#russian theater

[vintage-russia]

Russian actress V.Istomina as Vasilisa Melentyevna in the play of the same name,Saint Petersburg

[regina-del-mare]

Praskovya Kovalyova-Zhemchugova, born a slave of counts Sheremetyevs, she was chosen to join a troupe of her owners' private serf theater and became its star. Family's heir fell in love with her, freed her and they married despite all obstacles. Praskovya died of tuberculosis and complicated childbirth of their first son. According to legend Praskovya was the author of folk song "Late evening I walk from the forest..." in which slave girl meets handsome nobleman and they start romance.

[thefugitivesaint]

Vladimir Petrovich Drittenpreis (1878-1915), 'ку́кольный теа́тр' (Puppet Theater), ''Весы'', #12, 1908 Source

[aglaiamanno]

home theater in the yusupov palace, st. petersburg

[ballet-symphonie]

I think the new Mariinsky of Coppelia is one of the most beautiful productions to come out recently! I'm really curious what you mean by stolen Pharaoh's Daughter! Please give me all the drama and tea. Also, what are they using of Ratmansky? I thought they went back to that grigorovich production of Sleeping Beauty? I'm so confused can you explain what is happening? Also, don't they still do Jewels? Isn't that Balanchine? are they even allowed? Sorry if i sound like I'm rambling but I'm so confused

Pharoah's Daughter

Here is an from NYT interviewing Ratmansky where he discusses the situation in depth but I will summarize it. NYT Article

The Phraroah's Daughter is a whole big drama. Alexei Ratmansky was creating a new reconstruction at Mariinsky before the war broke out.When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ratmansky canceled the premiere in May 2022. Fateev (then director of MT) hired Toni Candeloro to finish the reconstruction.

Fateev said the whole ballet was re-choreographed by Candeloro but this is blatantly not the case. Ratmansky and his wife had spent 2 years going through the old notations and documents to create this restoration, the idea that Candeloro could create a brand new 3.5-hour ballet (yes it is that long) in a fraction of the time is frankly a tragic comedy on the level of Shakespeare. And of course, Ratmansky's name is nowhere in the credits.

Russians have also claimed that no prior knowledge or access to any of Ratmanksy's work was available, but I find that hard to believe considering there are clips of Ratmanksy rehearsing the ballet at MT still chilling on Mariinksy's Youtube.

Here you can read Ratmansky’s statement on Instagram on the matter, accompanied by Antonio Casalinho performing the famous act 2 pas d’action variation from Pharoah’s Daughter.

Here is a video of Kimin Kim in the same variation from the actual MT production. The two videos are nearly identical, this is clearly theft of Ratmansky’s work.

Copywright/ Theft

Ratmansky's name has been removed from all credits of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky. Yet his work, such as Flames of Paris, and The Bright Stream, and others, have been performed since he withdrew his work from Russia without Ratmanksy's name attached - which means he's not receiving royalties for these.

Licenses of Productions

Generally, to perform works by other companies, you need a license from either the company, the choreographer, or the choreographic trust (think the Balanchine Trust or John Cranko Trust). You negotiate fees for a stager/repetiteur to come and oversee the teaching of the repertory, and check-ins to make sure that rehearsals are going well, the style is being adhered to, and that the intentions of the choreography is correct, as the original choreographer intended. The license also covers costume details (are you making your own according to the style? Buying or renting from someone else?), staging requirements (tech, music, sets, lighting etc), how many performances, and with what types of credits.

Many of the Bolshoi/Mariinsky licenses to perform ballets by foreign choreographers have expired/are expiring. Western arts organizations are mostly not renewing them given the circumstances. Therefore BT/MT no longer have the rights to program those ballets and cannot do so without a high probability of facing legal ramifications.

For example, The Bolshoi no longer can perform their semi-recent premiere, Orlando by Christopher Spuck, these rights expired in March 2024. Similarly, their contract for Jewels is up as well as Nureyev created by Possokhov-Serebrennikov. Mariinsky's Jewels is said to expire in 2025. You can read more details here.

[nevui-penim-miruvorrr]

Why is Rostislav Kolpakov so Beautiful i'm cryinggg

Rosti as Herbert von krolock and Graf Von Krolock in Bal Vampirov

[huariqueje]

Chinese Theater - Alexander Evgenievich Yakovlev

Russian , 1887-1938

Watercolor and gouache on paper , 21.3 x 34 cm. 8 3/8 x 13 3/8 in.

[wonderful101gecs]

And that's one major chunk of research done. My main takeaway:

All theater nerds of all nationalities and in all generations are Like That, and Anton Chekhov was a weird little freak who was desperately insecure and creatively anxious in a way I can't help but find endearing

[curiouselleth]

Made some DM reaction gifs from Skazki’s Last Trial!

[captain-price-unofficially]

Soviet tanks during the 1945 Invasion of Manchuria, in the backround there are three T-26s. By then the T-26 had become a rare sight, having been withdrawn from the European front in 1944 after most were already destroyed in 1941

[vintage-russia]

Russian actress Yelizaveta Sadovskaya as Ariel in the play "The Tempest",Moscow (1905)

[regina-del-mare]

Ivan Mozzhukhin in "Queen of Spades"

[thefugitivesaint]

Sergei Lodygin (1893-1961),''Театр и искусство'' (Theater and Art), #52, 1916 Постановка а а ьердслзй или режиссеръ безъгоиовы “шуточиая фантаэія" (<---my inadequate translation is something like, "A production or a director without a head, humorous fantasy") Source

[alexxx-malev]

Russia. Kazan. Puppet theater Казань. Татарский государственный театр кукол «Экият»

[laferelady]

Anne of Austria & brilliants/pendants

[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?