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Three hundred years ago, ballet was introduced to Russia for the first time by the Czarita's Elizabeth and Anna. Their intention was court entertainment, but little did they know they made a move that would change the face of classical ballet forever. Although ballet originated in Italy and France, Russia certainly gets credit for stylizing and perfecting the art form. From opening the Imperial Ballet School to the formation of the Vaganova technique, from the splendor of Anna Pavlova to the defection of Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolf Nureyev, Russian ballet’s past has been a rollercoaster. In the aftermath of the January 17, 2013 acid attack on the Bolshoi artistic director, Sergei Filin, the ballet world is under intense scrutiny of what really goes on behind closed doors. To fully understand why all this controversy is swirling around a single art form based on grace, poise, and performance, we will need to understand the root of the issue. The country of Russia.
Russia is located south of the Arctic Ocean, west of Alaska, north of Mongolia and China, and east of Europe. The capital of Russia, the biggest country in the world, is Moscow which is at 55 45º N 37 42 E. The Russians speak mainly Russian, although other languages are also spoken (place). Russian is 6,592,800 square miles, that’s around two whole United States in one country and Russia is the home of the deepest and oldest lake in the world. Lake Baikal is 1637 meters deep, and is freshwater. The largest mountain in Europe is also located in Russia, Mt. Elbrus at 5642 miles high. The most popular way to travel (movement) in Russia is by railroads, followed by air travel, and then by roads (driving) and water transportation. The U.S. buys 50.5% of Russia’s oil exp...
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...ny lovers of the art form have speculated about why the Russian ballet is so much more corrupted than American, English, or other countries ballet. The answer is money. The directors of the Russian companies will do anything for money and the other companies are more focused on preserving the art form.
Russian ballet took a big hit with the defections of many stunning dancers. Now though, Russian Ballet has boomed with bigger, better dancers popping up all over Russia. All across the world little girls dream of being a ballerina dancing with their prince across a bright stage, their costumes glittering with jewels. The reality is it takes years of blood, sweat, tears, and hard work to even get a shot of being on that stage. Even if you get there, the fight to get to the top level is hard, and to stay there is even harder. Dancers need to stand up for their rights
In the 20th century, ballet started to experiment and movement. It was due to its Russian
Anna Pavlova perfected a new art form. Her passion and dedication to ballet impacted Russia’s culture and the direction in this specific art. Pavlova was recognized as the leading artist for both Imperial Russian Ballet and Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev while her best ballet performances included the Birth of a Dying Swan and The Dragonfly. Anna impacted Russian ballet but it originated in Russia by Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich and Peter the Great which brought this exquisite art to their country while others played an integral part to make this art spectacular. Pavlova shared her incredible talent and today ballet plays an active and important role in Russia.
Russia is a country with many large land masses that are greatly dependent on and helped shape the culture in Russia today. Russia is filled with rivers and mountains that protect them from invasions and help aid in trade. The Dnieper River and the Ural Mountains had a major impact on the development of Russia, as they impacted Russian both positively and negatively. For example, a positive effect of the Dnieper River is that it aided in trade with different civilizations, and the Ural Mountains protected Russia from being invaded by outside forces. Russia is the largest country in the world, so large that it has 11 times zones, the only climate that it does not contain is a tropical one (Russia).
Young girls and women symbolize femininity with being a ballerina. Kelso comments that in the shadows of the spotlight lurks an abusive world of eating disorders, verbal harassment, fierce competition, injuries, fatigued, and malnourished dancers (Kelso, 2003). In today’s world of ballet, dancers suffer from always being in pain, worrying their body image is not the right look they need to have to get lead roles resulting in the development of eating disorders, and male ballet dancers are stereotyped as being homosexual when most of the male dancers are in fact heterosexual.
Russia is a different country than most are used to which has made a history for itself. Russia played a huge part in World War II as well as established many scientific minds and creation. The first mission (unmanned) to outer space was conducted by Russia (Soviet Union). Their government is similar to democracy, but contains a president, a prime minister, a judicial branch, and a Russian Federation Assembly (State Duma and the Federation Council). Power is split between the Prime Minister (Dmitry Medvedev) and the President (Vladimir Putin); however, the president has deciding power (Darlington, 2014).
Li’s passion for ballet shows on and off stage through his arabesques, flexibility, fouettés, grande jeté and pirouettes that were nothing less than perfection. I understood that becoming a dancer requires commitment, passion and having a great memory as there’s many moves, routines and ballet terms that you need to learn. When I was performing on stage, I felt free and that I could own the stage as it felt like it was my second home. I also felt complete within myself just as Li felt. To perform on stage, you need to be light and graceful along with connecting to the music using precise steps, poses and formal gestures. The film used dance, music, scenery, and costumes to portray a story characterised by Li’s dance. Classical ballet dancers require the utmost grace and I’ve found that you also need a tremendous level of concentration and memory. This portrays when his choreographer Ben Stevenson asked Li Cunxin to replace the main male role due to an injury on the day of the performance to memorise new dances and perform them in front of an enormous crowd. Many of my performances have been in a group where we all need to be in sync and work together. This film highlighted that in order to become a professional ballet dancer, you have to prepare to work extremely hard no matter how gruelling the schedule is in order to
The stage that hosted the creation of illusion for those attending ballet after 1827 in its “golden age” (Guest, 1) introduced a new world, but one that could not be reached. These illusions were expressed through performance as “moods of Romanticism.” (5) The Romantic period of the early 19th century emphasized the alienation of an individual, the spectacle of that isolation, and the Romantic ideal that perfection remains mysterious and unattainable, as opposed to the late 18th century’s Enlightenment ideals that held rationality and tangible beings most profound. The spectacle of an estranged, supernatural being embodies these elements of Romanticism, as was represented in Romantic ballet. Coralli and Perrot’s 1841 ballet, Giselle, incorporated these Romantic elements into “each one of (the ballet’s) component parts - scenic design…choreography and dance style” (7), as well as with innovations in narrative. These narratives began to project women as powerful representations of the ethereal, supernatural being, as is specifically shown in the character of Giselle in Coralli and Perrot’s ballet. Through the novelties of Romantic visual presentation in scenery, movement, and narrative, the golden age of ballet was able to effectively “(reveal) the unattainable” (7) and supernatural.
The typical idea of a dancer is that they are tall, slender, full of energy, and lucky because they dance with all of the “stars”. Much of this is true, however, what many people do not think of are the many hardships that a dancer goes through in order to achieve their high status in the dance world. It takes much hard work and determination along with good direction to become a dancer. However, nothing good comes without a price. Dancers often times have many pressures put on them which can lead to physical and emotional damages. These damages occur through the pressures from the media, parents, teammates, and the stereotype that society has placed on dancers.
Russia, the world’s largest nation, borders European and Asian countries as well as the Pacific Asian countries as well as the Pacific and Arctic oceans. Russia’s population density is 8.4 people per square kilometer, making it one of the most limited populated countries in the world. Nevertheless, Russia is one of the minority countries where a lot people are moving from cities to rural area, because of traditions and charms of living in nature. People in Russia are moving to villages trying to escape from the changeable and chaotic urban life. In addition, Russia is a highly urbanized country, which 74% of the population is urban.
Ballet is a beautiful and romantic type of performance art. It originated in the Italian court systems in the 15th century (Jonas). Since its origination, ballet has undergone many changes and gained worldwide recognition. Filled with elaborate costumes, cheering audiences, lights, weightless movements and beauty; ballet is admired by many. On the magical stage ballerinas can become whoever they wan to be, and perform in a world of fantasy. For these reasons, children, especially little girls, all over the world dream of becoming ballerinas when they grow up. However, becoming a professional ballerina is an extremely difficult accomplishment, in which few will achieve (Kelso 1). The world of ballet may seem to be filled with glitz and glamor but, behind the curtain there is an entirely different story. There are extreme demands and pressures put on these young dancers to be very thin and nearly perfect. Some of which include body and weight demands, competition, and social pressures. These constant pressures can lead to a negative body-image and even debilitating eating disorders (Price and Pettijohn).
Ballet has been an art form since the late fifteenth century, but society did not truly see the impact of ballet until the nineteenth century. Modern day thinkers possess the idea that ballet began with tutus and pointe shoes, but it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that this opinion was observed. Ballet has come a long way. It has survived the turmoil of many wars and has changed itself by accepting new ideas and impressing the audience with its unique stylistic views.
When one thinks of a ballet they hear soft rhythmic notes and see elegantly dancing ballerinas softly tip-toeing around the stage. This is also what people in early 1900’s expected to see when they planned to attend a ballet. However, a couple of motivated artists in 1913 literally planned to change the design of ballet, music and dance forever. On May 29, 1913 a ballet named The Rite of Spring premiered in Paris, France. The original title as it translates from Russian to French is; Le Sacre du Printemps, meaning the rite of spring, but the literal translation from Russian to English means “Sacred Spring”. The ballet and music were composed by Igor Stravinsky, with the help of Nicholas Roerich, who proposed the general idea behind the ballet to Stravinsky. Roerich wanted to put into motion the ideas behind pagan pre-Christian rituals in Russia. Together the two created the story line behind the ballet; a sacred pagan ritual where a young female dances herself to death and is then offered to the “Gods” of spring to make them happy. The music was composed by Vaslav Nijinsky and the ballet was produced by Sergei Diaghilev for the Russian Ballet. This ballet was so different from what the spectators expected to see that it caused a riot. The Rite of Spring turned the tables of ballet in every sense: the dance, the music and the general idea of ballet was modernized by the group of artists who created and produced it.
About land mass, Russia is the biggest country in the world. Within the largest country, over 140 million people reside within its borders. Terrain includes hills, mountains, and valleys. Summers tend to be warm and favorable with humidity; winters, on the other hand, are extremely freezing with large amounts of snow. Due to the land being extremely icy and dry in summer and winter, the soil is not ideal for agriculture. The primary language spoken is Russian, for most English is the secondary language. Religion plays a significant role in society where the majority attends the Russian Orthodox Church. With religion playing a part in the majority of the country, families are intertwined with the church.
Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of area and the world’s ninth most populous nation with 143 million people. Due to its large area the country is situated in 4 different climate zones and has vast natural resources. Russia also has a unique geographic position with the 14 border countries, bounded by 3 out of 4 world oceans, facilitating the build of international and domestic supply chains. Russia is one of the most technologically advanced economies in the world with a very big and well-educated work force and one of the largest consumer markets. The Russian economy is commodity-driven and is the world’s largest producer of oil (12%), natural gas (18%) and nickel (20%).
Russia contains many different trade routes and is looking to expand its trans-Siberian railway to open up even more. There are also many different boundaries, a large amount of these are in the Northwestern, Central, Southern, Volga, and lower portions of the Urals, and Siberian areas. Populated areas contain most of the sustainable structures. It also includes 26 protected sites of World Heritage. These are found in the northwest mainly, but also found throughout Russia. Capabilities in Russia are lower than most other countries as the climate and terrain pose the issue of making most of the country not ideal for saving, enhancing, or sustaining life.