alexaa1a

The original Facebook post (that PB replied to) was not meant ironically, nor was it meant humorously. It was an insult, using a stereotype that I would, at this point in our history and in this particular community, think would be disdained.

I strongly disagree. I see no difference between a football team being criticized for playing like ballerinas or a ballet company being criticized for dancing like football players. Ballet dancers are generally known for their grace and delicacy and football players do not play touch football. They tackle and hit hard. They do not apologize if they hit too hard.

If the men at the Mariinsky or the World Champion men's gymnastics team played football against the Philadelphia Eagles, they would all end up in the hospital, too. Same with the best male marathoners, the world's best male ski jumpers, the world's best male short track speed skaters, etc. The size/weight differential makes it so.

It is also just as possible for someone to love ballet and say, "He plays like a girl." In fact, it is very possible that that person might have more respect for ballet and ballet dancers than the person who says, "He plays like he's wearing a tutu." Neither shows much respect for women, in my opinion.

I know that when I was taking class at SAB, I received criticism from friends, but I was a good fighter and after beating up some friends, they soon stopped criticizing me. However,many years ago, ballet was considered to be possibly the most feminine type of activity. I do not think my football team was ever criticized for playing like ballerinas or as if we were wearing tutus, but we were criticized for playing like girls or as if we wore dresses. So I do not see much difference between dresses and tutus.

Pennsylvania Ballet and some here on ballet alert were highly offended by that tutu criticism, but I received much worse criticism when I was taking class at SAB and that tutu comment was not much different criticism than what my football coach told us when we played bad, so I see no reason for anyone to be offended by that comment. i love ballet and football and understand that tutu comment as an accurate description when a football team plays poorly.

So no, the Eagles have not played like they were wearing tutus. If they had, Chip Kelly would still be a head coach and we'd all be looking forward to the playoffs."

As someone who played competitive male football in all my school years in full equipment, and danced ballet professionally on stage, I disagree with the criticism with the original Facebook comment and my reply to the Pennsylvania Ballet is that if the entire Pennsylvania Ballet ballerina roster played in full equipment against the Philadelphia Eagles football team, every ballerina would be in the hospital or in a grave and would not be going to the playoffs, but to funerals.

The two great Raymondas on DVD are Bessmertnova and Kolpakova. Both were in their 40's with cameras in their faces when they were filmed, and they were splendid.

True and Semenyaka's DVD had her in her 30s.

What roles has Maria Menshikova danced since joining Eifman?

Thank you

Just curious....

and then..

When was the last time ABT presented it...?

Mariinsky Ballet usually performs it, at least once a year. In the 2009/2010 season, they probably performed it around 5 times..

Does anyone have a feedback on Skorik? We have bought tickets to SL with Alina Somova originally cast as O/O; Mariinsky then changed cast in its usual fashion.

We are not sure whether to sell tickets or attend January 22nd performance as Skorik 's partner (Parish) seems to be a rather plain, unsure Siegfried. Would love to know your opinions.

Thanks!

Yes, sell, sell, sell!!!!!!

As stated further up this thread, apparently certain Vaganova students were considered worthy of dancing soloist roles with the company until quite recently (Zhiganshina, Shakirova, Tsvitaria.) In the statement issued on the website at the start of the season, it actually says:

he ballet company will also be engaged in a key activity for the Mariinsky Theatre – the training of the next generation; there will be debuts by talented students of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in repertoire productions alongside members of the company in addition to the academy’s traditional graduation performances.

What happened indeed? Mdnagement/Yuri Fateyev says in one breath they are going to use talented students in productions, and then says in the next that they are only fit for the corps? I would like to know what some of the Mariinsky coaches think about all this - they are the ones who see and coach these supposedly feeble graduates in their roles.

Since the new season started in Spetember, not one Vaganoav student has danced in a Mariinsky Ballet, inlcuding Shakirova, who danced in the past two seasons with the Mariinsky Ballet, as Amour in Don Quixote, Juliet's friend in Romeo & Juliet, a small swan in the the lake scene with that famous dance of 4 small swans, as Odalisque in the Jardin Animee dance of 3 odalisques, a soloist in Ramansky's Concerto DSCH (she even danced this in London with Mariinsky), one of the 3 muses in Apollo (also danced in London), Florine in Sleeping Beauty plus the star of Rubies. Last season, Nika Tskhvitaria danced Florine in Sleeping Beauty. This season is the season where the statement of using Vaganova students was made and no Vaganova students have danced, including the 2015 graduates, Shakirova and Tskhvitaria. An extra year of Vaganova training has deteriorated their talent.

Regarding coaches, most coaches do not watch company class and due to the time factors of classes and rehearsals, most corps dancers leave class after the barre or early in the center and that is obvious in every class video that I have seen , where corps dancers rarely take a full class because they need to go to a rehearsal. Regarding what big roles, coaches get to rehearse these graduates, is obvious. They coach them in no big roles. The important coaches do not rehearse minor roles, except in rare instances.

Being a Vaganova graduate entitles you to dance many corps roles, many character roles and if you are lucky,a few minor roles. Do not even consider dreaming about good solo roles like Queen of Dryads or Lilac Fairy or Myrtha or Gamzatti. You are not getting them if you have the Vaganova brand to your name.

At the moment, "Moscow" seems to mean the wives of oligarchs. Where are the top-ranking generals when we need them?

You are 100% correct.

What has happened under Fateyev for gradautes is unprecedented at Mariinsky. Beginning with 2010, the most important male graduate in decades, Viktor Lebedev, along with the exceptionally talented Zapanikova, both went to Mikhailovsky. The ongoing procession of top graduates going elsewhere is unheard of. 2011 added clear standouts Smirnova and Shapran, along with a very strong male in Sergei Strelkov. The past graduating class had the most famous teenage ballerina in history, Zhighanshina, who danced the lead in Paquita in all 3 grad performances, in my opinion, superior to when I saw Viktoria Tereshkina dance Paquita as a Mariinsky ballerina.

What Fateyev has done managing Mariinsky is exactly in accordance with his Dancing Times interview. He regards Vaganova graduates as low level talent. Zhiganshina should not have taken classes at Vaganova and she would now be a big Mariinsky star. because in Fateyev's eyes, her talent disappeared once she entered Vaganova.

It's not individual cases that are the issue -- in almost every company, there are going to be great talents that languish because the AD -- in function, if not in title -- does not recognize it, care for it, or find use for it. (Sadly, most of them leave ballet.) It's the pattern.

Sadly, most of them leave ballet has never been true in Russia. It is a rarity that any corps dancer will quit ballet in Russia.

I totally agree, Buddy. This is one talented soloist who was rarely given her rightful chance to shine at the MT, although she essayed Odette/Odile a couple of times. I wish her justice and success abroad.

Vasnetsova only danced Odeete/Odile once on November 2, 2008, during the beginning of Fateyev's reign as acting ballet director. Probably Vaziev had planned her debut, but only my guess.

This is the Mariinky link to her debut

http://www.mariinsky.ru/playbill/playbill/2008/11/2/1_1900/

3 days earlier, Kondaurova made her Swan Lake debut.

http://www.mariinsky.ru/playbill/playbill/2008/10/30/1_1900/

Kondaurova had many more chances in the next few months, but Vasnetsova never had any more chances.

Olesya Novikova had a remarkable debut on June 18, 2011, but she never got a 2nd chance, just like Vasnetsova.

http://www.mariinsky.ru/playbill/playbill/2011/6/18/1_1900/

Unfortunately, Vaganova needs foreign money because it is no longer the Soviet Union where the Soviet government supported Vaganova. Now Vaganova needs the foreign money. However, Vaganova does not currently allow foreign students to enter in first year, so dancers not going to Kirov Academy in Washington or anything similar, are at a serious disadvantage.

Even Kirov Academy has changed drastically for the worse since now many current teachers are not Vaganova graduates and are training their students very different to the Vaganova style. When Vinogradov started the Kirov Academy it was like the SPB Vaganova school with Vaganova graduates teaching, but now there are German teachers brought up in Germany, who know nothing about the Vaganova style and they are not training their students in the Vaganova style. The Kirov Academy does have some Vaganova grads teaching, but it no longer is 100% Vaganova grad teachers.

With special exceptions, I do not feel that foreigners belong in Mariinsky Ballet. Their training and style is so different. Where my feelings against foreigners is most evident is when the Japanese dancer, Kumiko Ishii, is on the stage. Her technique is too weak and her lack of sufficient Vaganova training is much too obvious. I refused to see Kampa dance Kitri, even at the cost of missing Stepanova dance Dryad.

For me, any dancer, who had their most important early years of ballet training, not at Vaganova, and in schools like where Kampa and Ishii trained, which are different to the Vaganova style, these dancers do not belong in Mariinsky Ballet. Dancers like Haley Schwanz who had her early training with Vaganova graduate, Angelina Armeskaya, from the Children of Theatrer Street movie, at the Washington Kirov Academy, fit in well at Vaganova and would have fit in at Mariinsky because her early training years were in the proper Vaganova style. Vaganova has great teachers in SPB, but they cannot break the bad habits brought up from improper training in the early years and Haley Schwanz had the proper training and would have been a wonderful Vaganova style ballerina at Mariinsky, but she joined Malakov's Berlin Ballet.

I sat in the first box to the left of the coaches' box for every performance I attended ...

Bart, which is the coaches' box? What would it correspond to on this seaing plan?

http://tickets.mariinsky.ru/en/performance/7604/

thanks! Sasha

The coaches box is inside of loge 1 in Mariinsky stall boxes. Tickets are not for sale in that coaches box (I think the door entrance says loge 0). There is a mini Tsar's box directly next to the stage, which is closer to the stage than the coaches box and also not for sale and not shown in ticket diagram.

There were never great talents at the Mariinsky, Paris Opera Ballet, or Bolshoi who were pushed aside because of who was running the company,

Maybe in the past, but now at Mariinsky there are loads of talented dancers being pushed aside and rotting in the corps or in character roles, which never happened in Mariinsky history, even Soviet or Tsarist times..

Just out of curiosity, how many years was Skorik in the corps de ballet for before Fateyev starting giving her all those principal roles?

Because I know that Yulia Stepanova had been in the the corps de ballet for about 3 years before making her Lilac Fairy début in December 2012 and Maria Shirinkina was in the corps de ballet for 5 years before she was promoted to second soloist in 2011, which was also the year her husband, Vladimir Shklyarov was promoted to principal.

Anyone know how long Skorik was in the corps de ballet for?

For the 2006/2007 Vaganova year, Vaganova added an extra year to their required graduation policies, so girls like Anastasia Nikitina did not graduate in 2007 but in 2008. Niktiina is 4 months younger than Oxana Skorik, who graduated in Perm in 2007, shortly after reaching age 18. Makhar Vaziev was Mariinsky ACTING ballet director in 2007 and hired Skorik as corps de ballet girl.

In June 2008, Fateyev replaced Vaziev as acting ballet director. Under Vaziev, Skorik had danced nothing , except corps de ballet work in her one year under Vaziev. On March 5, 2009, during Fateyev's first full season as Mariinsky acting ballet director, Fateyev gave Skorik, her first solo role, as Monna in Giselle. Fateyev has shown that few debuts take place at Mariinsky in a season, but when they do, he will give several debuts in the same performance, as he did on March 5, when Anastasia Petushkova made her Myrtha debut. Petushkova was a 2006 Vaganova graduate coryphee, dancing Myrtha to corps de ballet Skroik's Monna debut. Petushkova's path has kept her as a coryphee and only Gamzatti among her classical solo roles, although Zarema is important.

From Skorik's Monna debut in her first season under Fateyev, soon Bayadere 3rd shade and Swan Lake two swans were added to her resume. On June 14, 2009, three months after her Monna debut, Skorik danced her first significant role as Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote. That performance was filmed by a Russian and fragments of it are shown on Youtube , including Skorik's full Dryad solo.

One month later, Fateyev was so impressed with Skorik's Queen of Dryad, that he gave her the role of Lilac Fairy on July 10, 2009. She finished her first season under Fateyev and second season at Mariinsky, by adding these solo roles to her resume, Lilac Fairy, Queen of Dryads, 3rd Shade, Monna, Two Swans.

It is interesting that Skorik made her Lilac fairy debut shortly after turning 20 years old in her second season. Skorik was born in April 1989 and Stepanova was born in October 1989, but Stepanova graduated at Vaganova two years after Skorik graduated at Perm. Stepanova had rave reviews for her Lilac Fairy performance in the complete prologue program of the 2009 Vaganova graduation ceremonies. Skorik made her Mariinsky Lilac Fairy debut, one month after Stepanova's Vaganova Lilac Fairy performance. Ballet fans and ballet critics impressed by Stepanova's Lilac fairy, expected her to perform that role early in her Mariinsky career, but as you stated, her debut was in December 2012, in her fourth season at Mariinsky at age 23, three years older than when Skorik made her Mariinsky Lilac fairy debut.

In Skorik's 2nd season under Fateyev and 3rd Mariinsky season, she performed Lilac Fairy in the Kenendy Center in 2 different performance during the Mariinsky Sleeping Beauty week in February 2010, when Washington received it's worst snowstorm ever. In the Kennedy Canter programs, two ballerinas made their Princess Florine debut, Maya Dumchenko, who had danced Aurora many times, plus Skorik. In the 2010 Mariinsky festival Sleeping Beauty, Skorik danced her first significant Mariinsky festival solo role, as Princess Florine, a role which she had danced at Kennedy Center in February.

On July 6, 2010, Skorik danced her first major role as Giselle and once again Petushkova was Myrtha, so their positions had changed drastically in one year.

She ended her 2nd season under Fateyev with two new additions, Florine and the very important Giselle.

On May 14, 2011, Skorik made her Odette/Odile debut, seven days before the other Perm ballerina, Maria Shirinkina, made her Juliet debut on May 21. Like Lilac Fairy, Skorik was three years ahead of similar aged, Yulia Stepanova, who has yet to dance these important classical roles danced by Skorik, Giselle, Nikiya, Kitri, Raymonda, Medora, and Masha in Nutcracker. Also, four years have passed since Skorik's first good classical solo role , Florine, in the Mariinsky Festival. Now her Mariinsky festival classical full length ballet resume includes in order, Florine (in only Sleeping Beauty of 2010 and only Sleeping Beauty at Mariinsky Festival in 2011, last one performed at Festival), Queen of Dryads (2011, 2013), Nikiya (2013). Odette/Odile (2014). Yulia Stepanova's Mariinsky Festival classical full length ballet resume is completely empty with not one classical role danced at Mariinsky Festival.

Thanks, canbelto. That's Lacotte's Le Papillon pdd, performed last month during a special concert at the Hermitage Theater, featuring non-graduating students. I believe that Zhiganshina will dance only in the final concert of the graduation classes, on the 22nd.

plus she is dancing on August 4 Mariinsky Swan Lake in pas de trois with Ivannikova and Zyuzin.

There was a time when only the names of the ballets mattered, but now, who is being given the leading roles is not the same as before. In the past, there was always a good dancer in the leading roles, but now you often have a terrible dancer in a leading role. Nobody wants to pay Gergiev prices for lousy stars.

Giselle

Yulia Stepanova

Olesya Novikova

Alina Somova

Albrecht

Ilya Kuznetsov

Nikolai Tsiskaridze

Viktor Lebedev

Myrtha

Ekaterina Kondaurova

Anastasia Petushkova

Darya Vasnetsova

Ballerina

Oksana Marchuk by a lot

Yulia Stepanova

Alina Somova

Prince

Viktor Lebedev

Artyom Ovcharenko

Leonid Sarafanov

1st - Yulia Stepanova - in a few year she will be recognized as the greatest Odette/ Odile ever, with little disputes

2nd - Alina Somova - whose artistry as Odette is currently unmatched by anyone until Yulia dances it

3rd - Olesya Novikova - who danced it once in Mariinsky Theatre and twice in Korea with Kim Kimin in Mariinsky performance

Just because a dancer takes class with a company does not automatically mean they are members of said company. When I was dancing professionally, I often took class with a company if I was in town. This included the Mariinsky when they toured nearby. I don't personally know if Sasha was ever employed by MT, but given her sister's status and her Vaganova Grad status it is within reason that she took class with the compang to maintain technique while trying to secure a position elsewhere. I highly doubt that she would have been left off the roster with the last name Somova if she had indeed been an employ. Just my perspective.

Back in October 2011 when I read BA reports that Somova was not hired, I asked a friend of Sasha to get confirmation that Sasha was dancing for Mariinsky. Sasha told my friend that she definitely was in Mariinsky. I came to Mariinsky the following month and several other months during the season. Not only did I see Sasha take class, but also rehearse. She also left many minutes after almost every performance and the photo that Tiara posted from Sasha's Russian facebook type account, was her backstage with one of her My Fair Lady costumes and only Mariinsky dancers were dancing, not outsiders.. These are additional photos in her My Fair Lady costumes, plus the one Tiara showed before.

.http://vk.com/id28992786?z=photo28992786_278666756%2Fphotos28992786 the boy is definitely a Mariinsky dancer

.http://vk.com/id28992786?z=photo28992786_278666993%2Fphotos28992786

http://vk.com/id28992786?z=photo28992786_278667342%2Fphotos28992786 clearly backstage at Mariinsky

http://vk.com/id28992786?z=photo28992786_278667488%2Fphotos28992786

http://vk.com/id28992786?z=photo28992786_278667643%2Fphotos28992786

http://vk.com/id28992786?z=photo28992786_278672559%2Fphotos28992786 on the Mariinsky stage

http://vk.com/id28992786?z=photo28992786_287492973%2Fphotos28992786 this is not a stage photo, but very nice

Does anyone know who will dance the roles of Ivan and Anastasia?

It is interesting that Obraztsova's 2 other muses are very short girls, like Obraztsova. Anastasia Stashkevich was first cast Amour in recent Don Quixote and Daria Khokhlova was second cast Amour in recent Don Quixote. Apollo is based on Greek mythology and the Greek muses were daughters of the head God, Zeus. So you can call the Muses, Goddesses. I think Balanchine or anyone would feel that the main Goddess in this ballet, Terpsichore, would need to be the tallest ballerina or at least close in height to the other ballerinas, which the 2 short Amour dancers, Stashkevich and Khokhlova, provide. A tall Ekaterina Shipulina would make her more suitable for Terpsichore, if she was dancing with Obraztsova, and make Obraztsova an unlikely Terpsichore, if Shipulina was dancing in Apollo..