Sacto1654

That's also true in Russia, where after all, what's the official title they have for the Mariinsky Theatre and Bolshoi Theatre: state academic theatre. This means much of their funding comes directly from the Russian government themselves. It would be like if the New York Symphony, New York City Ballet and New York City Opera had a direct funding from the US Federal government as a budgetary item.

You're welcome. At least with two other famous Tchaikovsky ballets, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, we pretty much have a good idea of what how the story more or less goes in the most commonly-produced versions (despite all the divergent versions of the ballet's end, almost everything else about most versions of Swan Lake have a lot in common in terms of plot points). Because the story of the lead character (Maria or Masha) in the Vainonen version is quite different than the story of the lead character (Clara) in the Balanchine version, trying to compare various different versions of The Nutcracker is a hard nut to crack (pun definitely intended! ).

I think one issue with trying to appreciate The Nutcracker is the fact there are two very distinct "reference" variants (in my humble opinion! ), the Vainonen version from 1934 and the Balanchine version from 1954. There is no Sugar Plum Fairy in the original Vainonen version, if I remember correctly. Americans are so ingrained by the Balanchine version and its subsequent variants that anything different is going to confuse the viewer. I believe Europeans are more used to the Vainonen version, so they might not be used to the Balanchine version.

You're right--there aren't that many recent ballet performances on DVD. The only good ones I've seen with my own eyes are the 2006 performance of Swan Lake filmed at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia (available on DVD and now Blu-Ray disc), which is probably the ONLY officially-released film in the West we'll see of many of the current Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet stars and the 2007 (?) performance of Sleeping Beauty by the Royal Ballet, which became available on DVD earlier this year. But if you're talking performances on TV, you're in far better luck. If you have a DirecTV subscription and can get access to the international feed of VGTRK's RTR Planeta channel, they frequently show a lot of the programming from VGTRK's Kultura channel, and that has a HUGE number of ballet performances from the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. (I have a neighbor who has taped a number of programs off the RTR Planeta international channel and I was able to see the 50th anniversary gala for Bolshoi Ballet legends Vladimir Vasiliev and Ekaterina Maximova that happened a few months ago and even the special gala performance of Don Quixote honoring Maya Plisetskaya from October 2005. )

The number of users is very small, but then, the usable life of a pair of pointe shoes are very short indeed. According to an article in The Independent (London), Ulyana Lopatkina goes through two pairs of pointe shoes per full-length ballet, and that means the amount of pointe shoes used can be mind-boggling, given the average price of one pair of pointe shoes nowadays! Anything to make them last longer and offer more comfort will be welcomed by every ballet dancer out there, that's to be sure.

If Nike could develop a pointe shoe that meets the criteria I mentioned earlier, what better way to make a splash than to provide it gratis or at much-reduced cost to a major ballet company? Remember, with modern manufacturing technology the entire shoe structure could be custom-made for each individual dancer; even a difficult-to-fit dancer like the Mariinsky Ballet's Ulyana Lopatkina (who has to wear custom-made shoes anyway because she is one of the tallest dancers ever associated with a Russian ballet troupe) could benefit from a pointe shoe custom-tailored for her feet with the right shoe size and custom-made shoe padding, especially the critical toe box. I still think what the Gaynor Minden shoe pioneered is the future of pointe shoes anyway. Remember, a female ballet dancer en pointe imposes incredible amounts of physical stress on the entire lower half of body, often far beyond what a regular athlete wearing normal athletic shoes has. A such, lower body injuries among ballet dancers are major issues, and what better way to reduce that problem (and all the expensive medical insurance that ballet companies need!) by ballet dancers switching to a modern pointe shoe designed to better protect the dancer's feet?

And now, Gaynor Minden pointe shoes are going to the same elastomeric foam used by real athletic shoes. While not perfect, Gaynor Minden pointe shoes are the prototype for the future of pointe shoes, one that is designed with more advanced space-age materials that could be customized for each individual dancer's feet, offer way more shock absorbency than traditional pointe shoes (especially in the critical shoe box), and makes far less noise even on a hard landing. Now, if we can just convince the likes of Nike or Reebok to use their very extensive research into athletic shoes to make a state-of-the-art pointe shoe that is built more like a real athletic shoe....

Excuse me while I whack the folks who post articles on Wikipedia.... I've always wondered what was the equivalent of the Vaganova Academy in the Moscow area that trains ballet dancers to enter the various dance troupes in the Moscow area--thanks for correcting me.

I've seen videos of Bolshoi Ballet performances from the early 1980's and you can definitely hear the sound of the pointe shoes, especially with a large corps de ballet on stage. I think this is because if you've seen a real Russian-made pointe shoe the toebox is very hard. You're referring to the Gaynor Minden pointe shoe, the first pointe shoe designed using the same principles as athletic shoes (especially with the use of elastomeric foam). I've seen videos of female ballet dancers wearing these shoes and they definitely land much quieter than a Russian-made pointe shoe. A number of well-known Mariinsky Ballet dancers are using them extensively (two of the most popular younger generation female dancers in the troupe, Ekaterina Kondaurova and Evgenia Obraztsova, are spokespersons for these shoes).

Fortunately, in recent years we're seeing the rise of a really good group of younger ballet dancers in the Mariinsky troupe, and I can cite four examples: Ekaterina Kondaurova, Olesya Novikova, Evgenia Obraztsova and Viktoria Tereshkina. In my humble opinion, I can see all four of them being listed as Principal dancers within 4-5 years (Tereshkina already has this status).

Natalia, Thanks for summarizing the great article! I wonder have they done a similar feature article on the GITIS Institute, which is to the Bolshoi Ballet troupe what the Vaganova Academy is to the Mariinsky Ballet troupe. GITIS has produced a number of really good ballet dancers in recent years, though only a few of them stand out compared to the good number of well-known (at least to Western ballet fans) ballet dancers that have graduated out of Vaganova in recent years.

If you're talking doing the Balanchine story as a single movie, your suggestion works EXTREMELY well indeed. This will allow the producers to film a LOT in both Paris and Saint Petersburg, and has enough narrow focus that we could do what you suggested as a single movie lasting under 180 minutes. (EDIT: I would start the story right at the time he enters the Imperial Ballet School in 1913 and continue all the way to the world premiere of Balanchine's first major success as a choreographer, Apollo, like you suggested. Even this short period was one of tremendous change and excitement, as Balanchine lived through the travails of the Russian Revolution, dealing with Soviet authorities, his defection to the West, joining the Ballet Russes, and beginning his legendary career as the arguably the greatest ballet choreographer since Marius Petipa.) HOWEVER, they'll have to be really careful about the script for this movie. Does anyone remember the legendary movie The Red Shoes? Despite the disclaimer in the front of the movie, many have said it's a disguised version of the history of the Ballet Russes. We want to make sure the script for such a movie doesn't end up being a semi-de facto remake of The Red Shoes.

Andre, Actually, you might not be able to get a plasma display within a few years. The possibility of more stringent power consumption requirements for consumer electronics may end sales of plasma displays, given the fact plasma displays use sometimes more power than a CRT display! The VIZIO display I mentioned is a great deal--comparable displays from Samsung, Sony, etc. are much more expensive, sometimes as much as US$700 more.

I've seen the new Blu-ray release of the Ulyana Lopatkina/Danila Korsuntsev performance of Swan Lake on a VIZIO model SV420XVT 42" LCD panel with 120 Hz refresh and the picture quality was spectacular. There were no motion issues even with the entire corps de ballet moving around, and it's clear enough you can see the details of the crown Lopatkina was wearing as Odette (and even almost see individual hair stubbles on conductor Valery Gergiev's face ). In short, Peggy, if you can afford it definitely get an LCD panel with 120 Hz refresh rate. Any less and especially in very fast motion, you can see unpleasant motion blur and choppiness at times.

This is not news. From what I've heard, there is a LOT of politicking going on "behind the scenes" over getting the level of promotion for each dancer inside the Mariinsky troupe. I believe most of that politicking is coming from the coaches of each dancer, too. In my opinion, unless you're naturally very talented like these four female dancers from the 2001 and 2002 Vaganova Academy graduating classes (e.g., Ekaterina Kondaurova, Olesia Novikova, Evgenia Obraztsova and Viktoria Tereshkina), you need a coach that can strongly influence the Mariinsky management to promote the dancer. Given that Alina Somova's former coach was the wife of Makhar Vaziev (who was the Deputy Director of the Ballet Company of the Mariinsky Theatre), I'm not surprised Somova got promoted so fast. If I read correctly, there are still detractors about Diana Vishneva becoming Principal dancer, especially those who express concern that Vishneva is spending too much time as guest artist of other ballet companies. It's very rare for a dancer to get promoted to Principal status in a few years with the Mariinsky troupe just because his or her skills are so superior to all others--Ulyana Lopatkina is one of the few I can remember in recent years. (By the way, in my personal opinion I can see Kondaurova, Novikova and Obraztsova become Principal dancers within the next 4-5 years--these three are favorites with both Russian and Western audiences. )

The problem is that unlike in Russia, where ballet is extremely well-known (and justifiably so--after all, some of the most famous "classical" ballets came from the Imperial Ballet (what we call the Mariinsky Ballet today) during the reign of Marius Petipa from 1850 to 1903 and during the Soviet era, the Bolshoi Theatre's ballet troupe became a major international showcase for the country), here in the West ballet is treated like almost an esoteric art form, and it's very rare we see ballet broadcast on TV. Go to Russia and watch the VGTRK's Kultura channel--they practically have huge amounts of ballet performances from both the Bolshoi and Mariinsky troupes along with other ballet troupes in Russia. Indeed, a top-level ballet dancer like Ulyana Lopatkina would be to Russia what a top-flight movie celebrity is to the USA.

If you're a fan of the Bolshoi Ballet, the LIFE image archive is definitely a goldmine. There are many pictures from this ballet troupe performing at the Bolshoi Theater; this is not surprising considering during the Soviet era the Bolshoi Theater was truly the "pride and joy" of the country (in short, the Russians were more than happy for the publicity accorded this ballet troupe in the West) and a several Bolshoi stars became legends in the West: Galina Ulanova (even though it was later in her career), Maya Plisetskaya, Ekaterina Maximova, Vassily Vasiliev, and several others.

Natalia, you're right--if you're used to the Balanchine-choreographed version of The Nutcracker that is a Christmas-season staple, this version will be quite a shock to you! It's small wonder that the version of this ballet the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet will perform in the USA late this year is the famous Vassily Vainonen version from 1934.

And with her new hairdo, no longer a Sandra Bullock impersonator.

Speaking of our dear "Masha," I just saw online pictures of her at a signing in Japan just a few days ago as part of the Bolshoi's current tour of the country. You can see these pictures on this web site: http://bolshoi-ballet.seesaa.net/category/4430960-1.html It's small wonder why I almost didn't recognize her at all! Alexandrova has drastically changed her hairdo and if it weren't for her giveaway eyes you would have thought she was a completely different person.

Getting really back on topic, I think given how amazingly complex the life of Balanchine was, his story has to be done as an HBO miniseries. We'll definitely need to film the miniseries extensively in Saint Petersburg, Paris, and New York City, with a lot of additional soundstage and digital post production work (we are very fortunate that most of buildings around the Mariinsky Theatre have survived or rebuilt to original specs, so that lends much authenticity to Balanchine's days at the Imperial Ballet Academy). Casting, however, will be a big problem. Just the role of Balanchine himself will require an actor with good dancing skills and good acting skills, since he was well-known as a good dancer besides being a great choreographer. Just all the roles of the various people in this project would require one of the most extensive casting calls around. Also, remember the project will likely require the approval and assistance of the George Balanchine Foundation, too. Be ready to spend as much money as spent on Band of Brothers or From the Earth to the Moon--not an easy sell in today's economy.

I hope it does look good, because with a Blu-ray player it demands the best-quality widescreen monitor with HDMI inputs you can afford. Mind you, I'm not sure if I want to see every stubble on conductor Valery Gergiev's face, though.

Very nice pictures! However, one question: I wonder has any Russian ballet company performed the full ballet of Paquita recently? While the grand pas classique is well-known, I would love to see the full ballet performed at the Mariiinsky Theatre or Bolshoi Theatre some time soon.

Given the triumphant debut of "Katya" Kondaurova as Odette/Odile just over two weeks ago, I think she will be next to possibly make the jump to possibly Principal dancer--with good reason: she is starting to take over a lot of the dancing roles that one Ulyana Lopatkina used to do a lot back in the 1990's. Besides, her flaming red hair (I saw a recent Kultura TV profile of her and wow, her hair color stands out very prominently! ) in my opinion is probably reminding a lot of old-time Russian balletomanes of the legendary Maya Plisetskaya, who was also a redhead during the height of her career in the 1950's.

Maybe finally Somova will get a good coach to tone down her extreme moves and become a proper dancer for a change. I was hoping for Irina Chistyakova (Ulyana Lopatkina's current coach) because Somova has a body build akin to Lopatkina's but Terekhova as coach is probably the next best thing. (By the way, an interesting tidbit: Terekhova and Chistyakova were both involved in that famous large-cast performance of Don Quixote that was filmed many years ago and is available on DVD from Kultur Films.)