Irina Kolpakova!

[Solor]

Yesterday, my roomate and I went to a flea market by our house. While I was browsing I found a brand new copy of the Kiorv dancing "The Sleeping Beauty" with Irina Kolplakova and Sergei Berezhnoi, complete with its booklet. Of all places.....in a flea market. It was a great buy, just 3 bucks.

Irina Koplakova was a great ballerina. I have only seen her on film a few times, and I must admit I never really payed attention to the few snippets I had of her on various videos. At first while watching my new tape, I must admit I thought to myself, "whats so great about her?" She was very plain, by todays standards I suppose - at a glance. But then I watched the video again and I realized that the woman never messed up once, never had a wobble of the feet, never held an out of place position - actually she was classically perfect! She was flawless! Her style was refined and well polished, her legs were iron, she was just right! Such a great ballerina. Her technique never really made a spectacle of itself - if you get my meaning. Her dancing was VERY smooth and easy..

Just wanted to share my Irina experience with my ballet talk buddys

[Marga]

Irina Kolpakova (not Koplakova, Solor), former Prima Ballerina Assoluta is Assistant Artistic Director of Eldar Aliev's Ballet Internationale in Indianapolis, Indiana.

I wonder if all these translocated former Russian ballerinas (in Kolpakova's case, a former Soviet ballerina, she being the Communist counterpart to Alla Osipenko, her direct competition at the Kirov, who was suppressed for her anti-communist views) ever imagined they would be ensconced in midwest and coastal American cities in the 21st century. Alla Osipenko spent time teaching in Connecticut and still teaches in Florida SI's. She and Kolpakova were both in Vaganova's last class.

[Natalia]

Marga - Some of your information appears to be out of date. In last week's interview with Elena Petrova, for the St. P newspaper "Argumenti i Fakti," Alla Osipenko spoke of how happy she is to be back in Russia, after years of coaching in the West (Italy and the U.S.). She is now the leading coach of the private St. Petersburg ballet troupe that is headed by Konstantin Tkatchine.

[Marga]

Marga - Some of your information appears to be out of date. In last week's interview with Elena Petrova, for the St. P newspaper "Argumenti i Fakti," Alla Osipenko spoke of how happy she is to be back in Russia, after years of coaching in the West (Italy and the U.S.). She is now the leading coach of the private St. Petersburg ballet troupe that is headed by Konstantin Tkatchine.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, but this summer she will be in Florida teaching ballet from June 27th to July 23, along with Tatiana Terekhova :

Issaev SI

[Ariodante]

I've seen that "Sleeping Beauty" many, many years ago and I must have disliked Kolpakova for I was ecstatic to find out in my soviet "Ballet Encyclopedia" that she was a party member . Being a Pole and raised in an anti-communist family, I had this very peculiar satisfaction whenever I found out that ballerinas and ballerinos who I didn't like belonged to the party (but if I liked a dancer who happened to belong to the party, i would simply say "Oh well, it happens..."). I'm laughing at it today, not so much because some of the wounds healed, but because my knowledge of ballet matured (so did I) and so many of those dancers I disliked previously turned out to be my favorites today (e.g. Bessmertnova). It also helped that I wasn't a rebelious teenager anymore and started looking at art as art. I guess it's the same mechanism that makes some people reject some of the great German artists because they belonged to the Nazi party. I never had that problem but I still can have a hard time accepting some of the Polish artists who were "collaborators".

As to the encyclopedia, one of the first things you read in each biographical entry was the date and place of birth and then, if applicable, the date of joining the communist party! Still, it was a fabulous book to look at pictures, probably one of the most luxurious ballet encyclopedias you'are likely to encounter. I still love browsing it for the pictures.

And Kolpakova? I tried to watch this Sleeping Beauty again but the copy in my rental store was so bad that I had to give up. I'll probably grab it as soon as it comes out on DVD (if ever). I've seen her in some excerpts and she also took part in the Canadian series "Footnotes" where she struck me as very elegant.

Best greetings,

Iza

[Thalictum]

Osipenko will also teach in California this summer.

[Marga]

Being a Pole and raised in an anti-communist family, .....

Being an Estonian, and raised in an anti-communist family, I am coming from the same place you are, Iza. I appreciate the rest of your post as you explain how maturity helps you look at art as art, without the politics attached to it. I still have trouble with separating it out, and I don't apologize for it either, given the atrocities that occurred under the Communist system.

It wasn't easy for those ballet dancers, either, who had to conceal their capitalist leanings in order to be able to dance and indeed, not be persecuted. And there were many of these "closeted" individuals, and not only in the world of ballet, of course.

I have the Sleeping Beauty video and don't consider it one of my favourites, probably because of my residual feelings. I concede that Kolpakova was the great dancer she was, there's no question about that, but give me Asylmuratova or Sizova any day as Aurora.

[canbelto]

Isnt Kolpakova the ballet mistress for the ABT? I've seen her at ABT performances. A TINY lady.

[jorgen]

I think that Sleeping Beauty video was recorded in 1981. Kolpakova was then 47-48 years old so it hardly does her justice! One has to watch it and immagine how she was 10-20 years earlier.

[Farrell Fan]

As of last Fall's City Center season, Irina Kolpakova was indeed listed among the "Ballet Masters" at ABT (along with Guillame Graffin, Susan Jones, Georgina Parkinson, and Kirk Peterson).

[Thalictum]

As a record of her Beauty, I much prefer Kolpakova's 1976 performance with Soloviev -- also because he is a much greater dancer than Berezhnoi.

[Ariodante]

Being a Pole and raised in an anti-communist family, .....

Being an Estonian, and raised in an anti-communist family, I am coming from the same place you are, Iza. I appreciate the rest of your post as you explain how maturity helps you look at art as art, without the politics attached to it. I still have trouble with separating it out, and I don't apologize for it either, given the atrocities that occurred under the Communist system.

It wasn't easy for those ballet dancers, either, who had to conceal their capitalist leanings in order to be able to dance and indeed, not be persecuted. And there were many of these "closeted" individuals, and not only in the world of ballet, of course.

I have the Sleeping Beauty video and don't consider it one of my favourites, probably because of my residual feelings. I concede that Kolpakova was the great dancer she was, there's no question about that, but give me Asylmuratova or Sizova any day as Aurora.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It was one of the most demoralizing aspects of communism (or any totalitarian system) that people had to join the party in order to get a good job or in some cases - any job. Some never had any problems with that: they were born into communist families and didn't know any other "reality". Some, however, adapted pretty well to the demands of the regime. I guess it was never as hard in Poland as it was in Russia or many other Soviet countries but the communist mentality is still one of the most destabilizing factors in the new order.

Still, I think with ballet, where so much in the future career depends on early schooling and real talent, there was probably never many people who made careers only because they joined the party. Ballet is not singing which you can learn in a couple of years and become a mascott of the regime.

I felt a really great relief when I started appreciating Soviet artists for their merits only and looked up my "Ballet Encyclopedia" only for pictures (well, not really, I still like lurking into the bios but my reading knowledge of Russian is getting poorer and poorer so I am having a harder time finding the names there ) but those "residual feelings" are still there particularly when you remember the evils of this system and what it did to all of us, including those who never had any troubles endorsing it.

Best greetings,

Iza

[Fraildove]

I remember reading Valery Panov's autobiography (really wonderful book, although the name eludes me at the moment) and his comment on Kolpakova was shocking! I knew from former teachers that she was a pretty strong communist, but i cannot imagine such a tiny lady badgering a full grown man about trying to leave the country! I have had a few oppertunities to work with her and she is truly a marvolous teacher. It would be interesting to know whether she is still something of a 'closet communist'!

[Marga]

I remember reading Valery Panov's autobiography (really wonderful book, although the name eludes me at the moment)

The bio is called To Dance and it is a thoroughly fascinating account of a dancer's life in the USSR and then in the free world. It is one of my favourite dancer biographies. Panov wrote it with George Feifer and it was published in 1978 by Knopf.

[vrsfanatic]

Irina Kolpakova went to ABT as a guest Ballet Mistress the final year of the Baryshnikov AD of ABT (1989?). She has been retained at ABT in some capacity or another ever since then. She also has been working in Indianapolis for some time as well. Her husband, V. Semyonov, has been at Ballet Internationale since 1995.