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More news from St Petersburg: DS in Nutcracker at the Mariinsky


CeliB

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A little snippet from the (sold out) Mariinsky theatre: Waltz of the Snowflakes, with DS just sneaking in at the end...

 

 

We are told by the administration he is first non Russian student ever to be cast as principal in the nutcracker. We were lucky enough to make it there to see the performance, though I was pretty anxious as he was super nervous having not had a dress rehearsal or ever been on stage with the snowflakes until the performance! He was convinced there was going to be a collision- they all move SO fast!! We got to go backstage immediately after the performance and see him and the dancers on the stage- such a treat for his sisters who came with us!

 

 

(Equally exciting: DS will be one of only a handful of VBA students chosen to represent he Academy in the Icons of Russian Ballet Gala 2017 at the Coliseum in March. I will be there at eye watering cost, but again will be probably too nervous to enjoy it! But anyone who is going do watch out for him :) )

 

 

 

 

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yes they are arent they!

I think he was more relieved than pleased. Personally I think he turned in a cautious, competent rather than inspired performance- I could tell he was nervous as well though he warmed up towards the end. As I said he hadn't had a Dress so was really nervous about placement and timing. Interesting the head of the international students (who chaperoned us round the theatre so kindly) said she was very pleased and he did well for a first performance, and that being cautious was the right approach for a first time.

Am waiting to see what Tsiska says though (he was in London but is going to watch the film apparently) as it is he who put DS up for the part...

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Thanks for the film CeliB and they are still students fabulous!! So exciting to see DS being cast in this role( though on another level am not at all surprised!!)

 

Have got my ticket for the 12th ....there are still some for £40 available for anyone interested...

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Wow! Forgive me, but how did your son get into Vaganova in the first place? I thought only Russians could! He looks brilliant anyway (they all do)!

They take international students from age 16 (same as upper school in the UK)...

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"he was super nervous having not had a dress rehearsal or ever been on stage with the snowflakes until the performance!"

 

So it's not just me this happens to? Anyway, congratulations!

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Isabella McGuire Mayes (Dancer)

 

Born in 1992, Isabella trained at the Royal Ballet School in London and with a Russian coach. Aged 15, she became the first British student to be accepted into the Vaganova Ballet Academy where she studied for four years. Her performances at the Mariinsky Theatre include Medora (Le Corsaire, 2012) and Queen of the Sea (The Little Humpbacked Horse, 2011). During her training she has also performed The Dying Swan (2011), Snowflakes, Lead Arabian dancer (The Nutcracker, 2010). In 2010, she danced Swan Lake with the Mikhailovsky Ballet on tour in London. She graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in June 2012 from the class of Irina Sitnikova and joined the Mikhailovsky Ballet Company. 

 

     

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Beautiful he has done so well. Isabella mcguire Mayes another talented UK student was also given principle roles. She was an ex RBS pupil now dancing with the

Mikhailovsky ballet company.

 

oh yes- he isn't the first international student to do principal roles and indeed he has done so already in Fairy Dolls - but Nutcracker principal has never gone to a non Russian before as it's considered *the* number one role in the Academy year... or so the head of the international students told us...

 

Was Isabella really the first ever English student at Vaganova? That must make DS the first boy... :)

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The first English student at the Vaganova Academy (although  I am not sure whether it was named that at the time) was in the early 1960s - Anna Wooster.  I have copy of the Princess Book of Ballet from Christmas 1961 and there is a section about the school with several photos of Anna, other students and teachers.  Previously she was a pupil of my old Russian teacher, Nina Hubbard at her school in Cambridge.  Anna's father had to move to St. Petersburg for business (Leningrad as it was then) and Anna was admitted to the school as a senior student.  This was before I had joined the school in Cambridge, but Anna used to come back to visit from time to time.  She had a very successful career dancing in European ballet companies and eventually married and settled in Italy, opening her own school by Lake Garda.

 

I could scan or photograph a page from the book and upload it, but I can't see anyway of doing this.  Links to insert in posts only seem to be for internet addresses.  Does anyone know how it could be done? 

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In one of my old ballet books there was an article about an English girl at the Bolshoi Ballet School. The book is from the late sixties or early seventies. Just tried looking for it, but i've so many ballet books I gave up after half an hour. The article starts with something along the lines of "When ?? looks out of her dormitory window, she doesn't see lush green lawns, but stark, grey concrete", or words to that effect. The girl looked about seventeen.

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I could scan or photograph a page from the book and upload it, but I can't see anyway of doing this.  Links to insert in posts only seem to be for internet addresses.  Does anyone know how it could be done? 

 

 

Hello PDQ, there are a couple of threads about photographs in the "feedback" forum.  I couldn't get Photobucket to work but could get Flickr to.  The earlier thread is linked in this one:  http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/14295-photos-cannot-work-out-how-to-post-them/#entry196451

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