#Svetlana the Dancer

[hckat]

“La Sylphide” by Alexander Yakovlev, Anna Osadcenko 

Patricio Melo, Svetlana Zakharova and Artem Shpilevsky in the Bolshoi Class Pas de Deux in 2007 

[constellaj]

mike monster au stuff! ft. ghost svetlana, shark vito, and bunyiptoba smith

[miss-mollys-ballet-blog]

Svetlana Zakharova and David Hallberg in Sleeping Beauty.

[patricedumonde]

Do we want this win to be the catalyst for Svetlana Savelieva to get more soloist roles? Yes. Will it be? I don’t know!

[duskmother]

Auraugust 2023

Day 18 : DPS

"Nhaama made us for war. Ever since we came into this world, we have fought. May you ever walk in crimson. For in crimson there is life. There is liberation."

-> Auraugust Master Tag

[scooby-doo-exploration]

FROM :  mysterypersonality  -  Svetlana Zakharova

[annoyingeightleggedbanana]

Russian ballets really do be appropriating! Traced the dancers and colored them with how i think they would look! The clothing is NOT accurate I KNOW. I was Using the little knowledge I have of Persian Kurdish wear for women! I’m very happy with how they turned out! This is from one of my favorite ballets La Bayadere which takes place in India??? Middle East??? I don’t know they’re very vague about that because they are White!

[sallowsswan]

Slytherin Boys W/ Ballerina!Reader as Pas De Deux 🩰

SO I'm back at it again with more ballet stuff! Last time I did headcanons for Mattheo if he was dating a ballerina. This time however, we're going down the route of what Pas De Deux (pair dance) the boys would do with a ballerina reader if they danced together.

Lorenzo Berkshire

White Swan Pas De Deux (Swan Lake)

Choosing one for our boy Enzo was EXTREMELY difficult because I secretly headcanon him being a danseur already so picking just one dance for him was hard. I went with the famous white swan pas de deux from Swan Lake where he is the role of Prince Siegfried and the reader is Odette. It's a beautiful, and heartbreaking pas de deux where Odette and Siegfried get to know each other better with it ending in Odette putting her trust in Siegfried to make a vow of true love in order to free her from Von Rothbart's spell. (In this video the pas de deux is performed by famous dancers Svetlana Zakharova and Roberto Bolle. The part at 5:09 where he embraces her makes we weeeeeeep)

Theodore Nott

Giselle act 2 Pas De Deux (Giselle)

For Theo's I decided to play a little into the headcanon of him being a casanova and went the route of Giselle. Theo's character would be Albrect (sometimes known as Count Albrect, Duke Albrect, or in other versions Prince Albrect) the reader's character is Giselle, who died of a broken heart when she found out Albrect was bethrothed to another woman. Another beautiful and heartbreaking piece as Giselle is trying to protect Albrect until dawn from the wrath of the willis (spirits of young maidens that died before marriage) who wish to make him dance to his death. The queen of the willis Myrtha uses Giselle to lure Albrect away from the safety of her tombstone by making her dance a seductive pas de deux that lures him in like a siren singing a song. (In this video the pas de deux is danced once again by famous dancers Svetlana and Roberto. They're one of my favorite dance partner pairings!)

Draco Malfoy

Sugarplum and Cavalier (The Nutcracker)

My first fictional love, I had to give Draco one of my favorite pas de deux which is from The Nutcracker between the sugarplum fairy and her cavalier. I don't think I need to explain which roles these two are, it's a beautiful piece with beautiful music performed near the end of the story. (I've inserted my FAVORITE rendition of this dance performed by famous dancers Anna Tsygankova and Matthew Golding)

Mattheo Riddle

Black Swan Pas De Deux (Swan Lake)

When it comes to my headcanons I said that Mattheo liked Don Quixote and Giselle, but this man also in my headcanon has an absolute WEAKNESS for Swan Lake. So when he gets to be the part of Siegfried and the reader is playing Odile? He's absolutely giddy because this pas de deux is alluring and seductive as Odile is playing poor Siegfried like a fiddle making him believe she's actually Odette. (For this video the pas de deux is danced by one of my favorite dancers Gillian Murphy with Angel Corella)

Tom Riddle

Opening Scene (Swan Lake)

I could've easily went full delulu and gave Tommy a pas de deux, but come onnnnn. I'm giving this man the role he was MADE FOR. The opening scene from ABT's Swan Lake. He's the role of the sorcerer Von Rothbart while the reader is Odette. So enchanted by the beautiful princess he runs into in the woods he tries to charm her only to find her displeased and so what does he do? Takes her for his own and changes her into the form of a swan to keep her close to him. (For this video it's from ABT's Swan Lake they recorded back in the early 2000's with Gillian Murphy as Odette, Marcelo Gomes as the handsome human Von Rothbart and Isaac Stappas as Von Rothbart's other form)

Blaise Zabini

Nikiya and Solor act 1 (La Bayadere)

I'm not too familiar with Blaise, so forgive me everyone but I didn't want to leave him out. I chose my favorite pas de deux from La Bayadere where Blaise would be Solor a warrior and the reader is Nikiya a beautiful temple dancer. The two are secret lovers that are reunited and dance together before swearing their love under the sacred flame. (For this one I went with yet again Svetlana and Roberto because they ATEEEEEE this pas de deux up with their chemistry alone!)

[dozydawn]

Natalia Osipova & Marianela Nuñez

Pavla Pećušak & Edina Pilčanić

Mayara Magri & Lauren Cuthbertson

Svetlana Zakharova & Zuzana Zahradnikova

Yuhui Choe & Hikaru Kobayashi

Gillian Murphy & Hee Seo

“Gamzatti has heard that Nikiya is a beautiful temple dancer, but when she lifts up her chin and first sees her face, it’s like, ‘Oh, no.’ She’s stunningly gorgeous.” Gillian Murphy.

[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.

[bubblegumbarbie33]

Shameless has such a weird perception of sex work because Mandy becoming a high-end escort is seen as a success story but Svetlana struggling to survive as a prostitute is seen as cheap and whorish- and Debbie always seemed to get along with Svetlana but seems offended by the idea of being a prostitute. Plus, Fiona always acts as though dancers and 'that kind of work is below her even though her best friend is essentially a DIY porn star.

[balletomaneblog]

Some of My Favorite Odiles!!

Here are some of my absolute favorite Odiles! I really had to stop myself from adding waayyy too many dancers to this list. Feel free to let me know other dancers that you guys love in this role!!

Ulyana Lopatkina

Viktoria Tereshkina

Svetlana Zakharova

Oxana Skorik

Gillian Murphy

Polina Semionova

[tikitania]

Hello, Thank you for a great blog and sharing ballet inside and discussion! I wanted to ask if you (or someone else who sees this) can tell what are the other good or valued professional ballet academies / choreographic schools in Russia besides Vaganova, Perm school, Eifman Academy and Moscow choreographic school (though I have heard that the latest is partly hanging on its reputation and the current state of the school is a bit solala..)

Awww, thank you! That means a lot. I rediscovered my love for ballet during COVID and was thrilled to find several Tumblr sites/blogs (@ballet-symphonie, https://melmoth.co) that inspired me to dig deeper into the dancers, choreographers, and companies that I admired. I also started attending more ballet performances, too! As rich as the YouTube / IG ballet world is — the magic is in the theater. It's thrilling! As for ballet in training in Russia beyond the big four, I really don't have the knowledge to ascertain which ones are considered top notch. But what I have done is researched where some of my favorite dancers trained — and the results can be surprising. Tereshkina trained at Krasnoyarsk and did a year or two of finishing at Vaganova. Elena Svinko, the new Mariinsky 1st soloist also came from Krasnoyarsk. Semyon Chudin graduated from the Novosibirsk Choreographic College. Alexandra Khiteeva trained for the first five years in Kazan. Historically, the Kiev Choreographic College has trained amazing dancers including Svetlana Zhakrova, Sergei Polunin, Alina Cojocaru, Leonid Sarafanov, and more. Tragically, I think training has been disrupted due to the war. Here's a video highlighting some of their illustrious grads:

Russia and in the former Soviet republics do not suffer a shortage of ballet schools because there's a seemingly an endless supply of excellent retired dancers and pedagogues to teach! It’s a valued profession there. Nina Ananiashvili has started a school in Tbilisi, Georgia — a school for the company she's leading there. For instance, Maria Alexandrova was just appointed the rector of the Sevastopol Choreographic School -- a very controversial appointment because the city is in Crimea, which is Ukrainian territory that Russia has invaded and claimed, so this appointment feels extremely political. And there are endless private schools that train at a really high level. As an example, I'll leave you with this — Maria Bulanova, aged 10 at the Kuramshin School in St. Petersburg where she trained for several years until she entered Vaganova.

[patricedumonde]

Svetlana Savelieva as the Lilac Fairy 🥰 (Credits to the great Madam Adelaida)

I am elated for Sveta as she’s getting more and more soloist roles. She was an impeccable student at Vaganova and since then, we’ve only seen her as the Princess of Great Beauty for Firebird and one of the soloist swans in Swan Lake Act IV. The past year, she’s debuted Queen of Dryads and now, the Lilac Fairy!!! Granted this wasn’t a full ballet, I’m hoping she’s shown enough to get the role in the full Sleeping Beauty.

[ash-whimsicalfanfic]

Agent Rushmore (CH 3)

Leroy Jethro Gibbs X Fem OC/Reader

Word Count: 1374

Warnings: Mild language, violence, gore, guns, fluff, smut, angst, PTSD, graphic scenes, blood…

Prompt: Special Agent Locklyn Rushmore, a highly trained Russian assassin who is skilled in all forms of hand-to-hand combat, weaponry, negotiating, and more. When her cover is blown, she is returning back to NCIS headquarters in D.C…

Jethro Gibbs POV

I watch her as she walks around the room. I could tell she was on edge and anxious. She was lost in thought and I didn’t miss my team giving me a look. They thought she was suspicious. I shake my head at them. She wasn’t. She was scared.

“The Dixen family is one of power, greed and death. They are a mafia family, one that has been going for five generations. The longest family mafia to continue. They use to be at the bottom of the food chain, but they soon were at the top. They still are. Their name and their power should be enough to scare you away.” She starts.

“It didn’t scare you away.” Ducky says.

“Because no one would take that case and I thought, what do I have to live for. If this went sideways of course. And it has. But, I realized how terrible this family is. And I couldn’t die. No…they need to be taken down.” She says.

“What changed?” Tim asks.

“I went undercover five years ago. I look younger than I am. I became twenty-two year old, Svetlana Yákov. I was to work as an exotic dancer in one of the clubs they owned. I did for two weeks. That was when the eldest brother noticed me, Kenzo Dixen. He prefers his women fiesty, curvy, and red-headed. I fit the description. His other two brothers, Kayvon and Kazor Dixen, weren’t so fond of me in the beginning. They were suspicious of me and I really thought my cover would have been blown then.” She explains, still pacing the room.

“Oh Locklyn.” Ducky murmurs.

“In due time, I became Kenzo’s fiancé. I was thankful how quick things moved because it meant I was trusted and soon I was sitting in on meetings. They spoke so freely in front of me. Occasionally, they’d ask my opinion.” She says.

“And you’d say what?” I ask.

“At first, I played dumb. They’d laugh and joke around how I was a woman with no brains. I was eavesdropping one day and Kenzo’s father, Kyler, wanted him to break the engagement off. He said I was a good for nothing whore with no brains. In fact, he said I was worse than a blonde. I managed to get in contact with Director Shepard and she told me to put my brain to work. Go with my gut. Go deeper into Svetlana’s cover and not my own identity. I was mixing the two, I was aware and as was she. I feared I’d lose myself to my undercover identity.” She says.

“So?” Tony asks, very intrigued by the story.

“They were having trouble with a drug op. As much as I hated assisting in them smuggling drugs through airlines to get to Europe, I did. Director Shepard was aware and she helped make it happen. We just had airline security play dumb. That was when the family finally realized that I may be a good wife to Kenzo. It went like that, them asking for ideas. Thankfully, Kenzo decided he liked to run things. He was happy I showed his family I was someone with brains, but he felt threatened. So, he had me stand down and keep my silence. In fact, after the whole op went the way they wanted and his family was quite proud of me. He was angry. He liked to be the top-dog. He likes to be prided. So, I faced a beating for that. I took it, not wanting my cover to be blown.” She explains.

“Lock…” Jen murmurs.

“I worked hard. Trying to be feisty, yet obedient. I didn’t want to step on his toes too much and he kill me. So, I did my best. I listened, I got pictures, I witnessed murders and got more beatings throughout the years. But, I got the call that we had enough to bring the Dixen family down for good. Everything was going to plan until they got a federal agent on their side. He got promoted within the past three years. However, all along he was with them—before I went undercover. So, the federal agent wasn’t sure who was undercover and where they were in the family.” She explains.

“Narrows it down to ten people.” Jen says, laying out ten pictures.

“The family drifted and fought and accused anyone including blood. It was a mess. Everyone there was on edge. Director Shepard was trying to pull me out when the federal agent figured out who I was. I was packing my stuff and was about to flee. However, they already got the information that Svetlana wasn’t who she said she was. She was the mole. As you know, mafias and moles never go hand-in-hand. I left as quick as I could. I’ve spent months trying to lose them whilst trying to get back here. But, they’ve always known where I am and I can’t figure it out. I’m an ex-Russian assassin and spy and I can’t lose a few mudaka’s.” She says.

“Huh?” Tony asks and I slap him in the back of the head.

“You have a whole mafia after you, not a few assholes. You can’t blame yourself.” Jen says.

“Lock, lay there.” Ducky says.

She sighs, doing as told. He grabs the X-Ray machine and steps back with us. We watch and wait.

“Right here.” He says when he’s studying the scan.

My eyes wandered over some of the bones that didn’t heal quite right or the ones she’s recently injured before reaching the thing he was pointing at. In her arm.

“I was shot there but they got the bullet out.” She says.

“And put a tracker in you.” Jen says.

“Ducky, get it out.” She says quietly.

Ducky gives her a pitiful look, grabbing a pair of gloves. She sits, putting her arm on the table and I see the white star shaped scar from a bullet. Ducky makes a cut, grabbing tweezers and pulling out a small little tracker. Next thing I know, Locklyn had her boot off and was smashing it.

“I think you got it, Lock. You wouldn’t of known if it weren’t been for the scan. This isn’t your fault.” Jen says.

“It is Jen! It is my fault. I trained! For years, I trained. Unwilling or not, it’s who I am today. I trained for this and how did I miss them putting a damn tracker in me. This one little slip-up has costed people their lives because they want me dead. I should’ve known it was a tracker when I knew they kept following me. I’m a fool! I made a mess, Jen. This is my mess and I need to clean it up. Give me clearance to be who I was before I became a federal agent.” She says.

“No. You almost lost yourself to that part of you. I’m not going to lose you again. You are my family, Locklyn. Those bastards will pay and they will pay with a life behind bars. You will not get an clearance to be who you once were. You aren’t Locklia Rashmor…you are Locklyn Rushmore and you are a federal agent with the biggest heart I know. Your not alone anymore. You have a team.” She says, grabbing Locklyns shoulders.

“I don’t want anyone else getting hurt. This isn’t their fight.” She says quietly.

“I think your underestimating your team, Agent.” Tony says.

She looks over and I study her. The look of vulnerability in her eyes was one I found myself familiar with. She’s been alone all those years undercover with no one to turn to and now, she’s returned. She’s in a war between herself and her undercover self.

“We are a team. A family. And you are apart of this team…this family. We fight together, not alone. We have each others backs.” Ziva says.

“You got that right, Ziva. Have you been practicing your idioms?” Tony asks.

Ziva looks at me and I roll my eyes, smiling slightly as I smack the back DiNozzo’s head. He whines, grabbing the back of it as he looks at me.

[kameliendame]

On March 11nd, on a very rare occasion, sujet Guillaume Diop was nominated to Danseur Étoile, skipping the rank of Premier Danseur. The only dancers who were awarded this prestigious title by skipping a rank before him are Laurent Hilaire (1985), Manuel Legris (1986), and Mathieu Ganio (2004).

At only age 23, Diop has an impressive repertoire under his belt; he has danced title roles in Nureyev’s Roméo et Juliette, Don Quichotte, La Bayadère and Swan Lake, and the role of Albrecht in Giselle. His nomination was imminent and I’m glad Martinez was bold enough to promote him straight away instead of waiting for the result of the annual Concours.

Fun fact: both Hilaire and Legris were nominated while the company was on tour so Nureyev could escape the wrath of ONP management for not following the strict hierarchy in which dancers are ranked. Likewise, Martinez, only appointed artistic director in October of last year, made the decision for nomination during a tour in South Korea. Nureyev’s legacy lives on! (Though I’m sure that this time Alexandre Neef was definitely aware of what was going to happen 😉)

Diop is pictured as prince Désiré in the grand pas de deux of the third act of Nureyev’s Sleeping Beauty during Soirée Jeunes Danseurs. Here’s to watching him reprise the role in the near future.

ph. Svetlana Loboff