UNITED KINGDOM / RUSSIA: WORLD FAMOUS KIROV BALLET GIVES LONDONERS A CHANCE TO SEE THEM IN TRAINING

Record ID: 385946

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM / RUSSIA: WORLD FAMOUS KIROV BALLET GIVES LONDONERS A CHANCE TO SEE THEM IN TRAINING
  • Date: 28th September 1994
  • Summary: PRIMA BALLERINA YULIA MAKHALINA DANCING VARIATION FROM "RAYMONDA" COMPANY BOWS BEFORE FINAL CURTAIN
  • Embargoed: 13th October 1994 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM/ ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
  • City:
  • Country: EUROPE ASIA England United Kingdom Russia
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA4Z0GIA7AYCD2HP5TPISUF62T7
  • Story Text: London audiences have been given a rare glimpse behind the scenes of the world famous Kirov ballet during a "masterclass" to raise money for AIDS victims in Russia.

    But for all the effort on stage, the Kirov itself is going through difficult times.

    Mixed reviews, a shortage of money in post-communist Russia and its artistic director its artistic director's startling claim that gangsters want to kill him have all added to the Kirov drama.

    Oleg Vinogradov has been the ballet's artistic director since 1977. He has cleared out the old guard of the ballet, founded on the orders of Catherine the Great in 1782. The changes have made Vinogradov many enemies.

    In June he stirred controversy after reportedly saying he feared for his life, had hired bodyguards, and could no longer live in St Petersburg.

    Asked if he was still in danger, Vinogradov told Reuters Television that Russia was going through a very difficult time in history, something he could not alter.

    "I have given 22 years of my life to this theatre and want to continue," he said.

    Directors of the Kirov in St Petersburg declined to comment.

    The Kirov has also been struggling to cope with the cash crisis caused by the collapse of communism. The ballet's 210 dancers have now been split two companies, taking turns to tour abroad.

    The remaining company performs at the ballet's Marinsky theatre in St Petersburg. With principals earning as little as 150 U.S.

    dollars a month, many have left for bigger salaries overseas.

    The average age of the ballet is now 24. Its rising stars include Anastasia Volochkova, Uliana Lopatkina and Tatiana Amosova, known as "the basketball team," as all are over six feet tall.

    Ivanchenko Evgenii is one of the new male stars.

    Yet reviews of the ballet's recent New York season were not kind. Its performance of Swan Lake was dubbed "just plain tedious" by the New York Times.

    Vinogradov says European audiences understand classical ballet much better. "We are conservative, just like your politics," he joked to the London audience.

    The London masterclass was organised to raise money for AIDS reseach and treatment in St Petersburg. The U.K.-based charity Sterling Work arranged the event, which raised more than 22,000 U.S. dollars. The drug company Wellcome also donated several thousand dollars worth of drugs to the St Petersburg HIV treatment programme.
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