Helene

Is Jonathan Porretta performing "State of Darkness" on the indoor stage or on one of the outdoor platforms? Many thanks for the wonderful description of the presentation!

It's very rare to see someone with a sense both of the big picture and the details. Whenever the discussion comes up about who will succeed Martins at NYCB or Tomasson at SFB, his name comes up, but I think his work life sounds so much more interesting than either of theirs. If I were Obama, I'd want him to be Arts Czar in a cabinet-level position.

Anyone in a position of authority could see with their eyes the kind of dancer who is cast and who goes on tours and the kind of dancers who are not and languish in the corps. No matter what Fateev or Gergiev says or doesn't say, what is on stage speaks volumes and directly to the worldwide public, through live performances, videos, or just following the casting on the website. Gergiev is not a Czar. If the people who appoint and the governments and sponsors -- private and corporate -- who fund him don't like what they see, they can do something about it. If they won't, then the Vaganova graduates, looking at the company, will make their choices between the Mariinsky or other companies.

I didn't realize Fateev was taking the graduating students from schools that are the equivalent of the University of Kentucky and offering them Soloist positions in the Mariinsky. If I followed the news stories correctly, there was an attempt to have the Academy come under the auspices of the Theatre, allegedly (as posited by official sources) to take over the Academy's studios for the Mariinsky while the old theater is renovated, and it failed. The Theatre doesn't control the Academy, and the Academy can continue to produce dancers according to its own standards. It can't, at least at this point, force the Mariinsky Ballet to compete for or to use the Academy's graduates or to prevent them from hiring from the outside. The Mariinsky is a company that is funded by governments, corporate sponsors, and private individuals, some as a result Gergiev's personal efforts. Gergiev was appointed the head of the Mariinsky Theatre. Whoever appointed him can remove him, if they feel his policies or his hires are ruining a national legacy. Governments can pull funding if they don't like what he or his hire is doing. Either they agree with his policy, or haven't been convinced to take action against him.