Piece on Vera Volkova, in DanceView

[bart]

The latest issue of DanceView (Autumn 2005) has a fascinating piece on Vera Volkova in London during World War II, where she began teaching and coaching several of the central figures in the development of British ballet at the time. It includes a lot about her almost symbiotic relationship with Fonteyn.

The piece is actually a chapter of a biography of Volkova by Alexander Meinertz, published this year in Denmark. A translation of the entire book is scheduled for 2006. I knew very little about her life prior to her work in Denmark, so this chapter was a revelation. I'm looking forward to the complete English translation next year.

[sandik]

Good news about the translation -- I'll be looking for it.

[Paul Parish]

Volkova was indeed a key figure -- British and Danish ballet owes a lot to her.... I'm eager to know more about her. (And wasn't she Stanley Williams's teacher? in which case ballet in America does too....)

Thanks for the heads-up about the chapter in Dance View. I'd better renew my subscription.

[Alexandra]

Volkova was Stanley Williams' teacher (and Helgi Tomasson took classes with her as well). She, and her partner Alexander Pushkiin, worked with Vaganova. The first thing I'd ever heard about Volkova was that she was "the first to bring the Vaganova method to the West," which isn't quite true; she developed her own method. But she was an important -- and unsung -- teacher/coach in London during and shortly after the War (what the DanceView chapter is about). She came to Copenhagen in 1951, after the Lander Scandal left the company wiithout a teacher, and was formative to the company and its school. Volkova had contacts with everyone in the ballet world and brought choreographers like Ashton and Balanchine to Copenhagen. Couple that with her development of stars like Bruhn, Kronstam and Kirsten Simone, and Volkova can be credited with bringing the RDB back to international standard, key to its international success in the 1950s and '60s. She trained Danish teachers, mostly importantly Williams and Kronstam, whose pupils are now in important positions iin Denmark and elsewhere.

Meinertz is a friend and long-time colleague, but I'd say this even if he weren't: this book is wonderful, delving into Volkova (and classical ballet's) roots in 20th century Russia, where HER teachers were struggling to save classical ballet after the Revolution, as well as her work with the Royal and Royal Danish ballets. I believe there's already a publisher for the English version, and I'll post that news when it's official.

Thanks for reading the article, Bart (and posting about it).

[bart]

I found the article (actually, the chapter) interesting on a number of levels. I didn't know Volkova's story, but if you read between the lines in this chapter she was apparently married to an Englishman who was serving overseas in the military. This was during the Battle of Britain and after. The discipline of the ballet class -- before she actually began regular teaching and coaching -- seems to have provided a deep kind of escape and spiritual consolation.

QUOTE: "Doing class every morning again became the fixed point in Volkova's life. The logic, purity, and beauty of the physical exercises sustained her. The steps and movements demanded an absolute concentration that kept real life at bay for a while and cleared her mind. Rising on pointe gave her a feeling of control, keeping the balance a b readth of view. She loved, in jumps, to leave the ground and float free in the air. Landing again, she was strengthened."

I think that many people who take ballet class in the midst of life experiences that can be difficult and messy must be able to identify with this. And it's the same witih many other creative disciplines in the arts, scholarship, and even athletics.

[Brioche]

I can't wait to read this book. I am really hoping it tells us WHY Volkova was such a wonderful teacher. I don't know that I've ever read anything that explained her gifts as a teacher.

[Alexandra]

It does (The Danish version came out earlier this year.) Lots of quotes from students about her classes, the things she changed in London and in Copenhagen, how she got the effects she wanted, etc. She's certainly one of the most influential, and most respected, teachers working in Western Europe mid-20th century, and I'm very happy this book is out.

[dirac]

I don't know that I've ever read anything that explained her gifts as a teacher.

Doubtless she's too modest to say so, but our own Alexandra Tomalonis made good progress in this department in her portrait of Henning Kronstam. I believe Alexandra was a pioneer in this respect. I read the excerpt with much interest and am looking forward to the book.

[kfw]

It's inspiring to read about a devoted teacher like Volkova. But what struck me first when I received my issue of the magazine is the beautiful cover photo of her looking at what is apparently a book of photos on a simple wooden desk, wearing a long, long dress in what is perhaps a tiny octangal-shaped room (or the corner of a larger one) with a wooden floor, with the windows giving out on what I suppose is a Thames River scene. The large latches on the windows at first glance might be birds in flight, and the quality of the paper the photo is printed on -- not the best -- enhances the photo by giving it a slightly blurry, impressionistic look. Gorgeous!