Part 10 of 12 Bolshoi Ballet School Coppelia 1987 Stepanenko Malykhin Taranda Gracheva Golovkina

Part one starts with an interesting conversation between the director of the Moscow Classical Ballet Company, Natalia Kasatkina , and Sofia Golovkina , the director of the Bolshoi Ballet School . If any individual came close to approaching the incomparable status of Agrippina Vaganova , Sofia Golovkina would be the obvious choice.
The interview starts with a description of the cast. I will write as if we are living in 1987 so when I say he or she is, remember that applies to 23 years ago. We learn that the three leading roles are by professional dancers, no longer in ballet school. The two leading roles of Swanilda and Franz, are played by recent Bolshoi School graduates, Galina Stepanenko and Alexei Malykhin . Golovkina says that Stepanenko was her student in school and that she is very happy that Stepanenko is dancing as a soloist for Kasatkina's Moscow Classical Ballet Company. Malykhin is a current Bolshoi Ballet soloist. Dr. Coppelius is played by a unique Bolshoi Ballet dancer of immense talent, Gediminas Taranda . She mentions several of the students dancing soloist roles, but surprisingly does not mention Nadezhda Gracheva, who also is her student. Gracheva does one of the main solo roles in act 3.
Then we learn about Coppelia. Golovkina had danced Swanilda many times and she loved dancing the ballet. She danced with Radunsky as Dr. Coppelius. For this Bolshoi School production, Maxim Martyrosyan has made several additions to the choreography, based on Alexander Gorksy's restaged choreography of the Marius Petipa classic, using Leo Delibes beautiful music. The Arthur Saint-Léon original French choreography for Coppelia is not present in the Russian version. Alexander Gorsky is the circa 1900 Bolshoi Ballet choreographer , who restaged Don Quixote, which is now in the Mariinsky and Bolshoi ballet versions.
We then find out about the children and the current Bolshoi Ballet School repertoire. All the dancers in Coppelia, except the 3 leads, are Bolshoi Ballet students. The youngest students are 10 years old and the oldest students will be 17 and 18 years old. Golovkina says that some Bolshoi Ballet School performances, but not Coppelia, use the pre-ballet students, ages 8 and 9. Golovkina discusses the repertoire for 1987 being Coppelia, La Fille Mal Gardee , Timur (I have no idea what this ballet is. If anyone knows, I would love to find out) and a Big Concert program with many divertissements.

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• Bolshoi
• Ballet
• School
• Coppelia
• Stepanenko
• Malykhin
• Taranda
• Gracheva
• Golovkina
• Kasatkina
• Delibes
• Petipa
• Gorsky