1/2 Why Ketinoa & 1300 Videos got Killed Kirov Mariinsky Bolshoi Ballet Giselle Somova Lopatkina

[naomimarik]

Incredible!!!

I will never watch any Balanchine coreography anymore. Besides, his works not my favourite ones, I will not miss them at all.

[tfg200808]

Poor Ketinoa...

[gioland71]

Given the ostracising nature of the BT, I have sworn never to buy a ticket for one of the B's shows. I do not understand the BT's goal: its behaviour is making B's work less known then ever before - no videos are allowed on youtube, even danced by BT approved companies. Creativity is also based on the exploration of the previous masters, how can the young kids learn and be inspired by something they cannot see and analyse at their will? All this copyright obsession is killing creativity!

[sinnung]

Russianballetvideo, I would really want to know where I can find the video of Giselle performed by Somova and Shklyarov. I've been searching it for a long long time. Would you please tell me or put it on youtube if you have?

[bolshoiboy8]

wow! can we see this full length dumchenko giselle??? the video is so clear! or the somova one or the lopatkina one... ever since ketinoa died we lost alot of the full length classics.

[Qbendanny]

The Balanchine Taliban Trust has declared Jihad on the greatest ballet Channel on YT KETINOA for what? A few minutes of some B ballet actually being danced better by the Russians?

Mullahs, Von Aroldingen,Ashley, Lopez should be ashamed of this selfish act.

[Qbendanny]

Balanchine Taliban Trust, you in fact are conducting genocide on a Ballet Genius whose mission in life was to educate and spread to the West the glory of Russian Ballet. Exactly what Ketinoa's channel did.  Shame,BTTFoundation.That's YOUR legacy.

[raulishnikov]

I think YT can do nothing if they agreed to BT to remove Ketinoas account. But to write to BT may work...

[taurusbs]

Sorry, I really didn' t understand well what happened!

I am Italian so My english language is a little poor

[Cherubfish]

Is there a pre-written letter that we can all use to send to youtube's E-mail addresses?

I am not sure if I can write an up-to-standard message to youtube

It is terrible to see Ketinoa's videos being removed by this insane reason.

The complaint of this New York BT is insane.

If the problem still continues to exist,

we should boycott BT in a group, together with sending E-mails or letters to this company, if they have any contacts.

[russianballetvideo]

It is best to write in your own words, even if you write poorly. If everyone wrote the same letter, it would be worse.

[Saaabri]

Thank you very much for this message. I was wondering why all that beautiful videos were removed, this video gave me the answer. Thanks again

[EldestMushroom]

I have to agree with everyone else about the tragic loss of so many historic videos with the deletion of ketinoa's account. however, I feel like the BT is being unfairly bashed in this context. They want to preserve the ballet's the way that he choreographed them and frankly, the Russian companies don't always adhere to that. I have seen video's of the Mariinksy performing Serenade where the principles kept their hair up the entire time, as well as the tschai pas variation which was cut short.

[russianballetvideo]

I do not remember seeing the Russians cut short on the pas de deux, but it is probable in a gala because i have seen many galas which are overloaded with dances, where a famous pas de deux might eliminate the variations and only have the adagio and coda. That is common under many circumstances. I feel certain that Marius Petipa would not mind that and probably if that was done with the Tchai pas, GB would not mind.

I think most spectators want to see dancing and do not care about hair styles

[EldestMushroom]

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear on my issue with the pdd- the variation wasn't cut, but the one step indicative of the variation (chugs back in arabesque all the way from the downstage right corner to the upstage left corner) was cut to a few chugs and a run, as well as some other steps changed and done poorly. There are so many teachers now who teach not from experience but from youtube, so you can see how that would be the kind of thing the BT would want to keep away from the public.

[russianballetvideo]

I feel the real issue about their desire to preserve his ballets they way they were done, is that they are actually hurting his reputation. Many ballet fans never heard of him because the organization is hiding his ballets. When he was alive, public television always showed his ballets on TV and his ballets were filmed by foreign TV or films.

Now his ballets are never shown on TV and the organization is preventing his ballets from being sold on DVD.

They are doing their best to make him extinct.

[EldestMushroom]

I have worked with a few of the repetiteurs and the only thing they are concerned with is keeping true to his vision. If ballet fans have never heard of him, then that is more of a problem in their dance education than an example of how the trust is hiding him away. While he was alive he was shown on TV because it brought ratings. Now the only bit of ballet bringing in ratings is Melissa on SYTYCD.

And the DVD issue? Same as before- they don't want the wrong version taught w/o permission

[russianballetvideo]

There are many people that will never be in the same city where one of his ballets will be performed and youtube would be their only possibility of seeing his work. Most of these people have never heard of him and if his work was on youtube, many more people would know about him.

Since the BT prevents inferior companies from performing his work, it is impossible for a student in Alabama or Mississippi to learn about him. There is in essence no ballet education. Dancers learn what see & dance

[EldestMushroom]

Actually most regional ballet companies perform at least one balanchine work each season- it's impossible for a dancer to get away with never performing one of his works in his or her career. More often then not I have heard of dancers not liking/ being ignorant of Balanchine because their teachers have given them negative feedback about him and his work/dancers and then they decided to go see a full length ballet program rather than a varied contemporary/neoclassical program.

[raulishnikov]

all young dancers know variations from Petipa isn't? that way his work is preserved for more than a century... and different versions of his variations are performed in a regular basis by top dancers around the world and are a standard for ballet competitions... if there were a Petipa's trust.. what would happened? Nureyev itself was prevented to dance Balanching in his late years. But Nureyev's versions are widely distribuited not only as performances but also in the making and backstage.

[bolshoiboy8]

@EldestMushroom The first balanchine ballet i saw was on Ketinoa's page and I didn't even know it was Balanchine. I'd heard of him but his name meant nothing to me because I had never seen anything he's choreographed or the school's methods.

[Balletgirl66]

it said my comment was too long, so i am continuing...

It is sad that the account was deleted, because of a few Balanchine videos. Balanchine himself was trained at the Vaganova School. I think he would want dancers to learn from videos. I really miss this channel, and hope that it will be restored for the learning and enjoyment of all.

[Balletgirl66]

Please bring Ketinoa back!!! Almost all of the videos were of the Kirov/Mariinsky and the Vaganova School. This channel provided not only somewhere for ballet lovers to watch Russian Ballet, but allowed students studying Ballet, to learn from the best, and to watch the perfection of Ballet half-way across the world. Students and teacher watched this channel. This channel was one of my favorites, and I learned a lot from watching it.

[tokyoisfun]

Please allow Ketinoa back!

[Pearlaceous]

This is so unfair: Ketinoa's videos truly were priceless to balletomanes, students, teachers - everyone who loves ballet - the world over. For me she was the best thing on YouTube.  I agree with everyone else. Why couldn't they just remove the Balanchine videos and leave Ketinoa's account up? Ketinoa, if you can read this, we truly appreciate all you have done and we want you back!

[bigposercroise]

The story of Balanchine is very sad. He died of mad cow disease, before it was called that. He was Russian Orthodox Christian, and was visited every day in his last months of terrible agony by an Igumen (Abbot). Even though Balanchine's supporters were not religious, they gave a huge Cross to the Igumen's little church in Harlem NYC. It is shocking that the same people who would encourage a church to sing "Memory Eternal" would destroy the memory of his ballets, and many many other ballets.

[russianballetvideo]

The 7th book of the Bible is the book of Judges, in between the book of Joshua and the book of Ruth. The last verse in the book of Judges says "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes." That is how the BT is. They are deluded and their demented minds justify what is right in their eyes.

When Balanchine was alive, public television broadcast many Balanchine programs, plus Balanchine ballets were filmed by foreigners. Now NYCB is never on TV.

[revoltade]

And how comes they accept the tschaikovsky pddeux?

[russianballetvideo]

They do not. People requested Ketinoa to put up that pas de deux from a Bolshoi Mariinsky gala shown on Japanese TV and that was the video that executed Ketinoa. A Chinese girl got removed for a different video of that pas de deux and that was her only video ever removed, but she only had 12 videos, unlike Ketinoa with 1,300.

Youtube seems to do things by computer programming and do not consider what is being removed. Mr. B video is same as video wanting USA to be destroyed by nuclear missile.

[revoltade]

So how comes youtube had to banish ketinoa and PL86? And would it be possible to restart their accounts after a couple of months? Anyone that knows the policy on youtube in cases like this?

[revoltade]

What about writing to the BT and youtube making it possible at least to restore the non BT offensive videos, and also mention to the BT that it is impossible to "copy" the Balanchine legacy without the inheritance carried on by the former dancers?

There is also another valuable account belonging to paradiselost that has been inhibited.

[russianballetvideo]

That is a shock also, but the same Gestapo group is responsible for PL89 removal. PL first strike was for a Symphony in C that he downloaded before Ketinoa's version was removed by the BT. Ketinoa listed that ballet during ketinoa's first month on youtube and never had heard of the BT when the ballet was listed. The BT found PL copy which was watched by former NYCB stars such as Helgi Tomasson, who like all the former NYCB dancers, enjoyed watching. The BT is not interested in enjoyment Poor PL

[AL45757]

I'm devastated by this pulling of Ketinoa's videos. I can't possibly express how much they have enriched my life-they are artistically and historically invaluable and I am eternally grateful to Ketinoa for sharing them. I can respect that legally the Balanchine Foundation can insist its copyrighted materials (such a small % of Ketinoa's films) not be shown, but I can't understand why YouTube deprives us of all the other videos she/he gave us. A tragic loss for lovers of art and the world.

[charlesyvesfournier]

If anyone here knows Ketinoa's personal email address, would you please let me know. She was a wealth of information for me with her detailed descriptions on each ballet that she uploaded. She and I had many conversations about her love of Russian ballet and I miss those chats. I was also shocked when I checked my favorites and saw that 3/4 of the many hundreds listed there were hers. It likes living in the Dark Ages again. She was an incredible source for ballet lovers. A real tragedy.

[fornolina]

Does BT care how much we lost? Petty interests and pseudo-legalistic intricacies are more important.

[charlesyvesfournier]

I agree and you said it best. Thank you for the support you are showing Ketinoa.

[manfredfinch]

OMG whenever I see a balanchine video on here I say watch it quick before the BT gets to it.!!!!!

[gioland71]

Write to the Balanchine trust as well and express your disappointment at the way they manage art. The trust will renew the copyright for as long as they can stifling innovation and study of (some) ballets. Shame on them...

[perfectlystellar]

NOOOOOOO!! this is so upsetting! Ketinoa was my number one source in ballet videos!

ugh BT needs to lighten up a bit and appreciate the art of dancing.

Petipa forevs though.

[aliismayilov]

At least they can restore non-Balanchine videos... let's email

[shiak02]

We have been enjoying these movies.

I don't know why these movies are killed!!

[zuzuyamada]

So do I I!!!!

[JuliaSavina]

That's a shame what BT did! Is that how they are going to bring Balanchine's works to the public??

Youtube (and Ketinoa in particular) was a great source. If I see a ballet video here that interests me, it makes me want to go and see it live, or buy a DVD with a complete performance - I am sure it's the same for most people here. So what are they trying to achieve here???!

Ketinoa did a wonderful job of bringing ballet to the public, isn't it what Balanchine's trust should be trying to do?

[russianballetvideo]

I agree 100%

[Bnesque]

I ' ve just found that our great Ketinoa account was deleted, am in a shock and totally davestated by this doing of BT.

Instead of appreciating Ketinoa's contribution to the ballet world, but this?

Of course I'm going to protest,

and in the mood of bycotting all the BT products.

"I consider it a challenge before

The whole human race

And I ain't gonna lose"

Ketinoa is still a champion!!!

[EVZYL]

What can one say, the greedy Yanks strike again!

[charlesyvesfournier]

Dear Ketinoa,

If you can read this from somewhere, please know that there are many people who have written to Youtube in protest of our suspension.

I remember a discussion that you and I had about being very careful not to offer commercial videos here (especially since many of your fans had asked you to do). You had always refused. And now this. It's sad to know that there will be no more videos of the Mariinsky and the Bolshoi companies. What a shame and a terrible loss to all ballet fans.

[magnumSuper]

I guess the point is not Mariinsky or Bolshoi, the point is Balanchine ballets.

[charlesyvesfournier]

Agreed. And as many fans have stated so far, then, Youtube should have removed only the ballets that were in controversy. But due to possible lawsuits by the Balanchine Trust, Youtube fears being sued. I fear that all Ketinoa's ballet videos are lost to us forever.

[russianballetvideo]

Ketinoa was not expecting choreographer problems. If there was a Bournonville Trust, La Sylphide would have been removed. A Petipa Trust would have been disaster since over 50% of the Ketinoa videos were Petipa videos.

[charlesyvesfournier]

Knowing Ketinoa for a while now, I agree. She did not expect choreographer problems. She is one of the most honest, sincere and caring people I know. I am sure that she is devastated by this debacle. She was so proud of her work here. Her contribution here was invaluable.

[natashkk]

I want to protest!!! I am one of Ketinoa's great fans and I regularly visited the YT page and now I discover it has been removed!! Sacrilege!!

I want my KETINOA back!!! Where should I send the email?? To youtube??

[JacquelyneWilkerson]

Isn't there anything we can do??????? As a community and a group of users of YouTube????

Can't we protest to have Ketinoa reinstated?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?­!??!?!?

Think about the number of Facebook protests that have gone heard and have made a difference. We can't jsut not do anything........ this is outrageous.

[AL45757]

JacquelyneWilkerson or anyone: Please let me know if you come up with any ideas as to how we can protest this as a group. This is so unfair to Ketinoa who is undoubtedly one of the most generous and knowledgeable-about-ballet people on earth, and to all of us who love her films.

[JCTMAY]

As for those comments about the copyright law being broken, and the punishment is banishment , there is the spirit of the law - it's social purpose for the good, and the letter of the law - how it is applied. If the spirit gets lost in the law's application, the result is not social good, but is social hurt.

[JCTMAY]

ketinoa's video collection, her knowledge, her ballet world relationships are her life's work - her intellectual property. She has not created a copyrighted entity, but given all away at her own expense.

[bolshoiboy8]

OMG! ketinoa was AMAZING... no this stuff is so historical HOW could they do this 2 the youtube and ballet fans population he was an archive... not even the KIROV OR MARIINSKY has all those tapes of galina in class or altynai... they dont film EVERY class this is an OUTRAGE!!!

[HelgaMaq]

They film nothing, and never show when they do!

[takharov]

I am sure if Mr.B were alive today he'd be horrified by the attitudes that the Trust set up in his name is taking.

I am sure he did not intend for his creations to be left mouldering in some dusty library in Labanotation.

The more people get to see his works the more they can be appreciated ie Agon.

The B.Trust do not seem to realise this is a multimedia age and that a few select performances at the NYCB or by other companies are accessible to few persons.

[takharov]

Many of whom seem to be there for a social outing as well.

If they really had his interests at heart they would be making available all of the recordings made and co-operating with other major companies on producing others for DVD.

Balletomanes have to cope with a ridiculously small range of repertoire for perusal on DVD.

To me it seems they have no desire to maintain these pieces as living creations , but rather than museum pieces dusted off for the odd occasion. And such art dies.

[takharov]

ketinoa has done a wonderful job of making available high art to a large number of persons through all of her uploads .The time taken to do so is worthy by itself.

This at a time when high art ,usually wrongly is described as elitist. There has been no courtesy extended by YT either in summarily removing her channel without warning.

It does not surprise me though. Their attitudes extend purely to the venal.

I hope that through our protestations her channel is reinstated.

[takharov]

It is one of those rare gems on youtube amongst all the general rubbish to be found , a tremendous resource for balletomanes, pupils and teachers.

The Balanchine Trust are obviously no friends to ballet. Perhaps they would like to patent the five feet positions as well ?

Quite frankly they are a disgrace acting no better than many a money grabbing corporation.

[russianballetvideo]

What you state is 100% true. Many people love Agon & would love to see it on YT, regardless of which company is dancing. My personal favorite is Theme & Variations, but they would not allow the TV production with Baryshnikov & Kirkland (filmed prior to BT exist) to be seen on YT, or any other Theme & Variations with a great ballerina & partner in his very difficult choreography for any ballerina & male dancer. They actually are preventing Balanchine from becoming more well known & more desired.

[takharov]

Agreed. I would like to see also Symphony In C as performed by the Maryinskiy company along with TV footage of Mr.B's own personally coached dancers ie Ashley and von Aroldingen

Its not just the NYCB at fault. Phillips have done a very poor job of providing many newer performances from the Maryinskiy as well.

I suspect they fear they will not recoup their costs . Its a sad state of affairs.

[Nebullah9]

Lol ok. I repeat.

Greedy mf-s! Her channel was my fav ballet channel here.

One of my videos was. deleted by them too- for the same reason.

[palubob]

It's difficult to reach a human at YT through e-mail, so try the snail-mail route:

You Tube, LLC

901 Cherry Ave.

San Bruno, CA 94066

also BT at:

The George Balanchine Trust

20 Lincoln Center

New York, NY 10023

[bachandbark]

Well, I just wrote another email to Youtube and wrote a message here just after I had sent the one to Youtube. My message to you disappeared - I hope this one doesn't!

[vaganovaballerina1]

I just wrote a very long email! I hope it helps!!! I NEED Ketinoa!

[vaganovaballerina1]

I can't believe it!!! :'(

Ketinoa is the best!!!

[magnumSuper]

second try.

Copyright at youtube bounces back all requests of restoration,

better write to

editor at youtube

com

and

service at youtube

com

[HelgaMaq]

right you are.

[AmyKauai]

This is unbelievable!!!! And it is a terrible loss to the ballet world. I can't understand why they would delete an entire channel. Something isn't right.

[manga12]

1300 is a lot of videos, its one thing to ask the person to take down the offending content, but quite another to just delete a whole channel.

There are many balenchine's that I would love to see, but without any medium to showcase the works the artestry dies, dance is ment to be displayed not hiden away like many of the old movies they claim copyright infringment on something 80 years old, when after that age its part of public domain and the owners wont release it who will.

[russianballetvideo]

Out of curiosity, since it is against the law to show Balanchine, what Balanchine ballets would you like to see, but cannot because anyone showing them will get in major trouble.

If the BT wanted to keep the artistic purity of Balanchine's choreography. They should be showing the world, New York City Ballet performances of his ballets, while he was still alive. They might be afraid that someone will try to imitate and corrupt his ballet. If the NYCB preserves his choreography intact, that is ok.

[russianballetvideo]

If the BT had many of the old Balanchine ballets on YT or on commercial DVD, then if some ballet comp-any altered his choreography, knowledgeable people would realize that is njot his choreography. It seems like they are trying to hide something, like Diaghilev, prevented photos of Nijinsky. Diagilev did not want photos of Nijinsky becasue he was afraid that soem day, Nijinsky would not be considered anything special and he wanted to preserve that mystique. Maybe that is what the BT is afraid.

[russianballetvideo]

Maybe the BT is afraid that some day Balanchine's choreography will be viewed as garbage, the same way Diagilev tried to keep Nijinsky's mystique.

Companies l, like the Paris Opera Ballet and Mariinsky Ballet have been approved by the BT to perform his work and since I think that Russians are vastly superior to American dancers, particularly in the upper body, it would be great to see true artists doing his ballets. However, hiding his ballets is not ameans for people to know about his ballets

[russianballetvideo]

Many people cannot afford a plane trip and theater tickets to see a Balanchine ballet performed. Having Balanchine ballets in the NY dance public library is the same problem for peopel , who cannot afford to pay for such a trip. why don't they have complete ballets in their building and why can't people see these ballets on YT performed by companies approved to perform them. Incidentally, Bel Air which just sold the Mariinsky Don Quixote, filmed the Mariinsky Jewels and BT is problem for video

[russianballetvideo]

It looks like the Mariinsky Jewels will not be sold due to the BT not wanting it on DVD, although they did allow Paris Opera Ballet. Maybe they were caught unaware regarding POB Jewels, but I do not know anything.

I am certain that if Bel Air offered a lot of money, the BT integrity issue would be solved with money.

[mariinskyfan]

I have been waiting for over two years for that DVD to be released. I don't understand why the BT wouldn't want a DVD to be released with the best dancers in the world performing one of Balanchine's best known works. Ridiculous!

[manga12]

If they are afraid of innovation then they are no friends of the arts, still though nijinsky is really old, there are newer dancers that could perform rings around him, immitation is the best form of flattery you know

[BalletForYou]

I have remove Jewel video from my site after they send a mail to me. Below are part of the email.

"

To Whom It May Concern:

As the copyright holder of George Balanchine's Jewels, we have some concerns about the posting of the 13 videos of the Paris Opera Ballet's performance.

etc...

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

The George Balanchine Trust

"

I assume they also send warning to Ketinoa?

[russianballetvideo]

They never sent a warning about any video. They only removed.

[AmyLynn128]

I wrote to youtube! Thank you for all of the wonderful videos you have posted for us! It would be terrible to lose you!

[saranewton429]

Ketinoa has made a major contribution to all of us who love ballet. We want him back on Youtube!!!!. I wrote a letter of protest. Hope it helps.

[rosy879]

This is soooo stupid (the situation)!!!! They are just freakin' videos!!!!

Love the video though, pretty funny!

[mariinskyfan]

Ketinoa is best! I am so sad right now. I will certainly be writing an email... All of those selfless hours spent uploading videos for the world to see down the tubes :-(

[jsl1952]

The B foundation is more interested in making money than preserving those pieces for posterity and let the greater public enjoy and appreciate them, a boycott of the B Foundation and his ballets is in order.

[lashenova]

My god! I had no idea Ketinoa was removed! Shame on the B trust. I will never watch another one of his ballets again.

[9415908]

That is Ridiculous! They should have just removed the Balanchine videos. She had so many other videos and obviously put alot of work into the channel. And gave those of us who can not see the Mariinsky and other russian companies live, so much enjoyment.

[looovecats]

I've just wrote to the, I hope it'll help...

[toniknxvll]

balanchine trust....worthless. writing now.

[mrlopez2681]

everyone MUST write to youtube

[mewmew429]

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[BalletVoldy]

I sent the email. It's SUCH a shame that she got deleted for maybe .. 10, 15 Balanchine videos?

[HelgaMaq]

The ballet YouTube does not exist more, I say! Ketinoa's channel was really the only ORIGINAL ballet channel of the high level quality.

[bachandbark]

Agree ! Writing my plea to Youtube just now. Ketinoa MUST be restored.

To Ketinoa wherever you are, love to you ! xxx

[EVZYL]

Where did you send your plea to? I would like to do the same but cannot find an appropriate address under the You-tube contacts.

Thanks

[Seekballet]

Cannot believe this - still in shock.

I went to reference a Vaganova video - no longer there b/c of the Balanchine Trust. Why cant they remove only the Balanchine videos & leave the rest of ketinoas posts?

To have someone removed that you subscribe to - no words. The service provided via these videos - priceless. More harm than good is being done by ketinoas banishment. This not only hurts me but it is detrimental to my students.

[ecoledeballetmanille]

Nooooooo!