2/2 1986 Kirov Mariinsky Ballet Paquita The Good (Great) Old Days Lyubov Kunakova Zaklinsky

This is part 2 of my video on a 1986 Kirov Ballet Paquita, showing all the variations. These are the variations of the two leads in this performance of Paquita.
The theme of my two part video is The Good (Great) Old Days. One look at the bodies of Lyubov Kunakova and Konstantin Zaklinsky will make it obvious that there is something rotten in St. Petersburg, Russia, these days, other than just the unhealthy water. The modern day dancers are very sickly looking with bodies resembling concentration camp victims and not ballet dancers. As Zaklinsky proves in this video, he can outdance the toothpicks trying to be male dancers in the Mariinsky today. With his power, Zaklinsky looked like a real man and had the power to lift the ballerinas. The current Mariinsky men have problems lifting the anorexic looking Mariinsky ballerinas. Only Andrei Batalov (maybe Ivan Kozlov too) has a body that resembles a true man, but since the days of Makhar Vaziev taking over from Oleg Vinogradov, Batalov has resembled the Pushkin story, previously danced by the Kirov Ballet, entitled The Prisoner of the Caucasus. Batalov, a real life story prisoner, never goes on company tours and only performs full length ballets when the company is on tour. Maybe Fateyev will change what Vaziev started and show the world what an amazing dancer Batalov is.
Talking about ballerinas, the girl with the body most reminiscent of these 1980s Kirov ballerinas is future superstar, Yulia Stepanova, currently in the corps de ballet. However, Mariinsky management wants her looking like the other anorexic victims, so her body is being forced to conform to the other concentration camp victims. Hopefully, she will resist and preserve her magnificient body, which is actually more womanly than any Kirov ballerina of the 1980s.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Kirov
• Mariinsky
• Ballet
• Paquita
• Lyubov
• Kunakova
• Konstantin
• Zaklinsky

[Petroliovich]

That's just as harsh as the common tendency to write off female dancers who have stockier builds. Sure the Mariinsky now encourages dancers with longer lines, thinner legs. But it's a trend which is world-wide. Ballet is evolving in that direction. And many people like it. There are still dancers there who are not stick thin.

Another thing: the Mariinsky dancers are thin because they work, all day, every day. Not because they starve themselves. Let's leave the anorexia claims aside.

[russianballetvideo]

@Petroliovich The anorexia claims are very valid because there is a fear of being fat. Those with outstanding bodies are pressured to become toothpicks. It starts at the Vaganova School where they try to pick the skinny ones and when they fatten, they are in serious trouble. I know what I am talking about. I know many of the dancers, plus many of the coaches and teachers and even the directors at the Mariinsky and Vaganova School.

[russianballetvideo]

@Petroliovich There are always some exceptions, such as Viktoria Tereshkina, who seems to be impervious to gaining weight. She can eat what she wants and eat as much as she wants. However, most are scared to eat much because they may lose roles or even be forced out of the company.

[looovecats]

About Mariinsky men - for me also Smekalov seems to be strong partner. In Partings she easily lifted Obraztsova (but with her height she can't weight much and I don't know if lifting her is problem to any men) and in Spring Waters - Evseyeva.

[russianballetvideo]

There are skinny Mariinsky men that are able to do the one arm lift in act 1 of donQuixote, so they do have strength to lift, but i have seen these same men have other partnering mistakes, trying to make a lift and failing and the ballerina ending on his shoulder. instead of being raised in the air. With the lighter ballerinas today, today's men have an easier time lifting, but strength is an issue. When your body is in an anexoric state, which unfortunately many men are in, strength is problem

[avesraggiana]

Finally! Some old fashioned male, masculine energy in Paquita - brought to us courtesy of Constantin Zaklinsky! As a dancer, he was sexy in that peculiar, pasty-faced, Slavic way. I would have killed to have had legs that looked so extravagantly sensuous and powerful in a pair of white tights.

[alejimenez76]

the great golden old days!!

[ardianworld]

Great video, it is definitely a joy to watch. Terekhova in the first video just seem to float through air. She is my all time favorite ballerina: impeccable technique, elegant port-de-bras and very strong.

By the way, what happened to Ivan Kozlov? I can't find his name on the Mariinsky website. Did he left the company?

[Bnesque]

@hikari6986 And exactly that's why Mariinsy excels even in POB signature Le Parc.

[hikari6986]

@Bnesque Well about the port de bras, that is because french-italian ballet does not have the same port de bras russians have

[hikari6986]

I don't think only Stepanova has a good bodybuilding like you say, Obratzova has a very pretty body too. Well at least at what I have seen her in videos, I don't know if she's skinnier in real life

[Bnesque]

@FerocityQueen Yes, he looks like David or Adam of Michalangelo!

[pediatrapaola]

@FerocityQueen agree but a crane would be less boring than danila imo ,and more virtuosos

[FerocityQueen]

(continued)

From the current Kirov men I think the best proportions belong to Ilya Kuznetsov - a figure which could've easily inspired Renaissance sculptors and painters!THAT's how a main hero should look - not tiny little big-headed elf S.

[FerocityQueen]

The anorexia issue is much more prominent amongst the Kirov women than men imho.I was actually scared to see Lopatkina backstage last year as she's literally skin plastered over bones.In many of her interviews she's mentioned that she's "too heavy for some modern dance lifts","tall and big",etc,so she has to be lunatically strict about her weight in order to be lifted.On the other hand,I think she's the main reason for sleeping pill K. being a principal(tall and strong,provides good lifts)