Renata Shakirova seems to be everywhere at once. As one of the most “in-demand” ballerinas of the Mariinsky, she is constantly performing around the world, from Europe to Asia, even during her time off. This lovely young lady brings the same sparkling presence to an in-person conversation as she does to each performance. Read on to learn about her journey from Tashkent to Petersburg, and what life is like for a young Mariinsky Prima. You can find the Russian version of this interview here.

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You were born in Tashkent. Is your family from the world of ballet?
My mother’s roots are from Bashkiri. When I was about 4 years old, we returned to the republic of Bashkortostan to the city of Sterlitamak. In childhood, I was very active. My mom was a teacher. When her students graduated, she took me with her and I danced all evening. Everyone was surprised, “Such a small child and she doesn’t get tired!”

Since January 2023, Even Capitaine has been working with the Mariinsky Ballet as a first soloist. We learned the details about his intriguing path in the world of ballet and in Russia. You can find the Russian language version of this interview here.

You have a unique story. How did you enter the world of ballet?
I attended a typical academic school and my mother wanted me to do something other than school. First I took fencing classes for 2 years, from ages 5 to 6, but then it ceased to be of any interest to me. At age 8, since my younger sister took ballet, I decided to try it. I went to a non-professional school after academic school once a week. For two years I did that, and then said I wanted to study more professionally. I was living in the French countryside in the small city of Sistelle near Toulouse. There aren’t many people there.

And so you had to travel to Paris?
Yes. At first they didn’t accept me. I continued to study ballet and did home school so that I could devote more time to ballet classes. I continued that way until I was 13 and the second time I applied, they accepted me in Paris.


The 2024-2025 season at the Mariinsky and Bolshoi Theatres, now both headed by director Valery Gergiev, began the first week in September. While the Bolshoi has already presented “The Sleeping Beauty” to start off its season, the Mariinsky audiences are awaiting the 17th of September when “Swan Lake” will be performed  in traditional fashion as the first ballet for the new performing year.

In his Moscow press conference last week, Gergiev announced plans to bring some new ballets into the repertoire, naming those set to music by Stravinsky and Prokofiev. He alluded to “young talented choreographers” (we assume he refers to Alexander Sergeev, whose premiere of “Coppelia” for the Mariinsky took place 2 months ago), as capable of bringing some of the ballet scores into movement form. He specified “Scythian Suite” which would be a completely new work, alongside “Prodigal Son” (which used to run in the Balanchine version at the Mariinsky), and “Firebird” and Petrushka” (both of which are already in the Mariinsky repertoire). Hopefully the repertoires of the two largest theatres will not start to duplicate each other, but it sounds like he intends to bring the ballets that exist up north to Moscow. We shall wait and see.

To close out the 241st season, the Mariinsky presented the premiere of its new “Coppelia”, a ballet that has not run in the company’s repertoire since Oleg Vinogradov presided over the ballet troupe. Choreographer/dancer Alexander Sergeev, with significant choreographic experience already under his belt, created a full-scale contemporary production that uses multimedia, novel pastel-hued costumes, steps from well-known neoclassical ballets, and a slight twist to the libretto that adds intrigue to this old story.

 A young Californian boy completed his training at the Vaganova Academy and joined the Mariinsky Ballet not long ago. We met with Kian Manghise and discussed his career trajectory and what it’s like to dance in Russia.

 

Kian, how did you start dancing? It’s a pretty classic story, my sister was dancing in a winter show in California, where I grew up. The school needed toy soldiers for the production and said, “if anyone has a brother or cousin, bring them in.” I really didn’t want to go at all, and I was about 10 and thought ballet was just for girls. Typical. They forced me to go after a long conversation, and I ended up really liking it.


Based on music from the opera by the same name but with a score recreated by Yuri Krasavin specifically for this production, Yuri Possokhov’s “Queen of Spades” premiered at the Mariinsky in July 2024. Describing the ballet, Possokhov stated, “It’s a fantasy. For me the most important thing is to give the production the meaning that I want the audience to understand.” This rather dark ballet thus focuses mainly on the story of the hero, German, his unquenched thirst for the secret of winning cards, and the concept of fatal love.  Possokhov states that he offers an author’s stage interpretation of a literary work using a unique libretto by Valery Pecheykin. That libretto, seemingly set in the 19th century, takes the overall themes of the luck of fate, and the power of gambling addictions to distract human beings from the most important parts of life, and turns them into visual vignettes over a two-hour program.

This year’s White Nights festival has included numerous changes at the Mariinsky Theatre:  the troupe’s second “tour” to the Bolshoi stage set for mid-July with “Fountain of Bakchisarei”, the appointment of the troupe’s first “artistic director” in many decades, the premiere of a new version of “Coppelia” (coming July 25th) and also a few debuts in the existing classical repertoire.

On 13 July, Evgeny Konovalov performed the role of Solor for the first time alongside prima ballerina Renata Shakirova. (We have an interview with Renata in the coming weeks, please stay tuned). Konovalov, a graduate of the esteemed Gennady Seliutsky and now in his 12th season with the company, is a polished performer with lovely lines, supple arches and considerable flexibility. His princely onstage demeanor plainly depicted Solor’s noble rank. In the Act 2 variation, crisp, elevated  double cabrioles soared above the stage, and his tours à la seconde displayed a steely leg with a perfectly pointed foot finishing the line. His partnering was faultless, especially the challenging Act 1 overhead lifts (Solor must not overstep the fire pit, which has happened with other performers). And Act 3’s final manège of double assembles brought goosebumps.

As a precursor to their week-long run of “The Fountain of Bakchisarei” at the Bolshoi Theatre in mid-July, the Mariinsky troupe presented three performances of this ballet at home first, which included a handful of debuts. On 12 July, Camilla Mazzi portrayed a gentle and tender Maria who was clearly in love with her fiancé, and projected the emotions of a princess while maintaining clean lines and careful positioning. Despite some partnering glitches between the two of them in the initial sequence of supported sissones, Alexei Timofeyev proved a strong partner and gracious prince as Vatslav, with the requisite epaulement in the right places. When his chivalrous attempt to protect her during the battle with the invading Tatars unfortunately fails, Mazzi’s fear was palpable as they snatched her away from the burning palace. Sparks literally flew onstage during the sword fight between the Poles and Tatars; and this impressive choreography reveals its complexity in the number of people onstage all fighting in different places at once.

With the White Nights Festival in full swing, some of the Mariinsky’s traditional ballets feature relative newcomers on stage, not yet seen by most Western ballet fans. The administration has dipped into the ranks providing some of th youngest dancers with opportunities to dance principal roles.

On 04 July, Daria Kulikova, a long-legged, expressive beauty still in her first season with the company and ranked coryphée, danced Medora in “Le Corsaire”. The role carries much of the weight of the libretto forward, both in terms of steps and choreography, and although no one can compare to Altynai Asylmuratova in this role, Kulikova’s extensions and joyful smile, at least in physical terms, reach some approximation.

The experienced Timur Askerov, honored artist of Azerbaijan, partnered her as the pirate Conrad with ease in both the solo and duet sections. He infused sharp accents where needed and maintained clear pantomime, seeming to enjoy his stage time and the role.

As part of a three-day festival dedicated to Igor Stravinsky and falling on the composer’s 142th birthday, the Mariinsky offered several evenings of Stravinsky-based music, including the premiere of dancer/choreographer Alexander Sergeev’s latest work, “Concert Dances”, an intelligent multi-layered ballet that highlights the structures in Stravinsky’s score and includes allusions to choreographic works from Balanchine to Ratmansky.

The premiere was nestled into a mixed bill that started with Bronislava Nijinska’s “Les Noces”, always a challenging work with unusual counts and steps that the Mariinsky dancers handled with considerable mastery. Alexandra Iosifidi performed the role of the Bride alongside the extremely tall Vadim Belyaev as the Groom, and Anna Smirnova with Maxim Izmestiev as the two soloists.

The 282nd graduating class of the Vaganova Academy demonstrated the results of their training in 3 performances on the Mariinsky’s historical stage in a three-act mixed bill in early June.

An except from “Flora’s Awakening” featured two girls cultivated by Academy rector Nikolai Tsisaridze. Ekaterina Morozova, who essayed Flora and, in Act 3, the Lilac Fairy, seemed the most polished and graceful of the bunch. She accented well-centered turns in arabesque with graceful port de bras and appropriate épaulement.

The non-intuitive sequence of tendus into à la seconde and then retiré passé did not phase Ekaterina Efimova, a graduate of pedagogue Irina Zhelonkina, whose welcoming smile added warmth to her role. Polina Parfenova, also one of Tsiskaridze’s charges, performed a driven, sharp-edged Diana and later reappeared as the Silver Fairy in the final act of the evening (from “The Sleeping Beauty”). As Geba, Veselina Ilieva from Bulgaria skimmed across the floor in ballonés and carved soaring arcs with her ronds en l’air, demonstrating a legato softness alongside strong musicality in her delivery.

“The Fountain of Bakchisarai”, referred to as a “choreographic poem” in four sections based on the work by Alexander Pushkin with a prologue and epilogue and created by Rostislav Zakharov in 1934, is a quintessentially Russian ballet in its philosophical leanings which juxtaposes the refined civilization of Slavic (in this case Polish) Europe with the barbaric practices of the Tatars. Yet overall themes of greed and grief underscore the moral obligation to temper desires and adhere to strictures that preserve life and love.

 

On the eve of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Mariinsky’s historical stage welcomed a full house to a rare all-star cast. Olesya Novikova, the lately appointed prima ballerina, danced Maria alongside fellow prima Viktoria Tereshkina as Zarema. Alexander Sergeev danced the dashing Vatslav, and Danila Korsuntsev, now a pedagogue and coach inside the theatre, has shifted to a handful of acting roles on stage, and he played a stern, distraught Girei, the head of the Tatar harem.

Coinciding with the birthday of the city of Saint Petersburg, the Mariinsky’s annual White Nights Festival began on 27 May with summer heat flowing through the city. A full house ushered in the start of this yearly celebration of dance, symphony, and opera delights.

Although they’ve not performed together in this ballet previously, Oksana Skorik and Nikita Korneev joined forces in the leading roles of “Giselle” on opening night. The dashingly handsome Korneev, a first soloist since 01 May this year and now regularly performing principal roles, danced an emotionally engaged Albrecht who managed to lift Skorik like a feather in Act II.

Even the most talented writer cannot find words that do justice to artists of the highest caliber, finely tuned ballet dancers in this case, who have spent years and sometimes decades of daily toil to perfect their art.

The Bolshoi Ballet troupe, now united with the Mariinsky under the same overall directorship of Valery Gergiev, launched its first set of “exchange” performances in early May 2024. The Moscow troupe brought three nights of Yuri Grigorovich’s “Spartacus” followed by another three nights of Balanchine’s “Diamonds” to the Mariinsky stage in St. Petersburg. Extra long last-minute ticket lines meant that the performances began 25 minutes after the intended curtain time, but that did not sway devoted fans – many of which who travelled north from Moscow especially to see the troupe.

Under Makhar Vaziev, who ran the Mariinsky until 2007, the Bolshoi has revamped itself. A set of younger dancers have been promoted to principal, the corps de ballet has improved its quality from a rather dismal state back in 2016, and a wide range of new works continue to plump up it’s Grigorovich-based repertoire. 

Within the last 12 months, three Mariinsky dancers were promoted to prima ballerina. One of the three is Nadezhda Batoeva, who hails from the city of Volgograd. VaganovaToday first met her when she was just starting her career, and sat down with her recently to see what has changed in the last decade. Read on for the details. You can find the Russian version of this article here.

How did you get started in ballet?
My mother and father are engineers. I took classes in a children’s club for amateur performances. Modern children’s classes are very professional, but in the past they were just for general development, nothing serious. Roughly speaking, from there you wouldn’t go anywhere, if it wasn’t a professional school, you would end up going to study as an engineer.

Leonid Jakobson’s version of “Spartacus” is a monumental, three-act stylistic ballet that immediately carries the viewer to ancient Greece through its unique choreographic style. Inspired, it is said, by the haut-reliefs of the Pergamon Altar, this “Spartacus” is littered with parallel (turned in) leg and arm positions intended to reproduce the two-dimensional images on Etruscan vases, scandalous positions in their heyday which veer far from the classical lexicon. There is not a pointe shoe in sight. Instead, it is as if an ancient Roman carving has come to life.

Not everyone becomes a prince overnight, but Anton Osetrov might just be on his way. Now in his third season at the Mariinsky, the corps de ballet member recently assayed the role of Prince Siegfried in the White Swan Adagio as part of the “Theatrical Lesson” series for students from public schools citywide. In late March 2024, he debuted in the role of the Student in “Anuita”. VaganovaToday spoke to this young artist about his beginnings and aspirations. For the Russian version, click here.

Why did you start dancing?
I’ll start with the fact that I went into ballet myself, my family isn’t from the ballet world. My parents don’t like ballet. My mom loves opera and my father only likes dramatic theatre. They’re both artists though, my mother is an illustrator for books and my father restores historical paintings. 

More than 30 years ago, few foreign dancers, especially those from Europe, joined Russian (then “Soviet”) ballet companies. Yes, there was the rare Baryshnikov, who hailed from Riga, Latvia, but for the most part, Russian companies retained native Russian dancers or those from its provinces. Through a strange series of circumstances, Fethon Miozzi, who hails from Italy, completed his studies at the Vaganova Academy at a time when few foreigners did so. He then performed in Petersburg, and finally became a pedagogue at the Vaganova Academy where he has taught boy’s classes for the past 16 years. VaganovaToday sat down with him to trace his life story and hear about the transition from stage to teaching. To view the Russian version of this interview, please kick here.

With over 20 years of stage experience, Mariinsky soloist Grigory Popov is still performing, but has recently added new forms of dance to his repertoire. The Mariinsky has recognized his skills in ultra contemporary movement and features him in a new educational program called “Theatrical Lesson” in which he performs his own choreography influenced by various modern masters. VaganovaToday sat down with him to discuss the trajectory of his career, this new direction, and what the future holds. Click here to read the Russian version of this interview.

Impeccable training in the city of Perm, clean lines, and loyalty to classical traditions won Ksenia Ostreikovskaya entry to the Mariinsky Ballet after her  studies.

 

As the first swan, and first Bayadère shade, to enter the sacred Mariinsky stage thousands of times during her 25 years dancing with the Mariinsky, Ostreikovskaya also performed numerous solo roles in an extensive repertoire of works ranging from Petipa to Balanchine to Hans Van Manen.

 

She recently retired from dancing and began coaching other dancers as a pedagogue.  VaganovaToday joined her to discuss her stage years and her new role coaching others.

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