Vaganova Today
The Preservation of Pedagogical Tradition
Publication Year: 2011
Agrippina Vaganova (1879-1951) is revered as the visionary who first codified the Russian system of classical ballet training. The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, founded on impeccable technique and centuries of tradition, has a reputation for elite standards, and its graduates include Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, and Diana Vishneva. Yet the "Vaganova method" has come under criticism in recent years.
In this absorbing volume, Catherine Pawlick traces Vaganova's story from her early years as a ballet student in tsarist Russia to her career as a dancer with the Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet to her work as a pedagogue and choreographer. Pawlick then goes beyond biography to address Vaganova's legacy today, offering the first-ever English translations of primary source materials and intriguing interviews with pedagogues and dancers from the Academy and the Mariinsky Ballet, including some who studied with Vaganova herself.
Published by: University Press of Florida
Cover
Frontispiece
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents

Preface
After studying ballet for ten years in the United States, I first journeyed to Leningrad in 1990 to take ballet classes from Kirov teachers on an exchange program. The Soviet Union had not yet officially collapsed, and the Russia I saw then was very much still Communist in every...

2. Vaganova the Teacher
Vaganova could have left Russia, as Preobrajenska and others did around the time of the Russian Revolution. Some left for political reasons; others saw no future for ballet in Russia or did not want to change the School program or the teaching system. But Vaganova remained behind...

3. Vaganova Today: Her Students
For those who knew her, Vaganova held an important place in their lives. Nearly sixty years after her death, Vaganova’s traditions are still continued by her pupils. The discussions with eight pedagogues that follow illuminate their opinions on the current state of training at the...
E-ISBN-13: 9780813048260
Print-ISBN-13: 9780813036977
Print-ISBN-10: 0813036976
Page Count: 232
Illustrations: 36 b&w photos
Publication Year: 2011
OCLC Number: 812066845
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