#shakirova

Do you know if Renata and Kimin are still together?

No, and I don’t know whether they were ever together or if those were just rumours. She’s been with Aleksei Timofeev, Mariinsky soloist, for a few years now.

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Who is Evgeny Chernyavsky, a brother of Maria?

I’m not sure who Evgeny Chernyavsky is eiather... There’s a Russian youtuber by that name, but I don’ think he’s related to Maria Chernyavskaya, the Vaganova Academy student.

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What do you think of the ballet education system in the United States?

My brain now, whenever anyone asks me about anything to do with education:

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Seriously though, I haven’t had any ballet training, let alone in the US, so I can’t really answer this question. I can tell you what the great Irina Kolpakova thinks of the ballet education system in the US though. According to Kolpakova (who’s been with ABT for many years now and works with American dancers all the time), the issue with ballet training in the US is that, unlike in Russia, there isn’t a unified training system. This means that students in different parts of the country are taught differently, and if you were to get them all together and try and form a corps de ballet, you wouldn’t be able to because they would all be performing each movement differently. So you’d have to retrain them. I think that it’s an interesting and fair observation. I wonder if it would be possible to introduce a unified training system in the US. 

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Hi, love your blog! Perhaps you have seen this already but I think the insta live between Igor Kolb and Prof Kovaleva is on youtube. Can't seem to embed a link but the title of the vid is Игорь Колб + Людмила Ковалева (часть 1 прямого эфира)

Thank you! I’ve got a copy of that interview too. It is on my list of things to translate!

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Melmoth can you please translate the interview with Denis Rodkin on pianist Varvara Kutuzova Instagram page ? It’s in direct in her ig stories of yesterday. It would be interesting

Yes, will do. I downloaded the interview after it went live.

The Sobaka Profiles: Renata Shakirova

Shakirova graduated form Vaganova Ballet Academy (class of Tatiana Udalenkova) four years ago, but she had become the subject of conversation among balletomanes long before that. While she was still a student, Shakirova performed in George Balanchine’s “Rubies” at the Mariinsky Theatre. Her speed, her jump and her wide-eyed genuineness undoubtedly make Shakirova an “allegro” dancer. 

Her repertoire includes: Kitri in “Don Quixote”, Gulnara in “Le Corsaire”, the most brisk of all the Shades in “La Bayadere”, and the daring Katerina in “The Stone Flower”.

Shakirova ventures into other roles as well - such as the fiery and cunning Carducha in “Paquita” - but, for now, her best roles remain within the realms of the allegro. On the other hand, her Aurora clearly demonstrates that Shakirova will not be pigeon-holed. If anything, Shakirova’s Sleeping Beauty flies towards her happy ending a little quicker than the rest.

+ Other Sobaka profiles

Please note: my translations of the Sobaka profiles are a bit more “loose” than usual. The profiles are meant to be read as a single piece, so looking at them separately means that hey lose some “flesh”. The translation you see above a slightly more fleshed-out version of the original.

Renata Shakirova has debuted as Aurora in the Mariinsky’s “Sleeping Beauty” on the 11th of May. According to Renata’s instagram, Professor Tatiana Udalenkova told Renata after the premier that she had “passed the ballerina exam”. 

Renata Shakirova (class of 2015) Act II Variation

Maria Ilyushkina (class of 2016) Act I variation.

Bonus: Anastasia Lukina (class of 2015) as Clemence in “Raymonda”.

I could be wrong, but I vaguely remember someone asking if you had any videos of Egor Gerashchenko while he was at BBA? If so, I found a YouTube channel that looks like it's run by his dad/family that has videos of him in school before VBA and recently a video of his debut in Le Corsaire. The name of the user is "олег геращенко".

You’re not wrong :) Thanks for that. I follow Egor’s dad on social media but I didn’t realise he has a YouTube channel as well.

Do you know if Khoreva is as tall as Kovaleva? The height talk has made me nervous that Khoreva might be considered too tall for the Mariinsky and that’s where I really want her to go (even though I want her to be where she is happiest). 

She’s tall, but she’s not that tall. I hope Masha goes to Mariinsky as well.

Recently I chanced upon a few clips of Renata Shakirova on YouTube dating back to the summer of 2013, all of which was before her graduation year of 2015. They appear to be soloist roles at Mariinsky’s performances (including Princess Florine), I didn’t know that was possible for students! Renata must be really talented if the AD started taking her on to dance soloist roles when she was just a 6th year.

Renata was a trainee at the Mariinsky during her final year at Vaganova. This isn’t an uncommon practice, thought the company tends to only offer traineeships to students they consider to have star potential (like Vishneva or Kim).

The short clip of Ivan Poddubnyak in rehearsal is very impressive. His coupé jetés en tournant appear effortless, which as we all know is no small feat. Is he top of his class in the graduating year, or are there other stars of the class? Thanks!

I’m not very familiar with that class yet. By the way, that class is graduating in 2019. We’ve now seen what Tsiskaridze is capable of doing to a class in one year. It will be interesting to see what he will do in two. Poddubnyak has been on my radar for a few years now. I think VBA and Tsiskaridze are expecting a lot from him.

Do you think Savelieva is a little bit penalized because of her inclination to be very nervous during a performance? I was wondering this because J. Spiridonova and Khiteeva,both from the same year,got/are getting prominent roles such as the solos in Paquita or the lead in Classical Symphony while Sveta didn't,although she's an amazing dancer. She dances important roles as well,but I think she could take even Julia and Aleksandra "kind of roles". Can her problem with nerves be a possible reason?

I’d hesitate to make an assessment without any insider information. I doubt she’s “penalised”, though. She may not be getting principal roles, but she’s involved in all major VBA productions in soloist and coryphee capacity. It also looks like she may be an understudy for Princess Masha this year. I’m hoping we will see more of her in her senior year ( 2018 / 2019 ).

You just posted a video of Alexandra Khiteeva rehearsing the role of big Masha which is usually danced by 8th years. Isn't she a 7th year?

I think Khiteeva is in her second to last year. While the role of Princess Masha is usually performed by senior students, it’s not unheard of of younger dancers taking it on. Eleonora Sevenard started dancing the part in her second to last year as well.

What did you think about Shakirova's performance of the nutcracker?

I liked her in the VBA productions and I think she’s only gotten better since she joined the Mariinsky. The role of Masha is inherently joyous and childlike, and Renata possess the necessary innocence and charm. 

@zuoning331 Hi, I like your blog so much! It's very informative. I also appreciate your kindhearted comments on dancers and students. I have a question about the Vaganova production of Nutcracker. Seems like they don't have the role for the sugarplum fairy. Is this also the case for the Mariinsky production, or just the Vaganova?

Thank you! Vaganova students perform the Vainonen production of “The Nutcracker”. Incidentally, they’ve been “sharing” this production with the Mariinsky company since 1958. There isn’t a role of the Sugarplum Fairy as such, but rather a variation performed by Princess Masha.

Here’s Eleonora Sevenard performing the Sugarplum Fairy variation in the 2015 production:

And here’s Alina Somova in the 2012 production:

And here’s my personal Sugarplum Fairy, Ekaterina Maximova:

New photo of the 2016 Vaganova Ballet Academy graduate, Alena Kovaleva, by Alisa Aslanova.

Eleonora Sevenard

The Bolshoi have updated their website recently, so we now know who the new recruits will be coached by. Eleonora will rehears under Svetlana Adyrkhaeva (other students include: Anna Antonicheva, Anastasia Yatsenko, Anna Leonova, Ekaterina Krysanova, Yulia Grebenshchikova, Olga Stebletsova, Anastasia Stashkevich, Irina Yatsenko).

As I mentioned earlier, Eleonora will be one of the ten dancers performing Grand Pas in “La Bayadere” on the 7th and the 10th of October. She will also be appearing in “The Etudes” on the 30th of September. Here she is rehearsing her variation (photo by Oscar Frame). 

Pavel Mikheev

The 2017 graduate, Pavel Mikheev, has debuted in the Mariinsky’s “The Nutcracker” on the 21st of September. He danced the pas de trois with Svetlana Lunkina and May Nagahisa. You can watch the video here.

Stanislava Postnova

BBA graduate, Stanislava Postnova (ruby.tear), will be coached by Lyudmila Semenyaka. Semenyaka was Galina Ulanova’s and Irina Kolpakova’s student and often rehearsed under Marina Semyonova. She coaches several dancers at the Bolshoi, most notably - Svetlana Zakharova. I know she’s not a VBA grad, but this is interesting information.

Renata Shakirova

The 2015 graduate, Renata Shakirova will be debuting as Shyrin in “The Legend of Love” at the Mariinsky on the 28th of October.

Nika Tskhvitariia