Peek Inside The Mariinsky

November 28, 2001

It’s only every so often that we get to peek behind the curtains of the world’s most acclaimed ballet companies. So when this video of the Mariinsky Theatre and Vaganova Ballet Academy came across our desks, we couldn’t wait to watch it. The 25-minute documentary, titled Ballet, Sweat and Tears, features interviews and footage of young students at the academy as well as first soloist Oxana Skorik and prima Diana Vishneva at the Mariinsky, plus insight from Vishneva’s coach. It goes in the studios, through the theater and to their apartments. Although we could do without the wacky British voice-overs that are used to translate the dancers’ Russian, the film offers an fascinating look inside the daily grind of Russia’s ballerinas—both those who are just budding as well as those who have risen to the top.