In the academy award nominated 1977 film, The Children of Theatre Street, we get a “sneak peek” into the lives of the privileged students at the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg (then called Leningrad). The film was a collaboration between Western and Soviet producers, and narrated by the Princess Grace of Monaco.
While certainly fascinating to watch, some reviewers say that certain scenes appeared staged…
Some of the activities and interviews with the students were obviously staged (such as a pillow fight when the boy “sneaks” into the girls’ dorm) and many are suspect.
-Deborah Brooks, Amazon.com review, October 23, 2000
…which raises the question: How much of the film is actually true?
In the above clip from the movie, we see students doing gymnastics exercises, using therabands and blowing into a tube. Enlightening insights into how the school produces such great artists??
YouTubers think so…
“From .40 – 1min – THAT’S? how the Russians get those incredible long arms that can undulate like snakes! Fabulous!”
“…I wanna try that thing at 0:58″
“what is that? blowing test they do to the boys for?”
Reply: “They test the capacity of? their lungs.”
Fact or Fiction?
Hmmmm. This is all very interesting, but are these really the “secrets” which make Russian dancers great?
Peggy Willis-Aarnio, author of the DVD series, Classical Ballet Lesson (feat. Galina Mezentseva, former star of the Kirov), says this about the above clip:
Galina Mezentseva was the featured star on this film. I had a discussion with her about this, and she said she never saw or experienced anything like this when she was there as a student. So, all of this is to throw us off of the real reason why they are great: by having them “stretch”, or blow into a machine, or do gymnastics? No, it is special for the film to distract from what they really do.
Well, there you have it, according to one of the leading stars of the Kirov. I guess it was pretty unlikely that Russia would have wanted to reveal all their training secrets anyway, but it is certainly confusing. It just goes to show that you really have to be discerning and question everything you see, read or hear!
One might argue that the Russian schools have changed their training techniques since Mezentseva’s time; or Baryshnikov’s or Nureyev’s time, for that matter (all of whom graduated by 1970 and were already dancing professionally at the time this film was released). However, I think the take-home message here is that there is so much more to training in classical ballet than what is shown in this film, and it should not interpreted as the “proof” that the Vaganova Academy has produced great artists because of gymnastics, blowing into tubes, or whatever.
If Mezentseva, Nureyev, Baryshnikov, the Panov’s, and many other legendary artists did not use these techniques, why do we think that they are necessary now? Has the training really improved since then? I don’t think so, and I still contend that Russia has lost something rather than gained something by altering their training. There are certainly beautiful dancers coming out of Russia nonetheless, but I am still waiting to see another Baryshnikov…
In September, I will be going to Russia as the first Israeli to study at the Perm State Choreographic School. It’s not the Vaganova Academy, but it is its twin in the city of Perm.
I will be happy to share with you guys whether we do this type of stuff at our academy, if anyone is interested, once I get there.
To read more about me:
http://www.dressingroomwriters.com/www.dressingroomwriters.com/Interviews/Entries/2012/8/3_Noa__First_Israeli_(and_only_second_or_third_American)_to_attend_Perm_State_Ballet_School.html
http://www.gofundme.com/NoaBallerina
http://www.noablogsballet.wordpress.com
http://www.noaerlitzki.com
I’m sorry, I think this is fiction. Some of the events are a little too far fetched to ROUGHLY based on fact. It was still a good movie though, and I’d recommend it to anyone.
Yeah I agree, it does appear pretty staged in several of the scenes!
Like a movie : all scenarized, following a reality-inspired but thought up script.
That’s what I call erroneous informations.
What a pity : vain efforts ….
Hello:)
I’ve never heard of this film.I’ll have to find it somewhere,my library doesn’t have it.
Have you seen “Breaking Pointe” on the CW?
Yes! I’ve only seen the first episode so far though. I need to catch up… What do you think of the show so far?
For anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, there are 4 episodes online at: http://www.cwtv.com/cw-video/breaking-pointe/
Well…
I didn’t like it at first because it’s the CW so of course theirs a LOT of focus on the relationships.It’s growing on me though.
Sometimes I prefer to watch classwork more than the actually ballet.
Yeah, there wasn’t much dancing in the first episode, but I’ve heard other people say it gets better too. I’ll have to watch some more!
I may seem crazy but I don’t care
, I’m telling it all the same. I think ONE word (well, to be precise, ONE expression) summarize it all : COLD WAR.
As you stated so truly, it is well and truly unlikely that Russian might have take the risk to share their precious informations knowing than these informations may fall in American’s hands.
Be that as it may, I find it really pitiful to have thought such a thing up : if they didn’t want to show their method, then they simply shoud’nt have done any videos instead of communicating wrong informations. Unless that was their real aim ….
Agreed! It’s still interesting to watch though…
Like a movie : all scenarized, following a reality-inspired but thought up script.
That’s what I call erroneous informations.
What a pity : vain efforts ….