Russian Ballerina List
I love Russian Ballet, have all the Swan Lake dvds done by Russian ballet companies: Kirov, Bolshoi, Perm. dance, especially the Classical Ballet, it's an art form that purely based on years of detailed practice of technique, poetry in motion, literally, that an artist has to learn her body, learn to move, mood, music, all that express in the moment, similar as soccer, a dribbler and a passer are artists, make all the movement effortlessly, of course ballet does not requires one to juggle the ball and not to lose it, most soccer players footwork goes down into the drain when a challenger hell-bent come at them to tackle for the ball, only a few naturally talented ballplayer can be calm and dance away with the ball, like Brazilian players do have deep dribbling creative culture, so a lot of Brazilian players can keep the ball effortlessly, and while every their pose and gesture, movement like samba dance. Classical Ballet share the same, only it's purely more art form than soccer, I guess some of the Kung Fu movie also trying to do some kind of art stuff, more like experiment. as a boy kicking the ball in the backyard, to devout his childhood to learn keeping or tackling the ball, a ballerina learns to make her body to an instrument to the classical music she listens, she has to make that music hers, so her mind and body react naturally to the melody and tempo, I have watched a Russian ballet Swan Lake dvd, in the 2nd act ending part the conductor seemed rushing thru the end, and what surprised me the three big swans totally kept up with the fast tempo and pulled it off :D, probably for other dance corps would be a flop. the solid technique is foundation of every art, and the reason people especially young people focus on the technique is because we know we lack of that, and slow down the music or tempo that won't give audience or dancers or players that thrill they deserve to have. it's drug, or liquor. imagine Micheal Jackson music played in slower tempo, so common people (none trained dancers) can dance to it, or Flames of Paris play slow tempo, then all the pumped up emotion is gone, there' no flames, no joyous celebration mood. it's like the Chinese restaurant down the block, it serves no Chinese, neither should be qualified to call it a restaurant. but stomach is easily pleased, but the taste of art form, especially Ballet should be the best, the highest, the top as the music fits. all the classical music, are from folks or lifetime great musician's blood work, the source of the story are folktales, poems of some great famous poets, or novelists, and all the ballerinas give away their priceless childhood to hang on the bar daily to transform their body to swan, of course people and the business should all respect that, no matter they are Russian, or Soviet, or color of their skin, or language they speak, they belong to the art form, not certain political camps or business circus, we cannot just put today's American musicians among Bach Mozart Beethoven, they definitely earned more cash, and more awards than all three sum up, but we cannot just shamelessly fool our kids and ourselves just for the market reason. Steve Job cannot be paired with Da Vinci, that's just wrong. So, Russian Ballerinas are better than the rest of the world, because: 1) they have the tradition, a culture to breed, 2) their state funding to feed their talents to grow. what the rest of the world have is just one circus and another circus, artists have to entertain to get by, kids not really get picked and trained by the best who grow up in the system. what I hate is that the media spreading lies to our public and kids, so we don't know we get beat. imagine if ballet is a boxing match. so since ballet is not physical competition then we can always talk, because talk is cheap, act is easy so this way this serious art is still a cheap production for the cost-cut measure purpose. Art is first to discover the truth, and speak the truth, like Keats say Truth is beauty, beauty is truth. otherwise we cannot work on it, knock something together is not creation, and improvement is not perfection. great should be truly great, and I still don't understand what "fine" means. the critics and experts are more like politicians. they suppose to be fair and true. purely judge ballerinas or footballers by the art, but... any ballet fans seriously think themselves as lovers should spend time to watch many dvds and youtube, suppose we should just trust the words of big media experts, because they suppose to save our time, but they just won't tell us the truth, so we have to do the legwork. so I recently got some spare time, made a short list, it's incomplete, but it's helpful enough. here.
Galina Ulanova, Vahktang, Dudinskaya from Stars of Russian Ballets show their great technique well past their 40s. Old people can dance.
Maya Plisetskaya, her Don Quixote better than Swan Lake, and Swan Lake 1957 shows the whole ballet corp the best of Bolshoi, best 2 pair Spanish dance (also the best Spanish dance on Iceland recording DVD by Nadezhda Pavlova and Lyubov Konakova), the six little swan repertoire way better than mechanical usual routine four. those ladies can dance, none of today's ballet corp possess the skill and intensity as that DVD.
Raisa Struchkova, Ninel Kurgapkina are equal to Plisetskaya.
Ekaterina Maximova, great movement, no ballerina can spin twirl like her teen years, and Spartacus is must see.
Bessmertnova's Bolshoi Swan Lake housed some the best soloists, the third act is a feast of all national folk dancers.
Yelena Yevteyeva the best film version to own, dazzling technique. one of the best Odile dance.
Galina Mezentseva, the best of the best Ballerina, lyrical technique, most artistic. her Swan Lake and Giselle are must own, not only two great historic performance of Swan Lake and Giselle, the whole Kirov 70-80s gang there, they are the best generation of last century Ballet, Zhanna Ayupova, Irina Christiakova in her Swan Lake; Tatyana Terekova and Altynai Asylmuratova(great Odile) play willis in her Giselle! in soccer fan term, that's the Barcelona squad of Messi, Ronaldinho, Xavi, Inesta team up era.
Lyubov Konakova, one of the best Odiles, see her Iceland recording dvd; Larissa Lezhnina, one the best Sleeping Beauty. Why at the same period, Kirov got so many talents?
Ludmila Semenyaka, she dances light, a poet.
Tatyana Terekhova, most technique ballerina, only she can dance Don Quixote, while others include big games can only make it gymnastic floor routine, the recent Mariinsky's soloist Olesya Novikova runs well with Terekhova's baton.
Nina Ananiashvili, a very matured artist, great Odette and Odile, amazing Giselle dvd, and Nina Speranskaya plays Myrtha, she can reach high effortlessly, like breathing, a great dancer.
Zhanna Ayupova, if her dance exercise video released in dvd format, would be sold out. she can put a spell on viewer by only doing position 1-5.
Makhalina Yulia, also appeared in Mezentseva's squad dvd. She is great Odette.
Uliana Lopatkina, most lyrical, fluid and technical after Mezentseva. She is the perfect swan. The recent Mariinsky principal Ekaterina Konduarova is an opposite, a very interesting interpretation, her dance movement and figure like marble swan, adorable.
Diana Vishneva, the online and everyone says she is great, but the problem is where her dvds? what I only watched her Giselle on youtube, great! She plays best Giselle.
Svetlana Zakharova, perfect ballerina, her Giselle with Sergei Polunin is one of the best, packed with so much emotion and intensity, she goes all out on that stage. Anna Tsygankova of Dutch National Ballet danced airy Giselle, awesome.
Natalia Osipova, best Flames of Paris live recording.
I really want to get some Western ballerinas into that group, I have spent time watched most their dvds I could borrow from library and online, but they are not on that list.
The reason I do this list is that I have wasted a lot time listening to those big dance critics and magazines and online source, after I bought or borrowed the dvds, I felt I was cheated. in case any ballet fans want to save some money, above list of ballerinas to find on Amazon or eBay.
| Russian Ballerina List from VHSs, DVDs and Youtube | |||
| 苏联女芭蕾舞蹈家，视屏记录表 | |||
| Dancer Name，姓名 | Dance/Prima Period 时期 | Birth 出生 | Company 舞团 |
| Ulanova Galina | 1928-1962 | 1910 | Kirov, Bolshoi |
| Chabukiani Vakhtang | 1930-1960 | 1910 | Kirov |
| Dudinskaya Natalia | 1931-1983 | 1912 | Kirov |
| Lepeshinskaya Olga | 1933-1963 | 1916 | Bolshoi |
| Shelest Alla | 1937-1963 | 1919 | Kirov |
| Zubkovskaya Inna | 1941-1970 | 1923 | Kirov |
| Elvin Violetta | 1943-1956 | 1925 | Kirov, Royal |
| Plisetskaya Maya | 1943-1967? | 1925 | Bolshoi |
| Struchkova Raissa | 1944-1978 | 1925 | Bolshoi |
| Kurgapkina Ninel | 1947-1974? | 1929 | Kirov |
| Moiseyeva Olga | 1947-1973 | 1928 | Kirov |
| Samokhvalova Maya | 1948-1972 | 1929 | Bolshoi |
| Osipenko Alla | 1950-1971 | 1932 | Kirov |
| Kolpakova Irina | 1951-1987 | 1933 | Kirov |
| Kondratieva Marina | 1952-? | 1934 | Bolshoi |
| Timofeyeva Nina | 1953-1988 | 1935 | Kirov, Bolshoi |
| Kasatkina Natalia | 1954-1972? | 1934 | Bolshoi, Kirov |
| Fedicheva Kaleria | 1955-1975 | 1936 | Kirov |
| Komleva Gabriela | 1957-1989 | 1938 | Kirov |
| Maximova Ekaterina | 1958-1980 | 1939 | Bolshoi |
| Sizova Alla | 1958-1988 | 1939 | Kirov |
| Makarova Natalia | 1960-1980? | 1940 | Kirov, ABT |
| Sorokina Nina | 1961-1987? | 1942 | Bolshoi |
| Bessmertnova Natalia | 1962-1989? | 1941 | Bolshoi |
| Yevteyeva Yelena | 1966-1993? | 1947 | Kirov |
| Ludmilla Kovaleva | n/a | N/a | Kirov |
| Bolshakova Natalia | n/a | n/a | Kirov |
| Mezentseva Galina | 1970-1990? | 1952 | Kirov |
| Semenyaka Ludmila | 1970-1992? | 1952 | Kirov, Bolshoi |
| Tayakina Tatiana | 1973?-? | 1951 | Bolshoi |
| Terekhova Tatiana | 1973-? | 1952 | Kirov |
| Chenchikova Olga | 1970s | 1956 | Kirov |
| Nadezhda Pavlova | 1973-1992 | 1956 | Perm, Bolshoi |
| Speranskaya Nina | 1973?-2002? | n/a | Bolshoi |
| Konakova Lyubov | 1974-1992 | n/a | Kirov |
| Mikhalchenko Alla | 1976-1999? | 1957 | Bolshoi |
| Semizorova Nina | 1978-1998? | 1956 | Bolshoi |
| Asylmuratova Altynai | 1978-1999? | 1961 | Kirov, ABT, RB |
| Ananiashvili Nina | 1981-1999? | 1964 | Bolshoi, NYC, RB |
| Ayupova Zhanna | 1984-2009 | 1966 | Kirov |
| Makhalina Yulia | 1986-1996? | 1968 | Kirov |
| Nadia/Nadezhda Gracheva | 1988-? | 1969 | Bolshoi |
| Lezhnina Larissa | 1990-1994-? | 1969 | Kirov, DNB |
| Shapchits Irina | 1993 Coppelia DVD | N/A | Kirov |
| Lopatkina Uliana | 1991-2017 Now | 1973 | Kirov |
| Vishneva Diana | 1995-2005-Now | 1976 | Kirov, ABT |
| Kaptsova Nina | 1996?-? | 1978 | Bolshoi |
| Lunkina Svetlana | 1997-2013-Now | 1979 | Bolshoi, CNB |
| Zakharova Svetlana | 1997-Now | 1979 | Kirov, Bolshoi |
| Kondaurova Ekaterina | 2000-Now | 1982 | Kirov |
| Somova Alina | 2004-Now | 1985 | Kirov |
| Osipova Natalia | 2006-Now | 1986 | Bolshoi, Royal |
| Russian Ballerina List from Book Source | |||
| Dancer Name | Dance/PrimaPeriod | Birth | Company |
| Vazem Ekaterina | 1867-1884 | 1848 | Bolshoi |
| Kshessinska Mathilda | 1893-1904 | 1872 | Kirov |
| Vaganova Agrippina | 1897-1915 | 1879 | Kirov |
| Geltser Ekaterina | 1898-1927 | 1876 | Kirov, Russ, Bolshoi |
| Pavlova Anna | 1899-1912 | 1881 | Kirov |
| Karsavina Tamara | 1902-1931 | 1885 | Kirov, Russ |
| Spessivtseva Olga | 1913-1924-1932 | 1895 | Kirov, Paris Opera |
| Somonova Marina | 1919-1952 | 1908 | Kirov, Bolshoi |
| Lukom Yelena | 1920-1941 | 1891 | Kirov |
| Volkova Vera | 1925-1929 | 1904 | Kirov |
| Kriger Victoriana | 1925-1948 | 1893 | Bolshoi |
| Anisomova Nina | 1927-1958 | 1909 | Kirov |
| Vecheslova Tatyana | 1928-1953 | 1910 | Kirov |
