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Being probably the most spectacular and beautiful art, ballet remains a real challenge for those who decide to dance professionally. Why do we need ballet? Why on earth would children sacrifice their childhood in order to become ballet dancers? Why do the Russians keep dreaming about careers in ballet, when so few turn into real swans?
Ekaterina Petrova
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There are many paths to ballet. Children often make the life-changing decision on their own, even before they start school. “I saw Swan Lake in Chelyabinsk when I was five. I was struck by the fact that it felt just like a fairytale; something refined, elegant and distant – something you can’t touch. After the performance, I was set on what I wanted to do with my life, and it wasn’t some kind of kid’s pipe dream,” says Mariinsky Ballet Company soloist Anastasia Kolegova.
Ekaterina Petrova
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Little has changed over the past 20 years. If you want to make it as a ballet dancer, the road is pretty much the same for everyone. The biographies of prima ballerinas and principal dancers are filled with stories, when girls and boys, enchanted by the beauty they saw on screen, danced near the television trying to copy the moves.
Ekaterina Petrova
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Children who have caught dance fever try themselves in any way they can. Yan Godovsky, leading soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre, was accepted into ballet school after winning a ballroom dancing competition at summer camp.
Ekaterina Petrova
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But sometimes it’s their parents’ call. Standout ballet dancer Natalya Osipova made the transition from artistic gymnastics to ballet because she “didn’t want to hurt her mum’s feelings”. A child born into a ballet family doesn’t have many options.
Ekaterina Petrova
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Yekaterina Shipulina, leading soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre: “My sister and I spent our childhood behind the curtains watching mum and dad. We knew exactly what we wanted to do when we grew up.” Once the decision has been made, the child has to grow up very fast. It turns out that the beauty we see on TV is a result of many years of hard training, day in and day out.
Ekaterina Petrova
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The stressful life of a ballet dancer starts with getting into ballet school. Children have to go through rigorous entrance examinations, where their health, build, flexibility, coordination and posture are checked, alongside their musicality and the ability to twist their feet. Screening committees used to travel around the Soviet Union in search of gifted children, whom they duly found in all corners of the country, even in most far-off villages. Such committees are a rarity these days.
Ekaterina Petrova
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There used to be dozens and even hundreds of applicants for a single place in ballet schools, especially in the Moscow and St Petersburg Ballet Academies. But this is only true of girls now. There is a shortage of boys in ballet, and not just in Russia: parents are not ready to let their sons pursue a ballet career when there are professional sports with substantially more money up for grabs.
Ekaterina Petrova
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Also, young men used to be released from mandatory military service if they worked in a ballet company, but the quotas have since been abolished. The problem of draft-age men is tackled at the level of the Ministry of Defence, “which can satisfy requests from the Ministry of Culture and local authorities.” Many of the academy students are screened out; a D in classics for boys, or a few additional pounds for girls, could mean they get shipped off to regular schools before they graduate.
Ekaterina Petrova
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The harsh curriculum (which consists of a full school load plus daily ballet practice, as well as special subjects such as the history of ballet and piano lessons) leaves no time for the kids to be, well… kids. Those who come from other cities find it hard to adapt to their new lives without their parents. Well-known ballerina Svetlana Zakharova recalls her schooldays: she was sent to boarding school, where she shared a room with seven other girls. Her childhood ended in an instant, and the struggle for survival began.
Mikhail Mordasov / Focus Pictures
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The children work 24/7 and have to meet impossible requirements. The main challenge is to combine technique with artistry. A Russian ballet website describes the problem: “the job of a dancing school is not so much to train a child to dance (which can be done in much less time), as it is to turn his or her body into an instrument to create an image on stage.”
Mikhail Mordasov / Focus Pictures
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Theatre prima ballerina Evgenia Obraztsova understands how professional perfection is attained: “I was beaten when I failed to place my feet in the fifth position, when I was short of a perfect knee or lift. To cheat on lifts was a criminal offence back then.” The competition is fierce: a child understands at a very early age that there are more gifted competitors around, and the teachers point these children out. Only real fighters manage to survive.
Mikhail Mordasov / Focus Pictures
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The paradox is that it is during this period that students begin to really understand their work and why they are here. It is something fundamentally different from the joy of a child who has seen a beautiful dance, or the pleasure of pleasing their parents. It is a conscious decision; the children begin to understand why they tolerate bleeding feet and lack of sleep.
Mikhail Mordasov / Focus Pictures
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It coming up to graduation; the students are getting ready for their final exams and the school is shaking in excitement – people are wondering whether they have been accepted at their choice of ballet companies. Graduates are told scary (and exaggerated) stories of the hard times that dancers are given in theatres. They say they put glass in your pointe shoes, they cut your costumes, and you can only climb to the top if you have connections.
Mikhail Mordasov / Focus Pictures
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Most of the graduates will continue in less important troupes, some will move to foreign companies (where Russian dancers are in demand) or graduate without being picked up by a ballet company. The standard situation for a free agent is as follows: “You go to a casting and see the crowd of hopefuls. First, it’s the bar, they then tell you ‘Go on’, so you go to the centre of the room, perform a routine and they either say “Sorry, bye”, or “Go on”. Finally, five people are left out of 35.”
Mikhail Mordasov / Focus Pictures
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The lives of young artists are filled with agony and ecstasy, unavoidable injuries, intrigues, victories at ballet competitions, the part of the third armour-bearer at a matinee for kids, or that of Odette and Odile. There will be dreams of coveted roles and the everyday routine of ballet practice, important tours and agonising waits for new roles in long queues alongside their colleagues. They will crave the applause of the audience and retire at 40 with a miserable ballet pension. But if you’re really lucky, the ugly duckling will one day turn into a magnificent swan; the symbol of Russian ballet.
Mikhail Mordasov / Focus Pictures
