She’s no longer at the Mariinsky. She’s now in Samara.

Nika Tsikhvataria and Vitaly Amelishko left Mariinsky and are now in, of all places, Samara.

Why tho?

I honestly find this very surprising, but, on the other hand, good on them for following their hearts!

By the way, in case anyone is interested, they moved to Samara because Yuri Burlaka is apparantly based there and both Nika and Vitaly wanted to work with him. Last summer they were given an opportunity to join the company as soloists and they agreed.

Hi! Do you know what is the relation between the Kirov academy in Washington, DC and the actual Mariinsky from St Petersburg? If there is any relation at all

There isn’t really a relationship between the two institutions. Russians are very insistent on keeping all talent “in house”, so all the company-academy connections exist only within the county.

Do you see any chances for Osmolkina to still get promoted to prima?

I think only a Mariinsky insider can answer that. And I’m not a Mariinsky insider. I think that Mariinsky will promote a new prima soon, they are kind of overdue with top rank promotions, but I have no idea who it will be.

Could Ionova, Bulanova or Nuykina be promoted at the end of this season?

Somehow I doubt it. There are only so many places in the ranks outside of corps. But, like I said above, only a true Mariinsky insider can answer that questions with any degree of certainty. 

Do you know why Lopatkina, Vishneva... are still listed as principals on the Mariinsky website? Also, why don't they just promote a new bunch of dancers like Novikova to principal?

You’re not the only one asking this question. I wonder about it myself. While Vishneva still dances at the Mariinsky (once in a blue moon), Lopatkina and Makhalina have well and truly retired. There may be a legal reason for keeping their names up there; I don’t know how the contracts work or when they expire (Daria Pavlenko stayed up there for years after retiring). On the other hand, I can see why the Mariinsky may not be willing to remove the names from their website. Over the past two decades, "Lopatkina” and “Makhalina” have become synonymous with the Mariinsky and Russian ballet as a whole. They are a brand in their own right. It must be hard to let something like that go.

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

Does it ever happen that students who graduate from VBA then willingly choose not to pursue a career in ballet?

I’m sure there are such cases but I’m personally not aware of one. I know that Diana Vishneva seriously considered giving up ballet around the time of her graduation, though she was motivated by health issues she was suffering at the time.

I was wondering, have Egor Geraschenko and Oscar Frame begun dancing at the Bolshoi? I ask because so far I've only spotted videos of Eleonora Sevenard's performances.

They’re both there and Egor has already danced in “Etudes”. You can see him in the clip below, being coached by Vaziev (he was the only guy Vaziev didn’t yell at during that rehearsal 😂 )

A post shared by Nikolai Tsiskaridze (@tsiskaridze) on Oct 6, 2017 at 2:46am PDT

What is your opinion on Nika Tshkivataria? Do you think she will progress to a soloist soon?

I've written about Nika here. She is still in the corps. I’m surprised she hasn’t been promoted to a coryphee yet, given how many soloist parts she’s been dancing recently. I’m sure she’ll be promoted eventually. Fateyev wouldn’t be giving her so many opportunities if he wasn’t planning on promoting her. She did join the company last year though, as opposed to straight after graduation. The really good corps dancers usually have to wait a year or two before they are promoted. Lopatkina spent three years in the corps (I think). 

I didn't realize the Bolshoi World Ballet Day stream wasn't going to be posted right after. So bummed. Maybe this year we'll get English subtitles.

There were some English subs during the stream. Not a great deal but enough to get the gist. I hope the video becomes available soon.

Does the fact that Svetlana Zakharova rehearsed for the ‘Nureyev’ premiere suggest that, genuinely, the production was cancelled for not being ready? I find it hard to believe that as a United Russia Party member she would do something intentionally provocative.

I seriously doubt that “Nureyev” cancellation had anything to do with the behaviour of any member of the cast.

Fourth Part of the Vaganova documentaries: The Graduates (English dubbed).

You were close. It’s Nika Tskhvitariia. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen many videos of her since she’s graduated, so it’s difficult for me to form an opinion. If I’m completely honest, during her VBA days I found her technique less polished than that of her classmates (Shakirova and Lukina), which is a great shame because Nika brought more passion and expression to her roles than anyone I’ve seen at VBA, well, ever. She’s uncharacteristically emotional for a St Petersburg ballerina. 

Nika is an incredibly beautiful girl, and she’s got this natural, effortless charm that makes you fall in love with her. Even Tsiskaridze was under her spell. You can see it in the photos of them together and the footage of them in rehearsals. He’s a smitten (not in a creepy way!) with her. Speaking of Tsiskaridze, he foresaw a big future for Nika, and I tend to trust his judgement.