The Vaganova method is a ballet technique and training system devised by the Russian dancer and pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951). It was derived from the teachings of the Premier Maître de Ballet Marius Petipa, throughout the late 19th century. It was Agrippa Vaganova who perfected and cultivated this form of teaching classical ballet and turned it into a viable syllabus. The method fuses elements of traditional French style from the romantic era with the athleticism and virtuosity of Italian Cecchetti technique. The training system is designed to involve the whole body in every movement, with equal attention paid to the upper body, legs and feet. Vaganova believed that this approach increases consciousness of the body, thus creating a harmony of movement and greater expressive range.
Russian ballet is a form of ballet characteristic of or originating from Russia.
Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova was a Soviet and Russian ballet teacher who developed the Vaganova method – the technique which derived from the teaching methods of the old Imperial Ballet School under the Premier Maître de Ballet Marius Petipa throughout the mid to late 19th century, though mostly throughout the 1880s and 1890s. It was Vaganova who perfected and cultivated this form of teaching the art of classical ballet into a workable syllabus. Her Fundamentals of the Classical Dance (1934) remains a standard textbook for the instruction of ballet technique. Her technique is one of the most popular techniques today.
Marina Timofeyevna Semyonova was the first Soviet-trained prima ballerina. She was born in Saint-Petersburg. She was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1975.
Natalia Mikhailovna Dudinskaya was a Soviet prima ballerina who dominated the Kirov Ballet from the 1930s to the 1950s.
The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet is a school of classical ballet in St Petersburg, Russia. Established in 1738 during the reign of Empress Anna, the academy was known as the Imperial Ballet School until the Soviet era, when, after a brief hiatus, the school was re-established as the Leningrad State Choreographic Institute. In 1957, the school was renamed in honor of the pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova, who cultivated the method of classical ballet training that has been taught there since the late 1920s. Many of the world's leading ballet schools have adopted elements of the Vaganova method into their own training.
Ninel Aleksandrovna Kurgapkina was a Soviet and Russian dance teacher and former prima ballerina for the Kirov Ballet with over 50 years stage experience. She was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1974.
Arabesque in dance, particularly ballet, is a body position in which a dancer stands on one leg–the supporting leg–with the other leg–the working leg–turned out and extended behind the body, with both legs held straight.
Tatiana Viktorovna Stepanova, also Tetiana Stepanova, is a Ballet master, choreographer, ballet dancer, critic, essayist and historian of the dance.
Varvara Pavlovna Mey was a prima ballerina, ballet instructor and author.
Sofia Nikolayevna Golovkina was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher. A graduate of the Moscow State Academy of Choreography in 1933, she was the principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet till 1959. In 1960, she became director of the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet School. For her work, Golovkina was awarded the Russian Order of Merit, People's Artist of the USSR, and the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. She died in 2004 in Moscow.
Peggy Willis-Aarnio was an American choreographer, historian, author and teacher of classical ballet. She was a professional dancer in the early 1970s with the Fort Worth Ballet in Fort Worth, Texas. She was the first American to be sanctioned as a "Certified Practitioner and Teacher of the Teaching Method of Classical Ballet" by the Vaganova Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Janet Martin was an American film actress and singer. She appeared in a number of Republic Pictures' films during the 1940s.
Renata Mukhametovna Shakirova is a ballet dancer, currently a principal with the Mariinsky Ballet.
Oleg Mikhailovich Vinogradov is a Russian former dancer, choreographer and ballet director. He graduated from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet under Alexander Ivanovich Pushkin and went on to become a choreographer, working with some of the Soviet Union's most important ballet companies, including the Kirov Ballet and the Bolshoi Ballet. In the early 1970s he was artistic director and chief choreographer at the Maly Theatre Ballet, and became artistic director of the Kirov Ballet in 1977. During this period, relations between the Soviet Union and the United States grew warmer, and the Kirov Ballet embarked on several US tours for the first time in decades. Vinogradov became the first Soviet ballet master to invite Maurice Béjart and Roland Petit to stage works for the Kirov, and also helped to bring authorized productions of George Balanchine's ballets to Russia for the first time. He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1983.
Ryan Martin is an American ballet dancer, ballet teacher and artistic director. He was the first American male to study at the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the first male American student to receive a scholarship to train there.
John Barker was an American dancer, ballet teacher and translator. He was a leading authority in the West on the Soviet method of teaching classical dance, and the first American to be allowed to teach the method in Russia. He was the official translator, into English, of the textbook of the Leningrad Choreographic School.
Mieczyslaw Pianowski was a Polish-American dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and ballet teacher. He was a soloist in Anna Pavlova's company, and he was her ballet master for 13 years.
Sheila Willis (Hart) Kleiman is an American ballet teacher, ballet dancer, modern dancer, choreographer, interior designer and subject matter expert of classical ballet. She is the founder and president of the Performing Arts Cultural Exchange, a nonprofit 501(c)3 foundation (PACEBALLET.ORG) which is dedicated to providing teacher training, teaching scholarships and ballet scholarships to students world-wide. The foundation was started to honor her sister, Peggy Willis-Aarnio's legacy and life work for pedagogical ballet training of teachers. The International Classic Ballet Theatre of Marina Medvetskaya is a subsidiary of PACEBALLET.ORG and Tours the United States, United Kingdom and Europe on a regular basis.
Vera Mikhailovna Krasovskaya was a Russian ballet historian, critic and dancer. She began her dancing career at the Leningrad Ballet School and graduated from it in 1933. Krasovskaya performed with the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre from 1933 to 1941 before stepping down to become a critic and studied at the Leningrad Ostrovsky Institute of Theatre. She published two volumes of four books on Russian ballet and went on to author a larger second volume focus on the history of ballet in Western Europe. Krasovskaya also wrote biographies on Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Natalia Dudinskaya, Irina Kolpakova, Nikita Dolgushin and Agrippina Vaganova. She was awarded the Triumph Prize in December 1998 for her contribution to Russian culture.
