Vaganova Today

Agrippina Vaganova (1879-1951) is revered as the visionary who first codified the Russian system of classical ballet training. The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, founded on impeccable technique and centuries of tradition, has a reputation for elite standards, and its graduates include Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, and Diana Vishneva. Yet the ““Vaganova method”“ has come under criticism in recent years.

In this absorbing volume, Catherine Pawlick traces Vaganova’s story from her early years as a ballet student in tsarist Russia to her career as a dancer with the Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet to her work as a pedagogue and choreographer. Pawlick then goes beyond biography to address Vaganova’s legacy today, offering the first-ever English translations of primary source materials and intriguing interviews with pedagogues and dancers from the Academy and the Mariinsky Ballet, including some who studied with Vaganova herself.

Author Biography

Catherine Pawlick began studying ballet at the age of six in the San Francisco Bay Area. She performed with regional ballet companies in both California and Washington, D.C. She lives in Saint Petersburg, Russia and is a ballet critic. Pawlick has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, The Moscow Times, Ballet Review, Dance Magazine, and CriticalDance.com. She also works as correspondent for Dance Europe and Danza i Danza. More of her writing can be seen at http://VaganovaToday.com.