by Laura Cappelle | Jun 19, 2017 | Career, Inside PT, Profiles, Reverence
Last weekend, the Mariinsky Ballet announced on its website that one of its most revered prima ballerinas, Uliana Lopatkina, has retired from the stage. A principal dancer since 1995, Lopatkina’s interpretation of Odette/Odile and “The Dying Swan”,...
by Hannah Chang Foster | Aug 17, 2016 | Company Life
Makhalina in Corsaire. Photo via the Mariinsky Theatre. The lead female Paquita variation has a little bit of everything: It showcases the ballerina’s delicate footwork, graceful port de bras and her jumping and turning abilities. In this clip filmed in 1991,...
by Caroline Seymour | Jun 29, 2016 | Company Life
Swan Lake , Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet and Don Quixote are some of my favorite ballets. I love watching the grace that is Odette and Aurora and the strength of Juliet and Kitri. But after watching this clip from a DVD released in 2009 of Mariinsky Ballet...
by Hannah Chang Foster | Apr 13, 2016 | Company Life
Can you imagine completing your spring showcase performance and being handed a soloist contract by your dream company? That is precisely what happened to Rudolf Nureyev and Alla Sizova in 1958, and this clip is from that very performance. The opening section of Le...
by Amy Brandt | Apr 7, 2016 | Company Life
In 2012, Keenan Kampa made history as the first American to join Russia’s Mariinsky Ballet. While technically a coryphée, she danced both soloist and principal roles. But in 2014, the Vaganova Academy graduate made a bold move—she quit the company...
by As Told To Amy Brandt | Mar 31, 2016 | Profiles, Technique
This story originally appeared in the April/May 2016 issue of Pointe. The Dying Swan, choreographed by Michel Fokine for Anna Pavlova, is a short but powerful solo often reserved for the most revered ballerinas. Mariinsky Ballet principal Uliana Lopatkina shares the...
by Hannah Chang Foster | Dec 9, 2015 | Company Life
When she won gold at the Prix de Lausanne in 1994, Diana Vishneva was merely 17 years old. However, it’s clear that she was on the dawn of superstardom. Twenty years have brought Vishneva’s dancing an artistic depth and maturity that contrasts the almost...
by Hannah Chang Foster | Oct 21, 2015 | Company Life
In English, Le Papillon translates to “the butterfly.” Airy, elegant and frolicsome, Russian ballerina Irina Kolpakova effectively evokes the winged creature in this 1983 clip. Marie Taglioni originally choreographed Le Papillon in 1860 for her...