The Ballets Russes Return to Russia

It just doesn't work without the classical training Diaghilev's dancers had, and it is alive and well in many places. Not one Russian/Soviet dancer I ever met could admit or accept that their culture was exported and survived in Paris, New York, Tulsa, St. Louis, Kansas City and Bermuda, to name just a few places. Everywhere the Ballets Russes companies went, they left behind teachers well-versed in the pre-Soviet classical technique and esthetic. If Liepa wants any artistic success, he must do away with the esthetic changes and technical exaggerations introduced by Vaganova, Balanchine and others. It can be done. But the effort has to be made. My teachers, Nina Stroganova and Vladimir Dokoudovsky, were just two such teachers, pupils of Preobrajenska, and there are and were many others. Why is this so important? Because the use of the arms, the height of extensions and arabesques changes the appearance, the stage composition. Fokine's choreography requires a different way of moving, and the arms are of particular importance. Insensitivity to these elements will only result in further bastardization. The classical geometry, the symmetry and assymmetry were all-important. If Liepa understands this, then the daily classes will also be different, and the dancers will be well-prepared with the stamina, the style, the taste and musicality needed to do ballets by Fokine, Nijinska, Lichine and most importantly, Massine.

To be very specific, Liepa needs to bring back the pupils of Preobrajenska, Legat, Cecchetti, and the like; and their pupils, people like Laurie Ichino, Patricia Dokoudovsky, Richard Marsden, Carl Corry, there are many in the U.S. alone. When I was taking class with Stroganova, she taught us the Prelude from Les Sylphides, she taught combinations from Petipa's Nutcracker, many authentic things. It is not at all lost.