Alas, Baryshnikov defected the year I was born , so I couldn't have seen him dance here. But Cassandra, I envy you seeing him in his native country*, in this city on this stage! I can only imagine what a thrill it must have been!!

To your point about Nureyev, I agree. I know his (Nureyev's) last performance here in Scotch Symphony wasn''t quite up to his usual levels but he wanted to do it, to see his own stage once more. He came back, he wanted to... I can't see that in Misha's future at all, he isn't the type IMHO.

(Edited to add: he was born in Riga, I know, and technically NOW that is another country but at that time he was a Soviet citizen. Just acknowledging that.)

Baryshnikov's never been out of touch with the Kirov.
He definitely saw them in Paris in 1982, and at the Met in 1999.
I think also on tour in 1986 in the U.S.

Ripowam, that's right, Baryshnikov has never been out of touch with the Kirov. I don't think anyone here claimed that.

I do not remember his last performance being Scotch. I thought it was La Sylphide?

I think you are right. Didn't he dance it with the young Zhanna Ayupova?

Yes: Zhanna was Rudi's Sylph in "La Sylphide," his last performance
at the Maryinsky.

As of today, Yuri Fateev is serving as "head of the ballet" at the Mariinsky Theatre.

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Btw Cygne I have a great photo I found here of Nureyev hobbling offstage after La Syphide with Vinogradov ushering him away and Ayupova looking on. I couldn't resist buying it when I saw it...

Yuri's in; Makhar is out - the end of another era. This is big news; but with all that's happened I wonder if it's too late to correct 13 years of the "Vaziev Touch?" I understand that Fateev is an excellent teacher
and loves the company, the Theatre and the traditions of the Academy.
My questions are:

Will he continue Vaziev's policies?
Will he continue to champion Vaziev's favorites?
Is Yuri an interim appointment? If he's not the "in between" choice, the website (the English part) hasn't been updated yet.
Is Chyentchikova staying on?

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Catherine, that photo is a collector's item to treasure always !

[quote="Cygne
Will he continue to champion Vaziev's favorites?
[/quote]

Good grief, I hope not! If only one in particular would go far, far away...

This is the "Year of the Yuris" in Russian ballet -- Yuri Burlaka at the Bolshoi and Yuri Fateev at the Kirov-Mariinsky.

Indeed, end of an era. The Year of the Yuris (nice ring to it!)

It's not clear to me if this is an interim appointment or not, and in fact, Cygne, I was wondering the same thing. No way of knowing for sure of course. I think he isn't at all a bad choice for the company and the shift to fresh, new blood at a leadership level will be revitalizing.

If Fateev does remain longer term, from my observations he isn't a big fan of promoting certain trends (of which (ahem) we are all aware) that Vasiev has promoted. It will really remain to be seen however.

Chentchikova won an award among the list of people who were awarded various titles by Putin recently (when Tereshkina got hers). I believe Honored Artist of Russia? I need to check. In any case, I doubt she personally would plan to leave the theatre...but again it is hard to say. If her husband leaves or if the couple moves, obviously she would leave the MT as well. If only Vasiev has left, it seems to me possible (and likely) that Chentchikova will stay on. She taught a company class for the first time a couple of months ago (first time I've seen her listed as teaching in the last 3 yrs, so if she taught before that, it has been a long hiatus since). Not sure if that is indicative of the new shifts or not...

According to my 1986 tour souvenir booklet, Olga's listed as an "Honored Artist of the Russian Socialist Federalist Soviet Republic." According to another site she's a 1983 People's Artist. If the latter is true, that title was bestowed during the old regime. Is Putin "upgrading" artists' titles that were received during that era ?

If Olga is considered a "keeper," I don't necessarily see that as a drawback. She has been a coach for at least as long as her husband was head of the company. But, apart from some superior but unjustly lower-ranked females, (for example, Maya Dumchenko in her early years), to date, her "masterpiece" has been the over-promoted Somova. This doesn't inpsire confidence. Based on Olga's apparent track record as Somova's mentor-coach, it's obvious that her pedagogical skills are at the very least, eh hem, negligible. On the other hand, Olga may be, in fact, an excellent & intuitive coach, who in spite of doing due diligence, has a "star" protegee who: A) Refuses to listen to directions, B) Refuses to follow instructions,
C) Simply can't execute, D) Is perpetually inconsistent, or E) All of the Above. If this were a multiple choice test, I'd choose 'E.'

Olga was a great Maryinsky prima - I'm an eyewitness to that fact. But the intervening years have shown that her diamond brilliance as a Prima hasn't translated into being a great coach, however influential her power in the company. If she's given opportunities to resume teaching & polish up her "rusty" company class, she'd do the least amount of damage > MO.

I'm grateful that Fateev was considered at all. The choice could've always been worse! Time will tell. We'll see.

Putin isn't upgrading, he just bestowed additional (new) awards. For example, these were Fadeev's and Tereshkina's first awards. But in addition to dancers, a number of pedagogs and those in the opera also received awards. It wasn't just Olga C.

I believe it goes Honored Artist of Russia, THEN People's artist, and then the last one. Although strangely, Lopatkina and Vishneva have People's Artists in their bios but no record of Honored. So either I have it backwards or this is not a progressive system, and the awards are determined separately and unrelated to each other.

("E"... cute ).