St Petersburg

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GRIFFITHS:   Culture is St Petersburg’s middle name. When it comes to classical dance  no other city has quite the same cachet.

00:13

Marinsky Theatre Ballet

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00:23

GRIFFITHS:   The famed Marinsky Theatre is the home of ballet luminaries, where Baryshnikov and Pavlova once trod the boards.

Even for the uninitiated, like me, it’s a thrill.

00:28

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00:42

GRIFFITHS:  There’s just nothing quite like a night at the ballet in Russia.

The whole experience is pure romance but what makes it really special for me is the audience, because they seem to have this intense appreciation for what they’re watching, like it’s almost a religious experience.

But in St Petersburg these days, there are a few different dance denominations, and one of them has caused quite a stir among the city’s cultural elite.

00:46

Griffiths visits male ballet

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01:15

GRIFFITHS:   Across town in a slightly less illustrious locale, another ballet company has drawn in the crowds.

01:20

Male Ballet performance

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01:27

GRIFFITHS:   Their movements are graceful; their skill impressive.

The whole performance is quite arresting -- not least because these dancers are all men – even the women.

01:34

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01:46

GRIFFITHS:   St Petersburg’s Male Ballet is an oasis of gentle humour  in a country that can take its classical art very seriously.

01:51

VALERY:  We want the public who watch our performance, the part where we perform women’s roles to have fun.

02:03

Valery

To sometimes be so surprised that men are able to dance on their toes and to do it so well. And at the same time to enjoy what they see on the stage.

02:13

Valery takes class

Valery:  One… two… Yaroslav, Lyosha, you’ve done it well. And the hand goes like this.. one… two… one… two…

02:27

GRIFFITHS:   Valery Mikhailovsky is the founder and director of the Male Ballet.  He came up with the idea in the early ‘90s when there were plenty of male dancers looking for work, but a shortage of ballerinas.

02:40

He’s taken his troupe through its paces for fifteen years -- and will never forget the first time they had to dance in women’s pointe shoes.

02:56

Men dance in pointe shoes

VALERY:  It was just a nightmare,  our feet turned to bloody porridge.

I once had a moment when I  rubbed off all my skin, as if I had scalped myself on my heel.

03:06

Valery

The dancers have had to master the technique very quickly, and that’s very complicated. It requires such accuracy, such precision in performing.

03:23

Class of young boys at Ballet Academy

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03:33

GRIFFITHS:   It’s not something that’s taught to the young male students at the city’s prestigious Vaganova Ballet Academy. 

03:40

Ludmilla Komolova instructs her charges on the ballet basics. And she believes men have no place performing female roles.

03:51

LUDMILLA:  A male dancer has a completely different mission. Besides his own dancing, he has to reveal the best of his partner, to show the best of her.

04:06

Ludmilla

In my view, it’s not necessary to put a man in pointe shoes. He has another purpose both in life and on the stage. [laughs]

04:25

Ballet class

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04:31

GRIFFITHS:   At least one of her pupils is keeping his options open.

04:37

Two students

STUDENT:  If I was made up I could dance a female role.

04:42

Male Ballet performance

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04:47

GRIFFITHS:   The Male Ballet has proved that it is indeed possible, mixing parody with expert technique.  Valery Mikhailovsky argues his dancers may even be better.

VALERY:  If a man has the proper physical qualities,

04:58

litheness and all that sort of thing – grace - he is able to dance a ladies’ part even better than a woman, because a man has more physical force, more physical ability.

05:11

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05:25

Audience at Male Ballet

GRIFFITHS:   Perhaps such a debate can only be answered by the audience.

WOMAN:  On the one hand – it causes aggression, and on the other – admiration.

05:30

Audience member

Some people think a female role should be danced solely by women, and it is very unusual to see men - but I am delighted, anyway.  [smiles]

05:43

Ballet performance

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05:49

GRIFFITHS:   The buzz of going to the ballet in St Petersburg prevails -- even when the ballerinas have left the stage.

05:55

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06:03

Credits

Reporter: Emma Griffiths

Camera: Louie Eroglu ACS

Editor: Garth Thomas

Producer: Olga Pavlova

06:16