#spiridonova

You said that they added a new grade level to the top which means that Khoreva and her classmates now have two years to go until graduation (I think I read that correctly) so does that mean there won't be a graduating class this year?

No, as I mention in that post: “ I’m pretty sure they will still be graduating in 2018, but their diplomas may be different to those of the previous graduates.”

Did Zoya leave VBA? There is a picture of her at the Korean National University of Arts, recently posted so she couldn't have been at the opening ceremony of VBA this year.

It appears she is indeed based in Seol now. I’m not sure why though. As of the end of last year, she was at VBA and doing well.

I asked this question before but I don't know it was sent. I've always found Julia Spiridonova's classmates, Darya Ustyuzhanina and Ksenia Andreenko, as more promising, though Julia is a very good dancer as well. While Julia, Darya, and Ksenia all played Little Masha when they were younger, why is that Julia is more featured in the graduation performance? Is it because of her body type?

I’m not sure how the casting is determined at Vaganova, but I trust the teachers’ decision. As it happens, I’ve recently read a review of the graduation performance by Igor Stupnikov, a prominent ballet historian and critic, that speaks favourably of Yulia:

“The ballet (”Classical Symphony”) abounds in difficult and exquisite movement combinations, and among the many soloists Yulia Spiridonova and Ruslan Stenyushkin come to mind as having given great pleasure to the audience with their clean, elegant execution.”

While I think that Yulia was a bit more nervous than some of her fellow soloists, I agree that overall her performance was lovely.

What is your opinion on Julia Spiridonova? I just saw her performance in Paquita variation and I think I was quite impressed with her musicality!

I’ve received several questions about Yulia since the graduation performance. It seems that people aren’t liking her much... Which is a shame because I think she’s doing very well. You can see my previous response here.

Is it known whether Polina Konogray has returned to Vaganova this September or if she will not be studying at the Academy?

I think at this point it’s safe to assume that she’s gone for good. Sadly.

I feel incredibly sad that Polina Konogray will probably never dance in VBA again! She is so talented. I absolutely cannot imagine what she must have felt when she realised she would never be dancing there again. She appears so positive, strong and accepting of it all. Very admirable! Do you have any inkling what her future plans might be?

Yes, it’s very sad, but Polina is very, very young. Her whole life is ahead of her, and from what I hear, ballet isn’t the only thing she’s great at. Polina appears to be very strong academically. In fact, she graduated middle school a year early and took part in a national academic competition at Moscow State University (Russia’s ivy league) earlier this year. Like you said, she is a positive and confident person and she has a loving family to support her. I have a feeling she’s going to be alright.

A compilation of responses to the Vaganova questions, which came through ask recently. Thank you for asking.

Hello! I saw the show Blue Bird where Anna Sharova and Angelina Karamysheva dance together. I find both of them are very promising dancers! After their performance they proceed to the couch where the lady who hosts the show seems to ask them something and their responses seem to make the judges laugh/amused throughout that conversation. I was wondering if you could kindly translate what they said in the conversation on the couch. Thank you so much in advance!

The hosts asks if it’s true that Tsiskaridze keeps tabs on what sorts of books the students are reading. The girls respond that it’s true, though Nikolai hasn’t actually checked up on either one of them yet. Tsiskaridze interjects to say that he only checks up on the students who are failing.

The hosts then asks what was it like to dance at the Mariinsky, and the girls respond that it’s a great responsibility and that they tried very hard to do their teachers and the academy justice. Both girls also say that they are never fully happy with their performances, though they always do their best.

They go on to talk about how well Anna and Angelina dance together, and the girls talk about their friendship and partnership on stage. Tsiskaridze adds that during the big performances, the girls compete with one another for “the centre”, the central spot in the foreground. And even though Nikolai tells them off for doing so, he thinks that it’s a mark of a future soloist.

Anna dreams of dancing the part of Giselle, while Angelina has her sights set on Kitri.

What did Tsiskaridze say to Kristina Spiridonova during last year's middle school graduation? The video can be found in Anna Shishanova's youtube channel, malipu.

He says she has to eat carrots. Lots and lots of carrots. He usually says this to the shorter students in the hopes that eating carrots will make them grow.

Is it just me or does Darya Ustyuzhanina (6th year student, incoming 7th) look like a younger Evgenia Obraztsova?

Not really.

If you were to cast this year's Nutcracker, which students will you pick for each lead role?

I hope Lana Khalimova returns to the academy and gets to dance Princess Masha. I would also like to see Maria Khoreva and Daria Ionova take on the role. I’d love to see more of Maria Bulanova and Maria Petukhova in the future (maybe the two leading snowflakes) and I’d like Sokolovsky and Zagidullin to dance the part of the Nutcracker Prince. 

How strict do you think Tsiskaridze is compared to older ballet teachers, like his, Petyr Pestov? Do you think Vaganova teachers are "softer" to students nowadays?

If the stories are true, Tsiskaridze is a softy compared to Pestov. Russian ballet teachers have always been very strict and downright harsh, I don’t think this will ever change. Russians have a borderline militaristic approach to ballet education, which is partly why Russian dancers are so damn good.

Why would people (such as Natasha Tarasova) leave VBA

There can be many reasons for a student to leave VBA: they chose to, they fail their exams, suffer an injury, develop health issues, the teacher may think that they aren’t handling the program and are falling too far behind the rest of the class etc. 

Do you know the cast for the Japan Tour fairy doll ?

Maria Khoreva - the Fairy Doll Pavel Mikheev and Nikolai Vorobiev - the two Pierrots Yulia Spiridonova - Japanese Doll Ksenia Andreenko - Bunny Doll Maria Bulanova - Spanish Doll Anastasia Nuykina - French Doll Alexandra Khiteeva - Chinese Doll

Do you know how tall Jacopo Tissi is? I might be wrong but he doesn't seem to be much taller than Alena Kovaleva

Alena is around 180cm, so he must a bit taller than that.

Thank you for your time and effort in collecting and sharing ballet information, I love reading your blog! In Vaganova Academy's Graduation Performance this year, for Classical Symphony (posted by Leo Petit), there are 3 lead females. Would you know who is the lead female in the middle? I believe the other 2 are Maria Khoreva and Maria Bulanova. Thank you in advance!

That’s Yulia Spiridonova. Partnered by Ruslan Stenyushkin.

I was one of the people who asked about Kaptsova/Allash. If you click on their names in the Russian version of the site, on their individual page it says, "Балерина, работающая по контракту" which google translate (the authority of perfect translations haha) says "ballerina, working under contract". But it doesn't have it on the English version.

That’s curious. I don’t know all the particulars of Bolshoi’s contracts structure, but I’m pretty sure a dancer goes “under contract” when they are being phased out.

Hi ;) This is my first "ask" for you and sending from London. I grow up with the royal ballet and never get to know about vaganova. I've seen Eleonora's performance on YouTube, she is just beautiful and amazing. I found that she is exactly russian styles dancer, what I expected for, and want to know about how the vaganova ballet school has set their class? Isn't it completed by each year? I was suprised such in one year has many classes and officially called as Teachers name. I want to ask more x

You can read about the Vaganova class structure here. I tried to explain it as best I could.

The classes aren’t actually named after the teachers. In Russia, it is customary to acknowledge which teacher trained the class and / or a particular student. Class of Tsiskaridze, for example, simply refers to the fact that this particular group of students was trained by Nikolai Tsiskaridze.