The Heart of Russian Ballet

To say that ballet has become my primary hobby in Russia would be the understatement of the century. I have thrown myself at it with a vengence that rarely takes the reins of the heart and soul in the magnitude to which I’ve been impacted. My research takes me to over fifty shows a year, I plan ballet travel to other Russian cities, and count many male dancers and ballerinas from the Bolshoi Theater as good friends. My scrap books of tickets, programs, the stolen posters, and my encyclopedic photo collections from live performances attests to this fact. Ballet photography is a huge component of my documentation of, or rather, contribution to the art form, and I havetaken a fair few shots. The classic ballet world of Russia has opened doors for me I’d never dreamed existed, and open my eyes to an aesthetic and transcendent art form that always and still rivets me to my seat and fills my senses to overflowing.


Mark Olich’s Ballet Photography Workshop in concert with ultra prima ballerina Diana Vishneva of which I was one of five amateur photographers to be selected to participate. The first two frames are from the 2018 Context Festival of Modern Dance and Choreography held in Moscow every Spring where I had full backstage access at the Stanislavsky Theater. All the subsequent photos are stealth shots with my Canon 6D from inside performances at the Bolshoi and StanislavskyTheaters in Moscow, and the Mariinsky and Mikhailovsky Theaters of Saint Petersburg .

Guillaume Coté’s choreographic interprétation of Sartre’s Being and Nothingness.

http://www.contextfest.com/en

Video footage from the Ballet and Strings Extravaganza at the Anglo American School, Featuring Elite Dancers and Soloists from the Bolshoi Theater Ballet, accompanied by Virtuoso Chamber Musicians of the Bolshoi Ballet Orchestra

https://vimeo.com/294301014

In penning the PTO enhancement grant I never dreamed I was forging this extraordinary alliance between AAS and the world renowned and unparalleled classical dancers of the Bolshoi Theater. The (almost) annual event has played to packed houses in our own school’s Bolshoi Theater, and is completely free to the AAS community. The event has evolved over the course of its three productions, and each has its own distinct flavor and allure. Yours truly at director, emcee( and epic grant procuror), attempted to infuse each incarnation with a signature theme, or at least thread. The first episode unveils much of the paralleled history of classical music and dance, the second is about story telling, and the final mostly just about incredible solos, pas de deux, adagio and pathos in motion. Take a pead at the vimeo links in order from first to last below.

https://vimeo.com/187745546

https://vimeo.com/153929473