Kondratyeva Marina Viktorovna, prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater: biography, creativity

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

Kondratyeva Marina Viktorovna - prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, People's Artist of the RSFSR, and then the USSR, a famous choreographer, as well as a laureate of the 1st degree at the World Festival of Youth and Students in Warsaw.

Family

There is still no reliable information about who the ballerina's mother was and how she lived, but the name of her father is still known to many. Viktor Nikolaevich Kondratiev was an outstanding Soviet physicist-chemist who made a huge contribution to the development of sections of the two integrating sciences. This man, who devoted his whole life to science, professor and doctor of sciences, managed to bring up in his daughter an inner core, without which it was impossible to hold out in life, let alone in ballet.

Childhood

Kondratiev Marina Viktorovna was born on February 1, 1934 in the city of Leningrad, which is now called St. Petersburg. From an early age, Marina showed extraordinary abilities in dancing: the girl was mobile, her movements were full of beauty and grace. Many acquaintances of her academic father advised her to send her daughter to a ballet school, and only oneNikolai Semyonov, also an academician and close to Kondratyev, practically took the girl by the hand to her future place of study. But at the moment when they crossed the threshold of the school, fate played a cruel joke: the enrollment of girls was closed. But how then did such an amazing ballerina appear, and not just another scientist? A woman working at the school as an administrator, seeing Marina's broken state, decided to help: she gave Semenov the address and telephone number of a Leningrad choreographer. And then Agrippina Vaganova (the same choreographer) from a purely professional point of view said something that forever changed the fate of a little girl: “You must dance.”

Start learning

The girl's father did not strongly resist the decision, and now, young Marina Kondratieva, on the recommendation of Vaganova, enters the Moscow Choreographic School. The first time of study is not too easy, but the passion and thirst for dance has always come to the fore before any difficulties. Very soon, the girl gets used to it, gets used not only to complex schedules and merciless workouts - she gets used to the idea that she can become no worse than the most famous and unique leading ballerinas of her kind, not only from the Bolshoi, but also from many other world theaters. The efforts of the future ballerina are not in vain: in 1952, Marina brilliantly graduated from college under the guidance of Galina Petrova, and after that she entered the troupe of dancers of the Bolshoi Theater.

First successes

The Bolshoi Theater becomes a real home for Kondratieva, not only at the time of the beginning of her studies, but also atentire future career. In those years, the legendary Plisetskaya, Struchkova, Lepeshinskaya shone in performances and on the stage - women whose name has already entered the history of Russian ballet. They were now right before the eyes of the beginning ballerina. She could see their skill, adopt it, listen to advice and, of course, improve.

At the Bolshoi, her mentor was Marina Semyonova, a well-known ballet dancer who has already won world recognition, performing in all the major theaters of the country. Semyonova not only gave young Marina a start to develop her own technique, but it was she who prepared Kondratiev for her future profession - teacher-tutor.

The debut of the beginning ballerina was the role of Cinderella from the ballet performance by R. Zakharov, and again, as soon as she started, the roles fell like snow on her graceful shoulders. After Cinderella, Masha from The Nutcracker was played, another princess named Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and even the role of Shakespeare's Juliet, which was conveyed with all the fullness of feelings that can only be expressed in a dance.

Duets

During her dancing career, Marina Viktorovna Kondratyeva danced with many, like her, partners who went down in history. These were Mikhail Lavrovsky, and Yuri Vladimirov, and Vladimir Tikhonov, but the most memorable duet came from the ballerina with Maris Liepa, a Lithuanian and Soviet ballet soloist, whose performances have always been memorable and atmospheric, thanks to his unique, “fiery” and impulsive dance technique.

Kondratiev is with himdanced one of her most amazing roles - Giselle in the ballet of the same name by A. Adam, edited by L. M. Lavrovsky.

Pedagogical activity

Already in 1980, Kondratyeva Marina graduated from the State Institute of Theater Arts. A. V. Lunacharsky (now GITIS).

Teaching was surprisingly easy for Kondratieva: the woman easily found a common language with novice ballerinas, which she was in her time. With the help of V. Yu. Vasiliev and N. D. Kasatkina, her first teaching experience took place in an ensemble called the Moscow Classical Ballet, and then, with confident grace, Marina easily managed with the dancers of her native Moscow Choreographic School. from 1990 to 2000, she became a professor at the school, and after some time, a woman finally becomes a teacher-repetiteur at the Bolshoi Theater.

For her teaching activities, the choreographer taught Margarita Perkun-Bebezichi, Elena Knyazkina, Vera Timashova, worked with ballerinas and ballet dancers of the Grigorovich studio, one of the most famous choreographers and choreographers of the country, as well as with many other girls who, thanks to sensitive the leadership of their mentor has now become a worthy replacement for the Golden Generation of Russian ballet of the 60s.

In our years, Kondratieva is the leader of the famous Nadezhda Gracheva and Natalia Osipova, each of whom is a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater. Since 1988, Marina Viktorovna Kondratieva begins her career in a new field for herself -choreographer, which she brilliantly succeeds again.

Expressing yourself on stage and in your best roles

The world of high ballet remembers Kondratiev for her unique technique. She did not introduce new styles or movements, as Plisetskaya did, but her manner of performance was so light that it seemed that she was dancing not on the stage, but right in the air. Her amazing impetuosity of movement made it possible to ideally play many characters, where the pinnacle of her skill fell on Giselle, a ballet in which the main character must flutter like a disembodied vision, barely touching the floor with her feet. The movements of the ballerina had to be graceful, but fast, she had to rush expressing her feelings, but at the same time, the sound of her steps had to be absorbed by silence. All this was incredibly accurately conveyed by Kondratieva.

Over and over again, now she performed the part of Giselle - the ballet came out better and better each time, and the skill of the magnificent ballerina looked more and more polished. Shining in this image, Marina Kondratieva achieved the title of one of the best Giselles of the 20th century.

Marina Kondratyeva is a ballerina who has become a living embodiment of romantic ballet in its best traditions. Swift, graceful, weightless - she was a ghostly image that fascinated not only the audience, but also the choreographers who had seen a lot and the entire troupe as a whole.

In the ballet "Paganini" the girl again performed the role that came out of her best - the role of the Muse, appearing from nowhere and givinginspiration and hope.

Current activities

Don't be surprised to learn that Kondratiev is currently still teaching. Anyone who has ever connected his soul with ballet will always return to it. The magnificent ballerina, already a choreographer and choreographer of the Bolshoi Theater, is now 82 years old, but this does not prevent her from preparing more and more new talents for the stage. Among her students now are Anna Okuneva, Olga Smirnova, Nina Biryukova and many other girls who will never regret choosing a mentor.

3 years ago Kondratieva became a member of the Artistic Council of the Bolshoi Ballet Company, so now, as a ballet teacher, she has not only time, but also a direct opportunity to prepare young ballerinas so that their radiance on stage is no less than at the same Plisetskaya or Kondratieva herself.