Strokes Through the Tail, London Coliseum

Strokes Through the Tail, music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, choreography by Marguerite Donlon, costume designer Igor Chapurin; lighting Andrei Abramov.

• Svetlana Zakharova (Rus. Светлана Захарова)
• Mikhail Lobukhin (Михаил Лобухин)
• Denis Savin (Денис Савин)
• Vladislav Kozlov (Владислав Козлов)
• Alexei Gaynutdinov (Алексей Гайнутдинов)
• Anton Gaynutdinov (Антон Гайнутдинов)

Svetlana Zakharova (Rus. Светлана Захарова), born 1979 is a prima ballerina with the Bolshoi Ballet and an étoile of the La Scala Theatre Ballet. She was born in Lutsk, in the Ukraine. In 1989, she entered Kiev Choreographic School. In Kiev, she trained with Valery Sulegina. Having finished six years at the Kiev School, Zakharova took part in a young dancers’ competition Vaganova-Prix in St. Petersburg. Her phenomenal physique (extraordinary flexibility, big step, stability, stable rotation) were noted at once. She won second prize and received an invitation to join the graduating course at Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. In 1996, Zakharova graduated from the Vaganova Academy, ennobling the first graduation by Elena Evteyeva, former distinguished ballerina of the Mariinsky Theatre. That same year she was accepted in the theatre’s company and in the following season was promoted to principal dancer. Famous ballerina and teacher Olga Moiseeva became her permanent teacher and mentor. One of her permanent partners was Igor Zelensky — the principal of the Mariinsky Theatre and an international star. Svetlana Zakharova’s international career began in 1999-2000. She performed the role of Medora in Le Corsaire in 1999 at Teatro Colon, staged by Makhar Vaziev. In 2000, she danced in The Nutcracker staged by Balanchine with the New-York City Ballet. In 2001, she performed in L’Histoire de Manon with the Bayerisches Staatsballett Ballet Company (on both occasions she was partnered by Igor Zelensky). In 2002, Zakharova (partnered by Carreno) performed in a gala concert of international ballet stars that took place at Palace des Arts in Montreal. She also participated in a gala dedicated to Rudolf Nureyev at Teatro alla Scala (partnered by Nikolai Tsiskaridze). During the 2003-2004 season, Svetlana Zakharova joined the company of the Bolshoi Theatre, where she was trained by distinguished ballerina Lyudmila Semenyaka, who represents the Petersburg ballet school. Her first performance there was Giselle.

Marguerite Donlon, born 31 1966, is an Irish dancer, choreographer and ballet director. Marguerite Donlon was born in the Republic of Ireland. After a childhood of traditional Irish dance, Marguerite began her ballet studies with Anica Louw and Dorothy Stevens at the late age of 16. She became a soloist and choreographer with the dance company of the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1990; before that she was a member of the English National Ballet under Peter Schaufuss. During this time she worked with and was coached by many world-renowned artists, including Natalia Makarova, Rudolf Nureyev, Kenneth MacMillan, and danced pieces from choreographers such as Maurice Béjart, William Forsythe, Bill T. Jones, Meg Stuart and Jiří Kylián. She was director of the ballet at the Saarländisches Staatstheater between 2001 and 2013. /Wikipedia/

Photos by Jack Devant ballet photography © with kind permission of Svetlana Zakharova and MuzArts Agency, special thanks to Kate Matlashenko and Yury Baranov.