Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×

“Who is to dance at Mariinsky?”


Recommended Posts

Here is a biography of the author from the Vaganova Academy's official website:

www.vaganova.ru/files/Zozulina_SV(1).doc

I found that too. Unfortunately this must be some random old file that was never updated.

I'm sorry, but I don't read Russian and don't have a Cyrilic translator at hand -- could someone here please give this poor woman a name?

Link to comment

It seems that there is no official information to be found about the circumstances in which Skorik joined the MT. Information on her wikipedia page shows that she joined in 2007 as a coryphee, but previous discussions on this forum show that her name did not appear on the MT website until 2008, and I cannot remember if she was listed as coryphee or corp de ballet at the time. A youtube video of her debut in Queen of Dryad (seem to be her first significant solo part in the company) was published in June of 2009 and this seems to be the performance on June 14 in 2009 (http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/2009/6/14/1_1900/). And on July 10 in 2009 of the same year she danced Lilac Fairy. This also seems to be a debut as I cannot find earlier she was not listed in that role in earlier Sleeping Beauty performances according to the archive of the MT website. Her O/O debut was in May of 2011 with Askerov but before that she danced with Korsuntsev in a gala. It was around the same time when she was promoted to second soloist, but I cannot remember correctly which month. She stayed there for less than a season before advancing to first soloist.

Under Vaziev she was receiving minor solo parts along with a number of Vaganova graduates, but it was under Fateyev that she started to receive, and continuously, big parts, one after another.

Shirinkina seems to be promoted together with Maria Chugai and a number of young dancers to coryphee before Vaziev left the company. And she was getting more opportunities in her first seasons with the company (such as one of the fairies in 3rd Act Sleeping Beauty in her first season, shown in the New Year's Eve gala) than Stepanova, Batoeva and the like. This is difficult to comment on this, however, because during Vaziev's time young dancers were having more opportunities in general.

Link to comment

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.

Link to comment

Vaziev's wife, Olga Chenchikova, graduated from Perm. This is the likely reason why Vaziev took the graduates from Perm, Shirinkina, then Skoryk. If Skoryk indeed was already given solo parts under Vaziev, then she must have arrived in 2007, since at the end of May of 2008, Fateev was appointed the Acting Director.

He extended his care over the two Permians from the start. The fact that Skoryk for her Swan lake Adagio debut was given the most dependable partner (Korsuntsev), is a good indication of Fateev's intentions re. Skoryk. In comparison, he deprived Stepanova of the opportunity to try herself in the Pas de deux and variations from the «Swan Lake» before her debut. Then made her debut doubly difficult by giving her an inexperienced debutant as her partner.

Even more telling is the list of the soloists selected by Fateev for that Brilliant Divertissement gala (Dec 2, 2010) where Skoryk was dancing the Swan Lake Adagio with Korsuntsev:

Lopatkina, Novikova, Tereshkina, Kolegova, Kondaurova and... Shirinkina, Skoryk — nobody else.

Link to comment

Good news: Kristina Shapran is now First Soloist with the Mariinsky. Congratulations for her!

But in my opinion, this is so not fair for Vasnetsova, Adzhamova, Nikitina, Stepanova, Batoeva, Krasnokutskaya, and Marchuk. I wonder if Fateyev placed her only because of her fame, because he would not even hire Shapran as coryphee or second soloist 3 years ago.

Does it mean that every Vaganova top graduate in the future should join Bolshoi as a soloist, or join a secondary theatre to be a principal, before they come back to Mariinsky qualified to be soloist?

Link to comment

At the very least Yulia deserves to be Second Soloist by now, and she has already contributed so much to the theatre, no less than several principals, not only just with her exceptional talent. But since Bondareva's placement is not announced yet, the names of the new comers is also not updated, I wonder it takes time to enter information on the website. If Stepanova is indeed to be taken to London, there should be promotion sooner or later.

Link to comment

There are several videos online of Shapran at the Stanislavsky, and also of a quite recent Giselle at the Mikhailovsky, but I have to say I'm not very impressed. Of course, when looking at the videos of her Vaganova exams, the potential is certainly there, but it unfortunately doesn't really show imo.

Link to comment

To put certain facts in a proper perspective: Yulia Stepanova's repeat «Swan Lake» was the 40th «Swan Lake» danced by Mariinsky this season! Twenty two were danced when Mariinsky was touring abroad (5 Italy, 3 China, 3 Germany, 4 Denmark, 7 USA), 4 were performed on the new stage, and 14 at the old Mariinsky Theater.

Stepanova danced 2 and, if I am not mistaken, she was the only Mariinsky ballerina and a Vaganova graduate who graduated in the last 10 years and was allowed by Fateev to dance any of these 40 «Swan Lakes»! Truly mind boggling.

After the London tour one will be able to say that exactly 3 out of 49 most recent Mariinsky «Swan Lakes» were danced by a Mariinsky ballerina who graduated from the Vaganova Academy after 2003, and that unique and uniquely "privileged" by the management ballerina was Yulia Stepanova.

So, yes, I agree with canbelto, "her career is exactly where it should be", the article is nothing more than "yellow journalism" and "a Stepanova claque diatribe", while its author "sounds like a well-paid off critic".

Link to comment

I reread this whole thread, and if you go back to page 3 of this alexaa1a gives a history of what does seem like Skorik's meteoric rise, and when you compare it to Stepanova the two stories are completely different. This was fascinating reading, because it gives a lot of insight into what is going on, especially when you couple it with Mathilde K.'s info.

Link to comment

Has Fateev ever made any public comments on the topic of promotions and his methodology? And has he ever said anything about hiring from other schools -- for example, has he ever said he's trying to diversify the company? I'm not suggesting that that would be a good reason for talented dancers being overlooked. On the contrary, I'm sympathetic to the points made in Zozulina's piece. I'm just wondering if he's ever even tried to offer an explanation.

Link to comment

Has Fateev ever made any public comments on the topic of promotions and his methodology? And has he ever said anything about hiring from other schools -- for example, has he ever said he's trying to diversify the company? I'm not suggesting that that would be a good reason for talented dancers being overlooked. On the contrary, I'm sympathetic to the points made in Zozulina's piece. I'm just wondering if he's ever even tried to offer an explanation.

Everyone I know is totally puzzled by his methods. Everyone I knows says that someone with zero background in dance would make better choices than he has made at times. No body seems to understand him.

Beyond promoting or not promoting this or that dancer, the other concern is that he gives so few chances to young dancers. It makes more sense to let young dancers study and dance all the smaller roles (like the Prince's friends in Swan Lake or the peasant pas de deux in Giselle) on a rotating basis, so you are not stuck if someone gets injured. Same with the bigger roles. Apparently, the reason for no casting info for August is due to the London tour (which has casting info available), but there are so few who can jump into the roles b/c many of the stars are out of town. If he were allowing all dancers plenty of opportunities he would not be in the August mess he is in.

Link to comment

Beyond promoting or not promoting this or that dancer, the other concern is that he gives so few chances to young dancers.

Except for those very few who, like Skoryk (Perm), Chebykina (Kiev), are given everything, irrespective of whether they can handle it or not. Chebykina who joined the company this season has been given by Fateev this month alone:

July 12: Gamzatti

July 16: Queen of the Dryads

July 25: Myrtha

July 29: Queen of the Dryads

July 30: Queen of the Dryads

Just one month! In one month she gets more from Fateev than what he gave to nearly any Vaganova graduate of the last 10 years since he was appointed 6 years ago!

For her «Swan Lake» debut Fateev gave her Ivanchenko, one of the most reliable and experienced partners of the company, not an inexperienced debutant.

A beginner, in her first year at Mariinsky she has been given by Fateev:

Giselle (Myrtha)

Swan Lake (Odette-Odile)

La Bayadère (Gamzatti)

Don Quixote (Queen of the Dryads)

Balanchine's Jewels (Diamonds)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hippolita),

Sylvia (Diana, Ceres)

Cinderella (Khudyshka (one of the Ugly Sisters))

Is she considered to be another Pavlova or Ulanova in the making? If yes, I am totally unaware of that.

Link to comment

To put certain facts in a proper perspective: Yulia Stepanova's repeat «Swan Lake» was the 40th «Swan Lake» danced by Mariinsky this season! Twenty two were danced when Mariinsky was touring abroad (5 Italy, 3 China, 3 Germany, 4 Denmark, 7 USA), 4 were performed on the new stage, and 14 at the old Mariinsky Theater.

Stepanova danced 2 and, if I am not mistaken, she was the only Mariinsky ballerina and a Vaganova graduate who graduated in the last 10 years and was allowed by Fateev to dance any of these 40 «Swan Lakes»! Truly mind boggling.

After the London tour one will be able to say that exactly 3 out of 49 most recent Mariinsky «Swan Lakes» were danced by a Mariinsky ballerina who graduated from the Vaganova Academy after 2003, and that unique and uniquely "privileged" by the management ballerina was Yulia Stepanova.

So, yes, I agree with canbelto, "her career is exactly where it should be", the article is nothing more than "yellow journalism" and "a Stepanova claque diatribe", while its author "sounds like a well-paid off critic".

I've read enough of these "Why isn't ____ dancing enough?" diatribes from "revered" critics in Russia to take them with a grain of salt. Every dancer has a right to drum up publicity, but I personally find these kind of sob stories tacky.

Link to comment

"revered" critics in Russia? who? I don't think that I could have missed so much especially while maintaining close ties to the Rusian ballet for so many years.

The article is not at all "Why isn't ____ dancing enough?". It is about the pathologies of the Acting Director's policies in one of the most distinguished ballet troupes in the World.

Link to comment

The "monkey with the dart board would be better" argument has been made against Martins and McKenzie with equal enthusiasm, as it was rendered against the revolving door AD's of Royal Danish Ballet -- although Martins has never been accused of holding back young talent in general casting-wise, as that's not part of NYCB culture -- and casting favorites or perceived favorites in roles out-of-proportion to their talent is a familiar cry against just about every AD.

Russian ballet is still in the precarious position of trying to extend its rep and range while maintaining its old virtues and trying to navigate the tipping point where growth turns it into something else. Punctuated equilibrium was Vaganova's reality, as the ballets changed and she adjusted her pedagogy to respond, but people invoke her as if she were part of an unchanging orthodoxy. POB has almost formalized a schism in rep and the dancers who specialize in their two main categories, which was their response to the same problem.

The Bolshoi and Mariinsky tend to force what they consider a modernized dancer, too often physique-specific, on the classical rep. That's a common post-Guillem misunderstanding, but the Russian companies more than any others are dependent on touring income, especially during theater renos, and the Mariinsky AD's in particular, seem to have a perverse sense of what the "West" -- as if that's one thing -- wants to see.

There are a wide range of opinions on the most controversial dancers -- Guillem, Zakharova, Somova, Smirnova, Skorik, Obraztsova, von Aroldingen, Kistler, Ringer, Part, Watts, Borree, etc.-- from eminent, well-respected critics, venerable coaches, and ballet professionals, as well as on dancers they feel are being held back, miscast, etc. I don't assume that every critic who cries "wuzrobbed!" is paid off or personally connected to a dancer and/or a dancer's supporters or is somehow corrupt. I assume they are opinions.

In North America, audiences in general see a lot of young dancers who would be considered unfinished in Europe in roles that are a stretch for them, and our expectations can be very different. Many of us find it exciting to see performers at the edge of their abilities, even when the performances aren't completely successful, and are interested in seeing a dancer grow in a role or style over time. Others of us want more polished and detailed performances and for the growth to be almost exclusively at the high end of the range.

Link to comment

I absolutely agree with you, Helene. Yet when the "deformations" of the Artistic Director's policies reach the pathological levels and this is combined with zero accountability, like in the case of Mariinsky's Ballet, that surely should be a concern.

I am much less inclined than others to cry over aggressive promotion of this or that, perhaps undeserving, dancer, if other, better qualified (in many cases much better), are at least given an opportunity to grow and are not locked up for years in the corps de ballet, so that glaring deficiencies of the "favorites" are less noticeable. The graduates within the last 10 years of one of the most distinguished ballet schools in the World, Vaganova Academy, whose very existence is intimately connected to the Mariinsky Theater, are denied opportunity to grow, all of them. We are not talking here about a few "pretenders" with too much self-esteem complaining about injustice. Actually the opposite: I don't recall any of those young ballerinas complaining in public. Partly because of how they were raised at the Vaganova Academy, partly because of fear.

Link to comment

The Bolshoi and Mariinsky tend to force what they consider a modernized dancer, too often physique-specific, on the classical rep. That's a common post-Guillem misunderstanding, but the Russian companies more than any others are dependent on touring income, especially during theater renos, and the Mariinsky AD's in particular, seem to have a perverse sense of what the "West" as if that's one thing, wants to see.

I absolutely agree with you, Helene. Yet when the "deformations" of the Artistic Director's policies reach the pathological levels and this is combined with zero accountability, like in the case of Mariinsky's Ballet, that surely should be a concern.

While I agree with your main points, the problem in Mariinsky ballet seems indeed to be more intricated. Even if it is indeed mainly because of the need of "modernized" type of body, there are also many Vaganova graduates with slim bodies, long-limbs and legs and neck, and hyper extensions and beautiful feets who joined the company in the recent years (for the phenomenon of Guillem also influenced the aesthetic evaluation of the Vaganova academy, to a certain extent). There would have been less controversies if these dancers are pushed forward together with Skorik, Chebykina, etc..But the reality is, only those from other schools with certain kind of body-type is pushed, and the fact that the company is not getting in coaches from other schools, but insist in their acquiring "Vaganova" style (with more rehearsal time and excellent coaches) after joining the company raises further doubt about the reason behind it. For if it is indeed the artistic potential of those dancers that is recognized in the theatre, their former schools should be given credit for the creation and development of their capacity and style. If they want to reeducate those dancers to acquire the Vaganova style, why not sending them to train in the academy for one or two years before giving them big opportunities?

I am particularly curious why dancers like Pavlenko, Gumerova, Osmolkina are no longer being cast in major classical parts, they had certain the type of body favoured in the company, and partially because of this (the other part being their education and artistic capacity) they were frequently seen in leading parts when they were young. And wasn't the plea for more opportunities for older dancers one of the major official reasons for the departure of Vaziev? Fateyev seems to have slowed down the promotion of young dancers initially in order to meet this "requirement" of Gergiev, but now what is happening is that young dancers from other schools are placed in front of both the older dancers and the younger dancers who graduated from Vaganova. Skorik and Askerov are exemplary of this phenomenon, and there is also Kim Kimin, Zaleyev, Parish, Shirinkina, Chebykina, Keenan Kampa. I don't mean that these are all problematic dancers, but they are all placed in more advantageous position than Vaganova graduates upon joining the theatre. And graduates who joined the theatre between 2005 and 2010 are not really "young" anymore.

(I am running out of time so I will not find the source for Gergiev's words that older dancers should have more opportunities to appear on stage, but I am pretty sure there is evidence to be found in this regard, I will post them later)

Link to comment

I would argue against the need for "modernized" bodies in the Classical and Romantic rep, but that's another story. The main issue is a misunderstanding of what Guillem brought to the table. It's not just about elongated bodies with long limbs and extreme extensions, which are inappropriate in the classical rep and distort the harmony, architecture, and purpose, because I've seen that from Lopatkina as Lilac Fairy (live) and Letestu (on DVD): it's about the distortions of core and alignment to get those positions, the technical weaknesses in the feet and turnout, and the loss of strength, which neither Lopatkina nor Letestu do, but many others I've seen do.

Because the standards of the school are so high, I think that it's just a matter of waiting until Tsiskaridze is made AD of the Mariinsky, and not "Acting" anything. He could make a big impression by accepting the title of "Ballet Master."

Link to comment

I reread this whole thread, and if you go back to page 3 of this alexaa1a gives a history of what does seem like Skorik's meteoric rise, and when you compare it to Stepanova the two stories are completely different. This was fascinating reading, because it gives a lot of insight into what is going on,

Fascinating reading indeed, I don't know how I have missed it. Very valuable information. Should be attached to Zozulina's article as Exhibit #1.

Link to comment
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...