Part 1 of 8 One of the Greatest Dancers Ever Andrei Batalov Kirov Mariinsky Ballet Don Quixote Kulik

One of the worst crimes in ballet history is the treatment of Andrei Batalov, particularly by former director, Makhar Vaziev. Andrei Batalov should go down in ballet history as one of the all time great dancers, but after winning Grand Prize at the International Moscow Ballet Competition, his stock declined in value rapidly at his home base, the Kirov Mariinsky Ballet.
This performance is the only video that exists of a full length Don Quixote performed by Andrei Batalov, in what should be his most renowned ballet. Today, when people talk about great Basil dancers, the name of Batalov is unknown and that is a crime. This performance was at the end of 1997. In June, Batalov had won Grand Prize in Moscow and then later in the year, Batalov came with a group of Kirov dancers to the USA in what was billed as Stars of the Kirov. Two of the ballerinas in this performance were on that USA tour, Margarita Kulik, who dances Kitri with Andrei: and Maya Dumchenko, who does the Grand Pas variation in the final act. This performance was done shortly after their return from this USA tour.
In 1995, Batalov danced Basil in what should be a historic video, when Vaganova student, Diana Vishneva, danced Kitri with the Kirov Ballet. A little of her performance was filmed and can be seen on video, but Batalov was ignored and the full ballet was never filmed. After this late 1997 video that you are watching, Batalov rarely danced Don Quixote in full length versions and stopped going on company tours. Artistic director, Makhar Vaziev, unlike his predecessor, Oleg Vinogradov, did not like Batalov, most likely for personal reasons that had nothing to do with Batalov's amazing dancing. He finally went on a Mariinsky tour early this year to Hong Kong and danced one performance of a full length Don Quixote; however it was a closed performance for very poor school children and probably not one person in the audience would have noticed the difference in dancing between Batalov and a 5th year Vaganova student... He did not dance in the other 4 or 5 performances open to the knowledgeable public.
Since I am 100% certain that Andrei Batalov is one of the greatest male dancers ever, I will discuss those worth considering. Prior to 1950, I only see three men worthy, Vaslav Nijinsky, Konstantine Sergeyev and Vakhtang Chabukiani. In the late 1950s, two phenomenal male dancers emerged. As with the case of Sergeyev and Chabukiani, who were both born in 1910, Vladimir Vasiliev and Yuri Soloviev were both born in 1940. These two dancers are probably the two greatest male dancers ever and the dancer from their generation that seems to get most of the acclaim is the defector, Rudolf Nureyev, who was vastly inferior to both of them. Nureyev certainly had a great stage presence, but due to his late start into ballet, his dancing technique was greatly deficient and results in him being the most over rated dancer of our time. Kirov dancers, at the time Nureyev was with the Kirov, all admit that Soloviev was far superior.
I will go forward and obviously in the 1960s emerged Mikhail Baryshnikov and then in the 1980s emerged a great, Irek Mukhamedov. but he was not at the level of Vasliev or Soloviev. Faroukh Ruzimatov is the true great one that emerged in the 1980s with his one of a kind style. The 1990s should have been the emergence of Andrei Batalov, but Vaziev wiped Batalov out from recognition. In the new millennium, many consider Ivan Vasiliev as the one, but he is inferior at a comparable age to Batalov and he is less suited for princely roles than Batalov, who is the same height as Baryshnikov, who had no difficulty with princely roles.
The future greats are impossible to predict, but the Mikahilovsky Ballet has possibly the next great one in a true prince, Viktor Lebedev, who will begin his professional career this week.

Category:

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Tags:

• Kirov
• Mariinsky
• Ballet
• Don
• Quixote
• Andrei
• Batalov
• Margarita
• Kulik
• Maya
• Dumchenko

[balletfanRGA]

omg this the 21st century and I still read this: "that seems to get most of the acclaim is the defector, Rudolf Nureyev" it sounds to me this is a USSR communist trying to diminish Nureyev's achievements. Pretty sad. This was posted on 2010 and Berlin wall went down in 1989 and the USSR follow not far behind and this "person" still talks like that? Shame on you. Being a "defector" might've helped but other dancers that stayed in USSR became world renowned dancers ... to be continued

[russianballetvideo]

@balletfanRGA Here in Saint Petersburg, where Nureyev and Soloviev performed, the old timers know the greatness of Soloviev. Wacth this video titled "2/2 One of The Greatest Live Ballet Performances Ever Filmed 1964 Kirov Laurencia Soloviev Fedicheva ". If you read two of the early comments, they comment that Nureyev was over rated and mention the two true greats of that era, Soloviev and Vasiliev. Watch this video and state your argument. Nureyev was over rated with 2 phenomenons.

[oldoperafan]

I am sorry to hear what you say about Balatov's career but so far I remain unimpressed by either of them. Steps do not make a complete dancer. They can both dance their roles but they are boring. I will give them, and you, the benefit of the doubt and watch some more.

[russianballetvideo]

@oldoperafan Since it does not look like you intend to watch the full ballet, you might as well skip to the solos and coda at the end of the final act pas de deux.

[louiseduvee]

I am watching this for the third time!I can't remember the lasttime I enjoyed a performance as much as this one! Thank you! (Please don't let anything happen to it, I've fallen in love.)

[russianballetvideo]

@louiseduvee Thank you for your inspiring comment. I will take good care of it..

[moushka26]

Batalov - where have you been all my life?! What a gorgeous man. How could such a talent have remained in obscurity? Crazy Russian ballet world! Thank you for posting this. I'm not a Kulik fan but Batalov is sensational.

[balletfanRGA]

such as Maya, Vasiliev, Maximova and the ultra communist Ulanova, so what else happened to the ones you mentioned in your description beside staying in the USSR? Thanks god we had a bunch other critics and dancers that situate Nureyev as the greatest. I would like to mentioned as well that even though I respect it Nureyev is not my favorite male dancer but I can not negate the phenomenon Nureyev was; it totally revolutionized the way male dancers are appreciated.

[EVZYL]

Thanks for posting full-length ballets.

[iskander21024]

Many thanks for this masterpiece!

[ninachiquitina]

This is my favorite ballet for sure! And not just because I am spanish

[MrNocco]

I wonder if some of those kids in the beginning are now some of the superstars they have :P sarafanov or matvienko ^^