of March and Messmer was cast very infrequently, often in secondary, "fine print" parts, where her name was not even capitalized. Not offering Messmer a position of principal should be considered a serious mistake. For me Messmer became, in fact, the discovery of the season. Her only performance in "Caprice" was a true eye opener: that was magisterial and nuanced in a way no other principal at the San Francisco Ballet seems to be capable of. My thoughts after that performance were: "if I were Tomassón I would have promoted her to principal the same afternoon". Afterwards I tried to catch any glimpse of her dancing. Unfortunately, I think I saw her only twice afterwards (not counting her number with Cintas last Sunday). In the aftermath, her short stay at the San Francisco Ballet will be remembered, I am afraid, as a truly wasted opportunity for the San Francisco Ballet.

I attended both the February 25 and February 26 performances of «The Kingdom of the Shades» by San Francisco Ballet. Mademoiselle Froustey was dancing one of the three Shades. Unfortunately, her lacklustre performance on both nights was not at the level one expects from a principal which was one of the very few disappointments on either night.