Quiet worker

The Mariinsky Ballet has a new director

The name of Yuri Fateev is still known only to specialists. He is 44 years old, he has danced at the Mariinsky Theater for twenty years (parts of jesters, inserted pas de deux in “Giselle” - the repertoire of a corypheus or second soloist). His career as a teacher turned out to be more successful - Fateev is responsible for the Balanchine repertoire at the theater, rehearsed the ballets of John Neumeier and Roland Petit, that is, in fact, he was one of the invisible pillars of the theater's success in the past decade.

A decade (or rather, thirteen years - that’s how much time has passed since the previous change of leadership) was the era of Makharbek Vaziev, the head of the ballet troupe, and his repertoire assistant Pavel Gershenzon. Two months ago, they submitted their resignations, unable to withstand the white-hot relationship with the theater's artistic director Valery Gergiev. The ballet people assure that in reality they did not intend to leave, it was an attempt to get a vote of confidence - in this case, it failed. They're fired.

Following this, Gergiev accused Vaziev of not taking into account the interests of the theater by submitting an application before the important American tour (which has logic, but there are also situations where “the weight has reached the floor”). And also that he failed to establish relationships with the stars of the theater - with Ulyana Lopatkina (who dances less and less with age and speaks more and more about the great Russian spirituality, and also advocates for performances of the 40s and 50s of the last century, because she thinks she looks best in them), with Diana Vishneva (the actress is in demand and is expected in many theaters around the world, somehow she and Vaziev could not agree on a schedule). The most absurd accusation is that due to Vazieva’s complex character, Svetlana Zakharova left for the Bolshoi. The ballerina just wanted to be the main ballerina of the theater. Yes, Vaziev could not give her this place, since there is Lopatkina. What, Gergiev would have praised him if Zakharova had stayed and Lopatkina had left?

Now Gergiev wants Fateev to do the technical work, and also to find a choreographer who will take on the work of staging the performances. He dreams of seeing Alexei Ratmansky as such a guest choreographer. Ratmansky actually refused a similar offer from the New York City Ballet in February, saying that after the end of his contract with the Bolshoi (December 31), he wanted to be a free artist. To give up NYCB and go to the Mariinsky Theater would require being a masochist, and Ratmansky doesn’t seem to have noticed that. But something else is important: in this situation, artistic policy in the field of ballet remains with Gergiev himself. And his main achievement in this area is a set of monstrous ballets designed by Mikhail Shemyakin (“The Nutcracker”, “The Magic Nut”, etc.). At his insistence, rats, gaping meat carcasses and giant dead flies appeared on the theater stage. Will quiet worker Yuri Fateev be able to somehow resist this? Hardly.

Anna GORDEEVA