Agrippina Vaganova (1879-1951) - Teaching at the Kirov c1930s

[pointemeout]

what a lovely little piece of history. thanks for sharing.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi pointemeout - yes, you often hear about these famed teachers - but this film allows you in some very small sense to be in their classrooms - like time travelling, cheers

[KiliniLove]

what is the difference in the pointe shoes then and the pointe shoes now? Plz answer

[nickwallacesmith]

@KiliniLove - if you google 'point history' you get a very interesting article which looks at how changes in point shoes affected changes in technique and asks the question of why modern materials are not used in point shoes - 'Pointe shoes and pointe technique have evolved together over the past century and a half; there is no reason for progress to stop'. cheers

[KiliniLove]

@nickwallacesmith thnx!!!!!!!!

[nickwallacesmith]

hi KiliniLove - glad you liked it!

[theamazingsoter]

Having Aurora's variation as the background music only makes this rare clip even more beautiful. Thank you!

[nickwallacesmith]

hi theamazingsoter - thanks - i love the music so much i'm always looking for the opportunity to use it! and i think it works here ok. cheers from sydney!

[origane1]

magique ,merci...!

[Qbendanny]

NICK!!! You think it might be from "Faun" ?

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Qbendanny - 'l'apres midi d'un faune'?

[Qbendanny]

@nickwallacesmith - YES.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Qbendanny - must look at the film again

[russianballetvideo]

Change her year of birth in title. You have her year of death being earlier than her year of birth.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi russianballetvideo - thanks for the correction - never see them - and being nearly minus 20 years old won't do! thanks again

[russianballetvideo]

@nickwallacesmith You still need to change Viganova in description to Vaganova.

[nickwallacesmith]

@russianballetvideo - done - thanks again - found two typos in the description!

[Qbendanny]

Great Post Nick, She herself looked like a strong ballerina given the demi attitude on pointe in the pics(beautiful feet!!) which the first is obviously Kitri and the second Odette. The one sitting at the long table seem like students and some not. My hunch is that she was already passing on her proven method to trainees who in the pic. look older than students. The informal shot of her is my favorite where she looks like a 'Flapper". I can see her doing the Charleston!!! LOVE! this post.

[nickwallacesmith]

@Qbendanny - yes, strong, she seems positively nailed to the floor in attitude - and yes, beautiful feet - straight with no sickle at the ankle. i too was wondering about those at the table with vaganova - a mix of students and just dancers attending class i guess. i wondered if the casual shot was not of vaganova in some kind of demi character role? glad you liked the post!

[Qbendanny]

@nickwallacesmith - I'm sure you are right, it's from a ballet, the braids give it away she looks so CUTE!!. I'm wondering what it is...BTW, my "Didn't Karsavina send her a Cobra" was imaginary joke on my part in return for Pavlova's scalding Karsavina on her opening night Giselle!.It was a joke.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Qbendanny - yep, she does look so cute in those braids. sorry for being so dumb bout not getting the joke - sometimes i amaze myself by my slowness! apparently (and this is a true story) enrico caruso once on stage put a hot sausage in nellie melba's hand as he sang 'your tiny hand is frozen' in 'la boheme'

[Qbendanny]

@nickwallacesmith - LOL!!! (I heard he was quite proud of it...)

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Qbendanny - he was a known joker - so i'm sure he was proud - would have loved to know what melba said in reply - a tongue, rough and like a razor!

[Qbendanny]

@nickwallacesmith - Nellie Melba said, "Enrico, con somma benignita, e vero quello che dicono gli uomini circa Italiano !!!

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Qbendanny - to which the unfaized enrico replied ''e quale sarebbe, la mia diva caldo mano?'

[Qbendanny]

@nickwallacesmith lol!

[nickwallacesmith]

hi Qbendanny - or as the venerable enrico would have said 'ridere di gusto'

[russianballetvideo]

The part where she demonstrates porte de bras and then briefly, her students are shown, is truly great. What has always separated the Vaganova trained dancers from everyone else in the world is their port de bras and that is still true today. Most Vaganova students never mastered the porte de bras, but when you see someone special, you know that is a Vaganova porte de bras. There are only a handful of ballerinas that qualify & today, i can only name 3 that qualify and 2 are in corps de ballet

[russianballetvideo]

@russianballetvideo Dear Nick Thank you for this brief look at greatness and please correct your description spelling to Vaganova, eliminating Vig. Since Youtube limits comments to 500 characters, I will describe all 3 ballerinas with the best arms in the world, in my next comment. there are other Vaganova trained ballerinas with wonderful arms, but these 3 stick out for their flowing arms that seem like smooth running water with their beauty from their Vaganova training.

[russianballetvideo]

@russianballetvideo .I will describe the 3 ballerinas that I mentioned & two of them have the potential to never become stars, but they are unique stars for me already, regardless of what they ever do. The known star is Alina Somova, who has the second best arms in the world, thanks to her expertise in the Vaganova training that she was exposed to. The third best arms in the world belong to corps girl, Oksana Marchuk, a 2010 graduate. Youtube will not let me finish, so i must add a final comment

[russianballetvideo]

@russianballetvideo I now come to the ballerina that I feel already has the greatest arms ever. Galina Mezentseva had by far the best arms that i ever saw and she was the Leningrad balletomanes favorite and mine also. However, as in Snow White, someone comes along who is better. Regardless of what happens to this ballerina's career, if anyone asks me before I die, who was the best ballerina that i ever saw, the answer will be easy. I must add one final comment.

[russianballetvideo]

@russianballetvideo . If I am asked, before I die, who is the greatest I ever saw, It is the ballerina with the most beautiful arms, most beautiful upper body, most beautiful face and most beautiful woman's body of any ballerina that I have ever seen. She was trained at Vaganova by Alina Somova's teacher, Lyudmila Safronova and graduated in 2009. If Yulia Stepanova does not retire as the greatest ballerina ever, that will be the greatest crime in ballet history, because directors were blind.

[nickwallacesmith]

hi russianballetvideo - yes, i take your point - i remember seeing a video on your channel showing a dancer in class at the mariinsky - Yulia Stepanova - with extraordinary arms and upper body - a lesson to everyone, though not something that can be easily taught

[russianballetvideo]

@nickwallacesmith I also put up her 7th year character class which was in 4 parts. Each part has the same exact title, except with a 1,2,3 or 4. before /4. 3/4 2007 Vaganova Character Ballet Class 2009 Grads Yulia Stepanova Nadia Batoeva Krasyuk Tiliguzova is the 3rd part.

If you watch part 3 from the 9 minute point and part 4 from the 6 minute point, you will see what no professional ballerina ever looked like. You should also read my description in those parts 3 and 4. Amazing in 7th year

[nickwallacesmith]

hi russianballetvideo - from 9 mins on in part 3 is totally delicious! thanks for alerting me to this video on your channel - very much appreciated!