#mariinsky ballet

[miss-mollys-ballet-blog]

Vladimir Shklyarov in La Bayadere.

I've been watching videos of him and crying. I'm so devasted over this loss.

[derschokoladenritter]

If everybody wore ballet costumes as regular clothes life would be so much better

More personal space, everyone would look much better and prettier, especially with the platter tutus.

We'll just have to disregard the inconviences lol

[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

[patricedumonde]

Let's play a game: I’ll name common famous dancers and you say what that says about that person:

If my fav dancer is:

Anna Pavlova—

Alessandra Ferri-

Carla Fracci-

Maria Taglioni-

Sylvie Guillem-

Maria Khoreva—

Diana Vishneva—

Gallina Ulanova-

Marianela Nuñez—

Maria Bulanova —

Altynai Asylmuratova-

Ulyana Lopatkina—

Olga Smirnova-

Ekaterina Maximova -

Evgenia Obraztsova -

Nicoletta Manni—

Natalia Ospipova -

Sofya Valiullina-

Maya Plisetskaya-

Svetlana Zakharova

Alina Somova —

Alexandra Khiteeva—

Victoria Tereshkina—

Renata Shakirova —

Galina Ulanova-

Maria Koshkaryova-

Maria Iliushkina—

Eleonora Saveyard-

Elena Svinko-

Svetlana Savalieva -

Nina Kapstova-

Elisabetta Nallin—

Angelina Vorontsova -

Yulia Makhalina—

May Nagahisa -

Kristina Shapran—

Camilla Mazzi-

Oxana Skorik-

So I've been wanting to answer this one but boy this is a long list but I'll try my best.

If this is your favorite dancer, then you:

Anna Pavlova - are swan obsessed

Alessandra Ferri - have impeccable taste and you love her interpretation of Juliet

Carla Fracci - are Giselle obsessed

Maria Taglioni - are dead

Sylvie Guillem - love trail blazers, and appreciate a mix of classical ballet and contemporary

Maria Khoreva - are chronically online

Diana Vishneva - love an objectively (nearly) perfect dancer

Gallina Ulanova - are an old soul

Marianela Nuñez - love a clean turn and a well rounded dancer

Maria Bulanova - love jumper and turners

Altynai Asylmuratova - nostalgic of Kirov days and love a dancer who can do a good Medora and Nikiya

Ulyana Lopatkina - love love love Russian ballet

Olga Smirnova - also love Russian ballet but you weren't old enough to see Ulyana Lopatkina in her prime

Ekaterina Maximova - love passionate dancers and good Kitris

Evgenia Obraztsova - love a charming stage presence

Nicoletta Manni - are well researched and love a technically proficient dancer

Natalia Osipova - love bravura roles but you also appreciate seeing dancers who grow tremendously out of their box

Sofya Valiullina - are new here lol! But you love a technically proficient dancer

Maya Plisetskaya - are deep into your research and you love strong dancers

Svetlana Zakharova - are obsessed with naturally gifted dancers.

Alina Somova - Love hyperextensions

Alexandra Khiteeva - Love a killer port de bras!

Victoria Tereshkina - are obsessed with strong dancers who can do no wrong!!!

Renata Shakirova - Love a versatile dancer

Maria Koshkaryova - are new here! But you're Vaganova obsessed.

Maria Iliushkina - Love dancers with emotional depth

Eleonora Sevenard - learned about her from when you got into Vaganova in 2017 and you've been obsessed ever since

Elena Svinko - (I'm sorry I don't know her well enough)

Svetlana Savalieva - a hopeless romatic and believes she deserved a fair chance into soloist territory!

Nina Kapstova - are a fan of absolutely flawless dancers

Elisabetta Nallin - are new here!

Angelina Vorontsova - prefer Mikhailovsky over Mariinsky and Bolshoi, and you're probably better off for that. Respect.

Yulia Makhalina - are ME and are CORRECT, but seriously though. You have good taste and you wished there were more clips of her out there.

May Nagahisa - love a perfect Aurora interpretation

Camilla Mazzi - don't love a perfect Aurora interpretation. Yeesh it got spicy here.

Kristina Shapran - You have faith in Mariinsky's next generation of principal dancers

Oxana Skorik - are Catherine Pollak. LOL. But actually, you have good taste and you just weren't around during Yulia Makhalina's time.

[backscale-pivot-queen]

Maria Khoreva as Princess Aurora, Act 3, Act 2, Act 1

[anjelalala]

"When he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night"

Fly High, My Prince........ 🕊

Rest in Peace, Vladimir Shklyarov

My favourite, you are a bright star above, dancing amongst angels. Im in absolute shock and despair. Talented, Charismatic, I have no words.

[tikitania]

So many have posted videos of him dancing, but I’m drawn to his interviews. I use the auto-translate function in closed captioning. It’s rough but you’ll get the gist of it. 🕊️💔

[elaine-of-shalott-blog]

There are no words. This is a tragedy and a utter shock. Mariinsky principal dancer Vladimir Shklyarov died yesterday. No cause of death seems yet to have been announced.

My thoughts and prayers are for his wife, Maria Shirinkina, and their young children.

[balletroyale]

A better video of Renata's promotion

I love how celebratory and dramatic it is!

And I love that it was after Shurale, which I think is her signature role!

[havlasha]

Shakirova is FINALLY a Prima!!

[spectredelarose]

Yulia Makhalina in Le Spectre de la Rose at the London Coliseum, 2013

[miss-mollys-ballet-blog]

Renata Shakirova in her debut as Odette/Odile.

[emotionalshawtysinthisbitch]

i miss ballet💔

[ballet-symphonie]

I noticed a stark difference in terms of promotions and castings between RB and Russian companies (particularly Mariinsky and Bolshoi).

1. RB is still going full-principal castings for the lead roles, although sometimes they cast first soloists too, and soloists once in a blue moon (usually in The Nutcracker). I think RB is quite hierarchical in terms of castings. Meanwhile those Russian companies tend to cast younger dancers for lead roles nowadays, and dancers at any rank could get the lead roles if the theatre wants.

2. It's not uncommon for freshgrads (or even graduating students) in Russian companies to get major soloist roles during their first year in the company, but in RB, the young dancers usually have to wait several years to get it. For example, Eva Sergeyenkova got to dance Queen of the Dryads with the main company before she even graduated, but Hanna Park and Sumina Sasaki only got the same role this season after they danced for 3-4 years with the company.

3. I know this is common knowledge: an exceptional Russian freshgrad could enter the company as a soloist without spending a single day in the corps. But in RB, no matter how exceptional the freshgrad is, they should start from the corps for several years before eventually getting promoted (some who were considered exceptional got promoted consecutively after spending several years in the corps, though).

I know that there's no perfect system, but from the perspective of a professional, which one do you think is the better system for the artist's growth? Sometimes, as a general audience, I think Russian companies' pace is too fast, and RB's is rather too slow.

I'm sorry if this is too long :') thank you in advance!

I don't disagree with anything you've written here. I think promoting young and giving chances young can work, but it has to be the right people. You mentioned several cases at ROH and agree with your interpretations. ABT is edging younger right now, but Chloe Misseldine, Sunmi Park and Jake Roxander have clearly proven they've got the chops. Even so, Chloe has done one major classical role and the others haven't yet.

This is a total 180 to recent graduates of BBA and VBA preparing nearly half a dozen of debuts leading roles in a season. ROH takes much slower approach and I think most of the time it pays off. Sometimes they lose people who want their careers to move more quickly but on the whole, I think slow and steady wins the race.

Ill ask you this, lately in the past 5 or so years, which company has been delivering the most consistent performances of quality, with a wide variety of dancers in the leading roles?

[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. 😆

[elegantballetalk]

Today’s watch:

Marie/sugar plum variation, Mariinsky.