ON INVISIBLE WINGS by Valery Melnikov

Public Project

ON INVISIBLE WINGS

Copyright Valery Melnikov 2024

Updated Jan 2022

Topics Art, Arts, Ballet, Choreography, Culture, Culture stories, Dancer, Essays, Fine Art, Moscow, Photography, Portraiture, Russian ballet, St. Petersburg

The fate of the ballerinas is both wonderful and sad, they all consist of contradictions. Naive and cynical, frivolous and prudent, these «etheric creatures» must constantly engage in heavy physical exercises, honing movements and postures in hours-long exercises and rehearsals. Their acting age is short: experience comes with age, but strength leaves. Some of the dancers quickly made a dizzying career, becoming the «first ballerina» of the choreographic theater. Poems were dedicated to them, jewelry was presented, choreographers specially staged ballet numbers for them. Debuts, premieres and performances, everyday chores, backstage intrigues and bosses and fans — all this constitutes the era of Russian ballet, when the dancers were the «idols of kings and the deity of the crowd».

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Valery Melnikov

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