It is with shock that we post about the loss of one of ballets biggest superstars, Vladimir Shklyarov, who passed away overnight. The Honored Artist of Russia, a superstar in the ballet world known for his electric onstage expression and virtuoso technique, was born in 1985 and joined the Mariinsky in 2003. Our condolences to his two young children, his ex-wife, friends, fellow dancers, and all of the viewers whose lives he touched. Rest in peace.
Ramanbek Beyshenaliev has been with the Mariinsky for 10 years and is attracting increasing attention. Read more about his journey from Kyrgyzstan to the capital of Russian ballet. The original Russian version of this interview can be found here.
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I’d like to talk about your biography. You were born in Kyrgyzstan. How did you enter the world of ballet?
Yes, I was born there and studied there. I didn’t want to dance per se, but my uncle is a ballet dancer and he wanted me to dance. He saw my physical traits and each year said “Take ballet classes, take ballet classes.” For three years he begged me. I studied in regular school until the 5th grade. My sister started to take ballet classes and I decided to go with her. I continued because I enjoyed it.
My parents also supported me in ballet.
In the Mariinsky version, set by Harry Christ in 2010, the curtain opens to turn-of-the-century Maslenitsa celebrations on a Petersburg square somewhere near the Admiralty building. Three dolls, the Moor, the Ballerina and Petrushka dance for viewers, but before they enter, street performers entertain the crowd for money, and drunken merchants perform traditional Cossack type knee-bends while guards dressed in long cobalt coats maintain order.
With 30 years’ experience on stage at the Mariinsky Theatre, from the corps de ballet to solo parts, Nikolai Naumov now primarily performs acting roles. He spoke with VaganovaToday about his career and about acting technique on stage in the great theatre. The Russian version of this interview can be found here.
You were born in the city of Pushkin. How did you start dancing?
Prior to me, my family had no relationship to the theatre, much less to ballet. But two family members participated in the world of music, my aunt Vera, who is an amazing piano teacher, and her daughter who is my cousin Nadia, an incredibly talented pianist and simply an ace in her profession!
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.