Ballerina to Teacher [2] - Agrippina Vaganova

Aggrippina Vaganova (1879-1951) joined the Imperial Ballet School in 1888 and had as teachers Eugeniia Sokolova, Ekaterina Vazem, Christian Johansson, Lev Ivanov, Nikolai Legat and Pavel Gerdt On graduation, she joined the Imperial Ballet, later known as the Mariinsky Ballet, where as a soloist she became referred to by balletomanes as ‘the queen of variations - she had a very strong technique. Marius Maestro did not like Vaganova, making notes in his diary after her performances such as ‘awful’ or ‘dreadful’. However she had a great success in 1915 as the Goddess Niriti in Nikolai Legat’s revival of Petipa’s ‘The Talisman’, being subsequently designated prima. But it is for her second career as a pedagogue that Vaganova became world famous, developing a method of preparing dancers that is now known as the Vaganova Method. The two pieces of film here, each showing this legendary woman teaching class. The first is more interesting in that we see Vaganova demonstrating steps - particularly interesting for me is the ‘porte de bras’ and a ‘tour’ she shows. In the second bit of footage, Vaganova simply moves between pupils doing centre work, adjusting an arm position and so on every now and then. Given the lasting fame of the Vaganova Method, it’s fascinating to see the pedagogue at work training dancers. Enjoy!