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Vaganova Academy Graduation Performances


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Thank you for the information on the dancers. I kept wishing you would say it was not from Vaganova Academy at all! I still have not been able to get past the 1st piece. Hopefully it gets better.sad.png

The first piece is the underwater kingdom scene from Little Humped Back Horse, restaged by Yuri Burlaka, ex Bolshoi artistic director.
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The girl in roughly 38:00-43:00 is delightful. Any idea who she is? Or what the piece is for that matter...

Edit: oops, answered my own question. Ekaterina Ulitina, Vienna Waltz I think. She has lovely feet and...moxie! I found a few other clips of her, but I'm not sure she's attached to any company.

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Alexandra Somova, in her own words, said that she is dancing now for Mariinsky Ballet.

She was hired by a company in St Petersburg, and the best company.

Never was on the roster of the MT. However, she was recently appointed to the corps of Moscow's Stanislavsky Ballet, as of the start of the 2012/13 season, so 'congrats' to her!

Main reason why I was posting:

A DVD of one of the 2011 Vaganova Academy Graduation concerts was just released on Japanese DVD, under the Sinshokan label. (Maybe the 3rd concert because the diverts portion includes Bluebird pdd & Corsaire pas d'esclave wtih Zhiganshina, etc...although I see that it also has Paquita pas de trois, which appeared on another concert...so maybe this is a 'best of the concerts' compilation?) Regardless, this was the class that included Olga Smirnova and Kristina Shapran, among other dancers of note.

It can easily be purchased online via Lawson's.

If you're not in Japan, it can only be viewed with a multi-region, multi-system DVD player (as explained on other threads, in the films sub-forum).

http://www.hmv.co.jp...asp?sku=5137475

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Received the delightful Japanese DVD of the 2011 Vaganova Graduations this weekend. I can now confirm that it contains the Little Humpbacked Horse Underwater Scene and the Bayadere 'Shades' from the 3rd (final) performance + the middle 'Divertissements' from a mix of the three performances (e.g., Shevtsova did not really dance Spirit Ball 10 minutes after dancing Paquita pas de trois, as is presented on this DVD!). Appropriately enough, selections were made to include the performances of the two Japanese men who were prominently featured in solos (Takano & Takatoshi). Numbers and casting seen in the DVD:

Part I: LHH Underwater Scene (Burlaka-after-Gorsky/Pugni & Drigo)

Water Goddess - Elizaveta Kaukina (dancing no less that 3 variations!)

Water God - Nikita Nazarov

Two Corals - Yulia Kobatova & Anastasia Asaben

Ocean & Two Pearls pas de trois - Yonen Takano, Arina Varentseva & Ksenia Ananieva

Part II: Divertissements

Grand Waltz (Larionov/Gliere) - ensemble of jr and mid-level students

The Letter (Keikhel/Richer) - Irina Tolschichikova[

Between Us (Lationov/Walter) - Tatyana Goriushkina/Gianlucca Sermattei

Intermezzo (Baranova/Puccini) - Kristina Shapran/Sergei Strelkov

Paquita Pas de Trois (Petipa/Minkus) - Ksenia Shevtsova, Alexandra Somova & Danil' Lopatin (the 2nd female solo - Somova - was omitted; all else there)

Corsaire Pas d'Esclave (Petipa.various composers) - Ksenia Zhiganshina/Matiyama Takatoshi WOW!!! THIS ALONE WORTH PRICE OF DVD!!!

Spirit Ball (Briantsev/Chopin) - Ksenia Shevtsova/Danil Starkov

Sleeping Beauty Bluebirds pdd (Petipa/Tchaikovsky) - Ekaterina Bondarenko/Artyom Sorochan

Part III: Bayadere 'Kingdon of Shades' (100% complete)

Nikiya - Olga Smirnova (amazing - hard to believe that this was 'just a student' - even more polished than student Lopatkina in her 1991 graduation in this role...and even Vishneva in her 1995 graduation, also in this role) ANOTHER REASON TO HAVE THIS DVD!

Solor - Sergei Strelkov

Shades - Elizaveta Kaukina, Yulia Kobatova and Alexandra Somova

I cannot recommend this DVD highly enough. Even if you've seen the shaky YouTube versions of these performances hunched over your computers, you must luxuriate in this HD-filmed edition, seen on the big flat-sceen on the wall of your den or living room, sitting in a comfy chair, champagne at the ready!

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Alexandra Somova, in her own words, said that she is dancing now for Mariinsky Ballet.

She was hired by a company in St Petersburg, and the best company.

Never was on the roster of the MT. However, she was recently appointed to the corps of Moscow's Stanislavsky Ballet, as of the start of the 2012/13 season, so 'congrats' to her!

Main reason why I was posting:

A DVD of one of the 2011 Vaganova Academy Graduation concerts was just released on Japanese DVD, under the Sinshokan label. (Maybe the 3rd concert because the diverts portion includes Bluebird pdd & Corsaire pas d'esclave wtih Zhiganshina, etc...although I see that it also has Paquita pas de trois, which appeared on another concert...so maybe this is a 'best of the concerts' compilation?) Regardless, this was the class that included Olga Smirnova and Kristina Shapran, among other dancers of note.

It can easily be purchased online via Lawson's.

If you're not in Japan, it can only be viewed with a multi-region, multi-system DVD player (as explained on other threads, in the films sub-forum).

http://www.hmv.co.jp...asp?sku=5137475

Strange. I thought Sasha was definitely in Mariinsky Ballet corps at one time? Of course, she is not on the roster now, so difficult to prove if someone has left, but I certainly thought she was. Certainly her VK profile shows several photographs of her in the premiere of the Mariinsky My Fair Lady! Here is one of them:

http://vk.com/id28992786?z=photo28992786_278672559%2Falbum28992786_00%2Frev

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AlexaaA1/Tiara, I have several friends who attended My Fair Lady premiere but none of them dance with the Mariinsky (except maybe in dreams). smile.png

As for 'proof,' Cygnet cited all of the company rosters that she checked with narry a trace of the 'Junior' Somova, throughout last season. [several of us checked periodically, in fact.] Of course, the best news is that she found a job with the Stanislavsky this season, along with some fellow-grads from the class of 2011 or friends from the class of 2012, e.g., Shapran (now a very famous soloist!), Shevtsova, Sorochan and Nazarov.

It's fascinating how the students featured in this DVD are now dancing 'all over the map'! The ones most expected to dance with the Mariinsky are elsewhere.

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AlexaaA1/Tiara, I have several friends who attended My Fair Lady premiere but none of them dance with the Mariinsky (except maybe in dreams). smile.png

As for 'proof,' Cygnet cited all of the company rosters that she checked with narry a trace of the 'Junior' Somova, throughout last season. [several of us checked periodically, in fact.] Of course, the best news is that she found a job with the Stanislavsky this season, along with some fellow-grads from the class of 2011 or friends from the class of 2012, e.g., Shapran (now a very famous soloist!), Shevtsova, Sorochan and Nazarov.

It's fascinating how the students featured in this DVD are now dancing 'all over the map'! The ones most expected to dance with the Mariinsky are elsewhere.

Well, come to think of it, back in December/January when I was in SPb, I remember I saw her arriving early for company class every day, so she was definitely in MT then.
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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.

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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

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Absolutely, fraildove! I'm sure that Big Sis gave her that 'backstage pass' until she landed job at the Stan in Moscow.

I also know that it is an outright lie to claim on one's Facebook (or Russian equivalents like Friends.ru, Kontakte, etc.) that one is employed by a certain company when one is not. That's almost as bad as those guys (and gals?) who claim to be U.S. Army war veterans but never were...some even caught manufacturing their own Purple Heart medals.

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A little trivia for 'Petipa Era Nerds' -

re. Yuri Burlaka's recon of the Gorsky Little Humpbacked Horse Underwater Scene (as seen in the recent Japanese DVD of the 2011 Vaganova grad): The reason why the 'Water Goddess' character dances 3 solos on the DVD is that Burlaka rearranged the 2nd duo for the Two Corals as a 3rd solo, just for these Vaganova performances. If you check the film of the 2009 Chelyabinsk performances in which Burlaka premiered this reconstruction, the music (an interpolation by Arensky for Gorsky's 1912 version of LHH) is used as a 2nd duet for the two Corals. For whatever reason, Burlaka changed it to a 3rd solo for the Water Goddess in the Vaganova Acad edition (danced by Kaukina in the DVD but premiered by Smirnova).

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A little trivia for 'Petipa Era Nerds' -

re. Yuri Burlaka's recon of the Gorsky Little Humpbacked Horse Underwater Scene (as seen in the recent Japanese DVD of the 2011 Vaganova grad): The reason why the 'Water Goddess' character dances 3 solos on the DVD is that Burlaka rearranged the 2nd duo for the Two Corals as a 3rd solo, just for these Vaganova performances. If you check the film of the 2009 Chelyabinsk performances in which Burlaka premiered this reconstruction, the music (an interpolation by Arensky for Gorsky's 1912 version of LHH) is used as a 2nd duet for the two Corals. For whatever reason, Burlaka changed it to a 3rd solo for the Water Goddess in the Vaganova Acad edition (danced by Kaukina in the DVD but premiered by Smirnova).

One of the students sent me the official Vaganova filming of all three performances of The Underwater scene and I personally saw the dress rehearsal. Smirnova did not dance the Water Goddess in the dress rehearsal or in any of the performances, although she was scheduled to dance the Goddess in the final performance. With Kristina Shapran's injury preventing Shapran from performing Nikiya in the final performance, Smirnova danced her third Nikiya and never danced Goddess. The premiere was danced by my countrywoman, Isabella McGuire Mayes - Izzie danced the Goddess in both the dress rehearsal and the premiere. Kaukina danced the second and third performances.
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Interestingly, the supposedly 'injured' Shapran is in the Japanese DVD dancing the modern-classical pdd Intermezzo (to Puccini), with Strelkov. Shapran was spectacular and more-than-OK for that; she didn't look very injured, in other words. She danced on pointe in Intermezzo.

Smirnova is shown as Water Goddess in all of the still photos of the dress rehearsal, as are Strelkov and Shapran in 'Shades.' Maybe the photo sessions happened before the dress rehearsal?

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Interestingly, the supposedly 'injured' Shapran is in the Japanese DVD dancing the modern-classical pdd Intermezzo (to Puccini), with Strelkov. Shapran was spectacular and more-than-OK for that; she didn't look very injured, in other words. She danced on pointe in Intermezzo.

Smirnova is shown as Water Goddess in all of the still photos of the dress rehearsal, as are Strelkov and Shapran in 'Shades.' Maybe the photo sessions happened before the dress rehearsal?

Shapran danced Intermezzo in the first two performances plus Nikiya in the dress rehearsal. Smirnova was going to dance Water Goddess in the 3rd performance, but Shapran's injury was serious enough to prevent her from performing Nikiya in the 3rd performance, resulting in Smirnova being her Nikiya substitute and eliminating Smirnova's debut as Water Goddess. Smirnova must have rehearsed Water Goddess and still photos do not even need rehearsals. Most still photos are not taken before or after a rehearsal, but then maybe Vaganova still photos are different than professional companies. Smirnova might well have had publicity photos taken but this does not mean she performed.
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I saw the 2011 Vaganova performances and I was just wondering where the cameras that filmed it were located? Was one camera used or were there two or maybe three? I only remember seeing one camera in the back centre where people enter the stalls area.[/size][/font][/color]

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I saw the 2011 Vaganova performances and I was just wondering where the cameras that filmed it were located? Was one camera used or were there two or maybe three? I only remember seeing one camera in the back centre where people enter the stalls area.[/size][/font][/color]

HI Tiara,

I was there too and I don't recall now off hand (for that particular set of performances) if there were cameras or not. If there are, they're only ever where you mentioned, or else ahead of row 13 (exit row) in the orchestra, in that mini aisle before those side doors. Only in rare cases can they film backstage (ie standing in wings) I dont think for graduation perfces....

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Tiara, the Japanese DVD seems to have been filmed w/ 3 cameras. The angle seen most often is, as you note, center-back (cameraman a bit lazy at times, not zooming enough or panning to follow dancer into wings, thus missing important steps, i.e., a series of jumps by the male soloist of Paquita Pas de Trois is missed). Many lovely shots are taken from the Director's Box (just to the right of stage). There also seems to have been a camera a bit higher up in Bel Etage or one tier higher, used for group shots.

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Tiara, the Japanese DVD seems to have been filmed w/ 3 cameras. The angle seen most often is, as you note, center-back (cameraman a bit lazy at times, not zooming enough or panning to follow dancer into wings, thus missing important steps, i.e., a series of jumps by the male soloist of Paquita Pas de Trois is missed). Many lovely shots are taken from the Director's Box (just to the right of stage). There also seems to have been a camera a bit higher up in Bel Etage or one tier higher, used for group shots.

OK - thank you, Natalia! Interesting! And, yes, infuriating when the cameraman does not zoom enough - so much gets missed.
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