#bondareva

A compilation of responses to the miscellaneous questions which came through Ask recently. Thank you for asking.

Hi, do you know what is considered the ideal height for female students to achieve whilst at the Vaganova? What about Mariinsky? It seems they really prefer a taller (170cm or more) aesthetic, especially at the Mariinsky.

Taller girls may actually find it difficult to get into the Mariinsky. In a recent interview, Tsiskaridze confirmed that the company didn’t offer Alena Kovaleva a contract because she was too tall (he didn’t name names, but it was pretty obvious that he was talking about Alena). 

I don’t know whether Vaganova has some sort of norm when it comes to height, but the height/weight ratio table they have on their website goes up to 174cm. I think most graduates are somewhere between 160-170cm.

I just noticed Oksana Bondareva is no longer on the Mariinsky roster, you know what happened to her?

She’s no longer a member of the company. I don’t know why.

Is Marko Jussila an exchange student at Vaganova or has he been there since he was a boy? What do you know about him?

I don’t know anything about him, to be honest. I’m pretty sure he’s a foreign trainee.

Did Stanislava Postnova graduate and officially sign on to the Bolshoi?

Yes. I wrote about it in May.

Do you think Eleonora will follow a similar path as Alena, now that she's at the Bolshoi?

Only time will tell. Vaziev clearly had a plan for Alena when he hired her. If he has anything similar in store for Elya, we will know pretty quickly once her first season with the company kicks off.

What theatre did Oscar Frame join?

The Bolshoi. Allegedly.

Speaking of Ksenia Sevenard, she rarely gets good roles(like soloist in recent graduation performance) though she does very well in her classes. Of course, we can't assume everything from short video and performance, but what makes her prevent from shining on stage? Height? Or other promising students?

Ksenia gets plenty of opportunities, though not as many solos as her classmates (Savelieva) or the girls from the upper year level (Khoreva, Ionova). I wouldn’t read too much into it though. Not until the next academic year starts (in September).

Do you know what, if anything, happened with retakes for Vaganova pupils who didn't pass the end of year exams?

I don’t know yet. VBA dropped a lot of students this year. Presumably some of them will audition for other ballet schools, but I haven’t heard anything. I don’t know if I ever will. This isn’t the kind of information I usually go looking for.

I saw Eleonora Sevenard's post on instagram where she says she just performed for the first time as part of the Bolshoi. Would you happen to have any idea what ballet she performed in?

Don Q. The Dryads.

Do you think that the 2019 VBA graduation class will be as strong as 2015 , as it appears (as there are 3 girls classes) that a lot of girls are appearing in solo roles now , even more so than the class of 2018 

Class of 2018 has some promising young talents, but I don’t think we’ll see as strong a class as the 2015 one was any time soon. That was really once in a blue moon thing. 

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, class of 2015 included Renata Shakirova, Anastasia Lukina, Nika Tskhvitariia and Elena Solomianko.