#Mariinsky coaches

[tikitania]

just looked at the mariinsky staff webpage and i'm amazed at how old some of the people there are! they have a coach who graduated from the class of agrippina vaganova herself in 1948 which would make her roughly 93 years old?? her page says she coached ludmila kovaleva who is now an elderly woman herself. that's crazy. I can't comprehend having so much passion for one thing to work to the age of 93 and beyond.

I can only imagine the reverence they have for a coach of her experience and wisdom. She is likely one of the last living links to Vaganova. I believe that Tsikaridze has created an ongoing oral history of interviews with these legendary dancers and coaches, getting their stories recorded before they die.

A while ago, I came across this video of Kekisheva, whom I believe you are referring, as she coaches Batoeva as in the DQ PDD. I so wish it were subtitled! But I loved watching it regardless.

[cybervesna]

-Data Entry- Honorata Kochanowska née Blazkowicz Age: 76 (as of 2076) Date of Birth: August 29, 2000 Home: Warsaw, Poland Gender: Female Hair Color: Gray Eye Color: Icy Blue Cyberware: RealSkinn, Kiroshi Optics, 24k Gold Fashionware Partner: Antoni Kochanowski (husband) Known Relatives: Wiosna Blazkowicz (granddaughter), Krzysztof Kochanowski (son, deceased), Lidia Kochanowska (daughter-in-law, deceased) Affiliation: Kochanowska Ballet Academy, LoveSky Space Mining Company, Mariinsky Ballet (formerly) Occupation: Prima Ballerina Assoluta, Ballet Coach

[ballet-symphonie]

General/Misc - Ballet World

Hi Ale! Is there a reason why ankle injury is so common around ballerinas? For example, why there aren't many back injuries or knee ones? Why is the ankle the most 'fragile' part of a ballerina's body?

There’s lots of research that’s been done on this and medical professionals can certainly go into more depth than I will here. But it comes down to the amount of impact. Ballet dancers are constantly putting intense and risky demands on their feet and ankles and work long hours leaving them particularly vulnerable to both traumatic and overuse injuries. 

Buongiorno Ale, How do giving flowers to dancers after a performance function? Grazie :)

Hello! Typically the general public can give flowers to dancers at the stage door.  

If you know, why/how are Prix de Lausanne candidates’s variation selections limited by their group? Is it to keep down the frequency of certain variations and see certain dancers perform certain options?

The groups are cut by age, and the variation selections are made accordingly based on what the jury thinks is suitable for the age groups. 

are there any contemporary ballets you like?

Oh SO MANY, anything by Crystal Pite and Akram Khan can jump to the top of the list. 

Hi Ale! I saw that at Mariinsky (and probably all other theatres, but I don't know anything about the professional world) they will assign a coach to a dancer, who will help to coach and rehearse them for performances. How does that work? Is it only for soloists or is it everyone? They can't have that many coaches to go round, can they?

Everyone is sharing for sure. Bigger companies can generally afford to have more in house coaches but many companies keep a small in house roster and often bring in outsiders according to what repertoire they stage. Individual coaching is given to those who are dancing soloist roles, the groups are generally handled by different rehearsal directors. 

what does it mean when someone says that a dancer "dances like a student"?

I tend to use this phrase when I feel that dancers are sort of dancing the steps with no real feeling behind it. They are often so focused on the technique that their eyes and arms are not coordinated with the rest of their body. You’ll often see hesitant steps, eyes rapidly shifting and tentative transitions. 

[anjelalala]

Daria Kulikova

Coryphée of Mariinsky Theatre

Dainty... Delight... Darling Dasha!

All photos are from her IG account.

My personal new favorite Mariinsky ballerina. Born in moscow, she spent 7yrs at Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Dasha made a big decision to transfer to Vaganova Ballet on her final year under Yulia Kasenkova's class, and was invited to be part of Mariinsky corps de ballet after her graduation on 2023.

Coached by Margarita Kullik, Daria first debut at her first season as Masha from Nutcracker. Part of her repertoire is Queen of the Dryads, Juliet's companion, Three odalisque, Prince's friends, and recently Princess Florine.

Although early to tell, she has potential and charisma, i only hope to see her improve and progress in her career, also to have a strong healthy mind and body. I wish her luck and toi toi toi! 🩰

[balletomaneblog]

Yulia Kasenkova confirmed on instagram that Yaroslavna Kuprina is going to the Bolshoi and will be coached by Nadezhda Alexandrovna Gracheva. Still waiting to hear about Maska and Sova but its possible that they all go to the Bolshoi huh?

Yep! All three are headed to the Bolshoi!

I also just posted about the Vaganova graduates going to the Mariinsky, excluding any possible international joiners.

I'll try to make a "masterlist" of sorts of where all of the graduates this year are going once I know more!

[balletroyale]

Asked and Answered: Happy 2021!

are there any american companies or dancers you particularly like?

The only American company I really like is NYCB. My favorite American dancers are Sarah Lamb, Tiler Peck, Skylar Brandt, Gillian Murphy and Ashley Bouder for women, and David Hallberg and Jeffrey Cirio for men.  

Do you do colour grading on your gifs? They look so beautiful *v*

Thank you! I play with saturation, brightness, and contrast, and sometimes add a tint. 

Hello, same anon who asked about Skorik and Covid. I guess what I wanted to know if it was confirmed true, or if she was just joking or smth. I was confused by her post and the tone of it, so I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. Sorry for not being clearer. 😅

Oh no worries. No I don’t think she would joke, plus she pulled out of performances. It wouldn’t look good on the Mariinsky for their dancers to joke about being ill. 

While I agree that it is far too soon for Maria to be releasing a book, I disagree that her deleting comments means she ‘unable to take critique’. It’s her insta page, she can run it as she wishes. Especially when she has had lots of toxic hate on certain posts, I don’t blame her. And let’s be real, what meaningful critique comes from insta comments? The book is already being sold, her followers who dislike it are a minority. The people she needs to be listening to are her coaches, teachers...

I don’t agree at all. If you put yourself as a public figure, you put yourself as liable to criticism. The example given to me wasn’t spewing toxic hate, but just pointing out something. Obviously you should listen to your coaches and teachers first, but I think deleting comments like that on Instagram shows a real obsession with image and popularity over all else. 

hi!! i really want to know your opinions on edward watson. (i love your blog!!)

Thanks! I think he’s a remarkable dancer at what he does: contemporary ballets. However since those aren’t my favorite types of ballets I don’t really like him all that much. I don’t dislike him, I just don’t watch him. 

did you see that Maria Khoreva danced the sugar plum fairy variation? what do you think about that?

I don’t really watch much of Khoreva anymore. I think dancing Masha in the Nutcracker is a very reasonable role for her. 

helloo merry christmas!!! what do you think about louvet, baulac, and marchand from pob?

I’m really sorry I haven’t really watched Louvet or Baulac, but I’ve always really liked Marchand. 

Agree with the mother and son dancing as a romantic pairing being weird, but I also think that a teacher and student dancing as a romantic pairing is strange as well 😂😂😂 Maybe it’s my “Western sensitivities”, I know age gaps between partners can be drastically big but throwing in a irl teacher/student dynamic into a romantic pas de deux is just WEIRD. I don’t think I’ve seen one occasion where they have to kiss in the ballet but the romantic undertones already make me uncomfortable.

I think that’s a little less problematic to me, I can’t place my finger on why. Maybe because the relationship has always been “professional” and this is just part of their profession? But I really do find some teacher/student relationships weird, like Tsiskaridze with any of his favorite students. I mean, I understand they’re very close and that’s great — I still have professors I keep in touch with. But posting half naked photos of your students? Weird AF. 

What was it that made Osipova’s Onegin performance so good, in your opinion? So jealous of anyone that got to see it!

Oh man. Could rant about this all day. Well firstly, I think that Russians are automatically better at this ballet than anyone else because there’s just something about being Russian that makes you resonate with this story. They’ve been studying the work their whole life. But what really was incredible about it to me was the way she just through herself into the ballet. There was no tentativeness or thinking about technique during it (though the technique was still there), she literally threw herself into it. It was pure passion and you could see her going through the same emotions as Tatiana. And Clarke was there to catch her at all the right moments. I’ve never seen someone dance with such abandon or pure emotion. 

Hi, thank you so much for posting the onegin clips with Akane Takada. Is the whole performance online anywhere? I adore Takada and would kill to see it.

PM me and I will send it to you.

i didn't like the new years choreography that much either but they said in the beginning they intentionally had to do it so there's less dancing together with everyone due to filming constraints corona or something, and I guess the fact that it has to take place outside also puts on some limitations

Oh, it’s not that really. I never think it’s that good of choreography I just love how they combine the beauty of Austria and its buildings with the music. I was more annoyed they chose to do a different Voices of Spring waltz than the Ashton version, which is perfect and only requires two dancers. It just felt lacking in comparison

[miss-mollys-ballet-blog]

Ballet Asks

“Between the ballerinos at the Mariinsky, who do you think will someday be promoted to principal?”

Philipp Stepin, Roman Belyakov, and Nikita Korneyev are my top 3.  Maybe Caixeta eventually, but he has a long way to go.

“Who are your favorite ballerinas at the Bolshoi?”

Ekaterina Shipulina, Svetlana Zakharova, and Kristina Kretova with Anna Nikulina as my favorite Grigorovich ballerina.

“what are your thoughts on eleonora sevenard?”

I think she is incredibly talented and has done a very good job transitioning from the Academy to the theatre and I am watching her career very closely.  She made a huge improvement from her first two years in the company.

“If you could be a ballerina and choose your ballet school and teacher, theater, coach, first debut and first partnership, how would you choose?”

School and Teacher: Vaganova and Tatiana Udalenkova

Theatre and Coach: Mariinsky and Olga Moiseyeva or Lyubov Kunakova

First debut: Mekhemene Banu in A Legend of Love and classical debut would be Raymonda

First partnership: Andrey Ermakov or Alexander Sergeyev

[melmothblog]

Ask Responses: Grand Ballet Competition

What were the results of the Bolshoi competition?

It’s still running, so we don’t know the results yet. I’m willing to be that Khoreva will win though.

-

Did Khoreva get disqualified from the Russiaculture ballet? She deleted all her posts and the video she uploaded.

This question was sent in on the day YouTube crashed, so I assume it had something to do with that. The videos are up on her YouTube channel.

-

Why did Zakharova expect to see Maria in Romeo and Juliet instead of Sleeping Beauty? Is she going to debut in it soon? I thought Maria has really improved, Aurora is her best classical role yet for me. Also, as a side note, I think her debut in Concerto DSCH was really good, and that she is well on her way to becoming on of the best contemporary dancers at Mariinsky. Now that I think about it, she is one of the most well-rounded dancers in the company.

I think she just felt that the two would’ve looked very organic as Romeo and Juliet. I doubt there was any subtext.

I don’t know if she’s one of the most well-rounded in the company as a whole (some of the old guard have spectacular and varied repertoires) but she’s certainly one of the most impressive young dancers.

-

Could you once again translate Maria Khoreva’s video of the russia ballet episode 2? Thank you very much!

-

Svetlana once again complemented the technical side of the performance, saying it was very “clear”; She also complimented Shklyarov on his partnering skills.

Maria watched and was inspired by Zakharova’s performance of Nikia when she was preparing for the part.

Elvira Tarasova (Maria’s coach) said that she can feel a connection forming between Maria and Vladimir as partners which makes the performance more interesting.

Tarasova did tell Maria to watch her turn out (I think she said specifically in pas de chat?..) and thanked Shklyarov was great partnering work.

Tarasova said that Mariinsky is the mecca of classical ballet, and that [the Mariinsky style / classical ballet] is defined by, first and foremost, wonderful arms / port de bras and coordination. Without these things one shouldn’t even attempt classical ballet.

Maria said that there are particular parts in the ballet when one doesn’t want to concentrate on the technical aspect (presumably she’s referring to the importance of the emotional component of the role).

Tarasova said that it’s hard to explain to young people, who may not have a lot of life experience, what pain and loss is (when preparing for a role like this one).

I think Shklyarov referred to 8:05 as his favourite part of the performance.

[opera-ghosts]

Medea Mei  (1859–1952), mezzo-soprano, later soprano was born in Florence, Italy, on 4 March 1859.  She studied there with Bianchi, Carozzi-Zucchi and Panofka.  She sang the mezzo-soprano role in Verdi's Requiem at the young age of 16, and made her operatic debut soon afterwards, as Azucena in Il trovatore, at Sinalunga. She became well known throughout Italy, and also toured Spain, South America and Russia and visited London.  Her repertoire then included Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Amneris in Aida, Gertrude in Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet, Leonora in Donizetti's La favorite, and the title role in Bizet's Carmen.  She latter added soprano roles such as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther, and Margherita in Boito's Mefistofele. Medea went to Russia with Nikolay Figner in 1887, making her debut there on 8 May at the St Petersburg Imperial Opera (the Mariinsky Theatre) as Valentine in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. The soprano knew no Russian at that time, and sang in Italian during the first two St Petersburg seasons. Subsequently, she was received into the Russian Orthodox Church, and married Figner on 20 February 1889. Thereafter, Nikolay made it his practice to sing only in operas in which Medea was also singing. She was referred to after marriage as either Medea Mei-Figner (the form of her name used in most Western reference books) or simply Medea Figner. Furthermore, she was given the patronymic of Ivanovna, and is sometimes designated as Medea (or Medeya) Ivanovna (Mei-)Figner. She eventually mastered Russian to such an extent that native speakers could not tell she had learned it only from the age of 30.Notably, Medea appeared as Mimi in the first performance of Giacomo Puccini's La bohème in Russia; she was coached by Puccini himself. Medea Mei-Figner is the great-great-grandmother of the Italian soprano Amarilli Nizza.

[tikitania]

FATEEV has been replaced. The new Artistic Director of the Mariinsky is Andrian Fadeev, formerly of the Jacobsen Theater.

Both Lopatkona & Sarafanov have recently coached at the Jacobsen Theater. This change at the top has been expected given that that Fateev was never promoted from Interim, but the timing is quite dramatic!

[gorbigorbi]

Pure perfection ! One of the greatest ballerinas of the twentieth century. Irina Kolpakova (born in Leningrad on 22 May 1933) is a Russian ballerina. For many years, she was the prima ballerina of the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (now the Mariinsky Theater) in St. Petersburg. From 1974 to 1979 she served as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.[1]

In the 1990s she worked for several seasons as choreographer and coach at the American Ballet Theatre in New York City. She is currently a professor of classical dance at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg and a ballet coach at American Ballet Theatre.

[galina-ulanova]

Tradition, and the passing down of traditions, is taken very seriously.  Each coach, though, has their own experience and memory of what it was like in their day, inevitably leading to disagreements. 'It's usually easily resolved.  The ballerina is always right and, by default, her coach too. I’ve danced Swan Lake with many different partners each of whom have slightly different things which they or their teacher want, so I have to be careful not to confuse who wants what. Our coaches also watch our shows and discuss our progress with our director and then work on things accordingly in the studio to maintain progress. Igor [Petrov] also often teaches one of the four morning classes so I’m able to work with him there too which is good.

Xander Parish (Mariinsky Ballet, 2016)

[ballet-symphonie]

Do you know if Maria Khoreva switched her coach at the Mariinsky? I know it always used to be Elvira Tarasova but in her recent Instagram post about Swan Lake she mentions Tatiana Gennadievna (Terekhova). Do you think they just prepared SL together or might it be permanent?

I did see this and was surprised by this! Would love to know if anyone has more information!

[kasumi-chou]

Your story Pretty sounds amazing, if you ever finish it, I would love to read it!!

Family at Home

Yuuri smiled sadly as he gently brushed thehair out of Yuri’s flushed face. The poor boy was running a high fever and itwas breaking his heart.

The little whimpers of pain that escapedthe sleeping boy was heart-wrenching, especially when he was meant to beleaving for work soon.

Another whimper left the boy, causing himto let out a soft coo while soothing the boy’s hair back gently.

“It’s okay, Yurochka, papa is right here,”he ensured the sleeping boy.

He didn’t know what to do, taking Yuri toschool was out of the question and so was skipping work, he had been called upthe night before from Minako, begging him to take over the part of Siegfriedfor the local performance of Swan Lake after the previous danseur injuredhimself and could no longer play the part.

Yuuri let out a soft sigh while leaningforwards and planted a gentle kiss against the crown of Yuri’s head.

“Sleep well, Yurochka,” he whispered softlybefore standing up and retreating from the room.

Normally he would just call in sick, or getMinako to look at the boy but getting Minako to babysit was out of thequestion, seeing as she was expecting him at the studio in the next hour. Itwas too last minute to organise a babysitter, and he didn’t have enough moneyspare to pay someone. There was no chance he was leaving Yuri by himself, andhe couldn’t bring a sick child to the studio and risk contaminating the other dancers.

Yuuri ran a hand through his hair as he stoodoutside Yuri’s room.

What could he do?

A sudden knock at the front door of hisapartment captured his attention immediately.

Who was knocking at his door at eight o’clockin the morning?

He headed for the front door and opened it afraction, just enough to see who was on the other side of the door.

“Yuuri~” Victor Nikiforov greeted him withone of his stunning bright smiles, causing him to relax and open the doorproperly.

“Good morning,” he responded to the skater.

“I was grabbing my mail and thought I’dgrab yours for you,” Victor declared while holding out a small bundle ofenvelops out for him. He took them with a soft smile, noting that Victor’s eyesglanced behind him curiously.

“Thank you,” he said as he quickly skimmedthrough them, noting that there was only one envelop marked final notices,which was a relief in a way.

“Where is little Yurio?” Victor questioned,causing him to glance up from his mail.

“Yura has a fever,” he explained whilegiving Victor a small smile. Victor stared at him, a look of confusionovercoming his face.

“But,” Victor stared before gesturing tohis outfit, “You look ready to leave.”

“Y-yeah,” he stammered, “I’m needed at work.”

“But Yurio has a fever.” He nodded hishead, earning a frown from the Russian.

“Do you have a babysitter coming or…”Victor asked, his sentence trailing off when he shook his head.

“No, I’m trying to figure something out,”he admitted with a small laugh. Victor stared at him for a moment beforegrabbing his hand.

“I can look after him,” Victor offered. Hestared at the skater in surprise before raising an eyebrow questionable.

“Are you sure? You don’t exactly look afteryourself well,” he pointed out, earning a pout from the Russian.

“Funny,” Victor said while giving his handa soft squeeze, “But seriously, I can look after him. I can take the day offand if Yakov doesn’t let me, I can just take him with me to the rink. I’llbundle him up and keep him in Yakov’s office.”

“I couldn’t-” he started to protest, onlyfor Victor to shake his head.

“Yuuri, please. It is the least I can dofor all the times you have fed me or looked after Makkachin. If I have anyproblems I’ll call you right away,” Victor insisted, even going as far asgiving him the puppy dog eyes.

He stared at Victor for a moment beforeslowly nodding his head in defeat.

“Thank you,” he said, squeezing Victor’s handback.

“Anytime,” Victor ensured him, flashing himanother bright smile.

“Backtrack, you are sort of seeing someone?”

Minako said in surprise while looking athim. He gave a small shrug in response while taking a water break. It was alittle past lunch and Minako had finally gotten out of him that Yuri wasn’twell and that Victor (“Victor? As in Victor Nikiforov? Your childhood idol? Isbabysitting your hellcat?”) was babysitting Yuri.

“We aren’t seeing each other,” he mumbledwhile setting his water bottle back down.

“Didn’t you just say you had been havingdinner with him regularly?” Minako questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes,” he replied hesitantly.

“And didn’t you say that Yuri likes him andVictor seems to adore Yuri as well?” Minako said while giving him a pointedlook.

“Victor likes children,” he muttered with ashrug while stretching his arms above over his head, “Now, where were we?”

“Don’t try and change the topic,” Minakohuffed while crossing her arms across her chest. “Have you gone out on a date?”

“Because that is possible with a child,” hesaid sarcastically.

“I can babysit my own godchild you know,”Minako huffed while crossing her arms across her chest.

“Self-declared godchild,” he pointed out.

“Like you would want anyone else but melooking after your hellcat,” Minako said while sticking her tongue out at him.

“Real mature,” he said with a roll of hiseyes, “And I do currently have someone else looking after Yuri.”

Minako paused before letting out a sigh andnodding her head.

“True, true. But in all serious, I willbabysit if you two ever want to go on a date, or skip the date and fall intobed.”

“MINAKO-SENSEI,” he gasped in horror whilestaring at his lifelong ballet instructor in horror.

“You heard me,” Minako sung, “Now, let’s goover Act 2 again.”

“But Yakov,” Victor whined into the phone.

“No,” Yakov huffed, “I want you at the rinknow.”

“But I’m babysitting,” he mumbled with apout, despite knowing that his coach couldn’t see it.

“Someone trusted you with a child?” Yakovquestioned.

“Hey,” he whined before poking his headinto Yuri’s room to check up on the boy. Nothing much had changed since Yuurileft. Yuri’s fever had stayed steady, showing no signs of breaking anytimesoon.

“Put the heater on in your office,” he saidwith a sigh of defeat before moving towards the boy’s closet.

“What?” Yakov questioned.

“Yurio has a fever, I’m not putting himrink side. So, if you want me at the rink, put the heater on in your office,”he stated simply.

“Someone trusted you with a sick child?”Yakov questioned.

“Yakov,” he sighed.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll turn it on,” Yakovmumbled.

“Geez, and you still expect me at the rink?”he whined.

“Like I believe you have a sick child withyou,” Yakov snapped back at him.

“You have a sick child with you,” Yakov gapedas he carried Yuri into his coach’s office.

“I told you that,” he said while gentlyplacing Yuri down on the big, plush couch pushed up against the far wall besidethe heater.

“You made him bring a sick child to therink,” Lilia asked while getting up from her seat in front of Yakov’ desk, “Lookat those cheeks. A high fever?” He glanced towards the former prima-ballerinaand nodded his head.

“Poor baby,” Lilia cooed while gentlybrushing the hair out of Yuri’s face as the boy slumbered on despite all hislayers. Victor hadn’t known what to dress the boy in, so he had just decided togo with whatever he could find and put on the boy, which only really included at-shirt and a jumper, but he had also wrapped the boy up in one of his trench coatsand a throw blankets to keep the chill air out on their way to the rink.

“Who let your look after a sick child?”Yakov questioned, causing him to pout in his coach’s direction.

“This is Yurio, I’ve told you about Yurio,”he said while gesturing to the slumbering boy. Yakov stared at him blankly,causing him to sigh.

“Single dad lives a few apartments down,Yuri is his little boy. Dad couldn’t get off work and I offered to babysit,” heexplained simply, earning a small nod from his coach.

“What does his father do?” Lilia questionedwhile continuing to fuss over the boy, tucking the blanket and trench coataround him more snuggly.

“A ballerina,” he stated simply, causingLilia to turn to him curiously.

“At Mariinsky?” Lilia questioned and henodded his head, “Who?”

He stared at the former prima-ballerina fora moment before realising that she was trying to figure out if she knew Yuurior not.

“Yuuri Katsuki,” he stated, earning a frownfrom the woman.

“Yuri and Yurio?” Yakov questioned.

“Well, it’s Yuuri and Yuri,” he corrected, “Yuriois a nickname,” he explained quickly with a smile.

“Yuri and Yuri? He named the child afterhim?” Yakov questioned.

“No,” he said with a shake of his head.That had been his first question when he had finally realised that thefather-son duo shared a name. Yuuri had explained that he hadn’t even beenaware of Yuri’s existence until the boy had been dumped on him. Yuuri admittedthat he was completely gay (which had sent his little heart racing when he had heardit), though Yuuri didn’t really notice genders after a few too many drinks. “It’sa long story,” he told Yakov, getting a small nod from his coach.

“Katsuki?” Lilia sudden asked, “Japanese?”

“Yeah,” he said with a nod.

“Must be Minako’s danseur,” Lilia said,though he was pretty sure she was speaking to herself.

“Victor, get on the ice,” Yakov demanded,causing him to pout at his coach.

“But Yakov,” he whined, earning a glarefrom the older male.

“I’ll keep an eye on your little kotik,”Lilia ensured him.

Yuuri let out a small sigh as he unlockedthe door of his apartment, he wasn’t sure what he expected when he entered hisapartment but it wasn’t this.

Victor was seated on the couch with a bookin his lap, with Yuri cuddled up against his side. The boy was awake, even ifit was just barely and was staring at the television with hazy eyes, immersed inthe cartoons that were playing.

“I’m home,” he called out softly, catchingboth males attention.

“Papa!” Yuri called out in a croaky voicewhile reaching out for him.

“Yuuri~” Victor greeted with a smile. Hesmiled as he walked over to the pair, pressing a quick kiss against Victor’scheek, which set Victor’s alight in a soft blush, before he leant over the backof the couch and wrapped his baby up in a tight hug.

“How are you feeling, Yurochka?” he cooedsoftly, earning a soft hum from the boy.

“His fever broke just after lunch,” Victortold him, “But he is still rather flushed.”

“Were you good for Victor?” he asked theboy, earning himself a nod.

“Papa, papa,” Yuri mumbled in his littlecroaky voice, “Victor took me to the skating rink. And I got to watch him skate-”the boy started to raddle off his day, only to be cut off by a rather harshcough that rattled through his body. He rubbed the boys back gentle until Yuricaught his breath again.

He glanced towards Victor who smiled at himsoftly.

“I’m pretty sure my coach has adopted himalready, he was checking on Yurio ever five minutes,” Victor explained, causinghim to smile gentle.

“Is that so?” he asked, earning a nod fromYuri.

“Mister Yakov is really nice,” Yuri toldhim with a nod.

“Is he?” he asked with a smile.

“Not as nice as Miss Lilia,” Yuri correctedhimself.

“Miss Lilia?” he repeated slowly.

“Lilia Baranovskaya,” Victor explained.

“Madam Baranovskaya?” he asked in surprise.

“So, I’m guessing you are Minako’s danseur?”Victor questioned, causing him to nod his head.

“Madam Baranovskaya knows who I am?” heasked, glancing between Victor and his son. Yuri gave a small shrug whilepulling the blanket around him a little tighter.

“Yeah,” Victor said with a nod of his head,“Oh, there is some food in the kitchen for you. Lilia refused to let us go homeuntil we had eaten something and then insisted we take some home to you, so youdidn’t catch someone’s cold,” Victor said while leaning over to ruffle Yuri’shead.

He stared at the pair in front of him for amoment, watching as Yuri whined and weakly tried to lean away from Victortouch.

It was almost like they were a family, likeYuri had two parents who loved and cherished him.

“Yuuri? What’s wrong? You are crying?”Victor asked suddenly, causing him to stand up straight and wipe the tears offhis face with a nervous laugh.

“It’s nothing,” he mumbled with a weaksmile.

“Papa?” Yuri questioned while looking up athim worriedly.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he ensured the pairwhile leaning down to plant a kiss on top of Yuri’s head while placing a handon Victor’s shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Just, thank you,” he mumbled to the pair,earning two looks of confusion.

“Papa, you are acting weird. Are you sick?”Yuri asked while turning around on the couch and getting on his knees to reachup and put a hand on his forehead. He chuckled softly and gave the boy anotherkiss, this time on his forehead.

“I’m fine, Yurochka,” he ensured the boy.

“I don’t know,” Victor hummed, causing himto turn to the skater in confusion, “I think someone needs some cuddle time onthe couch, what do you say, Yurio?” Victor declared, earning a gasp of delightfrom Yuri.

“Yes! Papa needs cuddles!” Yuri said whilepatting the side opposite Victor on the couch. He let out a chuckle and noddedhis head in defeat, realising that there was no way he was getting out of this.

“Okay, okay. Let me get changed reallyquick and then cuddle time,” he promised while moving towards his bedroom toquickly get dressed.

He liked this, having a family at homewaiting for him at the end of a long day.

Skater Next Door AO3

Skater Next Door AU

[balletomaneblog]

The Vaganova IG page shared a video of a graduation performance, and it displays Kulikova, Koshkareva, Rissanen, and Kuprina. Do you happen to know what they are talking about? Also, Kuprina shows a little talisman of the Bolshoi and mentions her mother. So I guess her decision to go there was a huge dream. I just get scared for the young girls in that theater. The disgusting things that happen behind the curtains (not that it doesn't happen in any other theater in the world, but the BT has a "fame" fot it) make me a little concerned for them, specially her, who seems so sweet. I hope she stays safe and in good hands. Nadezhda Gracheva is going to be her coach, so that's amazing. She's a legend, so it means they are really investing in the VBA graduates this year at the Bolshoi.

Unfortunately, I don't speak Russian so I'm not sure. Yes, I would imagine that Kuprina must have wanted to go to the Bolshoi for a long time to turn down the Mariinsky, where she has already had a couple of large roles as a trainee.

I can't speak much to the hidden culture at the Bolshoi, I'm no expert on it. Of course, it is infamous for drama and scandals in the past. But with such a huge theatre, there will be kind and supportive people just as there are people who can be manipulative and difficult to work with. I'm very happy that Nadezhda Gracheva is her coach, I have heard she is wonderful to her dancers. So I'm sure she will look after Kuprina and steer her well.

[fair-verona-rpg]

Congratulations Kati! We’re very happy to have you bring Andrej Michael Romanov to turn the Globe and theater world on its ear. Please complete our after acceptance checklist. We are looking forward to seeing you develop him! Please send in her blog within 48 hours.

Andrej Michael Romanov was one of the most wanted bachelors in all of St. Petersburg. From the day he was born his way has been laid out for him -become an accomplished gentleman, take over the family’s empire and claim a woman from another noble family. That was, at least, his grandmother’s plan for him, but Andrej was a rebellious soul for as long as he could remember.

His father never seemed to be overly interested in him and once he came to accept that, things became a lot easier for him. At least he had a loving mother who did everything within her power to make his life not only consist of the lessons his grandmother was teaching him. She read fairytales to him and encouraged him to tell his own stories from an early age on, wanting to grant him an escape from the rigid regime his grandmother was putting him through. Even though those stories gave him a break from time to time, the pressure he was under didn’t minimize much. Andrej was always expected to be at the top of his class in any subject and once he was done with school and had done his homework his grandmother had already organized piano lessons, dancing classes and etiquette coaching.

The only break he could get from this control freak like behaviour of his Maria Romanova was when he was hiding in the library, pretending to work for school while he was actually reading what he was truly interested in - philosophy. These books were the reason why he started to doubt his own life, religion and the system he lived in. Fuelled by this lack of understanding and those doubts he started to search an artistic way to transcend them and to express himself in one way or another. It started with small snippets of choreography or performances he staged with apprentices of the Mariinsky when he was 15. As the son of a family that was fostering pretty much every cultural institution in all of St. Petersburg he got to know them on the premieres he got to attend.

The more he worked with other artists the more he developed a very clear symbolism and pushed his artists to their limits and beyond but they happily went through the pain, just like masochists, knowing that the performance that he created justified all of his sadism in the studio.

His performances were shown in small theatres and at times even on the streets as his performances, but he was never able to put his name on it officially. If his grandmother would have ever found out about it she would have gone ballistic, especially once she had seen his staging of the dance of the sacrifice from le sacre du printemps with a naked man who danced until he collapsed on stage. If Maria Romanova would have known that her grandson was not only responsible for the choreography but also for the bruises on the sub’s body…that would have turned the 16 year old’s life into a living hell. An openly bisexual Romanov in that ultra conservative and religious family…she would have dropped out of a heart attack.

Over the years the works of the anonymous artist who has given himself the name Οὖτις which means nobody in Ancient Greek, got more and more famous, especially for it’s iconography that seemed to be the right mixture of genius and scandalous to keep the art scene in uproar.

There were many people who offered the artists who worked with Οὖτις a great deal of money to get the real name of the man who conquered St. Petersburg’s art scene with such ease, but each of them declined, knowing that it would end Andrej’s career before it even properly began.

He revealed his true identity with a performance on the palace square in front of the winter palace with many members of the Mariinsky, even some principals who risked being fired only to be a part of the performance.

This performance was followed by a huge scandal. Andrej was cast out of his family, kicked out of the mansion he had called his home for all these years and had to start sleeping on friend’s couches until he signed his first contracts for theatres in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Those contracts were followed by two offers to attend with his staging of le sacre du printemps at huge festivals both in Russia and in Europe.

Following the first festival he was offered several opportunities for carte blanche performances at other international festivals and from there on there were even more theatres who wanted to hired the young genius, but Andrej selected the theatres very carefully, only doing what he was truly interested in and not caring for the money he was offered or the name of the house that wanted to hire him. At the age of 21 he got quite a resume together and so he decided to take a break from the profession that had got him an infamous name and quite a full bank account to splurge on a college education.

He got accepted into Cambridge and started to take classes there to further his education, only studying what he was interested and not what he needed to for a degree.

Andrej left college at the age of 26 without anything official, but a lot wiser then when he started, rebooting his career as choreographer and director once more. From that moment on he is staging at least two productions a year, making himself a name as the most scandalous director that the art world knows right now, always inventive, always extreme and always surpassing limits, demanding everything of his company while he is demanding just the same of himself.

He has spent over a decade now travelling the world, creating pieces for some of the worlds most famous companies, at home in pretty much every discipline whether it were plays, ballets and operas, always travelling, always living out of the suitcase without a real home, impossible to grow roots or even properly thinking about a claim.

Over the years there have been a couple of theatres who asked him to take over the position of artistic director, but so far none of the offers had really caught his attention, mainly because there had been so many other things that he had still on his bucket list and the fear that they would censor his work, the one thing that enrages him more then anything else. But then the officials of Verona made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. He gets to take over the Globe, the budget is enormous, he gets to decide who stays and who leaves the house and he can bring his own creative team with him to make sure that everything is going the way he wants it to be.

Andrej Romanov is going to take over the globe at the season 2018/19, preparing everything for his first season in Verona…and there will be some radical changes that are coming up for the Globe whether the company will like it or not…

Birthdate: October 2nd

Claim: No claim

Children: None

Symbol?: A leather bracelet with a branded shield with his mother’s family crest on it

Kinks: Bondage, public sex, being clothed while his sub is naked, anal sex (giving), oral sex (giving and receiving), impact play, sexting, breath play, TPE, pain play

Anti-kinks: Needles, bathroom play, scat, vore, gore, feet, non-con, infantilism, pet play

Played by Kati