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Ballet Stars

#TBT: Ekaterina Maximova as the Sugar Plum Fairy (1957)

For many a bunhead, "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" is not just a holiday tradition, but a rite of passage. The variation, with its tinkling celesta, bourrées and petit battus, is one that all ballet dancers are familiar with, and getting the opportunity to perform it often represents moving into new realms in your training or career. Such was the case for Soviet ballerina Ekaterina Maximova. In this 1957 clip, the 18-year-old aspirant performed the Sugar Plum variation at a ballet competition, where she represented the Bolshoi Ballet Academy.

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News

This Weekend: Catch the Bolshoi Ballet at the Movies in "Carmen Suite" and "Petrushka"

If you're making your weekend plans, you may want to clear your calendar for Sunday and check your local movie listings. On May 19, Fathom Events, in partnership with Pathé Live and By Experience, is broadcasting the Bolshoi Ballet's performance of Carmen Suite and Petrushka throughout cinemas nationwide. The program will be captured live the same day from Moscow, and feature some of the Bolshoi's biggest stars.

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Viral Videos

#TBT: Galina Ulanova and Nikolai Fadeyechev in “Giselle” (1956)

The final moments of Giselle's second act are some of the most hauntingly beautiful in all of ballet: from the pas de deux between Giselle's betrayed spirit and the man she still loves, to the wilis' cold rejection, to Albrecht's heart-wrenching desperation as the curtain closes. The Bolshoi Ballet's late prima ballerina assoluta, Galina Ulanova, is among the most legendary interpreters of the ballet's titular role, admired around the world for her ability to utterly transform into character. Alongside her frequent partner Nikolai Fadeyechev, also a former leading dancer with the Bolshoi, their performance is an offering of sensitivity that stirs us even decades later.

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Just for fun

What to Watch: The Bolshoi Is Back on the Big Screen Next Month

Bolshoi Ballet's Daria Khokhlova and Artemy Belyakov in "La Sylphide." Photo by Damir Yusupov. Photo courtesy of Bolshoi Ballet.

Bolshoi Ballet has teamed up with Fathom Events, By Experience and Pathé Live for a fifth season of their Cinema Series, and they're starting with a full-length classic. On November 11, select theaters throughout the U.S. will host a screening of the Bolshoi in La Sylphide, filmed live from Moscow that same day.

First performed in 1832 with choreography by Filippo Taglioni, La Sylphide is credited with inspiring the Romantic era of ballet—and, it was the first ballet to feature dancing on pointe! The Bolshoi will be performing Danish ballet master August Bournonville's style, staged by Johan Kobborg.

Bolshoi Ballet's Daria Khokhlova and Artemy Belyakov in "La Sylphide." Photo by Damir Yusupov. Photo courtesy of Bolshoi Ballet.

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Just for fun

What to Watch: The Bolshoi Is Back on the Big Screen November 11

Bolshoi Ballet's Daria Khokhlova and Artemy Belyakov in "La Sylphide." Photo by Damir Yusupov. Photo courtesy of Bolshoi Ballet.

Bolshoi Ballet has teamed up with Fathom Events, By Experience and Pathé Live for a fifth season of their Cinema Series, and they're starting with a full-length classic. On November 11, select theaters throughout the U.S. will host a screening of the Bolshoi in La Sylphide, filmed live from Moscow that same day.

First performed in 1832 with choreography by Filippo Taglioni, La Sylphide is credited with inspiring the Romantic era of ballet—and, it was among the first ballets to feature dancing on pointe! The Bolshoi will be performing Danish ballet master August Bournonville's 1836 version, staged by Johan Kobborg.

Bolshoi Ballet's Daria Khokhlova and Artemy Belyakov in "La Sylphide." Photo by Damir Yusupov. Photo courtesy of Bolshoi Ballet.

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Trending

After Careers in Moscow and Seoul, Joy Womack Looks to Expand Her Horizons

Joy Womack in "Don Quixote." Photo by Kyoungjin Kim, Courtesy Universal Ballet.

Joy Womack is no stranger to the road less traveled. As the first American graduate of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy and first American woman to join the Bolshoi Ballet, the California native is accustomed to going out on a limb. Now at 24, after spending last season as a principal dancer with the Universal Ballet in Seoul, South Korea, she is taking a leave of absence and is back in Moscow with a revamped perspective and an impressive bucket list. We caught up with Womack over the phone to hear about her move from Russia to Korea and back again, and how life has changed since venturing on her own.

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News

World Ballet Day Is Today!

Australian Ballet in rehearsal during World Ball Day. Photo by Kate Longely, Courtesy Australian Ballet.

For the last few years, World Ballet Day has transfixed millions of ballet lovers with its hours and hours of live-streamed classes, rehearsals and behind-the-scenes extras from major companies around the globe. (We here at Pointe certainly don't get any work done!) And the 2018 edition is finally here! Hosted by Australian Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet and The Royal Ballet, streaming begins on WBD's Facebook page in Melbourne on October 2. However, for folks in North America, that means 9pm EST/6pm PST on Monday, October 1. In past years, the National Ballet of Canada and San Francisco Ballet helped host the event, but they are not participating this time. Other U.S. and Canadian companies, however, will get time in the limelight this morning and this afternoon--check out the full schedule here.

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Ballet Stars

#TBT: Ekaterina Krysanova in “Don Quixote” (2005)

Back-to-school blues bumming you out? This minute-long clip of Ekaterina Krysanova dancing the first bridesmaid's variation in Don Quixote is the perfect pick-me-up. The fiery Krysanova, who was promoted to principal at the Bolshoi Ballet in 2011, is a bright bundle of energy in this punchy solo. Packed with saut de chats and grand jetés, the variation shows off her star potential from the early days of her career. At 0:20, she punctuates her diagonal of spitfire chaînes with a sassy, suspended moment in seconde. Her quick footwork flits along to the musical trills. A performer at heart, as she admitted in a 2017 interview with Pointe, Krysanova is clearly unstoppable when she takes the stage. Happy #ThrowbackThursday!

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Ballet Stars

Petipa at 200: Why the 19th-Century Choreographer's Works Still Speak To Us Today

ABT in "Swan Lake." Petipa often collaborated with Lev Ivanov, who choreographed this ballet's white acts. Photo by John Grigaitis, Courtesy ABT.

Two hundred is the new 30. Or at least it seems so for Marius Petipa, whose ballets are as active as ever as we celebrate his 200th birthday this year.

Nearly all major ballet companies dance Petipa's iconic ballets, which reflect his prolific creative output. And they are heavy hitters: Swan Lake, La Bayadère, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, Paquita, The Pharaoh's Daughter, Raymonda and The Sleeping Beauty, to name just a few of the 50-plus ballets he choreographed. He also revived and reworked earlier productions of Coppélia, La Fille mal gardée and Giselle. During American Ballet Theatre's 2018 spring season, five out of its eight weeks will be attributable to Petipa, including the debut of artist in residence Alexei Ratmansky's newly reconstructed Harlequinade.

Gabe Stone Shayer and Misty Copeland in "The Sleeping Beauty." Photo by Doug Gifford, Courtesy ABT.

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Trending

Bolshoi Dancers Denied Visas to Perform at YAGP Gala in NYC

Olga Smirnova. Photo by Quinn Wharton.

Several weeks ago, Youth America Grand Prix announced that the lineup for tonight's Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow gala at Lincoln Center's Koch Theater would include Bolshoi Ballet principal Olga Smirnova and first soloist Jacopo Tissi. But an article in Page Six published last night states that Smirnova and Tissi were denied visas to enter the US.

YAGP organizers "believe the Department of Homeland Security's decision may be motivated by the myriad tensions between the superpowers," says the piece, noting that "Smirnova is so revered in Moscow that her treatment could create a Russian backlash." The Mariinsky Ballet's Kimin Kim did receive a visa and was allowed to perform as scheduled.

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News

Maria Kochetkova to Leave San Francisco Ballet

Kochetkova in Helgi Tomasson's Trio. Photo by Erik Tomasson, Courtesy SFB.

San Francisco Ballet announced this morning that principal dancer Maria Kochetkova will leave the company at the the end of the 2017–18 season. Her final performance date has not yet been announced, but it will be sometime during the company's Unbound Festival, April 20–May 6.

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News

Ballet at the Movies: Catch Svetlana Zakharova and Sergei Polunin in "Giselle" This Weekend

Sergei Polunin and Svetlana Zakharova in "Giselle." Photo Courtesy Fathom Events.

We've been seeing a lot of Sergei Polunin on the big screen lately, between last fall's Murder on the Orient Express and the recent spy-thriller Red Sparrow. But on Sunday, April 8, we'll have a chance to see him in full dancer mode again—alongside Bolshoi ballerina Svetlana Zakharova, no less! The pair will headline in Giselle, part of this season's Bolshoi Ballet in Cinema Series. Fathom Events, By Experience and Pathé Live will partner to broadcast the 2015 Bolshoi performance, which featured Polunin as a guest artist, to movie theaters nationwide. It's a rare opportunity to see these two ballet mega-stars dancing together. Click here to find theaters, showtimes and tickets near you. Can't wait 'til Sunday? Check out the sneak preview below.

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