Marianna

I would like to thank Estelle and Victoria Leigh for their kind words of support AND for the interest in the subject . It was the most touching and inspiring experience for me to read your replies! (And I do appreciate Victoria's kind words about my English - I happen to work at the Medical Unit of the US Embassy in Almaty; I am lucky to be the only Russian-speaker in the office, which is usually staffed by an American doctor and American (or European/Canadian) nurse(s). So I've got the advantage of learning English daily - it is a best language school one could desire AND they even pay me for that! Lucky me With your support and inspiration I am feeling that the idea of familiarizing the ballet world with the Almaty State Ballet is well worth it. THANK YOU AGAIN! More to follow! A presto, Marianna

I am on a quest for details of how Alma-Ata State Ballet has come to existence in Kazakhstan back in 1940's - to make my story more precise and interesting. Will be speaking to all the people that I can meet with - those who were there time-wise as close to WHEN IT WAS HAPPENING (in 1940's-1950's) as possible. (THANK goodness that they are still with us and that they are willing share all they know with us!) In the meanwhile I would like to list the current repertoire of the Almaty State Ballet: 1) Swan Lake (chor. by Petipa, Ivanov) 2) Giselle 3) La Sylphide 4) Don Quixote 5) Le Corsaire 6) Sleeping Beauty 7) Serenade (chor. by Balanchine) 8) Les Sylphides (Chopinienne) 9) Fountain of Bahce-Sarai 10) Nutcracker 11) Spartacus (chor. by Grigorovich) 12) Francesca Da Rimini (one-part ballet) 13) Grand pas from PAQUITA 14) Moore's Pavana (chor. by Lemon) (one of my favorite one-part pieces!) 15) They are planning to bring on our stage ballet Raymonda - in April 2003. All excited about it! 16) (not my favorite at all!) Ballet Juno&Avos' - Soviet equivalent of "Jesus Christ Superstar" rock-opera. Was created back in mid 1980's. Think rock-music AND classic choreography moves- incomprehendable. Besides the ballets per se, our dancers do the 'ballet parts' in the operas which are staged here (those operas that I've seen myself): 1) Ovgeny Onegin 2) Aida 3) Der Fliedermauss ( 4) The Tsar's Bride 5) Kazakh opera ABAI - one of my absolute favorites, there will be a separate part on this most beautiful piece! 6) Kazakh opera Kyz Jibeck (Silk-hair Beauty) 7) Faust (that final scene) Hope it was interesting. More to follow! A presto, Marianna PS I have photographs, taken backstage after performances - those will follow after I have enough articles posted here. Can't wait to share those photos with you! PPS Someone who is related to ballet in professional ways, probably, can clearly see some bits of amateur style in the way I do my articles about ballet I've fell in love with ballet only three years ago and the more I learn about the subject of my admiration, the more I realize how many more things are there for me to learn - there is truly no end to that, and no way of getting it perfectly complete or completely perfect. The good news is that I'm learning as much as I can and I'm trying to perfect my knowledge daily. I'm trying to stay in touch with professionals whenever it is possible - it is such an incredibly great feeling, when someone of those 'goddesses' and 'gods' of ballet here share what they know with me!!!! Bless their heart! MA

Greetings to all ballet admirers! I am delighted to finally start telling the world about my much beloved Almaty State Ballet. To those, who happen to remember that I joined this wonderful site about two months ago, promising to start writing about Almaty State Ballet from Kazakhstan, and didn't write much since then I would like to say that every time I'd get on this site, I'd find SO MANY MOST INTERESTING discussion going on, news shared, opinions expressed! So, instead of writing about Almaty State Ballet, I found myself completely taken by reading through the forums and discussions about all kinds of things - ballet, opera, theaters, books, articles, etc. It's always been very interesting, yet quite energy taking , so I didn't have any energy left by the end of each 'reading session' to force myself to come up wtih something to write. Still, no time was wasted for me - I was familiarzing myself with zillions of exciting things going on in the ballet world in lots of different countries. Also, during that 'time off' that i took, I've happened to hear the story (or a legend?) of how the Almaty Opera and Ballet Theater has begun its existence. I've learned that story during one of those little post-performance celebrations with ballerinas and dancers - from one of the oldest dancers of our Ballet. Here is what I've learned and what I'd like to share: back in those terrible years of 1937-1938, known for Stalin's terror in the country, one of the Kazakh singers Kulyash Bai-Seitova was invited to Moscow to perform in Kremlin in front of 'tovarish' ("comarade") Stalin and other Communist leaders. Kazakhstan back then was a remote provincial part of th Soviet Union, very little developed art- (and economy) wise, but very blessed with brilliantly gifted, talented singers and dancers coming from all the small towns and tiny villages in the steppes of Kazakhstan. Stalin was impressed with a beautiful silverbell-like clear voice of Kulyash Bai-Seitova and asked her if there was an Opera Theater in Alma-Ata. When he'd learned that there was no theater in that remote Central Asian republic, belonging to his 'empire', the 'Almighty One' had ordered to immediately build a new Opera and Ballet Theater in Alma-Ata, so those brilliant singers would have a stage, worthy of their talents, to perform on - for Soviet people. And, voila'! Efforts of the best Soviet architects were attracted to create a big and beautiful Opera and Ballet Theater in Almaty - in late 1930's. So, classic opera and ballet art was supported by Stalin (along with the terror all over the country - what a bizzar twist of history!). I would like to brag that the stage of Almaty Opera and Ballet Theater is about 10-15% wider and bigger thant the stage of Mariinsky Theater, which I visited in July 2002 - to see and enjoy Cosi' Fan Tutte opera. Also, we have very comfortable soft arm-chairs, vs. those narrow and hard ancient chairs in Mariinsky (a bit of info, not really related to ballet, but I just couldn't resist to brag! So, that was the part I would title "How Almaty State Opera and Ballet Theater was beginning. Pre-history of Almaty State Ballet". In the next part I'll be telling about the actual 'birth' of classic ballet in Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan - which culture and traditions were as far from classic ballet as Alma-Ata was from Moscow (take a few minutes to look up the map! Again, the presence of a lucky chance brought on the wave of tragic events - divine and worshipped Galina Ulanova was brought to Alma-Ata during the World War II in 1940's, and she had made her great invaluable contribution to the history of our ballet - the ballet of Kazakhstan. To be continued very soon! A presto, Marianna

Hello VLADIMIR! Hello Everyone!! My name is Marianna, I live in Almaty (former Alma-Ata), Republic of Kazakhstan (Central Asian republic of the former Soviet Union). I am a very new member of this MOST DELIGHTFUL SITE. Just wanted to express my admiration about the site of the Estonian National Opera. FANTASTIC JOB HAS BEEN DONE!! I myself have been a ballet admirer since 1999 - when I first time saw the Nutcracker performed by the Almaty State Ballet. Since then I got bold enough to introduce myself to one of the soloist-ballerinas of our ballet and ask to take private dance lessons from her - at the age of 27, no previous experience of ballet lessons ) Later I had an honor to meet through my new friend more ballerinas and dancers of the Almaty Ballet - the most interesting, bright and delightful people I've ever met! Their beuatiful inner qualities are finely matched with their grace and elegance. I can't stop being amazed and delighted with those people who "don't belong to this Earth". For those, who might be intrested in a bit more about ballet of Almaty. Some of the prima ballerinas and premier dancers were trained in Moscow and St.Petersburg (back in Soviet times) - the "Old Guardia". My dance teacher for example, shared a room with the famous Janna Ayupova, prima ballerina of Mariinsky Theater - when they both were students of Vaganova's Dance Academy. Their friendship is still strong, and when Almaty Ballet went on tour to St.Petersburg, two girl-friends re-united in the summer of 2002 Unfortunately, the problem of losing many of our young talented dancers to bigger ballet companies in Russia, Europe and United States is a very big thing - and big heartache for me - as a fan and admirer of our Ballet, which is losing some of it's core with each talented young dancer leaving us for "better life there". If someone could tell me how I could attach photos of the ballerinas, that I would love to attach to the message ("copy" and "paste" didn't work), I would be happy. Cheers to all, and I'll be happy to hear from anyone who would like to write me.