Canadian dancer Shale Wagman turned 19 last May. Soon after he was guesting at the Mariinsky Theatre. What’s more, it was his first time dancing a principal role. Ever. Last season – his first as a professional dancer – he was dancing with English National Ballet’s corps de ballet, part of his prize after winning the Prix de Lausanne when he was 17, last year. My year with the … [Read more...] about Introducing 19-year-old Canadian dancer Shale Wagman: from Lausanne to ENB to the Mariinsky
Mariinsky Theatre
Ballet dancer Sergei Vikharev died in his dentist’s chair
Sergei Vikharev, the former Russian dancer renowned for his reconstruction of ballets and who died last Friday at 55, will be celebrated in the foyer of the Mariinsky Theatre today, before being buried in St Petersburg’s Serafimovskoe Cemetery, which is also the resting place of many other Mariinsky dancers including Yuri Soloviev, Feya Balabina and Alla … [Read more...] about Ballet dancer Sergei Vikharev died in his dentist’s chair
Children banned from the Bolshoi Ballet
A week ago, a group of parents with their young children – 5-11 years-old – were refused entrance to a performance of Swan Lake, and without a refund being offered. The Bolshoi’s General Director, Vladimir Urin, said that varying age restrictions were allotted to the company’s ballets after the theatre had received multiple complaints from its patrons, disturbed by the … [Read more...] about Children banned from the Bolshoi Ballet
The 7th Vaganova-PRIX takes place in October… and now’s the time to apply
The Vaganova Ballet Academy is reviving the International Ballet Competition Vaganova-PRIX. This year will be the seventh time that the competition has been held and it will take place in St Petersburg on 23-29 October. The Vaganova-PRIX was founded by the Vaganova Ballet Academy in 1988 and in 1995 it went international. The glamorous list of past winners include Ulyana … [Read more...] about The 7th Vaganova-PRIX takes place in October… and now’s the time to apply
Vaganova Ballet Academy to open a new school in Vladivostok – 10,000 km from St Petersburg
by guest blogger Elizaveta Dilanyan On 18 June it was announced that Vaganova Ballet Academy will open a second campus in Vladivostok, the capital of the Primorsky Krai province, in far eastern Russian, almost 10,000 km away from St Petersburg in the extreme west by car or train. The train journey will take almost week, though the more affluent could hop on a plane for … [Read more...] about Vaganova Ballet Academy to open a new school in Vladivostok – 10,000 km from St Petersburg
Maya Plisetskaya’s 90th birthday celebrated in concerts and exhibitions
20 November 2015 would have been Maya Plisetskaya's 90th birthday. The great Russian ballerina, who died on 2 May this year, will be remembered in a series of events in Moscow and St Petersburg. On 18 November her friend, and musical director of the Mariinsky Theatre, Valery Gergiev gave a concert at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in her memory, with a programme that … [Read more...] about Maya Plisetskaya’s 90th birthday celebrated in concerts and exhibitions
Cecilia Bartoli: “Contemporary composers can’t write for opera singers like me”
I've been following this project for eight years and I've been to St Petersburg many times in train or by ship, because I don't like flying; one of the most beautiful trips was on the icebreaker from Lübeck in Germany. I put on gloves and rummaged through the archives of the Mariinsky Theatre, through documents that are centuries old, and finally I found the scores of the … [Read more...] about Cecilia Bartoli: “Contemporary composers can’t write for opera singers like me”
Tsiskaridze’s reputation is not as high as state officials’ wives would have you believe
Earlier today, teachers at the Vaganova Ballet Academy published an open letter, written in four languages, to President Vladimir Putin asking him to reconsider the appointment of Nikolay Tsiskaridze as the new school principal. Diana Vishneva was one of the first to openly criticise Tsiskaridze's appointment, saying that it could ruin the future of the renowned institution. … [Read more...] about Tsiskaridze’s reputation is not as high as state officials’ wives would have you believe
Tsiskaridze is Principal and Lopatkina the new Artistic Director of the Vaganova Academy
Nikolay Tsiskaridze has been appointed Principal of the Vaganova Ballet Academy, and Ulyana Lopatkina will be its new Artistic Director. Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky told Izvestia: Tsiskaridze is preparing thoroughly to take up this post, bringing with him a wealth of teaching experience, and his training in the legal profession. Lopatkina is now at the height of her … [Read more...] about Tsiskaridze is Principal and Lopatkina the new Artistic Director of the Vaganova Academy
Being groomed for stardom: Italian ballerina Petra Conti
23 year-old Petra Conti is a dancer at La Scala in Milan, who is being slowly brought before the public by director (ex-director of the Mariinsky) Makhar Vaziev. He first saw her when she spent a year in St Petersberg at the Mariinsky to polish her technique. After the 2008-2009 season with the Bavarian State Ballet she decided to return to her homeland: I preferred to … [Read more...] about Being groomed for stardom: Italian ballerina Petra Conti