Along the lines of 'is ballet getting too gymnastic?'!

[Jan McNulty]

When on holiday in Russia many years ago (1986) we were told that all stages and studios were raked at the same angle so that the dancers were used to the rake.

[primrose]

Yes you are right Janet, the studios and stages are very raked. It takes Heather a little while to get used to dancing on flat floors when she comes home due to having to retink her centre of balance, (I think that is what she said anyway). Tulip you are also right in that the Russian students spend a lot of time doing gymnastics, stretching and also they have to spend time hanging (sounds brutal) off frames (look like school climbing frames found in their gyms). Whilst doing this they do lots of lifts with the legs. It does seem to work though. The teachers must know what they are doing as there seems to be very little injuries. Thankyou drdance for posting this clip, the dancers are just lovely.

[Lisa O`Brien]

Just wondered,is this the sort of standard RBS Upper School students are at when they are 16? Sorry if that`s a stupid question. I`ve really no idea.!

[Tulip]

From being at dance xchange in Birmingham and getting to see some Royal ballet students the thing that I notice about them all is their beautiful upper body. Their ports de bras and head movements are just so beautiful and very different from everyone else eg Ballet West, Tring, Elmhurst, Ramber etc etc. But I don't know if that is something that attracts me as a spectator???

[swanprincess]

thequays, i hope not, if that is the standard required for 6th form schools then ive got no chance!!!! lol

[drdance]

I would say this is end of upper school/ graduation type standard, but don't quote me on that!

[primrose]

I have just found this on you tube. This is 2nd year of 6th form. Isabella is a British student training with the Vaganova. So the link drdance showed us must be students at the age of approx 16 years of age. First year of 6th form. Isabella was a student at White Lodge before she went to train at the Vaganova school in St Petersburgh.

edited to try and bring the link up

 

 

i

Edited September 2, 2012 by primrose

[balletla]

Isabella is lovely. She is 19 now and I think she has a contract with the new ballet company (Mikhailovsky or something?).

 

How does Vaganova compare with Bolshoi as a school?

[Tulip]

So proud to have a British girl playing a principle role. Again they all looked healthy and not starved. Good luck to everyone out there but I am glad mine is staying no matter how tempting it is when you see all these wonderful young dancers. I do believe that our British system in most of our top schools are training their dancers to the standard required today ie higher leg extensions etc. It is just wonderful to have the opportunity to audition for what style you love eg Russian, English etc. My daughter has been told that she is an English dancer, I really don't know what that means but her ballet teacher really wanted her to audition in our country. Also during private lessons my daughters teacher has been making her get her legs higher, but not at the cost of succuming to 'tricks' just good strong technique.

[primrose]

I think the two schools are as good as each other. Both are steeped in history. I would have been just as happy if Heather had have auditioned for the Vaganova, however we only did the Bolshoi. The two Russian teachers in Bristol trained at both these schools, chika for Vaganova and Yury Bolshoi Academy. I also think that the training and standards of the Royal Ballet School are just as good as these two.

[Tulip]

Is it true that the Vaganova only take students from aged 17 outside of Russia?

[primrose]

Isabella was aged 15 I think when she went to the Vaganova.

[Anjuli_Bai]

I think both schools, Bolshoi and Vaganova, are excellent. However, there is a difference in style. This may be a bit less so than in former years as dancers now have the choice to travel between the two.

[primrose]

I will attempt to add this clip of Joy Womack, it will give a insight into the type of training Joy recieves at the Bolshoi Academy. She is aged 17 years on this.

Joy Womack 17

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIBgTcE-83M

 

Edited to say sorry I couldnt get the link up. Worth watching though.

Edited September 2, 2012 by primrose

[hfbrew]

I think the two schools are as good as each other. Both are steeped in history. I would have been just as happy if Heather had have auditioned for the Vaganova, however we only did the Bolshoi. The two Russian teachers in Bristol trained at both these schools, chika for Vaganova and Yury Bolshoi Academy. I also think that the training and standards of the Royal Ballet School are just as good as these two.

The film of Isabella was beautiful, thankyou for posting it. She looked very at home . What struck me though was how uniform all the dancers look, you can see why the corps de ballet of Russian companies is so strong. But I agree about the training and standards at the Royal Ballet school being just as good, having watched classes at all levels many times. I remember some years ago watching a group of year 11s a year or so older than my ds all performing 32 fouettes en pointe perfectly easily despite being right in the middle of their gcses (maybe they wre dancing for joy!)

[ChocChip]

I was recommended this topic for information and talks about "ballet getting too gymnastics".

I know this is an old post but I found the video drdance posted very interesting.
 

I read the whole topic and I see you are all puzzled what age these girls on the video might be.

I watched a french documentary called "Ballerina" about Vaganova School and Mariinsky theatre. They exaplained the Vaganova system there. This is where I know this information from. (type "Ballerina" in youtube and you''ll  find the whole movie, it is with English audio).

It's an 8-year-program of professional ballet training. Children usually are admitted at the age of  9 or 10.

There are many similar videos on youtube with exams/performances and they are all captioned Vaganova 1st grade, Vaganova 2nd grade and so on...

Vaganova 1st grade means Vaganova 1st year - all girls at the class are the same age - 10 years old.

Vaganova 2nd grade means Vaganova 2nd year - 11 years old

....

Vaganova 7th grade - 7th year - 16 years old

The 8th grade/year is a graduation year (17th years old). The whole year all students rehearse for the Annual Graduation Class Performance and the best students are picked to dance solos.
So according to that information about Vaganova grades/years these girls are 7th grade, therefore they might have been considered fully trained ballet dancers.