About Vaganova

Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova was born in 1879 and died in 1951. She was a great Russian ballet teacher. The greatest Russian dancers of the 20th century weregraduates of her classes. In 1934, Vaganova wrote the book, Basic Principles of Classical Ballet, Russian Ballet Technique, which is the best technique textbook, still in use today. I recommend to teachers and students who are serious about teaching and learning ballet that they use this text which contains the evolution of the Russian ballet technique.

The Leningrad Choreographic School, which was previously called the Imperial School of Dance and now bears the name Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, was founded in 1738, and in 2007 will celebrate its 269th anniversary. When I was a student at this school, until my graduation, Vaganova was the Artistic Director and Principal Teacher. Many great Russian dancers were graduates of the Academy: Pavlova, Nijinski, Semenova, Chabukiani, Ulanova, Sergeyev, Makarova, Nureyev, Kolpakova, Baryshnikov, and other great ballet stars, many of whom were my colleagues and friends. I named my program as a dedication to the memory of my teacher, Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova. I am very happy to have graduated from The Vaganova Academy and I am very grateful to her and my many other great teachers.

The program of my school is based on the knowledge that I acquired from studying with great Russian teachers such as Vaganova, Shiryaev, Yermolovich, Leontyev, Pisarev, Komarov, Shavrov, Ponomarev, Ivanovski, Lopukhov, and from working with one of the greatest dancers of this century, Vakhtang Chabukiani. It is based on this knowledge that I have developed my method of teaching. I give to my students, each day, my long professional ballet experience. I believe that the student who studies my curriculum is learning and developing for life.

-Mansur Kamaletdinov