St Petersburg
Ballet is synonomis with St Petersburg so a discussin of its development
in the city will put it into perspective and how theMariinsky Theater
became know as the best in the world. Ballet in Russia dates
back to 1738, when a Frenchman, Jean Baptiste Lande, founded a dancing
school in St. Petersburg. Invited
to Russia by the Empress Anna to teach dancing to palace servants, Lande’s
school eventually evolved in the 1920s into the Vaganova
Ballet school in St. Petersburg, which is responsible for
training the majority of the most famous dancers in history. During
the reign of the tsars the Vaganova School was known as the State Academic
Theatre of Opera and Ballet. This school used to (and in fact mainly
still does) supply all of the dancers for the Mariinsky Theater. It
was the Empress Catherine II who founded the Mariinsky
Theatre in 1783 as a home for the developing arts of opera and ballet. The
theatre was built on a former circus site, next to an Italian opera house. The
opera house long ago became the St. Petersburg Conservatory that has
turned out generations of famous composers. This area is now known
as Theatre Square. The Mariinsky was designed by the architect Caves,
and was named for Maria, the wife of Tsar Alexander II. Although
during Soviet times the Theatre was renamed the Kirov, (after an assassinated
revolutionary leader who had nothing to do with ballet) the theatre has
since reverted to its former name. As one author describes the
theatre, “The imposing building of the Kirov is an entire palace;
once inside, one remembers Meyerkhold’s famous words, “How
good it is for the soul to sit in this temple” (Klein, 98). 
Like
the other Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg and Moscow, the tsar (or
tsarina) supported the Mariinsky with an annual subsidy of two million
gold rubles. When the theatre opened in 1860, it impressed audiences
with its majestic façade and luxurious interior, including light-blue
plush velvet seats, crystal chandeliers and gilt and white paneling. Notably,
the stage can be seen from every seat in the theatre, no small architectural
achievement.
Marius
Petipa: At
this time, the golden period of Russian opera flourished at the Mariinsky
Theatre. Many Western works, translated into Russian quickly found
their way onto the stage, and at thesame time occurred the premieres
of national Russian masterpieces like Boris Gudunov, Prince Igor, and
The Queen of Spades. There were two main figures connected
to the Mariinsky Theatre at this time. One, Eduard Napravnik,
became chief conductor in 1869 and held this position for 47 years. Under
his hand he raised the Mariinsky to a position as one of the 
world’s
leading opera houses. The other man was Marius Petipa. Petipa
was the first ballet-master to the Tsar from 1869 to 1903. Marius,
a Frenchman, came to Petersburg as a dancer in 1847. While there
he trained under the former ballet-masters Perrot and St. Leon. Finally
hebecame ballet-master in 1869. Petipa gave St. Petersburg
ballet the structure it lacked, and he almost single-handedly created
the corps de ballet. Petipa createdforty-six original ballets
and revived seventeen ballets. Some of his most famous ballets
were products of his collaboration with composer Tchaikovsky, for instance
Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, and Swan Lake. Other ballets
of his included Le Corsaire, La Bayadere, Don Quixote, and Raymonda. Petipa
was well known for creating entire ballets and characters for certain
dancers, and during his reign as dancing master he made famous such
celebrated dancers as Pavel Gerdt, Mathilde Kschessinka, and Anna Pavlova.
Theatre
Practices At the end of the century ballet was in a decline
everywhere but Russia. In Europe, the art of choreography had become
debased and ballet was considered a trivial accessory to opera or a
mindless display of female dancers. Male dancers were relegated
to carrying the females around, and by the end of the 19th century
they had virtually disappeared from ballet. However, in Russia
ballet held a position of great artistic importance. The performances
lasted for several hours and competition for seats was extraordinary. At
the turn of the century there were 180 dancers in the Mariinsky Theatre,
all strictly graded by rank. First came the corps de ballet,
then corphee, sujet, prima ballerina and prima ballerina assoluta,
or for a man, soloist to the Tsar. The term of service was for
twenty years, after which the dancers 
received a pension for life.
The dancers were specially picked from a young age for their stamina,
body shape, and musical knowledge. Acceptance at the school was
so rigorous that only six to ten of every hundred applicants were admitted. The
regime at the dance school was strictly regulated, which paid off with
the extremely large number of exceptionally talented dancers that come
out of the school. This has been attributed to the Mariinsky
tradition of keeping their best dancers on as master teachers during
and after their careers. More than any other performing art,
dancing succeeds the best when the techniques and practices are handed
down from master to student. The Mariinsky Theatre was the possessor
of a very prestigious succession of teachers and pupils who perpetrated
a cycle of ever-increasing talent. From
the first year pupils were used in productions at the Mariinsky Theatre. After
graduation they were guaranteed a place in the Mariinsky Theatre's
permanent corps. The dancers were treated very well by the Imperial
family and by the other Russian nobles. Favored ballerinas would
have their dressing rooms filled with flowers before performances,
and when they went out, men would throw their coats and flowers down
in front of their carriages. Devoted crowds would follow dancers
from St. Petersburg to Moscow and back so that no performance would
be missed. Ballerinas performed at court and then sat down to
eat supper with the Imperial family, and they often received jewels. The
dancer Mathilde Kschessinka was famous for being the mistress of the
Tsarevich Nicholas II and later of several Grand Dukes.
The
Next Generation (Fokine, Pavlova,Nijinsky) In
1891 Anna Pavlova, the illegitimate daughter of a laundress, entered
the Academy. Her talent was so great that she skipped the first
rank of dancers and had a meteoric rise to the top. Also at the
school were Tamara Karsavina and a young Vaslav Nijinsky. Nijinsky
especially was fated to have a great impact on the Russian ballet of
the Mariinsky, and he became famous (or notorious, depending on one's
view) at a young age
for his daring costumes and choreography. However,
while these young dancers were becoming stars, an important even took
place in the Mariinsky Theatre organization. Michel Fokine, a
young dancer who taught at the school before becoming ballet master,
filled Petipa's vacant place. At this time, although ballet was
popular, it was accused of becoming conventionalized. The sets
were extremely heavy, and the music wasoften trite and unimaginative. In
a single decade, Fokine liberated the dance. He relaxed the corps,
stressed strong male dancing and liberated the girls from their stiff,
unwieldy costumes. Fokine also danced, and he was the frequent
partner of Pavlova, for whom he created the famous Les Sylphides, Pavillon
d'Armide, and the Dying Swan. All of these works carried the
imprint of his new ideas. Fokine dreamed not only of liberating
ballet from its formality but also of truly revolutionizing it and
allying it with original music and decor. These desires led to
an extraordinary partnership with a group of men who would together
change the ballet for ever, in Russia and abroad.
Sergei
Diaghilev and the Russian Seasons Sergei
Diaghilev was the leader of this group, a man who, though he painted
no pictures and created no productions, ballets and operas, was to
be perhaps the single defining character associated with Russian ballet
in the twentieth century. From an old family of country gentry,
Diaghilev came to St. Petersburg as a young man and became involved
in an intellectual, artistic gathering of men who included Alexander
Benois and Lev Bakst. The group took on the name of " The
World of Art, " and their purpose was to present '
pure' art to
the world. Increasingly, Diaghilev became the leader, organizing
and mounting exhibitions, and finally creating a journal bearing the
same name as the group. The new journal attempted to put forward
new Russian artistsand present them to Russia and the world. This
desire to reveal Russia to Russia and to reveal Russia to the world
became Diaghilev's mission statement, and was to shape the rest of
his career. Diaghilev made himself the unofficial ambassador of Russian
art, and in 1906 he brought an exhibition of Russian painting to Europe. Around
this time, the Mariinsky and other Petersburg theatres began hiring
painters to design their scenery and costumes. The Mariinsky
made use of some of the best painters of the day, including Korovin,
Golovin, Bakst, Benois, and Vasnetsov. In the following year
in Paris Diaghilev organized concerts, introducing the French to the
music of Glinka, Mussorgsky and Borodin. Mussorgsky's music especially
made a big impression with the great Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin
singing. In 1908 Diaghilev decided to present the entire opera
of Boris Gudunov with Chaliapin in the title role. Buoyed by
its success, the next season he planned more operas, and, urged on
by Benois, ballet. Diaghilev was hesitant about the ballet because
its tradition in the West was so withered, but finally he agreed. Two
factors that led to his decision were the new, innovative choreography
of Fokine and the young crop of very talented dancers who were performing
at the Mariinsky. Despite financial strains, Diaghilev and his group
managed to get funding and approval for the first Russian season abroad. Included
in the approved program were Le Pavillon d'Armide, Les Sylphides, and
Cleopatra. Wrote Diaghilev's friend Grigoriev, "The
first season of the Diaghilev Ballet must be commemorated in letters
of gold in the annals of Russian Ballet. To say that it was successful
is to say nothing. It was a revelation, a major event in the
artistic life of Paris" . When the dancers
left the Mariinsky Theatre on May 1, 1909 for Paris, it was all part
of the grand myth and character of Petersburg. Long accused of
being 'too European' a city, Petersburgers took pride in their cultural
and artistic advancement. Now finally, the best of the Mariinsky
Theatre were being exported back to the West, after having been altered
and perfected in Russia. This was Petersburg displaying its cultural
ingenuity and brilliance to those who had once been its teachers. The
Russian Seasons in
Paris became a triumph of St. Petersburg that
added to its mystique and character.
The tradition of the Russian ballet going abroad all stems from the
first Diaghilev season in Paris in 1909. He, along with fifty-five
dancers, Bakst, Benois, Fokine, Chaliapin, the conductor Tcherepnin,
choirs and orchestra all descended on Paris. The Parisians thought
so poorly of 
ballet that they were not allowed to use the normal opera
house. Instead, in the span of two weeks they overhauled an old
theatre and practiced in its attic. When the curtain rose on opening
night, they knew it was a success. The audiences and critics went wild
over the ballet, and especially idolized Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, and
Tamara Karsavina. Benois wrote afterwards, "Every participant
in the Russian season...felt that he was bringing to the entire world
all that is Russian, all that comprises his greatest pride; Russian spiritual
culture, Russian art...". The ballet played on
alternate nights with the opera, and both were received with tremendous
enthusiasm night after night. Nijinsky, Pavlova, and Karsavina
were hailed as prodigies, angels, geniuses, and poets, and were feted
by the best families in Paris. In
the next five years that he performed abroad (before going insane) Vaslav
Nijinsky became an immortal of dance. Only four feet, five inches
tall, he was known for his wonderful interpretations of his roles and
for his breathtaking leaps. In one production he leaped out of
a window so high that the audience could not believe it and came back
again and again to watch him. Three of his most memorable roles
were in Petrushka, called the most Russian of ballets, (and a masterpiece
of the then unknown composer Igor Stravinsky) , L'Apres-midi d'un Faune,
and Le Spectre de la Rose. Sadly, at age twenty-nine he became
paranoid and then lost his memory completely, ending his dancing career
forever but not his legend. The Diaghilev seasons lasted for twenty years,
but with the loss of Nijinsky, Fokine, and Pavlova (she left and created
her own company) the company never fully recovered the magic of the first
five seasons. However, in this time he and the company managed
to revive ballet in the West, introduce Russian culture, and create legendary
ballets and ballerinas.
Men
of the Mariinsky The Mariinsky Theatre was always the proving ground
of Russian male dancers. While they and their part in the ballet
declined in the West, it flourished in Russia. In St. Petersburg
could be found men who have contributed the most to male dancing, among
them are Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolph Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. However,
it is interesting to note that their fame and influence came from their
absence from the Mariinsky Theatre. Nijinsky became famous abroad
from Diaghilev's Saisons Russes, but his dancing career in Russia was
over before he reached the age of twenty-two. Rudolph Nureyev's
1961 "leap to freedom" in Paris was truly what brought him
international focus and acclaim. And then there is Baryshnikov,
who, although he danced several seasons at the Kirov (Mariinsky), eventually
defected as well and became famous for his dance innovation abroad. Although
all of these men were creations of the Mariinsky Theatre, their fame
sprung from their absence from it.. 
The Theatre Post-Revolution to Today After the Russian Revolution of1917, ballet went through a difficult time. The Mariinsky Theatre lost all of its imperial backers, and many of the dancers left due to the hardships. In the flurry of name changing when the Bolsheviks took power the theatre was renamed the Academic Theatre (as the tsarist name was no longer acceptable). The theatre was not renamed again until 1935, when it became the Kirov Theatre. Although it faced many challenges during these times, the theatre and its traditions always managed to persevere. In the 1920's came the great dance teacher Agrippina Vaganova, for whom the dance school is now named. New stars rose out of the Soviet ballet, including the dancers Galina Ulanova and Vakhtang Chabukiani. The Theatre was badly damaged during the siege of Leningrad in WWII, and most of the ballet work, including dancers, sets, and costumes were evacuated to Perm. However, after the war things quickly returned to normal and the company and theatre regained their significant place in the culture of St. Petersburg. The Mariinsky Theatre has been labeled a 'mausoleum' because of its resistance to change. Its supporters would call it a shrine to classical ballet, but for frustrated dancers and choreographers it has often been seen as a prison. Fokine rebelled against making ballet 'popular' (he saw it as a pure art form) while Nureyev refused to do some old-style moves on stage. Nijinsky was thrown out of the theatre for wearing an 'indecent' costume, and Baryshnikov's battles to stage contemporary works are well known. With the fall of the Soviet Union came change to the Mariinsky Theatre, and along with its old name it regained a sense of purpose and mission. Costumes now are freer and more revealing, athleticism is emphasized in both sexes, and there are many more sexual overtones to the dances. Although some despair that there have been " ...two steps forward in technique and one step backward in interpretation," , most Russians are very optimistic about the continuing tradition of the Ballet. Since 1977 Oleg Vinogradov has been the director of the Ballet, and Valery Gergiev has been the director of the Kirov Opera since 1988. The Opera and the Ballet now tour worldwide, as well as having seasons at home in the Mariinsky Theatre. The Theatre is now the centerpiece of the St. Petersburg White Nights Festival, held every year in the last ten days of June. At this festival classical ballets and operas as well as new compositions are showcased. In this way the theatre maintains its heritage while at the same time pressing on into the future. The Mariinsky Theatre, though by itself is neither architecturally nor historically distinguished, has become one of the cultural treasures of St. Petersburg and of all of Russia. A theatre's character is, by definition, defined by the people who have worked in it and have impacted history from its stage. The Mariinsky Theatre, standing solidly from the time of Catherine the Great, has raised and made famous countless dancers, choreographers, singers, composers, and planners. Even if the theater itself were to disappear tomorrow, it would be immortalized by the dancing of Pavlova and Baryshnikov; by the lingering strains of Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, and Tchaikovsky
1, Teatralnaya Square St Petersburg, 190000 Phone: tel. +7 812 326 4141 Fax: tel. +7 812 314 1744
