• ABOUT
  • SUPPORT
  • ADVERTISE
  • CONTACT
SUBSCRIBE NOW
No Result
View All Result
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
The Ballet Herald®
  • Home
  • Magazine
    • News
    • Features
    • Reviews
    • Opinions
    • Interviews
    • On This Day in History
    • Schools & Training
  • Ballet Performances Calendar
  • Famous Ballets
    • Cinderella
    • Coppélia
    • Don Quixote
    • Giselle
    • La Bayadère
    • La Sylphide
    • Romeo and Juliet
    • Swan Lake
    • The Nutcracker
    • The Sleeping Beauty
  • Ballet Companies
  • Home
  • Magazine
    • News
    • Features
    • Reviews
    • Opinions
    • Interviews
    • On This Day in History
    • Schools & Training
  • Ballet Performances Calendar
  • Famous Ballets
    • Cinderella
    • Coppélia
    • Don Quixote
    • Giselle
    • La Bayadère
    • La Sylphide
    • Romeo and Juliet
    • Swan Lake
    • The Nutcracker
    • The Sleeping Beauty
  • Ballet Companies
No Result
View All Result
The Ballet Herald®
Home Magazine On This Day in History

Vaganova Ballet Academy: The Birthplace of Russian Ballet

by Kendall Terashima
May 4, 2021
in On This Day in History, Schools & Training
Reading Time: 5 mins read
Vaganova Ballet Academy - The Birthplace of Russian Ballet

Vaganova Ballet Academy: The Birthplace of Russian Ballet

340
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

For nearly three centuries, the Vaganova Ballet Academy has shaped Russian culture and taken the ballet world by storm. Renowned for producing some of the best dancers in the world, this academy has become part of the elite tier of ballet in modern times. 

Vaganova Ballet Academy

  • History
  • Agrippa Vaganova
  • Famous Alumni
  • Famous Teachers

Brief History

The Vaganova Ballet Academy was founded on May 4, 1738 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Its foundation was demanded by Empress Anna in order to train dancers for a national ballet company which would be founded less than a decade later. The company was originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet (now the Mariinsky Ballet), and its feeder school was known as the Imperial Theatre School.

The academy had only twenty-four students in its first year – twelve boys and twelve girls. Jean-Baptiste Lande, a dancer, choreographer, and teacher from France, was brought in as the academy’s first Ballet Master. All of the original teachers were from Western Europe, rather than Russia.

In 1801, Charles Didelot took over as Ballet Master for the next twenty years, and during this time the academy gained a significant amount of fame and prestige.

Following the October Revolution of 1917, the academy dedicated itself to choreography and was renamed the Leningrad State Choreographic Institute. Twenty years later, it would be a school for dancers once more and renamed for the esteemed teacher, Agrippa Vaganova. 

Agrippa Vaganova

Agrippa Vaganova graduated from the Imperial Theatre School in 1897 and went to have a brief career with the Imperial Ballet directly following. At first, she was overshadowed by her peers and kept in the corps de ballet. Eventually, Vaganova was able to receive soloist status and gained a reputation as the “queen of variations”. 

Marius Petipa, former First Ballet Master of the Imperial Theatres, disagreed with her status as he had an intense distaste for Vaganova, oft times refusing to attend a performance in which she had a soloist role. However, after a wildly successful performance of Niriti in The Talisman, Vaganova was promoted to prima.

Despite her newfound success, Vaganova retired a year later to begin teaching. In 1921, she began teaching at her alma mater and was quickly recognized for her talent. She was able to turn any physical limitations into strengths (as she had dealt with many herself), and taught her students to have a soft look while still being strong and clean. Vaganova continued to teach at the school until her death.

From 1931 to 1937, Vaganova was the Artistic Director of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theatre (formerly Imperial, later Mariinsky). She developed a following of young dancers who took every word she said as law. Her teachings and ideas were codified in 1934 in her book, Basic Principles of Classical Ballet: Russian Ballet Technique. This book is still used as a reference today for all those hoping to learn the Russian method.

Agrippa Vaganova died in 1951 and was commemorated six years later when the Leningrad State Choreographic Institute was renamed the Vaganova Ballet Academy. The name remains the same over sixty years later. 

Famous Alumni

Listed below are the most notable alumni of the Vaganova Ballet Academy along with their contributions to the dance community.

George Balanchine: (1904-1983) Founder of School of American Ballet (SAB), New York City Ballet (NYCB), Choreographer of Serenade, Jewels, Firebird, The Nutcracker*, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Don Quixote*, Harliquinade, Who Cares? 

Mikhail Baryshnikov: (1948-Present) Company member: The Mariinsky Theatre, American Ballet Theatre (ABT)

Michel Fokine: (1880-1942) Choreographer for Diaghlev’s Ballet Russes, Company member of the Mariinsky Theatre, Choreographer of Le Spectre de la Rose, Les Sylphides, Firebird, Petrouchka (over 80 ballets)

Vaslav Nijinsky: (1889-1950) Company member for the Mariinsky Theatre, Co-Founder of Diaghlev’s Ballet Russes, Choreographer of Rite of Spring

Rudolf Nuryev: (1938-1993) Director of Paris Opera Ballet, Company member of Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas, Guest artist at Royal Ballet

Alla Osipenko: (1932-Present) Company member of the Mariinsky Theatre, Honored Artist of Russia, People’s Artist of Russia

Anna Pavlova: (1881-1931) Company member of the Mariinsky Theatre and Diaghlev’s Ballet Russes, founder of her own ballet company

Marius Petipa: (1818-1910) Choreographer of The Nutcracker*, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Giselle*, Don Quixote*, La Bayadere, & Coppélia*

Agrippa Vaganova

Famous Teachers

Listed below are the most notable teachers of the Vaganova Ballet Academy.

Enrico Cecchetti: (1850-1928) Vaslav Nijinsky & Anna Pavlova’s personal teacher, creator of the Cecchetti Method of Ballet

Charles Didelot: (1767-1837)

Jules Perrot: (1810-1892) Choreographer of Giselle*, La Esmerelda, Ondine, Pas de Quatre

Marius Petipa: (1818-1910) Choreographer of The Nutcracker*, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Giselle*, Don Quixote, La Bayadere, Coppélia*

Arthur Saint Leon: (1815 [1821?]-1870) Choreographer of Coppélia*

Alla Osipenko: Company member of the Mariinsky Theatre, Honored Artist of Russia, People’s Artist of Russia

Agrippa Vaganova

SOURCES

  • ABT: Arthur Saint Leon
  • ABT: Jules Perrot
  • ABT: Michel Fokine
  • Balanchine Official Website
  • The Ballet Herald
  • Basic Principles of Classical Ballet, Agrippina Vaganova
  • Cecchetti Council of America
  • Kennedy Center
  • The Mariinsky Theatre
  • Mikailovsky Russia
  • The Moscow Times
  • Nureyev Official Website
  • Royal Opera House
  • Saint Petersburg Official Website
  • Vaganova Academy Russia
  • Victoria and Albert Museum 

Featured Photo of students at the Imperial Ballet School (now Vaganova Ballet Academy) from Wikimedia

*Choreographic works that are listed twice are restagings of the same story

Tags: Agrippina Vaganovaballet schoolsMayVaganovaVaganova Ballet Academy
Kendall Terashima

Kendall Terashima

Kendall grew up in Raleigh, NC where she studied ballet, modern, and jazz under the direction of Sandra Zellinger, Cherilyn Joy Lee, and Andrew Lamar. She has performed with Carolina Ballet in The Nutcracker, Cinderella, and The Little Mermaid on various occasions. In 2016 and 2017, Kendall taught alongside Willie Hinton at the Carolina Ballet Summer Intensive. After acceptance into the Joffrey school at age 10, she decided to stay in North Carolina to complete a study of the Cecchetti Method with Rosina DeVries. She has completed grades I-VI, scoring Highly Commended or Commended on all levels. She is now working toward undergraduate degrees in Advertising and Public Relations as well as a minor in dance at Appalachian State University while in her third year of teaching at a local studio.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.


ADVERTISEMENT

Order Now!




The Ballet Herald

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive recent stories and upcoming performance details direct to your inbox!

(Be sure to add news[at]balletherald.com to your contact list so that we don't end up in your spam folder.)

BROWSE THE NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES

⦿

Ballet Companies Ballet Herald Famous Ballets Features Interviews Magazine News On This Day in History Opinions Reviews Schools & Training Theatres Videos
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 The Ballet Herald™ by BalletNomad, LLC®

No Result
View All Result
  • ➩ Subscribe Now
  • Home
  • Magazine
    • News
    • Features
    • Reviews
    • Opinions
    • Interviews
    • On This Day in History
    • Schools & Training
  • Performance Calendar
  • Famous Ballets
    • Cinderella
    • Coppélia
    • Don Quixote
    • Giselle
    • La Bayadère
    • La Sylphide
    • Romeo and Juliet
    • The Nutcracker
    • Swan Lake
    • The Sleeping Beauty
  • Ballet Companies
  • ⊙ About
  • ⊙ Support
  • ⊙ Contact
  • ⊙ Advertise

© 2022 The Ballet Herald™ by BalletNomad, LLC®

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.