Artist of the Bolshoi Theater ballet troupe Alena Kovaleva. Of course, sometimes there is not enough time to rest

The Mariinsky has finally announced the lineups for the September ballets. It would seem that the beginning of the season is not a reason to show off the performances, relying on the main forces of the troupe. But no, E. Osmolkina, who suddenly spread her swan wings at the end of her career, was announced among the Odettes/Odiles, and A. Somova, who barely completed the last season, intends to dance not only Nikiya, but also Medora. In two of three performances in a row. Napoleonic plans, however. Why am I saying this? Moreover, in my opinion, the personnel crisis in the troupe is becoming more and more obvious.

U. Lopatkina, who has held the Mariinsky LO brand for the last two decades, is ending her career. Among those actively dancing this performance are V. Tereshkina, E. Kondaurova, O. Skorik. I have a different attitude towards each of these ballerinas, but with all their advantages and disadvantages, there is no doubt that they all have the swan stature, data and technique necessary to perform this part. And who is behind them? The question is by no means rhetorical, since both Tereshkina and Kondaurova are ballerinas of the older generation.

For the second year in a row, many not just promising, but truly gifted graduates of the ARB choose not the Mariinsky Theater. It seems that the departure of Yu. Stepanova two years ago after a five-year stay in the status of luminary was the trigger that started the process. Having pushed his niece K. Shapran into the position of 1st soloist, prof. the unsuitability of which today no longer raises any doubts, Mrs. A. Asylmuratova put a fair amount of pressure on the Mariinsky Ballet and gave a very definite signal to future graduates who are not burdened by family ties. And then there was a change of power in the ARB: N. Tsiskaridze improved his training, established educational process, and real prospects opened up for graduates.

One of the brightest graduates recent years- Alena Kovaleva.

The girl, as they say, has the “complete package”: an ideal stage appearance, data, technique, and academic training. The fact that Kovaleva is one of those who can reach the world level became clear after her performances in Lausanne. It would seem that a place and care at the Mariinsky Theater should have been guaranteed to her: such a swan can be raised. As it turns out, that's not the case. “Of course, the Mariinsky is dear to my heart<…>but I would like to find a theater that would be interested in me,” she says in an interview. It turns out that the theater did not convince her of its interest, unlike BT.

A similar story with Vera Segova, a ballerina, of course, not as gifted as Kovaleva, but certainly outstanding. Long, light legs, stately height, step/jump - everything is with her.

Tatyana Tiliguzova, a graduate of previous years, who quietly stood in the ranks of luminaries for seven years, was not lucky either. I don’t want to say that she would have made an outstanding O/O, but I would have watched her development in this game with much greater interest than what Ekaterina Chebykina, Renata Shakirova, who have been actively promoting recently, are doing, and to a slightly lesser extent Nadezhda Batoeva. Apparently, it is from them that the management hopes to fashion authentic Mariinsky swans.

One of the latest LO debutantes is Ekaterina Chebykina. Probably the first Mariinsky swan to suffer from flat feet! And it would be okay if she had expressive hands, a flexible body, exceptional plasticity that would distract attention from her grenadier ankles and instep-free feet. So there is nothing of this, and nothing is foreseen.

No matter how much they try to pull Renata Shakirova, LO is not only too tough for her (fouetté will do well, there is no doubt, although, thank God, it is not fouetté alone that is valuable for this performance), but it is simply not for her stature and data. Shakirova - punchy Kitri, jumping Laurencia, I like her in the inserted pas de deux in "Giselle" - this is her level. But to take a swing at a swan, fortunately, a jump and a punchy character are not enough. You need lines, you need arms and a neck, and something, and Shakirova is not endowed with this at all, not to mention the academic attitude, Alaskan and arabesque. The same can be said about Nadezhda Batoeva, although in terms of data and technique this ballerina is of an even more ingenious kind.

There is, of course, a ray of light - Anastasia Lukina.

The ballerina is, of course, promising, but her repertoire is very limited, alas, due to the specificity of her figure. So, probably for the first time in its history, the theater, albeit not in the very near future, risks being left without its signature performance, which ensures box office receipts on tour and undying interest in the brand called “Mariinsky Ballet”. We can only hope that new talents are already ripening in the ARB, and that the management will come down from Olympus and find something to interest the new generation.

Of course, the examples of the super careers of S. Zakharova and E. Obraztsova are tempting, but we should not forget that both of them danced in MT for a considerable number of years, enough to consolidate the unique Vaganova style, especially since there are others, much less optimistic examples are the gifted E. Vostrotina, who never realized her potential as a classical ballerina, and O. Smirnova, who lost what little she had with her at graduation.

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Rehearsals all day long, joint pain, diets and going on stage in the evening. The life of ballerinas is sweat and blood. But despite this, they are all ready to devote themselves to what they love. RIA Novosti spent the whole day with the ballerina Bolshoi Theater Alena Kovaleva.
I usually get up at 9 so that I can be at the theater by 11 am. For breakfast I eat oatmeal. The portion is probably the size of a fist. You need to eat well, because you need strength to withstand the entire load. For example, I really love sweets. And I don’t have a diet as such. But if I feel like I need to lose weight, I cut back on something, it allows me to get in shape. I regulate this myself. Of course, I weigh myself, but not every day.
I eat three times during the day, but sometimes I don’t have time due to rehearsals, and then I have to grab something on the go. Sometimes you run like this all day, and you’re ready to eat a sandwich or a pie. But with such a load, a lot of things burn out on their own. We can sometimes afford more than many people think.
At the theater, my day begins with class. It's like a lesson: we warm up, practice movements, get ready for the working day. Then rehearsals begin - solo, general, corps de ballet, stage rehearsals (this is when the performance is being prepared). Today, for example, I have a class and four rehearsals. And this is not the limit, there can be more.
The duration of each rehearsal is different: it can be 30 minutes or two hours. Today I have a solo rehearsal for two hours, then a stage rehearsal for another hour and a half. And then another one for 40 minutes.
We rehearse with the teachers. But in each hall there are cameras installed, through which the head of the ballet troupe watches the rehearsals (Makhar Vaziev - Ed.). He can call on a special internal telephone and give some recommendations to the teacher, or he can come to the hall.
There is a performance at the theater this evening, but I am not dancing. I try to relax at home in the evening. I go to bed as best I can. If after rehearsals, then at 10 o’clock, if there is a performance, then at 11 pm.

Of course, sometimes there is not enough time to rest

We have one day off a week - Monday, when the theater is traditionally closed. If there are interesting premieres in other theaters or tours, then, of course, it’s interesting to go see it. But in general I try to rest on this day. I love to walk. Moscow is a new city for me, this is my first year living here and I don’t regret moving. Here is the theatre, which I love, work, a lot of opportunities.

Prima ballerinas of the Bolshoi and Mikhailovsky theaters, the Vienna and Kyiv Operas, using the example of graduates of the Vaganova School, illustrates how difficult the relationship between the constitution, diet and workload is.

A ballet dancer, by and large, does not need to specifically monitor his weight, and the point here is not only that huge loads burn off all the excess fat, it’s just that choreographic schools initially take those who most likely will not gain weight when they grow up. We have long learned to understand this based on a host of different signs. Today, parents often send their children to gymnastics sections at the age of three or four to prepare them for admission to the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, and more often than not others are accepted into it - those who have natural abilities. Most of all, I feel sorry for the talented girls who did everything great, but at the age of 15–16 they suddenly fall far behind their peers in growth or hopelessly gain weight - and lose their position as the first students. After such a colossal selection based on physiological characteristics, almost exclusively those who are genetically predisposed to thinness get into the theater. There are exceptions, but when a ballerina is in no way able to cope with excess weight, childbirth, oddly enough, can help - after it, a complete restructuring of the body often occurs.

Hard labor, of course, also helps to maintain a figure. So, already children at the Vaganova Academy study ballet for at least five hours a day; for a corps de ballet dancer in the theater, the morning begins with a classics lesson from nine to eleven, continues with a rehearsal from noon to three, then at six in the evening he begins to prepare for the performance, which lasts until ten - eleven o'clock in the evening. And so every day with one day off a week. A soloist or luminary has a more flexible schedule: they come to their lesson at eleven in the morning, then go to rehearsal with a teacher, and they do not have a performance every evening. But in today's Mariinsky Theater with its four stages, including the Primorsky Opera and Ballet Theater, few people have to stand idle without work.

Of course, returning home after such an exhausting day, artists eat like normal people - abundantly and satisfyingly. Many ballet dancers love sweets. As for me, in my youth I was not skinny at all, I could afford buns and pastries, which now I simply don’t want to eat. I don’t limit myself to food at all: oatmeal with a banana, apple or kiwi for breakfast, for lunch and dinner - boiled potatoes, tomatoes with olive oil, vegetable soup with turkey. For several years now I have been “sick” of cucumbers - I use them in any form and in any quantity. But I rather intuitively eat right: I stick to separate meals to such an extent that I never even mix cucumbers with tomatoes, I don’t use any sauces or mayonnaise - I want to feel the real taste of the products. If I fry eggs, then without any bacon or cheese, if I drink coffee, then without milk, if tea, then without sugar or sweets. And I cook a lot of dishes in a double boiler.

Ballet is very popular among adults today. For example, students of forty, fifty years old and even older came to my lessons in Japan - of course, I gave them reasonable loads so that they wouldn’t break anything. These women worked with such dedication, looked at me with such loving eyes that I simply could not tell them: “You better go run!” I understand that they really like the feeling of being involved in art, in some kind of ballet sacred rite, but, in my opinion, regular fitness is much more helpful in losing weight or keeping fit.

Since I left the Kirovsky stage, I now Mariinsky Theater in 1981, I have never taken a ballet class - it’s enough for me to simply show the movements to the students. Once for a couple of years I doused myself with cold water and swam in the pool for a while, but now all these hobbies have passed. Since I got my Jack Russell dog, I walk her not for fifteen minutes, but for an hour in the morning, afternoon and evening. I love the forest, but I only fully relax at the sea or lake - I can swim or run on the sand for a long time.

N.B. Lyudmila Valentinovna, who without a hint of coquetry said in an interview that she eats everything, guessed all the hottest trends in wellness thought. Cucumbers, one might say, are his holy grail -

M ena walked to the ballet, for pleasant communication ヅ
It turned out that that evening they were giving a three-piece George Balanchine - not the best material for inspecting the state of affairs in the Bolshoi Theater ballet troupe.

Recently from the reservation "Ballet Friends" terrible rumors are heard for a variety of reasons and the main bone of contention turned out to be the artist Yangurazova, who, without their recommendation, broke into the Ballerinas. At this point everyone got into nuts, right down to "Welcome maharhasanich" . Can you imagine such disgrace when on the same forum, in order to get the “next title” you have to, like, from the cord go through all the stages, licking and buttering up / swearing and spitting, in order for the board of moderators to approve the candidacy.
And here?! - The impudence is simply unheard of!
What can save the theater in the opinion of true ballet connoisseurs is the clever move that the better half of the general director made by agreeing to come to the slaughter in Bakhra and communicate, most likely, at the same eternal theme — as long as the Bolshoi Theater continues to work for speculators of all kinds, because the straps in the second thousand, put on a balletomane who showed up at 5 am, are unlikely to give him the right to visit the coveted “Nutcracker” on a budget with the not yet prima dancers Tikhomirova or Kretova.

Have a nice evening to them. I didn’t inspect Balanchine in green and I can’t tell you what happened there. Moreover, between us, ballet lovers, speaking, Emeralds are a mortal bore and no even super romantic étoile will ever enliven this action. It singing backup.

H As for the Rubies, which not a single bow-legged ballerina in the world has passed by, I had to take a look at them.
And this is what we have to admit— There are shipwrecks floating in this naval borscht

Masks For some reason, the pleasure and deep and complete satisfaction on the faces of the performers did not inspire confidence...
For some reason, it was in this work that all the heaviness and unpleasantness of the work of ballet dancers was revealed. The need to lift your legs high, keep the tempo, take idiotic poses with an equally idiotic grin - who finds this easy?!ヅ
It’s also not easy to watch, you also need to have character and courage, which I haven't had for a long time. Well, yes, it’s interesting, of course, when a dancer has a leg size like Parienko’s... here you can think about the topic, what would happen to Aleksan Sergeich , if he saw such beauty..? No other way than mycardial infarctionヅ
✑ Everything is clear, any troupe, and especially the BT troupe, needs a change of generations.
It is clear that each next generation is worse than the previous one, but not to the same extent...

Actually, it’s time to finish talking about Rubies, especially if you take on delivering about performance style, about which, it seems, neither a dream / nor a spirit, nor performers / nor teachers, then the letters will end on Diamonds. Namely, it was in them that Vaganova School graduate Alena Kovaleva made her debut, ( was supposed to be paired with Kozlov, but he merged; Volchkov came on instead)

Alena Kovaleva - Alexander Volchkov

The fact that the corps de ballet dressed up in gloves, thereby (probably) emphasizing the imperial style of the most expensive stone in the ballet three-ruble crown, did not add any special brilliance or charm to the dancers. And all further actions of the corps de ballet and 4 soloists showed a rather indifferent attitude towards everything that Mr. B composed. The ballet has been going on for a long time, there are no particular people following it, apparently, and quite rightly the main interest was associated with the main soloist.
. If we compare this debut with the debut another one from St. Petersburg
, at one time simply requested by the former artistic director for the capital’s stage - well, you can’t put them next to each other. In Kovaleva, of course, you can still feel graduate , but all the data there is many times more interesting than it was when with someone . Good shape, beautiful attractive face; from the first performance in such a ballet one can judge the musicality that undoubtedly exists, the dance cantilena, the purity of lines and the beauty of poses - everything that I don’t remember the last time debuted
in a renowned troupe.
It is also likely that the performance was well chosen for the ballerina's first performance - the ballet is one-act, not very complex, and the data fits well with Balanchine's composition. T h maharhasanich

He performed quite well administratively. Rehearsals all day long, joint pain, diets and going on stage in the evening. The life of ballerinas is sweat and blood. But despite this, they are all ready to devote themselves to what they love. RIA Novosti spent the whole day with Bolshoi Theater ballerina Alena Kovaleva.

I usually get up at 9 so that I can be at the theater by 11 am. For breakfast I eat oatmeal. The portion is probably the size of a fist. You need to eat well, because you need strength to withstand the entire load. For example, I really love sweets. And I don’t have a diet as such. But if I feel like I need to lose weight, I cut back on something, it allows me to get in shape. I regulate this myself. Of course, I weigh myself, but not every day.

I eat three times during the day, but sometimes I don’t have time due to rehearsals, and then I have to grab something on the go. Sometimes you run like this all day, and you’re ready to eat a sandwich or a pie. But with such a load, a lot of things burn out on their own. We can sometimes afford more than many people think.

At the theater, my day begins with class. It's like a lesson: we warm up, practice movements, get ready for the working day. Then rehearsals begin - solo, general, corps de ballet, stage rehearsals (this is when the performance is being prepared). Today, for example, I have a class and four rehearsals. And this is not the limit, there can be more.

The duration of each rehearsal is different: it can be 30 minutes or two hours. Today I have a solo rehearsal for two hours, then a stage rehearsal for another hour and a half. And then another one for 40 minutes.

We rehearse with the teachers. But in each hall there are cameras installed, through which the head of the ballet troupe watches the rehearsals (Makhar Vaziev - Ed.). He can call on a special internal telephone and give some recommendations to the teacher, or he can come to the hall.

Now I’m preparing the part of Odette-Odile for “Swan Lake” (I’ll have a performance in the fall), and he just came in during rehearsal.
In general, if I’m preparing a part, I can sometimes start humming something, dancing, or making some head movements right on the street. And sometimes you just want to warm up your back in transport and crunch your bones. People, of course, may think something wrong!

In my bag I always have two pairs of pointe shoes (main and spare), a band-aid and a thin mesh that can be used to bandage a finger so that it does not wear off. We always come to rehearsal in warm-up clothes, socks, and gradually, when the muscles warm up, we take them off.

We select pointe shoes individually. There are many different brands and models, so you can choose. I dance on pointe shoes that have a plastic insole, which makes them durable and can even be washed. True, from time to time I feel the urge to experiment, and I start trying other models.

You need to sew the ribbons and elastic bands that hold your foot onto your pointe shoes yourself. You need to find the right place to make you feel comfortable. Some sheathe the heel, the tip of the pointe shoe, on which we stand during the dance. This is necessary so that it does not slip.

I spend two hours on each pair, which is quite a long time. On average I use one pair per month. This, of course, depends on the number of rehearsals.

This is my first season dancing at the Bolshoi Theater. I graduated from the Academy of Russian Ballet. AND I. Vaganova. In that educational institution combined general and professional education. I went to preparatory class for three years, going to classes three times a week. I entered when I was 10 and studied there for 8 years. All classes are mixed, we spent whole days there. For example, after rehearsal there could be math. This is even good, there is some kind of change of activity, you come to rest.

As a child, my mother sent me to choreography so that I would have good posture and grace. From there they began to send me to the Vaganova Academy. I remember when we came to the screening before the preparatory class. There was a crowd of people there, a mad rush. They checked our physical data and looked at us. Those who entered were given coupons. And everyone ran out and began asking whether they had taken it or not? At that time I didn’t really understand where I had come, what it would all lead to. At first I told my mother that I wouldn’t go to study there because everyone there was crazy. But she persuaded me to try. And then every time I liked it more and more.

Sometimes, of course, it became difficult and I gave up. But ballet, it seems to me, is like a disease. This is life that has taken you and will never let you go. You put up with any difficulties, you are ready to endure everything for the sake of the future and to achieve your goal.

There is a performance at the theater this evening, but I am not dancing. I try to relax at home in the evening. I go to bed as best I can. If after rehearsals, then at 10 o’clock, if there is a performance, then at 11 pm. Of course, sometimes there is not enough time to rest.