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Leonid Sarafanov: Strengths & Challenges


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This seems to be a hot topic, worldwide (yes, even in Russia)!

Here's my theory: Leonid Sarafanov is a soloist with demi-caractere technique, graced with a Nordic Prince's (non-jesterlike) face....so what is a ballet director to do? Relegate him to doing Jesters & 'villains' for the rest of his life or use his princely face in princely roles? The Kirov has opted for the princely route when, in fact, Sarafanov is more the virtuoso jester type.

What do you think?

p.s. - not that jester's can't have handsome faces :) It's just that the Kirov & other major Russian troops base a lot of their emploi decisions on JUST the face. The face is more important in Russia that perhaps anywhere else. I haven't quite come to grips with this philosophy...but you can almost tell which young dancer will dance Aurora or Siegfried just by the 'clear-eyed angelic' quality of his/her face. [You could get sued in America for thinking that way....]

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Very good analysis, Natalia, but I don't totally agree.

To me his face is All-Ukrainian juvenile. He also has a big head which makes him look even more childish.

He wouldn't bother me so much if he weren't being upheld by the Kirov as their greatest male dancer -- upheld by virtue of the exposure he's given.

I have to say without exaggeration that he is considerable damage to the company, as well, natch, to other deserving careers. The Kirov has lost its mind; I hope it's temporary insanity.

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To me his face is All-Ukrainian juvenile.  .....

:) I just fell off my chair laughing! :D

At the Moscow competition ('01) his partnering in Paquita pdd was actually quite good -- there's a big presage lift in the adagio -- but his partner there was a teeny-tiny gem of a ballerina, Natalia Domracheva. As I watched the tape, I was trying to think of Kirov soloists who might be counterparts to Domracheva. They must be matchstick-thin, as well as short. Not too many such dancers are at the Kirov. Perhaps Sheshina? Obratsova & Tkachenko are approriately shortish but too muscular and 'womanly endowed' (esp. Tkachenko). Sheshina would be his perfect 'match' at the Kirov, IMO.

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Hi girls! :)

Leonid Sarafanov has, without any doubt, a brillant technique but he has also big irritating disproportions : narow shoulders and big head to a skinny body that make him antiaesthetic especially when he dance half naked like in " Le Corsaire" or other similar.

Natalia is really true when she write that the face is very important, especially in Russia, but we seemed that Sarafanov is not also a really interesting actor. Even if he has nice feet and legs is not enough to be a star. Sometimes we can't understand why the ballet direction likes this kind of dancers that are mediocre partners and not suit any today's Mariinsky's ballerina. A great dancer or simply a star of a so important theatre like Mariinsky, has not the right to fall the ballerinas down everytime! Sarafanov is a very bad partner and we have seen it many times ( " Sleeping Beauty", " Giselle" ) and it is not because he is only skinny but because he has a very bad school of partnering and he is very distracted everytime also.

Dear Natalia, unfortunately we can't attend the Diana Vishneva's ballet evening, but we have seen many times quite all the pieces she has danced. Belsky's " Carmen & Jose", was one of the first pieces danced by Vishneva for Lausanne Ballet Competition and then on the inauguration of the "Chamber Ballet Theatre" in St.Petersburg, that has maked conspicuous her beautiful temperament. In " In the night","Steptext" etc.,we have admired Vishneva many times.

As a matter of fact, we were waiting for something new interesting work near her most famouses pieces in her ballet evening but we were disappointed when we have known that the programme was formed only by the same pieces she has danced everytime even if it could be interesting to see Dunchenko with Lobukhin or Kolb in " Bakhti".

Edited by Natalia
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You have a way with words, thal.

One of the joys of the current season is the increase in appearances by Dumchenko. She was out on maternity leave for most of last year, I realize, but even before then she wasn't being used as much as she was in the 1997/99 range of time.

All of the above having been said about Sarafanov, I continue to admire his abilities as a soloist. I want to make that clear. My intention was not to create a Sarafanov 'bash-fest' but merely to echo the importance given to this topic among the balletomanes in Russia.

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Natalia, no one would think you were participating in a bash fest.

I do believe that when a dancer agrees to be cast/exposed to the degree that Sarafanov has s/he loses the right to receive anything except the most honest criticism. We must make an attempt to maintain standards, even when the companies themselves have trouble doing so.

If this is gossip you'll delete, but I believe that Sarafanov himself has received nothing in the Kirov but praise, praise, praise from the management. [Natalia notes: I just removed one sentence. The first sentence makes the point, thal. Constant casting substantiates the obvious: in any troupe, whoever is cast a lot is in favor with that troupe's direction!]

Oh, I forgot. They put Dumchenko/Lobukhin together in Romeo in December.

Mayitchka please proceed with caution.

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Very good analysis, Natalia, but I don't totally agree.

To me his face is All-Ukrainian juvenile.  He also has a big head which makes him look even more childish. 

He wouldn't bother me so much if he weren't being upheld by the Kirov as their greatest male dancer -- upheld by virtue of the exposure he's given.

I have to say without exaggeration that he is considerable damage to the company, as well, natch, to other deserving careers.  The Kirov has lost its mind; I hope it's temporary insanity.

Excellent post Thalictum! He was paired with Dasha Pavlenko in "Bayadere" this past Sunday. I saw him live in this ballet with Nioradze. . . Who is his coach? Leonid needs to bulk-up and get some more mileage in what Makarova called the "inner-world." If he can do this he'll bring experience, concentration and depth to what he's doing on stage. You can't put over on stage what you haven't experienced. I'm not saying he's inexperienced, just that he doesn't seem to be able to project "IT" to the audience. He's not totally at fault. In alot of cases he's simply miscast. IMO he is miscast as Solor. I said before that seeing him as the Indian warrior, gives me the impression of Siegfried popping up in "Aida." They seem to be pushing him and he's not suited for everything, nor does he seem to be growing artistically. Another problem is his height. Dasha and Irma are both taller than him and so are other stars. This makes partnering (in his case), much more difficult on top of everything else.

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Sarafanov's coach is the very powerful Gennady Selutsky, who also coaches Kolb, Korsuntsev, Andrei Yakovlev, and perhaps others.

Selyutsky also taught the "Course A' class of last year's Vaganova Academy graduates, including the male star of the show, Alexei Timofeev (Basil in Don Q at graduation gala, with Maria Yakovleva...SPECTACULAR!). Both Timofeev and his fellow-graduate, Alexander Sergeev, are already receiving important solo assignments during their first season with the company.

Selyutsy is not only powerful; he is excellent in what he does. What I mean: Power is not always deserved but Selyutsky has the quality to back it up.

Sarafanov graduated from Kyiv, Ukraine, and not the Vaganova Acad. His mentor/coach was Valeri Kovtun. Once in St P, he was assigned 'the best' - Selyutsky.

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I have to disagree that Selutsky is the best. He is perhaps the best of the male coaches that Vasiev has allowed into the company.

You'll probably edit this, but ....

What needs to be mentioned, too, I'm sorry to say, is Sarafanov's sub par acting. I thought his acting was ludicrous in Swan Lake and La Bayadere. Selutsky should not have allowed him to go on stage in those roles. One drawback of the coaching system at the Kirov is that the coaches -- the proactive ones -- want their pupils on stage in anything and everything; the brand must simply be represented everywhere, every time.

I think it's time to realize that the Kirov's now routine policy with the graduates it considers outstanding is to immediately throw them into the most taxing roles in the repertory, e.g. Dmitri Simeonov dancing Solor in his first year in the company, etc. There isn't any slow grooming and that's a decided shift from the traditional policy. It has gone on for a while but it's now hardened into custom, with mixed results.

Edited by Thalictum
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Thanks to everyone for their input.

I'm going to close this thread, as it's digressed from its original subject.

Nonetheless, I invite Thalictum or any other interested poster to commence a thread on the subject that Thalictum brought up in his last note: "Does the Kirov Push Young Dancers Too Far, Too Soon?" (or something to that effect)

- Natalia

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