Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova (; 26 June 1879 – 5 November 1951) was a Soviet and Russian

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

teacher who developed the Vaganova method – the technique which derived from the teaching methods of the old Imperial Ballet School (today the

Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet 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 h ...

) under the ''Premier Maître de Ballet''

Marius Petipa Marius Ivanovich Petipa (; born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa; 11 March 1818) was a French and Russian ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. He is considered one of the most influential ballet masters and choreographers in ballet history ...

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 Ballet technique is the foundational principles of body movement and form used in ballet. It is an important aspect of ballet performance because ballet (especially classical ballet) puts great emphasis on the method and execution of movement., pp. ...

. Her technique is one of the most popular techniques today.

Biography

Vaganova was born in Saint Petersburg to Akop Vaganov, an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

from

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

, who worked as an usher at the

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...

, and a Russian mother. Vaganova's whole life was connected with the Imperial Ballet (later the Kirov Ballet) of the

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. She was accepted into the Imperial Ballet School in 1888, the great institution of classical dance founded by Anna of Russia and funded by the

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

s. She graduated from the ''Classe de Perfection'' of the former ''Prima Ballerina'' Evgenia Pavlovna Sokolova (she was also trained by Yekaterina Vazem, Christian Johansson,

Lev Ivanov Lev Ivanovich Ivanov (; 2 March 1834, Moscow – 24 December 1901, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Mariinsky Ballet, Imperial Ballet. As a performer with the Mariinsky Ballet, ...

, Nikolai Legat and

Pavel Gerdt Pavel Andreyevich Gerdt (), also known as Paul Gerdt (22 November 1844, near Saint Petersburg, Russia – 12 August 1917, in Vamaloki, Finland, Russian Republic), was the ''Premier Danseur Noble'' of the Mariinsky Ballet, Imperial Ballet, the Bol ...

). Ballet did not come easily to Vaganova in her first years as a student, but slowly, through the efforts of her own will power, she was able to join the illustrious Imperial Ballet upon her graduation. By the time she attained the rank of soloist, Saint Petersburg balletomanes dubbed her ''queen of variations'', for her unlimited virtuosity and level of technique. The old Maestro Petipa cared little for Vaganova as a dancer – any mention of her performances in his diaries was usually followed by such comments as "awful" or "dreadful". In 1915 the Ballet Master Nikolai Legat cast Vaganova as the Goddess Niriti in his revival of Petipa's 1889 grand ballet '' The Talisman''. Vaganova's portrayal was a great success, and won her promotion to the rank of ''Prima''. Nevertheless, she chose to retire one year later to concentrate on teaching. She started to teach ballet in 1916 at the School of the Baltic Fleet which was founded and led by Akim Volynsky. In 1921 Vaganova began teaching at the ''Choreographic College'', so at that time was called the former Imperial Theater School situated on Rossi street (after the

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

ballet department was separated from the Drama and Music). Though she did have a respectable career as a dancer, her leadership in teaching classical dance was what gave her one of the most respected places in the history of ballet. Her own early struggle with deciphering ballet technique had taught her much. She taught students who would go on to become legends of the dance. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

the future of ballet in Russia looked grim because of its tradition as court entertainment. Vaganova "fought tooth and nail", as she put it, for the preservation of the legacy of

and the Imperial Ballet. From 1931 to 1937 she was an artistic director of the ballet of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater ( Kirov Ballet). In 1933, she staged the classical version of ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...

'' by

and

with Galina Ulanova as Odette, Olga Jordan as Odile and Konstantin Sergeyev as Prince Siegfried. In 1935 she revived ''La Esmeralda'' partly with her own choreography. In 1934 she published her famous book ''Fundamentals of Classical Dance'': it has withstood at least six editions in Russia and was translated into many languages. The same year Vaganova (along with Boris Shavrov) initiated the establishing at the Leningrad Conservatory of pedagogic department for training of future ballet teachers which she began to manage. There, some of her dance school alumni became her students. Most important names for the dance teaching are (author of ''100 Lessons of Classical Dance'' and ''The School of Classical Dance'' with A. Pisarov), and Varvara P. Mey (authors of the ''Alphabet of Classical Dance''). Among Vaganova's dance alumnae were the distinguished Soviet ballerinas Marina Semyonova, , Galina Ulanova, , , Natalia Dudinskaya, , Alla Shelest, , , , , Ninel Kurgapkina, Alla Osipenko and Irina Kolpakova among many others. Her teaching combined the elegant, refined style of the old French School which Vaganova had been taught by Christian Johansson, the beauty and smoothness of the arms movements of old Russian School, strong and masterly foot technique of Italian School with more vigorous dancing developed in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Her last school graduation was in 1951 — not long before her death. She also taught the class of perfection for the female dancers of the Kirov Ballet for many years till 1951, when Natalia Dudinskaya succeed her as teacher. Shortly after her death, on 1 November 1951, the Choreographic College on Rossi Street was renamed in her honor; in 1961, it received the title of "academic" and in 1991 it began to use the name

. The spread of Vaganova method is not limited inside Russia. It has been widely used as a ballet training method in Ukraine, Germany and China. State Ballet School of Berlin is ballet school in Germany that adopts Vaganova method. There is a growing trend among American ballet schools to adopt the Vaganova method as their training method.https://repository.tcu.edu/bitstream/handle/116099117/59361/Russell__Ashley-Honors_Project.PDF_A.pdf. Retrieved 2024-02-05.

References

External links

The Ballerina Gallery – Agrippina Vaganova
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaganova, Agrippina 1879 births 1951 deaths Choreographers of Mariinsky Theatre Russian women choreographers People's Artists of the RSFSR Recipients of the Stalin Prize Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Ballerinas from the Russian Empire Russian ballet teachers 19th-century educators from the Russian Empire Soviet ballerinas Soviet educators Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet alumni People from the Russian Empire of Armenian descent Dancers from Saint Petersburg Musicians from Saint Petersburg

Biography

See also

References

External links