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Tsiskaridze: Save Russian Ballet from Half-Trained West


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Posted

I've been thinking about his comments about the Petipa repertory though, particularly his complaint that companies in the West don't pay royalties to some entity for the works. Although I cannot think offhand of a production that wasn't staged by someone who received payment of some sort (artistic director salary or one-off project fees) there are indeed plenty of works in the standard repertory whose "ownership" is cloudy, to be polite. Of the current Swan Lakes in production now, which ones are not the property of a specific artist?

A dig at capitalist societies and their need to put a price on everything? Perhaps, but me thinks the Russians just want to join the party, in their own way.

I don't think you will find that his comments hold up under much scrutiny: it's mostly wishful thinking. But plainly in line with Putin's policies (naturally) - bring the money home to Mother Russia, and support the state system! This may be Tsiskaridze's notion for creating a 'nurturing' environment for a Russian-centric art, but I doubt seriously that this will lead to any great work. Too much politics, and more poor economics, but little art in this.

Oh, I'm sure you're right about the wishful thinking part -- I doubt that anyone in Russia is contemplating a Petipa Trust, operating along the same lines as administrators for works by 20th c choreographers. I'm just thinking about authorship and ownership, and how it's attached to staging. The new/old production of Paquita at the Bavarian State company is probably the closest example we have right now of a Petipa work, clear of emendations, additions, enhancements, or other changes. I know that we owe that accuracy to Doug Fullington and Alexei Ratmansky (and I'm a very grateful girl), but when we talk about the work itself, who do we attribute it to? I vote for Petipa, and yet you can make a cogent argument against that idea.

Posted

Well - Russian productions of the classics ARE the best... :-)

Not really. Russian SL, Bayadere and Nutcracker do not honor the original libretto, and this is in both Mariinsky and Bolshoi.

Well, that is my opinion! My opinion is that Russia productions of the classics are the best ...

Odette and Siegfried don't commit suicide, and instead she's turned into human form forever and ever. Solor doesn't die and instead ends up embracing a ghost. Clara becomes Fee Dragee and...oh well...yucky.gif

Posted

IQ is not directly associated with mental health.

If you're taking about IQ, he has a legal degree.

They have now structured the Vaganova rectorship so that you need a law degree to even apply for the job (a tidbit I learned from another one of Ismene's wonderful blog posts). The job description was specifically rewritten so that only Tsiskaridze could have it. It still really bothers me that they fired Altynai for this joker. He's ridiculous (not to mention not Vaganova trained). We'll see how the next few years of students (like Shakirova) look like under his rectorship.

Posted

I know that Tsiskaridze is a controversial personality and I was not happy when he became director of Vaganova, but two friends of mine have sat in on lots of rehearsals where he took part and they were both originally against his appointment. They say that he gives his whole heart to rehearsals and to the students he is coaching and they were absolutely amazed and shocked.

Zhanna Ayupova has raved about him also to one of these friends, and he does not think she was just saying that to keep her job. She truly meant what she said.

Nobody is 100% evil or 100% good. We are all a mixture, and Tsiskaridze does tend to have diarrhea of the mouth, but apparently he is a gifted teacher and actually does care.

Posted

If you're taking about IQ, he has a legal degree.

So does Vladimir Putin and many other Russians who were never seen in classrooms....ahum. Maybe NT did go to classes but anything is possible in Mother Russia.

Posted

I don't know what the actual rector job entails -- is this primarily an in-studio position (teaching/coaching) or is it mostly administrative and promotional (being "the face" of the school to the public)?

Posted

In the 1990s and into the early 2000s, there was an artistic head (such as Igor Belsky) and an Administrator (such as Leonid Nadirov). I recall a similar situation with Assyuratova and someone else as administrative head. The two positions may have been combined last spring? Catherine Pawlick wrote about this on another thread, I believe.

Posted

I think Ayupova is the Assistant Director and is supposed to be the one in charge of artistic decisions (so she is in Asylmuratova's former position, I believe), while Tsiskaridze is supposed to be the overall director (so hypothetically maybe his main duties should be the business end of things), but apparently he prefers a hands-on approach to things and is involved in all aspects.

This is what I believe, of course. I could be mistaken.

I do think Tsiskaridze is mistaken about copyright. As noted above no one is going to pay Bach or Handel or Verdi to play their works anymore, so he was probably just grandstanding and making an overall point. Surely, if he has a law degree he knows about copyright and how there is no possible way Russia could claim money for other nations playing ballets created in Russia well over 100 years ago. However, I think he was exaggerating and grandstanding in order to make a broader point about his opinion of Russian ballet in general being superior.

Posted

It will be interesting, though, if this leads to another round of "who is the most authentic" -- not so much for the actual copyright/monetary issues, but bragging rights in general.

Posted

In the December issue of Dancing Times (British magazine) Fateyev implies in an interview with Igor Stupnikov that the Vaganova Academy produces dancers fit mainly for corps de ballet and coryphee level......I wonder how Tsiskaridze will take that once he starts having graduates who he considers really good and wants the best for them. I am wondering if he will start calling Fateyev on the carpet then. I know he will suddenly go from villain to hero in a lot of people's eyes then!!!! LOL

Posted

Won't comment re Tsiskaridze, but I will say that leaders of ballet in Russia have a perfectly rational case to make about the crucial role of Russia in ballet history and of ballet in Russian history and if making noise about it helps them preserve the extraordinary legacy they have inherited (that is, keep it supported at the highest levels) I'm inclined to grant them some leeway in offering what seem to me less than rational versions of it. Uh...some leeway. Not infinite amounts.

Fatayev knocking Vaganova graduates could well be taken to be his de facto way of indicating he thinks the Vaganova school's leadership in recent years needed changing--so he may well turn out to be an ally of Tsiskaridze. Or not.

Posted

Well - Russian productions of the classics ARE the best... :-)

Not really. Russian SL, Bayadere and Nutcracker do not honor the original libretto, and this is in both Mariinsky and Bolshoi.

Well, that is my opinion! My opinion is that Russia productions of the classics are the best ...

Odette and Siegfried don't commit suicide, and instead she's turned into human form forever and ever. Solor doesn't die and instead ends up embracing a ghost. Clara becomes Fee Dragee and...oh well...yucky.gif

You did not read the whole of my answer to you further up this thread, so I will copy it: Taking into account the quality of the dancing (actually, especially the quality of the dancing,) the staging, the choreography, the libretto, costumes, scenery, orchestra - the whole package, if you like, Russian productions are the best! For me there is no contest! :-) :-)

Posted

Well - Russian productions of the classics ARE the best... :-)

Not really. Russian SL, Bayadere and Nutcracker do not honor the original libretto, and this is in both Mariinsky and Bolshoi.

Well, that is my opinion! My opinion is that Russia productions of the classics are the best ...

Odette and Siegfried don't commit suicide, and instead she's turned into human form forever and ever. Solor doesn't die and instead ends up embracing a ghost. Clara becomes Fee Dragee and...oh well...yucky.gif

You did not read the whole of my answer to you further up this thread...

Actually, I did. And after having seen countless productions of the classics by both Western and Russian companies, I still think they do not own the ultimate versions of them...at least those I mentioned. For once, they are misleading in their story telling for those who don't know what the librettist intended.

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