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Ukraine invasion & the arts: Gergiev fired by his agent, etc.


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10 hours ago, Drew said:

Yes....none of substance....

Challenged on the fact that he himself didn't stop working in Russia after they annexed Crimea--a challenge made in comments on Instagram written in response to his post--Ratmansky himself responded: "I never supported the annexation of the Crimea. But yes, I wish I understood better what has happened back then."  He also says that he has asked both the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky to suspend his repertory.  The full exchange is interesting and --for those who haven't seen it already -- here is a link; you have to scroll down the comments to get to it:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbbXrlHKjTs/

[For the record]

IG Comment:
And you lead the Bolshoi when Russia was invading Georgia? And you lead the Bolshoi and didn’t get rid of Blackface? And you continued to work in Russia even after the annexation of Crimea fully knowing everyone’s politics? You also accepted the blood money of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky.

Ratmanksy reply:
1. I left Bolshoi at the end of 2008 right after the invasion of Georgia 2. I got rid of the Blackface in my production of Le Corsaire at the Bolshoi 3. I never supported the annexation of the Crimea. But yes, I wish I understood better what has happened back then. 4. I have asked both the Bolshoi and Mariinsky to suspend my repertory.

 

On the same posting, there's also some disparaging comments about Maria Khoreva's postings, but Khoreva, imo, is too young to understand much about the world, and certainly about military invasions. So even if she makes a blatantly ignorant comment, as a relative 'youth', she can still be forgiven her ignorance. But someone twice her age I'm not going to give a pass to.

IG Comment:
She left a note on YouTube, not sure if it’s still there. In short, she said ballet shouldn’t be linked politics, and others do not have the right to judge or comment on this “military action” because we know nothing about Russia, political and historical. It is very wrong for us to leave such irresponsible comments. She wrote this note to notify her YouTube viewers that comments supporting 🇺🇦 will be deleted unmercifully (unmercifully is the exact word used by her)

Edited by pherank
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The annexation of Crimea was no more right than the present invasion, but politically it was a different kettle of fish. (The Western response was actually quite muted for reasons I’m not going to go into here.)

Quote

Putin's popularity has increased significantly since he started the war... Russia is now engulfed in a military patriotic frenzy.

Assuming that’s the case – some articles I’m reading suggest less-than-overpowering support for the war among the Russian public -- it’s not an unusual reaction from mass populations in wartime regardless of the merits of the conflict, particularly at the start, and is in no way specific to Russia or Russians.

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9 hours ago, Drew said:

Challenged on the fact that he himself didn't stop working in Russia after they annexed Crimea--a challenge made in comments on Instagram written in response to his post--Ratmansky himself responded

This is an interesting question, and I hope a journalist will ask Ratmansky about it in greater detail. He did condemn Russia's actions at the time and was critical of Tsiskaridze and the others. But he didn't withdraw his repertoire, in the interim he would have signed new contracts granting Russian companies the rights to perform his works, and eventually he began visiting Russia again to stage his ballets. I was actually surprised his works continued to be performed, since he was overtly critical of the regime. Yet this spring alone he had two evening-length premieres planned there. Why didn't he feel uncomfortable about that? Did he really believe that ballet could exist in some rarefied, conflict-free bubble of international understanding? Was he shocked to discover that some (many?) of his Russian colleagues inwardly hated his kind?

I can understand why he left Moscow so abruptly. He also had his Kazakh-American designer and American lighting designer to consider. Circumstances have changed dramatically. Last weekend the Bolshoi gave its final performances of The Bright Stream. In April it will perform Flames of Paris for the last time. His production of Giselle won't be seen again for the foreseeable future. I hope the National Ballet of Canada can retrieve its production of Romeo and Juliet. (If not, I won't object to the return of Cranko's version. :devil:)

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40 minutes ago, AB'sMom said:

I accept no age-related excuses for Maria Khoreva. She is 21, nearly 22 years old. She is not a child living in an insulated world.

I went back and checked her age and I stand corrected. The pandemic period trips me up continually - I keep feeling like everything has stood still for 2 years, but it has still been 2 years.
Instead, she's a young ballerina living in an insulated world. That's the sad truth of that life, as many dancers have stated. But in any case, any attempt to whitewash the events in Ukraine are going to receive heavy criticism online. As long as MK remains on social media she's going to get an earful.

EDIT: Imo, there are no reasons which can make an illegal invasion, and continued shooting and bombardment, an acceptable action. The Russian military simply shouldn't be in Ukraine. And the idea that only people who have an extensive knowledge of Russian history and politics have earned the right to say something about this invasion is simply ludicrous. I'm instantly reminded of Misha Katsurin, living in Ukraine, who called up his father in Russia to warn him that his young family was in danger and close to evacuating, and Putin needed to be stopped - and all he heard back was denial that there was even a problem. His father told him that the Russians were simply removing Nazis from power and he was in no danger - the Russians were there to help(!) and were distributing food to the Ukrainians. The older Russian simply denied his son's actual experiences on the ground in Ukraine. I think MK is simply parroting that same line of propaganda.

Edited by pherank
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5 hours ago, pherank said:

She [Khoreva] left a note on YouTube, not sure if it’s still there. In short, she said ballet shouldn’t be linked politics, and others do not have the right to judge or comment on this “military action” because we know nothing about Russia, political and historical. It is very wrong for us to leave such irresponsible comments. She wrote this note to notify her YouTube viewers that comments supporting 🇺🇦 will be deleted unmercifully (unmercifully is the exact word used by her)

Maria Khoreva has an impressive command of the English language.  Her use of the word "unmercifully" was deliberate.  She's entitled to her opinion,  but expressing herself so harshly will have consequences.  I wonder if Bloch and Nike will sever their relationships with her?  If they do,  and if her enormous international fan base shrinks,  she has only herself to blame - unless she is a Kremlin puppet who was ordered to make that remark,  which is a possibility.

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The continued importation of foreign shoes is another thing I've been wondering about. Gaynor Minden now manufactures its shoes in Bosnia and Herzegovina (and I've certainly seen my share of online complaints about how the shoes have changed for the worse). Presumably those could still be exported via Serbia. But Freeds or Blochs?

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36 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:

The continued importation of foreign shoes is another thing I've been wondering about. Gaynor Minden now manufactures its shoes in Bosnia and Herzegovina (and I've certainly seen my share of online complaints about how the shoes have changed for the worse). Presumably those could still be exported via Serbia. But Freeds or Blochs?

I've been wondering about Grishko's, which at least some Russians in the west prefer. They have four factories in Russia and apparently nowhere else.  Hopefully, stores and people with this preference  have laid in a big supply. https://grishko.ca/about/

No way to know if Grishko relies on supplies from countries now boycotting.

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5 hours ago, On Pointe said:

...  she has only herself to blame - unless she is a Kremlin puppet who was ordered to make that remark,  which is a possibility.

Young twenties seems very young to me. Anyway, by every  account i have ever read, Khoreva has an eminent, wealthy father who has played a big part in her career. I can see for myself how very polished her social media has been--professional quality photography etc. At one point, well over a year ago, she posted on Instagram that "friends" run her youtube channel, so text on the youtube channel is not necessarily directly from her at all times.  Or at least it hasn't always been. Personally, reading this story about her channel, I think she is being badly advised and/or her channel is being badly run by her "friends" -- It's not an excuse but it is a context.

And if I admire a Smirnova so very much it's because I don't think it's easy for anyone at any age (even a "star" married to a Goldman Sachs employee) to think, speak, and act against the very society that cradles and adores them and has always been their home. Even more so when that society is a de facto police state. 

There is a huge amount happening right now that we won't begin to understand for years and even decades.

Edited by Drew
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My daughter used to order Grishko pointe shoes directly from Grishko and they shipped from their factory in the Czech Republic. This was 2-3 years ago, so I’m not sure they still have a factory there. (As a weird aside, Nikolay Grishko had signed a deal with someone else to distribute Grishko pointe shoes in the US so he got sued for selling direct to the US. Now he sells shoes under the name Nikolay in the US and Grishko worldwide. The distributor sells shoes under the Grishko name in the US).

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7 hours ago, AB'sMom said:

I accept no age-related excuses for Maria Khoreva. She is 21, nearly 22 years old. She is not a child living in an insulated world.

I'd say that "insulated" pretty much defines the ballet world, and if Khoreva is like most female dancers she's been immersed in it to the exclusion of almost everything else from a very young age.

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When I said she didn’t live in an insulated world, I meant that she didn’t still live at home with her parents like a young child. And she has traveled the world and met people from many countries, though I do understand your point that the ballet world is quite insulated. My daughter has been doing ballet since she was 3 and is moving across the world to continue this fall, but she is also very politically and socially aware. That could be more to do with her and our family and the fact that we live in the US, though.

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Children are a product of their upbringing ..it's very difficult in your early 20's to break free from indoctrination.  I don't give her a "pass" due to her age, but it's certainly not shocking to read her comments.  I view the world/people completely differently than I did in my 20's.  

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I have no personal interest whatsoever in Maria Khoreva as a dancer or as a person.

(In matters Vaganova/Kirov/neo-Mariinsky I have been a heretic since childhood. And when I sat down to figure out why I had found so many outings to the ballet in recent years unsatisfying, I realized I didn't enjoy Russian ballerinas. Perhaps 95% of them.)

If Khoreva is posting on Instagram, and if YouTube should be blocked in Russia and she continues posting there regardless, then she probably has foreign help with her social media, although presumably she is still providing the material via email or a cloud.

My impressions from interactions with artists from the fSU, especially musicians and dancers, who begin specialized training early in life, is that their general education is poor. Their understanding of the natural sciences in particular tends to be abysmal. This is not to say that they are necessarily stupid, obviously.

Khoreva differs from most 21 year olds in Saint Petersburg in that, pandemic notwithstanding, she has already traveled the world, knows many people abroad and has worked extensively with foreigners. She should be able to distinguish between caricatures of the outside world and what she has seen for herself. I think this is why Ratmansky expected better of his Russian colleagues. 

Edited by volcanohunter
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Young people have been leaving Russia in significant numbers for over a decade and the war has caused an estimated 200,000 to leave.  Favoured destinations are Armenia, Georgia and Turkey.  They all appear highly educated.  Apparently Russia is happy to see them go as they are considered potential dissenters.

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A benefit for Ukrainian humanitarian relief will be held at the Teatro Arcimboldi in Milan on April 7th. Dancers appearing include Silvia Azzoni, Alexandre Riabko, Alina Cojocaru, Johan Kobborg, Ludmila Konovalova, Maria Yakovleva, Alexey Popov, former Bolshoi principal Jacopo Tissi, and also Stanislav Olshanskyi and Alexei Tiutiunnik, two National Ballet of Ukraine principals who were touring the Netherlands with Igone de Jongh when the invasion began and are now essentially refugees. 

https://www.teatroarcimboldi.it/fat-event/pace-for-peace

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The Paris Opera is organising a Concert for Peace in support of the victims of the conflict in Ukraine on Sunday 27 March at 8pm at the Palais Garnier.
It consists of an evening of ballet, concert and opera.
With the participation of Etoiles Stéphane Bullion, Mathieu Ganio, Dorothée Gilbert and Alice Renavand, First soloist Marion Barbeau, sujet Simon Le Borgne and  two Principal dancers from the National ballet of Ukraine, Katerina Kukhar and Alexander Stoyanov
https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-21-22/concerts-and-recitals/concert-for-peace

 

Edited by silvermash
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On 3/22/2022 at 4:23 PM, pherank said:

For people wanting to know a bit more about how life has changed in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, this video might be a good starting point:

Eli from Russia
Our life in Russia under sanctions | Prices in the shopping mall, Q&A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4EA8VSZdZ8

 

10 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

If Khoreva is posting on Instagram, and if YouTube should be blocked in Russia and she continues posting there regardless, then she probably has foreign help with her social media, although presumably she is still providing the material via email or a cloud.

In the video that I linked to earlier (above), Eli explains that the younger Russians use VPN to access outside, unapproved content. The younger generation is naturally more tech savvy than the older generation. But they are taking a risk to use VPN to bypass the government-approved Internet experience. I think she exaggerates in implying that "all the Russians" are doing this. I would be willing to bet that it is mainly the young population of the large cities that do such things. Here is the part of the video where she mentions VPN use specifically: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4EA8VSZdZ8&t=163s

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I know it works because I've done it myself! The last time I was in Russia, probably for the last time, I turned on my VPN in Amsterdam and it stayed on. I was able to access banned news sites because the interwebs were convinced my phone was in the Netherlands. All the ads I saw were in Dutch.

In truth it would have made more sense to go through a server in Latvia or Finland. I had turned on the VPN in order to use the Wi-Fi at Schiphol Airport more securely, and I forgot to switch locations before my flight. Oops.

Perhaps Khoreva would like the authorities to believe that her accounts are being run from elsewhere. I don't know whether other Russian dancers are still posting openly on sites that are supposed to be blocked.

P.S. VPNs can't circumvent everything. For example, Wikipedia won't let you edit articles while connected to a VPN. Some apps make you jump through dozens of hoops if you're using a VPN.

Edited by volcanohunter
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46 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:

P.S. VPNs can't circumvent everything. For example, Wikipedia won't let you edit articles while connected to a VPN. Some apps make you jump through dozens of hoops if you're using a VPN.

Which points to their weakness - it's easy enough for the Russian government to identify VPN users and have them arrested on some trumped-up charge. So its a risk.

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If people are being arrested for holding placards with asterisks or nothing at all written on them, eventually the crackdown will reach the VPN users. For now, though, it's very easy to spot people posting on sites that are supposed to be blocked. I guess prolific posters can't help themselves. I hope they won't come to regret it.

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Macaulay posted another group of interesting notices on IG (the numbers refer to the included images):

1, 2, 3. Denis Matvienko @matvienko_ballet_master , on the staff of the Vaganova Academy in St Petersburg, speaks up about the appalling situation in Russia, the country he and his family have now suddenly left, traumatised by the headlong and ruinous rush into war undertaken by the despotic neo-Stalinist Putin. Every congratulation to the courage shown here by Matvienko; every hope that he, like so many newly displaced people, can find work and home in the West. Welcome to the West, Denis Matvienko!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbdi7-sgRK0/


1, 2, 3. I am amazed and impressed to find that one of the best sources of imagery and information about the many desperate facets of the situation in Ukraine today is “Elle Ukraine” @elle_ukraine . It’s officially a magazine or media outlet for fashion and beauty; but there’s nothing escapist about it’s coverage of events in recent weeks

Two of the best Ukrainian dance people to follow just now, both in the West but both posting many times a day for their homeland, are Katja Khaniukova (soloist with English National Ballet) @khaniukova and Ana Sofia Scheller @la_scheller (freelance ballerina who has come to call Kyiv her home in recent years). Both of them, I realised today, follow “Elle Ukraine”; I see why.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbdnTeZA-rR/


In the latest episode of the Conversations on Dance podcast - at least the eighth episode to which I’ve contributed - I speak to my friends Rebecca King Ferraro and Michael Sean Breeden about the response of figures in the worlds of the performing arts. I especially refer to Alexei Ratmansky @alexeiratmansky , to Lourdes Lopez @lourdesmcb , to Vladimir Shklyarov @vladimir_shklyarov , to Elena Kovalskaya, to Marina Harss @marina.harss , to Mikhail Baryshnikov, to Valery Gergiev, to Anna Netrebko, to Sergei Polunin, to Olga Smirnova @leka.spb.ballet , to Ana Sophia Scheller @la_scheller , to Katja Khaniukova @khaniukova .

The conversation was recorded on Friday 18 March. Released now, it still holds true. Please listen; please do all you can to help the response of the West to this tragic and traumatic situation.
 
 
EDIT: Here's the Conversations on Dance podcast link:
The dance world’s reaction to the Russian-Ukraine war with Alastair Macaulay
Edited by pherank
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