Ulyana Lopatkina in The Swan

Ulyana Lopatkina (Rus. Ульяна Лопаткина) in The Swan, music by Camille Saint-Saens, choreography by Mikhail Fokine. Cellist Borislav Strulev, pianist Alexander Vershinin. Kremlin Gala 2015, Ballet Stars of 21st Century. Shot on 26.9.2015 in The State Kremlin Palace, Moscow.

Ulyana Lopatkina (written also Uliana Lopatkina; Rus. Ульяна Лопаткина) is prima ballerina with Mariinsky Ballet, St. Peterburg, Russia. Ulyana was born on 23th of October 1973 in Kerch (Ukraine). From the early age Ulyana took dancing classes and was admitted to the Academy of Russian Ballet named after Vaganova (St.Petersburg) where she studied the art of dancing from Galina Novitskaya in primary school and Natalia Dudinskaya in higher school. Still being a student of the Academy, Uliana took won at Vaganova-prix Competition (St.Petersburg, 1991).

After graduation from the Academy in 1991 Ulyana joined Mariinsky theatre company (St.Petersburg). In 1994 Ulyana successfully made her debut as Odette/Odille in the “Swan Lake” ballet in St.Petersburg, for which she was awarded with “Golden Sofit” as best debut in St.Petersburg. In 1995 Ulyana was called the principal dancer of Mariinsky theatre where her teachers were Olga Moiseeva and Ninel Kurgapkina. Presently Ulyana’s coach is Irina Chistyakova.

The Dying Swan (originally The Swan) is a solo choreographed by Mikhail Fokine in 1905 to Camille Saint-Saëns’s Le Cygne from Le Carnaval des animaux as a pièce d’occasion for the ballerina Anna Pavlova, who performed it about 4,000 times. The short ballet (4 minutes) follows the last moments in the life of a swan, and was first presented in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1905. The ballet has since influenced modern interpretations of Odette in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and has inspired non-traditional interpretations and various adaptations. This ballet is inspired by swans that she had seen in public parks and Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Dying Swan”, Anna Pavlova asked Michel Fokine to create a solo for her for a 1905 concert being given by artists from the chorus of the Imperial Mariinsky Opera. Fokine suggested Saint-Saëns’s cello solo, Le Cygne and Pavlova agreed. A rehearsal was arranged and the short dance completed very quickly.

Mikhail Fokine (French Michel Fokine; English Mikhail Fokin; Russian: Михаи́л Миха́йлович Фо́кин) (1880 – 1942) was a groundbreaking Russian choreographer and dancer.

Photo by Jack Devant ballet photography © with kind permission of the State Kremlin Palace, special thanks ms. Anastasia Kulikova.