#maria Petukhova

[ballet-symphonie]

VBA Asks

Hi Ale! I hope you can understand my question(s). Talking about the VBA 2018 class, how would you rank in your personal perception of "talent" Ionova, Bulanova, Khoreva, Petukhova and Nuikina based *only* on their graduation exams (not their lives in the theater etc)? And would you add other students to the list of most known/special students in that year? And how would rank them as well? I'm asking this because (first, I recognize Khoreva's talent), but in comparison, I don't understand how....

(Did I lose the second half of this ask?? I'm so sorry if I did, but this is all I have) This is a bit tricky because 'talent' is such a subjective thing. I'll keep the list to the 5 you mentioned, as those really were the clear standouts. In terms of natural disposition to ballet, I think I'd rank them as follows:

Khoreva- checks all the boxes, height, mobility, hyperextension, etc

Nuikina - a jump like that is from nature only

Bulanova - her not having a full education at VBA has left some holes in her technique, the feats she can pull of despite this are nothing short of remarkable.

Ionova - clearly a late bloomer, a bit short but with good natural coordination

Petukhova - a beautiful dancer, but ballet was clearly much much more of a battle for her than her classmates.

just random thought... i think yuri fateev favors maria koshkareva so much, even maria is just a student yuri is striving to get her to Mariinsky. when she compete for the moscow competition, fateev actually got an american choreographer to make the modern variation "maestro" for maria. and now maria getting all the lead roles in school, i mean she deserve it, she's very talented. i think some girls need to work on their confidence, dont let their nerves get them to fall apart.

Koshkareva is really good, but its more than that. She's the first graduate since Khoreva to look like she's ready at such a young age. The girl isn't messing around, some of her classmates could do with even a smidge of her confidence.

not to sound like vba wizard but, I think a paquita comeback is possible with underwater kingdom. but the lead role will be the top performing girl in kovaleva's class, you know who, they are gonna make her the star, with the other girl 2nd prize MBC, after all they are already mariinsky employed, the director promotes them. sofya V, might be princess masha for nutcracker, but she needs to work hard if she wanna shine. still early to tell things.

I would be all in for this programming, those underwater kingdom tutus are far too pretty (and likely expensive lol) to only be used once. I think the long-legged Kuprina would dance the Queen of the Waters Variation so well. I certainly expect Koshkareva to get the leading roles split with either Kuprina or Valuillina, depending on who looks stronger.

Hey! This is a really weird question but recently I've been watching recordings of older Vaganova ballet exams and of course the strongest students are in the center. I watched both Vishneva's and Zakharova's. It's so cool how two of the most famous ballerinas of their generation graduated just one year apart from each other.

So I was wondering your opinion, if Vishneva and Zakharova had actually been in the same class together, which do you think would have had the center position in the class, or been the favorite?

Ooh what a question! I often forget that they graduated only a year apart despite Vishneva being 3 years older. Zakharova was invited to VBA at 15 after winning 2nd prize at the Vaganova Prix and was allowed to skip not one but two grades into the graduating class.

I think the answer to your question depends on who's teaching the class. If its L.V. Kovaleva, there's no way Vishenva is taken out of the middle. Diana is her golden child and still is today. If the teacher is E.V. Evteeva, I think it could go either way. However, as incredibly gifted as Zakharova is, I don't really associate her as VBA's product, she only studied there for a year. Numerous talents such as Tsiskaridze, Grigorovich, and even Semionova, have described Zakharova's talent and style as utterly distinct from any real school. I personally feel that more credit should be given to Zakharova's teacher in Kiev, Valeria Sulegina. I think it would be hard to take the position away from Vishenva, who spent her whole life battling at the academy.

Hi Ale! I recently stumbled upon your blog and now I can't stay away! :D Maybe this is just my opinion, but it seems to me that in recent years the Vaganova boys have gotten... weaker? They don't seem to be as strong as the graduates of past years. How do you think this will affect their chances of making it into a companies like Mariinsky and Bolshoi?

Ahhh oof, the state of the VBA boys is not great IMO. They are graduating fewer competent boys each year. I think there are a variety of causes, including an outdated and ineffective training curriculum, a lot of the historically successful pedagogues no longer working, greater competition from other schools, and a smaller talent pool.

Prior to the war, I would have said yes, this will negatively affect their chances. Both BT and MT have repeatedly shown their willingness to hire and promote both foreign and foreign-trained talent, think of names like Victor Caxieta, Nikita Korneyev, Jacopo Tissi, David Motta Soares, etc. However, I can't imagine any graduate from a major ballet school is itching to go to Russia any time soon, the talent pool for Russian companies to pull from has unquestionably shrank.

However, we can still see the effect of the decline in a variety of other ways. For example, of the 8 boys taken into MT this fall, half were from the school of Boris Eifman, not VBA. VBA's insistence on poaching boys from the theatre to dance leading roles in their academy shows also doesn't help the problem. The decline isn't super obvious now, but wait 5 or so years when the current premiers start to retire...

#Youtube #vaganova ballet academy #vaganova #vba #vishenva #diana vishneva #svetlana zakharova #maria khoreva #maria bulanova #daria ionova #maria Petukhova #anastasia niukina #ballet #ballerina #ballet ask #Q+A #Maria koshkareva

[patricedumonde]

Im so sick and tired of all the Russian netizens talking about how valiullina is too big and how she is still growing bigger. There are other prima ballerina who also are not the typical skinny to the bone type of dancers, so why are they insulting her saying that she couldn’t dance properly because of her huge bones?!!

Honestly I’m worried that the theatre won’t be giving her more roles because of her body :(

That is really unfortunate. I never really understood the fixation on extremely long limbs and unreal hyperextensions. It's not like that always translates to skill nor artistry. Dancers typically look bigger on stage too, like in every photo I've seen of Sofya in rehearsal, she's still slender in my opinion.

So far though, she's been given a lot of roles so maybe it's not an issue for management/higher ups. We'll soon see her in Jewels and grand pas in La Bayadere. Not all the castings are out either and there are like 20 Nutcracker shows lol. I hope they give her more chances!

This really makes you wonder how many dancers we've missed because of these unrealistic standards. ( Unrelated but I'm particularly bitter about Maria Petukhova. She had technique and stage presence. There's a reason why she was beside Maria Khoreva at the barre and was a leader for center exercises. Such a disservice for lovers of the art to not have her on a main stage)

#russian ballet #bolshoi ballet #sofia valiullina #patrice answers

[balletroyale]

Maria Petukhova in The Naiad and the Fisherman (Vaganova Ballet Academy) 

Never forget what could have been. 

#maria petukhova #the naiad and the fisherman #vba #Vaganova Ballet Academy

[melmothblog]

Maria Petukhova as Giannina in “The Naiad and the Fisherman”. 2018 Vaganova Ballet Academy graduation performance at the Mariinsky Theatre. June 12, 2018.

I am so impressed with her...

#Vaganova Ballet Academy #vaganova #vaganova students #2018 graduation #The Naiad and the Fisherman #vba1718 #Maria Petukhova #Petukhova

[vaganovaballetandmore]

Maria Petukhova.

#pharaoh's daughter #maria petukhova #vaganova #vaganova academy #Vaganova Ballet Academy #my gif

[ballet-symphonie]

"Petukhova - a beautiful dancer, but ballet was clearly much much more of a battle for her than her classmates." What do you mean? :( also, if you don't mind me asking, do you know what she has been doing? I really liked her, but from my perspective, she's not in the ballet world anymore?

All the girls I discussed are the cream of the crop in terms of ‘natural talent.’ They arguably wouldn’t have graduated VBA otherwise. That being said, Pethukova had fewer natural gifts in my eyes, most notably a shorter Achilles and a shallower plié, especially on a single leg. When I watch her, I see her fighting to put and keep her heels down, especially for jumps and consecutive releves. She could hide a lot her off-balance plies with her great upper body but maintaining a strong plie with good weight distribution was something that I definitely thought looked harder for her to do correctly compared to her classmates.

Now you might think, Ale that’s such nitpicking! And yes it is, but plie is the fundamental element of ballet, and it’s one of the few things that’s not optional for a professional career. You don’t need 180 turnout or legs behind your head, but you do need a good, strong, functional and comfortable plie to have any sort of sustainability in dance. I saw that it was harder for Petukhova to plié comfortably and that was my main reasoning for placing her last. It’s worth mentioning that the faculty also saw some issues in her technique, she was the only prominent student from that 2018 class not given an honours diploma.

But regardless after graduating VBA, She spent a season dancing in Talin, at Estonian National Ballet. She got some soloist roles, but eventually decided to return to Russia. She was dancing at the Rostov State Musical Theater in 2020 but now she is teaching at a school in SPB called “Palace Ballet.”

#Maria petukhova #vaganova ballet academy #vba #ballet #russian ballerina #russian ballet #ballet ask

[patricedumonde]

Who are your top 5 favorite Vaganova graduates of the last, say, 10 years?

Funny my brain went all the way back to 2003 then realized 10 years ago was 2013. LOL. So, post Olga Smirnova...

Okay, top of my head 2013 is Renata's class so Renata will make it, of course. This is a difficult question first because some dancers who stood out in the academy don't necessarily stand out now, and vice versa. We also had some gap with the pandemic so a lot of 2019-present dancers' career progressions were affected. Let's see, if I were to rank them though.

Renata Shakirova

Alexandra Khiteyeva

Maria Bulanova

Maria Illiushkina

Anastasia Lukina

Ahhhhh that was difficult, I definitely had my favorite students while they were in the academy though. Svetlana Savelieva had a lot of visibility when she was a student and I loved seeing all her exams. She hasn't had a lot of soloist roles since graduation so I wasn't sure if I should list her or not. If we're just talking about their tenure in Vaganova though, Sveta would be up there and Maria Illiushkina wouldn't.

You know who I miss seeing on stage? Maria Petukhova. I'm still crushed by the fact that her videos in the academy will probably be the only videos we'll see of her on a main stage, ever. *cue tears*

Alyona Kovalyova was also one of my favorites when she was a student. The reasons she's not in my top 5 are one, I follow Mariinsky a lot more than Bolshoi and two, I can't say that she stands out in Bolshoi right now.

Sixth on my list is Anastasia Smirnova. I believe it's her class that didn't get a graduation performance, so I've mostly seen her work once she joined Mikhailovsky (plus that short stint at Mariinsky lol) and my god, she's a terrific dancer.

I'm also realizing that 2013 onwards feels VERY "right now." All of these dancers aren't even prima yet. I wonder if it's the effect of the pandemic or what, but I can't believe those graduates already span a full decade.

When I first read your question, my mind immediately y went Olga Smirnova and Yulia Stepanova so yeah, definitely a fun and challenging question :)

#vaganova #russian ballet #patrice answers

[ballet-symphonie]

Do you know what happened to Maria Petukhova? I think I'll never get over what happened to her. She was the best at her year, a rising star. To think of how great she could have been... and there is also the ~rumor~ of why she didn't fit in the Mariinsky :/ I went to her Instagram but haven't found anything either. Don't even know if she's still dancing...

Ah yes I do know a bit. She was not accepted to the MT or BT, there is a widespread rumor that it was due to her weight. MT in particular has always been excessively strict about body types and it cost them a beautiful dancer yet again. Although I think it is important to note that she did not receive an honours diploma (all the ‘prominent’ students from her class did). So regardless of her perception as a ‘top’ student by the public and relatively good place at the barre/center, her dancing was not awarded top marks by the faculty. Of course, you don’t need an honors diploma to work at MT and I remember there were a few girls taken from that year who didn’t have one (Anita Voroshilova, Sofia Voronova) but it does say something about how she was regarded compared to her peers.

But regardless after graduating VBA, She spent a season dancing in Talin, at Estonian National Ballet. She got some soloist roles, but eventually decided to return to Russia. She was dancing at the Rostov State Musical Theater in 2020 but now she is teaching at a school in SPB called “Palace Ballet.”

#Maria petukhova #ballerina #ballet #vaganova #vba #vaganova ballet academy #russian ballet

[balletroyale]

This is my yearly reminder that Maria Petukhova was the star of the VBA class of 2018 and was absolute robbed of her place at the Mariinsky

#Miles better than Khoreva #Those HANDS #maria petukhova #Vaganova Ballet Academy #Mariinsky Ballet

[balletroyale]

I’ve just seen footage of Maria Petukhova dancing and I was surprised. She’s definitely a Balanchine ballerina. Fantastic port de bras.

It’s a great tragedy that she didn’t go to the Mariinsky or Bolshoi.

#ask #maria petukhova

[melmothblog]

Vaganova Ballet Academy student Maria Petukhova has debuted as the Fairy Doll, opposite Rasmus Ahlgren and Jorge Palacios as the pair of Pierrots, at the Orchard Ballet Gala at Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Tokyo. The students performed at the gala as part of their tour of Europe and Asia. 

#Vaganova Ballet Academy #vaganova students #vaganova #ballet #Maria Petukhova #Petukhova #fairy doll #the fairy doll

[melmothblog]

Vaganova Ballet Academy student Maria Petukhova as the Spanish Doll in "The Fairy Doll". Hermitage Theatre. Oct 2017.

#Vaganova Ballet Academy #vaganova #vaganova students #fairy doll #Maria Petukhova #Petukhova #ballet ballerina #vba1718

[melmothblog]

Hello Melmoth! Thank you so much for your quality posts

I think that’s Maria Petukhova.

d i s c l a i m e r

#qa #qa vaganova #Maria Petukhova #Petukhova

[melmothblog]

Ask Responses - Graduation Shows

A compilation of responses to the questions about the VBA graduation performances that came through Ask recently. As always, thank you for asking.

You said a few posts ago that Tsiskaridze and VBA were really showing off to Moscow their skills and how well Nikolai was doing, would they make minor changes to casts, like soloists, etc to have the better dancer performing in Moscow to make the students look even better?

I doubt it. The whole point is that the cast is already very impressive and good enough to show off to the Moscow public and critics. I think “The Fairy Doll” is an exception, but I cover that point in another response further down.

I saw a photo on Instagram from about a day ago, and it was an after performance picture with someone I guess saw the final graduation performance, with Elya as the Fairy Doll and Maria Petukhova as Spanish... but isn't that typically Vlada's role? Other then Elya doing a run or two of it when Fairy Doll first premiered, it's been Vlada's role. Why would they cast Petukhova in it for the last show of the year, with Vlada graduating and Petukhova still (presumably) having another year to go?

I’m not sure why the changeover happened, but I’m not surprised by it. I’ve mentioned before that “The Fairy Doll” is VBA’s new calling card (courtesy of Tsiskaridze). It’s been officially reinstated in the Mariinsky repertoire, and VBA periodically take the ballet on tour. The academy prepares a new cast every year. It looks like Petukhova will be taking over the Spanish Doll, and it makes sense that VBA would want to show off the new cast. 

There two reasons (I’m guessing) why Elya performed the part of the Fairy Doll: 

The role originally belonged to Kschessinska and was re-created on Elya. It made sense that Elya would be the one to perform it at the Kremlin Palace.

There isn’t another student at VBA who’s as good at performing this role as Elya. 

Do you know anything about Maria Petukhova? She just kinda seemed to come from out of the blue this year, doing a solo in Paquita and the lead in Conservatoire, and then Spanish in a recent run of Fairy Doll. She just came from no where, it seems and is landing all these roles.

She really did come out of nowhere (hence, I don’t know anything about her). But, then again, that is our perception. If she received so many solos, it means that both the coaches and Tsiskaridze have had her on their radar for a long time. I’m glad to see that new talents are emerging at VBA, and that the gifted students are getting the opportunities they deserve.

d i s c l a i m e r

#qa #Maria Petukhova #vaganova #2017 graduation #ballet #the fairy doll #ballerina #Petukhova

[melmothblog]

Vaganova Ballet Academy graduation performance. June 12. Mariinsky Theatre.

Maria Petukhova.

“Paquita” (Act III)

Choreography: Marius Petipa Music: Ludwig Minkus Re-staged by: Yuri Burlaka and Nikolai Tsiskaridze

For all 2017 graduation performance and rehearsal updates click here.

#Vaganova Ballet Academy #vaganova #vaganova students #ballet #ballerina #mariinsky #paquita #Maria Petukhova #petukhova #2017 graduation #video #videos

[melmothblog]

Ask Responses - Vaganova

A compilation of questions relating to the Vaganova Ballet Academy graduation performances and general Vaganova questions.

Is it just me or does it seem as though Nikolai has brought back a lot of focus on petit allegro in the graduation performances? All of the pieces seemed to be quicker and with more of the little jumps and fast footwork. Or is that just me?

I’m not sure if that was his focus, though the choreography does seem to be a bit more advanced than usual. Every year Tsiskaridze bases the graduation program around the particular group of students graduating, to better show off their strengths and mask their weaknesses. He had a strong cast to work with this year. I guess he figured he could throw them a few curveballs.

For the answer to the question about Lada, when you say "make the grade" do you mean students have to get a certain grade in their exams to take part in the graduation performance?

Sorry, I mean “make the cut”, “pass the audition”, etc.

I have never really heard of or seen Maria Petukhova, but she is brilliant!! She seems to be one of VBA's top students!

I haven’t really heard of her before either. What a gem!

Do all the same students perform all 5 performances? I saw Sofia from second grade wasn't in the one on the 12th but she seems to be doing her makeup so she might be in today's?

Unfortunately, I only have the program for one of the performances, so I can’t check the casts. Usually the students alternate between roles every performance. Some of them get nights off.

How will the cast go to Moscow? Will all of them go by train?

I think they travel by train. It’s the cheapest way to transport such a massive cast and crew.

I'm sorry if this comes off as rude, but what makes Sevenard such a star pupal?

For the past two years, Elya has been the only student in her year capable of carrying VBA’s entire repertoire. I believe she currently holds the record for the most “Nutcarckers” (Princess Masha) performed by a student (10). She’s VBA’s designated workhorse and has performed under serious physical and emotional pressure. 

But don’t take my word for it. There are plenty of videos of Elya online, and you can follow her academic career from way back to the present day. I think you’ll be able to see why she’s earned the title of the start pupil.

Is Maria Petukhova an understudy for Aleksandra Korshunova? In photos from rehearsals at the Hermitage, Korshunova is opposite Borodulina, but in performance videos, Petukhova is in Korshunova's place. Did Aleksandra get injured?

I’m not sure. The soloists alternate between performances, which is why you get different casts every night. I hope Aleksandra isn’t injured.

Is the tuition for Vaganova expensive? Are there merit-based scholarships?

Apparently it is, yes. A foreign trainee I interviewed last year cited the cost of tuition as one of the reasons she decided to leave Vaganova for a different ballet school. I believe some scholarships are available for local students, but I think those are mainly for the kids from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Do you know if Polina Konogray will be returning to Vaganova?

Your guess is as good as mine.

I read somewhere that you can only tour the Vaganova Academy and its museum if you are a professional in the ballet world. Is that correct? I am going to visit St. Petersburg soon and I would love to try and visit the school's museum or take a look in a studio.

That’s about right. The Academy doesn’t let civilians (even the students’ parents) in. They occasionally run seminars and lectures, which take place in the museum, which outsiders can attend, but otherwise it’s almost impossible to get in. Good luck though! 

#qa #vaganova #Polina Konogray #konogray #Maria Petukhova #petukhova #Aleksandra Korshunova #korshunova #eleonora sevenard #sevenard