#Russian ballet

[vintage-russia]

Russian ballerina Tamara Karsavina,Saint Petersburg (1907)

Photography by Alfred Eberling (1872-1951)

[souvlakic]

russian ballerina

[emotionalshawtysinthisbitch]

can’t wait for the nutcracker season omg ♪⋆₊˚🩰✧‎

[ballet-symphonie]

Will Maria Khoreva eventually move to Bolshoi? Or an European company? Would she be appreciated more?

Hmm Bolshoi....I don't think so. If she wanted to move to Moscow, she would have done it right after she graduated. To be quite honest, I'm not sure she could compete with the power, grandeur, and presence of some of their younger stars. I think if she went right now, Kokoreva and Sevenard might just eat her alive. And honestly, there's no motivation for her to go to Moscow, her family, and her connections are much stronger in SPB. At one point the Bolshoi's rep and new productions were significantly stronger than MT, and this could have been a temptation but with the war and the licensing struggles, the repertoires are so similar that it hardly matters.

I would love for her to go to Europe, perhaps to Berlin or even to Amsterdam or London. Her current problem is not that she's unappreciated, is that she can't stay healthy long enough to actually grow and develop as an artist. She's only 24, yet she's had 3 (?) pretty substantial injuries already, which leads me to think that the current performance block scheduling system at Mariinsky is unsustainable for her. I think working outside Russia might introduce her to different ways of working and cross-training, as well as a much more diverse repertoire. I think she'd blossom in Forsythe and Cranko's work or even Juliano Nunes or Medhi Walerski's work with different coaching.

She seems to love all the galas and traveling she does...I think Europe could tempt her at some point. What is she going to do in MT, dance Giselle, Nikiya and O/O on loop for the rest of her career? I wonder if a European theater can get her to come to guest for a production, I don't believe she's done this yet to my knowledge. I think if she gets a taste of a different company's day to day life for a longer period, things could be interesting

[getfreeviolet]

miu miu ballet flats would cure my bipolar disorder

[heather--moors]

and tomorrow i will wake early again

[patricedumonde]

Starting a thread here if anyone wants to participate.

I cannot get enough of Alexandra Khiteeva’s dancing. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about a rising dancer before. Maybe I’m a bit biased because I really started following Russian ballet when she graduated from Vaganova but seeing her potential on that graduation performance to now seeing her take principal roles. It just makes me incredibly proud of her.

Her Clemence variation is just perfection, she can do Kitri easily, and she absolutely kills it as Gamzatti too. What an absolute gem.

I never feel like her performances are exhibition of tricks too. She’s just pure grace and artistry and I don’t think she gets enough credit from the public.

Curious to know which dancers you all follow. We all have that one dancer that makes us love ballet even more and that’s Khiteeva for me. As always, feel free to reply or leave anonymous messages. 😆

[tikitania]

Margarita Schrainer as the Diamond Fairy via Telegram. 💎💎💎💎

[havlasha]

Shakirova is FINALLY a Prima!!

[metalobrukht]

It is impossible to explain an average russian's worldview to a westerner. They always think there's hidden compassion oppressed by the regime or something. They think our hate is a result of our loss or maybe all the historical genocidal stuff and not just a logical progression of existing in the same russain-speaking space. They have never heard the way russians talk about all the nations trapped under their empire, about Ukraine, about the West, about anything really. It's unparalleled. They're brainwashed deeply and inevitably. If a russian tells you it's "anti war", it means it doesn't want you to exclude it from your bubble. If you see a "pro peace" russian, you should understand that it wants annexation and extermination

[vintage-russia]

Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova (1910s)

[souvlakic]

i just wanna be a prima ballerina

[emotionalshawtysinthisbitch]

i miss ballet💔

[ballet-symphonie]

There's plenty of criticism for the young generations, the likes of Denisova, Sergeenkova (from BT), Khoreva, Ilyushkina (from MT), etc, and saying how they don't compare to the old(er) generations, Zakharova, Obratsova, Krystanova, Kaptsova,Novikova, Kondaurova... etc etc. So I'm wondering, how did the old generations do when they were new graduates around 20 years old? Were they having the same issues back then as these new dancers are having now (technical sloppiness? lack of artistry? lack of preparation for big roles?...) How do these young gen dancers compare to them when they were young?

The obvious comparison is Zakharova, this is the woman who was admitted directly into the graduating class at VBA and never spent a second in the corps. She has still set the record for speed and made principal at 18. Absolutely ridiculous. But then again, she came out of school looking like this. While she certainly didn't have the emotional depth and soulful lyricism that she developed later, she had beautifully sustained lines and nearly impeccable turnout.

Many of today's graduates have similar body types to her, but nowhere NEAR her precision or control of those extraordinarily long legs. The level of emotional depth perhaps wasn't quite there, but the technical proficiency is simply insane. But even then, that's her Nikiya at age 20...we've seen far worse in recent years.

Kondaurova is a totally different case. It's difficult to find old performance videos of her...likely because she wasn't doing anything that people deemed worthy of filming. She was not considered a prodigy at graduation, at 26 years old she was still a second soloist and it took her 12 years to get to prima- with some serious lobbying by her coaches and outside choreographers. Today's 'star' grads aren't fighting like Kondaurova. No one wanted to give her classical roles, she and her coach, then Chenikova had to battle for her to be given chances. It's maddening because we have 20-year-old first soloists and 22-year-old primas and no one bats an eye. Ratmansky was quite impressed with her, "She is more spontaneous on stage than most of her colleagues. And everything that often looks like improvisation is actually well rehearsed." That's a key difference between her and a lot of today's grads, she put in the work to appear so spontaneous and carefree- not to look technically perfect.

While there are minimal videos, I can definitely see how much she improved in the early years of her career. The clarity of pointework, stability of turnout, and general presence are much improved in the later video.

Krysanova is someone who I think had a well-paced career, but by today's pace, it looks like she was sleepwalking. She graduated BBA with a handful of prizes, and she had attention from the start. She did 3 solid years in the corps and then took another 5 years to get to prima under the detailed preparation of one of the Bolshoi's best coaches: Svetlana Adyrkhaeva. Again, Ratmansky pushed and praised her along with Osipova and she was a principal at 26- the youngest at the time. She was and continues to be, the go-to ballerina at BT for new choreographers, featured in premiere after premiere because everyone wants to harness her versatility, but that took time to develop. The older videos of her are quite good, but not mind-blowingly so in my opinion.

Obratzsova did indeed graduate to a big fuss and her star only continued to rise. She is similar to the current age of graduates, as she got loads of big roles early. By reading old reviews, there's pretty much an overwhelmingly positive consensus. She was a sensation to audiences with her Juliet, the youngest ever to dance it at MT, expertly guided by Ninel Kurgapkina. Her confidence and lightness was just irresistible, you couldn't not fall in love with her. From day one, she had the charm, the poise, and the style. Her presence was what got her roles, despite being a bit undersized. If she graduated today, I'm not sure she'd have the same opportunities. Similarly to Iliushkina, she won the gold medal at Moscow, and while reports suggest she went against administration in doing so, she proved that she could handle herself in a huge variety of repertoire. Only three years after graduating, people like Carla Fracci and Pierre Lacotte were creating work specifically for her, inside and outside of Mariinsky. This current young generation is definitely less sought after, with the exception of Khoreva, for freelancing/media/creations- although a lot of that can be blamed on COVID and then the war.

Marina Vasilyeva really struck gold in 2002 with both Novikova and Obratsova in the same class. Novikova arrived at the theatre with splendid port de bras and an organized presentation, in addition to snatching the top prize at the Vaganova International Ballet Competition in her graduating year. Additionally remarkable is her phrasing, looking blissfully effortless in addition to the intricacies of her upper body even from a young age. Every step was always clear, although not quite as luminous as she later became. I think today's graduates should be watching more videos of her and taking note of her fluidity. It took her far too long to get to principal, but she was a first soloist in 6 years, a well paced timeline in my opinion.

Nina Kaptsova really had a strong start to her career. She was dancing solo roles from her first season at the Bolshoi. In 1999, only 3 years after graduating, she was nominated for the prestigious Benois de la Danse prize. A year later, she won it. Even so, she wasn't named principal until 2011. These dancers are simply part of a different timeline, it seems like it's becoming more and more common to see dancers graduate and become principals in 5 years or less, particularly at the Bolshoi.

[666candies]

Anna Pavlova, 1925

[mariaspir]

Sleeping Beauty at the Bolshoi

I watched clips through Natashik's stories.

Overall what I conclude is that people love the classics the way they are. They like fairies, and tutus and crowns, classical choreography and music. The audience responded enthusiastically, and the dancers were visibly excited to take on their respective role. There were moments, especially in the prologue, where I thought I was watching NYCB, because it was so weightless and happy.

Grigorovich's fairy entree I'm not a fan of because Tchaikovsky's gem is butchered, with the only reason being to cut down runtime... Cut literally anything else from the ballet ffs. I'm very glad the variations shown went very well, especially Generosity (for no other reason other than it's my fairy, and other dancers dancing it are my sisters in spirit 🥹)

I'm very surprised we saw nothing from Kovaleva's Lilac, Natasha usually doesn't post clips that aren't up to standard, so I'm wondering if something happened. Personally I'm not a huge fan of Alena, but Lilac is a role that would in theory suit her very well, as she's quite regal and exudes kindness.

Kokoreva is Obraztsova's heir as the #1 Aurora in Bolshoi, she was born for this role. She didn't look too nervous to me, but you could see she got very tired at the ends of the first and second acts. In the wedding act she was glorious, though it was the one time I missed the old costumes, especially for the prince.

Postnova was a good Cat, maybe it was the video quality, but I wish she'd be a bit bolder with her expressions; be a bit more over the top, it's a comedic duet after all.

I did not like Stashkevich as Florine, she looked tired and heavy (not in weight, heavy as in something was dragging her down, she was struggling). Bluebird was very nice. I don't understand why their costumes were this Cinderella silver, why are costume designers always afraid of blue?

One last thing, I feel like the conductor wasn't helping a lot. I wonder if it's a matter of experience, whether or not they've lead the entire Sleeping Beauty before, because there were times where they were rushing while the dancers could use an extra second or two. Off the top of my head the ending of the Rose Adage and the Wedding Adage could use some ritartando.

UPDATE: GERGIEV WAS CONDUCTING!!!! WTF THEN WHY???