Yulia Makhalina, prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theatre: biography, personal life, creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Yuliya Viktorovna Makhalina is a well-known Russian ballerina, prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theatre, a teacher in ballet classes, and a laureate and winner of many awards, such as the Golden Soffit and Benois de la Danse.

General Biography

The name of Yulia Makhalina these days is well known to most people who are somehow striving to comprehend Russian national art. Yulia Makhalina is a ballerina who, like many of her colleagues, helped raise the Russian ballet school to extraordinary heights, showing the whole world the perfect skill of Russian dancers and dancers.

A woman's repertoire currently has an almost record number of roles: the ballerina not only brilliantly played world-famous roles in Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty, but she was also, in a way, an innovator in many other ballets more unknown authors. Needless to say, after Yulia Makhalina danced a role in an unknown performance, he was rapidly gaining popularity?

Childhood

It is worth starting from the origins of a talenteddancers who lead to the beautiful and ancient city on the Neva - Leningrad, and now St. Petersburg. It was there in 1968 on June 23 that the future artist was born. Already from birth, fate decided to test Makhalina for strength - at a young age, the girl was given a terrible diagnosis - paralysis of her leg, because of which Yulia limped heavily. There could be no talk of any dances then, but they turned out to be the best medicine for a little girl. Without delay, Makhalina's parents send their daughter to a ballet class, which helps her fight the disease. And the choice of therapy turned out to be absolutely correct.

Already at the age of 15, the girl demonstrates outstanding success in dance. She is endowed with natural flexibility, and lameness disappears without a trace from the fate of the young ballerina. Her talent is noted by Konstantin Sergeyev, a well-known ballet dancer and choreographer at that time. And yet, at the same 15 years, the girl dances on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater Raymond from the ballet of the same name and the role of Medora from Le Corsaire.

Early years

Success begins to accompany the young ballerina, but there were always a lot of envious people around who at any moment were ready to prick the girl for the slightest flaw or oversight. For a long time, Makhalina's external data was considered such a disadvantage. Excessively tall, with long arms and legs, a slightly disproportionate girl shone on the stage, eclipsing the outwardly stereotyped classmates. Yulia Makhalina, whose height, weight and overall proportions were far from the standards of ballet, brought to art along with a new appearance and new technique. That is why no one can now simplypoint out the lack of a ballerina, which lies in her large growth - Makhalina has long introduced the stateliness of ballerinas into fashion.

The first appearance on the stages of the Mariinsky Theater opens many doors for the ballerina. At 16, she amazingly plays the main role in The Nutcracker, and a year later, at the graduation from her native ballet class, the girl dances Odile in the pas de deux in the Swan Lake ballet. A year later, the girl graduated from the Academy of Russian Ballet named after A. Ya. Vaganova. And at the same time, her further education continues at the Leningrad State Opera and Ballet Theatre, which is now called the Mariinsky Theatre.

First successes

It is at the Mariinsky Theater that Yulia Makhalina, following the creative career of adult ballerinas, gains the experience necessary for a beginner dancer. She hones her skills, taking on any performances that are offered to her, and the girl diligently puts her whole soul into each.

If in adolescence "Swan Lake" performed by a girl was deprived of the drama and touchingness that should have been present in this story, now Yulia Makhalina performed the role of Odette with impeccable sensuality. It was a real success, and one of the very first and most significant in the career of a ballerina.

Mariinsky Theater

Studying at the Mariinsky Theater was not easy, probably not a single ballerina in history, but each of them individually and all together became a symbol of this place, the soul of it and the entire Russian ballet.

Great inspiration was Julia in the wallsthis theater: I wanted not only to improve, but to show everyone else my level. Therefore, thanks to the work with excellent teachers, very soon Makhalina became one of the favorites of the theater. Olga Moiseeva and Gennady Selyutsky are teachers whom the girl will never forget, since it was they who guided the young ballerina, helped her build and play roles, discussed new parts with her and corrected mistakes in old ones. As a result: after 4 years of study, Yulia Makhalina received the status of prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater. She became a model, a woman who introduced her famous aplomb and high step on the big stage.

Anna Karenina Ballet

During her career, the ballerina has danced sixteen different main roles, some of which were well known to the public, while others are completely unknown. One of these "unknown" roles was the part of Anna Karenina in the ballet of the same name.

Productions based on books have always been much more complex than the original composer's ideas. If the image that the composer vaguely showed in his work could be presented in any way, then the book characters obeyed strict limits. And the movements, and costumes, and even emotions - everything had to correspond to the description of the author and required a clear execution in order to truly entice the viewer.

Makhalina became the first performer of this part and, as it is introduced, one of the best. According to the ballerina herself, this performance could never have been danced by a woman who does not know this novel and does not understand the whole story of AnnaKarenina. In order to convey the emotional state of the heroine as accurately as possible, Yulia “died” on stage every time in the deepest sense of the word. The ballet "Anna Karenina" became one of the hardest in the career of a ballerina, but it was he who gave the woman the status of a serious and dramatic performer of the Russian ballet.

Current activities

Currently, Makhalina has retired and is now working on the creative development of a new generation of young ballerinas. From now on, this woman transfers all her experience and skills to other girls so that they continue the established traditions.

During her career, the woman was not only a dancer, but also an actress, as her mother always wanted: several films were shot with the participation of a ballerina.

As for the family, Yulia Makhalina, whose personal life was completely absorbed in ballet, does not currently have a husband and still lives in the same Leningrad with her parents. A talented woman and a wonderful person in the ballet studio showed a not entirely easy character at home. Perhaps this was the reason why Yulia Makhalina (her husband demanded a divorce) is still alone.

And yet we should not forget that there are people in the world who are not intended for others, but are necessary for a specific cause - this is a woman who gave herself to ballet. And for many decades to come, the dancer will be remembered abroad under the special title that she deservedly acquired - "Imperial Ballerina".