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Thank you @On Pointe for sharing this video of Bella Jones. What a gorgeous dancer she is! It's hard to believe that she is only 13 and doing this difficult variation so maturely. If I was a director, I'd keep my eye on her for sure.

There are many jobs where masks are worn for countless hours at a time such as doctors, nurses, grocery workers. If they are able to deal with wearing a mask for long durations, it really should not be an issue for us to mask up for a couple of hours in order to do our part to keep others safe.

@Buddy Thank you for always keeping us up to date on all things Mariinsky! Lady of the Camellias happens to be one of my favorite ballets and I would love it if Mariinsky performed it. My dream casts would be: Marguerite- Viktoria Tereshinka, Ekaterina Kondaurova Armand-Vladimir Shklyarov, Andrei Yermakov Prudence- Nadezhda Batoeva, Renata Shakirova Gaston Rieux- Philipp Stepin, Xander Parish Manon- Olesya Novikova, Anastasia Kolegova Des Grieux- Konstantin Zverev, Ivan Oskorbin Olympia-Svetlana Ivanova (if she was still dancing) Elena Yevseyeva, Viktoria Brilyova

Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner would be a viable choice I think.

WOw! Thank you for sharing this. I had never heard of it before.

This article is so important and I wish I had access to this type of knowledge when I was training in ballet. At that time there was no internet and only reviews in the newspaper and movies such as The Turning Point and Dancers. My fears surrounding food, body image, etc. were very isolated and I felt alone. It would have been very helpful to know that other dancers, professional dancers have the same fears and that every body is shaped differently. In my ballet school, which was a serious school that put out several ABT principal dancers, a couple of girls were told to lose a few pounds, but they told me that I could not return for the next semester until I gained some weight. That was very responsible on their part. I just feel grateful that articles like this are more relevant and that prominent dancers are speaking out about body image. It is a great thing that body sizes and athleticism are even being addressed. Hopefully some young ballet students can avoid the pitfalls that I went through.

Absolutely! The role of Raymonda seems like one of the great tests of a ballerina's technique and stamina. Iliushkina already has Odette/Odile under her belt, so I imagine this will be a success for her. I would also like to see her as Princess Aurora.

Thank you for the link @Buddy WOW! Maria Iliushkina has a big debut as Raymonda. Hopefully lots of videos will be posted. She will surely be delightful in this role.

As always, thank you for sharing your insightful and well-written articles. This one in particular, hit the nail on the head with the way I am feeling. Personally, I would much rather see (and pay for) performances from the company vaults or dancers performing existing works, than avante-garde videos of new works being performed in apartments or various locations. Perhaps I am old fashioned in my taste in ballets, but it is what I prefer. I do love getting to peek behind the curtain into some of my favorite dancers' lives, but often what they share on social media eliminates the mystery for me.

Yes! Of course! I'll email it to some of my ballet friends.

This is my cynical side speaking here, but it sure seems like a great way for Mariinsky to get people to buy extra tickets in order to distance themselves from other audience members.

Thank you @aqualia2008!!! This is fabulous! I especially love the clip from Le Corsaire.

This is very sad news. A wonderful dancer and coach she was. May she rest in peace.

Thank you for livening this thread up. It is great news to hear that she is healthy and performing. Yulia is a gorgeous dancer/actress. Yes please - if anyone has any reviews I'd love to see them as well.

It sounded that way to me, too. That must have been so hard for Lauren to separate from them. With regard to Megan Fairchild's interrupting, I do tend to agree that I would have loved to hear Lauren be able to delve deeper into her story. But I thoroughly enjoyed the interview regardless. Lauren sounds like such an insightful, kind, and honest person. Hearing her voice is delightful! May she have a wonderfully fulfilling life ahead of her.

@Drew it was my pleasure! Chinara always stood out to me when she was with the Bolshoi and I am so happy for her that she is dancing in principal roles. Especially Marguerite in La Dame Aux Camellias.

For the Chinara Alizade fans out there, myself included, here is a video from World Ballet Day with her being interviewed and some performance clips. Her segment starts at 06:10

I've been so busy watching all of the World Ballet Day videos and absorbing all of the beauty. My favorite parts are watching the company classes. Bolshoi's livestream was phenomenal.

@Buddy she is beautiful indeed! Other important roles she's danced include Gulnare in Le Corsaire and Princess Mary in A Hero of Our Time. https://www.bolshoi.ru/en/persons/ballet/1297/

You make great points. Aaron Sanz is a favorite of mine, but I forgot that he was a soloist. Roman Mejia would be the next contender, in my point of view, but I didn't think about the height needs.

Congratulations to Chun Wai Chan! That is great for him, but I am wondering why they would bring in an outside dancer who never studied at SAB when they already have plenty of great male cops men that could be promoted.

@Buddy Here is a Youtube video just added showing the performance that @ellecatalano mentioned. Than you @ellecatalanofor bringing this to my attention. It is PHENOMENAL!

@Buddy I hav eno doubt that they had a successful debut. Elizaveta Kokoreva especially as seen in this Raymonda variation. From seeing this, I'd say she has a bright future!

I couldn't agree more! Those three ballerinas are absolutely the epitome of sunshine. It seems that every major ballet company has a few "sunny" dancers on their roster and these three definitely represent the Mariinsky. Twice I have had to good fortune to see Nadezhda Batoeva perform live. She was Gamzatti and absolutely dazzled with her steely technique and powerful fouettés. She was also the lead couple in Rubies. WOW! She has so much charisma and sass!

@Syzygy Thank you os much for sharing this. What a wonderfully honest essay she has written. Hopefully her openness will inspire others to talk more about this prevalent issue. Just this morning I was listening to an older podcast episode of The Wonderful Dance and Ballet Podcast about this very topic. The episode is from 9/22/2019. Definitely worth a listen.