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Diana Vishneva


Boldly proclaimed the "face of the Kirov Ballet", Diana Vishneva is one of the most talked about and acclaimed dancers to emerge in St. Petersburg in the last five years of the 20th century. Her first performances on the Mariinsky Theatre stage while still a student caused a sensation. Vishneva's glamorously good looks and striking stage persona, her modern looking, flamboyant dancing style found immediate response and were interpreted by a budding management as the ideal vehicle to guarantee its own success. Fully supported by Makhar Vaziev, who kept the company going after Oleg Vinogradov's departure in the mid-nineties, Diana Vishneva jumped in unalloyed Kirov fashion practically from school to principal dancer. Bestowed with numerous Russian and international awards, reaping international critical praise, the Mariinsky had found its new star, yet a major step away from the Kirov tradition had been made.

Born in St-Petersburg on 13 July 1976, Diana Vishneva studied at the Vaganova Academy under Ludmila Kovaleva and graduated into the Kirov Ballet in 1995, becoming a principal in 1996.

The perfunctory Carmen solo created for her while still at school by then Vaganova director, the late Igor Belsky, summarizes Vishneva's strengths and shortcomings. Vigorous and high-spirited, the young dancer sweeps with awesome ease through the steps and poses, yet her reliance on acrobatic extensions spiced with showy glances also verge on coarseness.

Although her earliest performances had a disarming spontaneity (her Gulnara in 1996 was a delight) and one was ready to forgive the youthful frenzy and omnipresent grin (Kitri, Masha), Vishneva's subsequent attempts to cope with the variety of roles offered to her in her first five years with the Mariinsky often suffered from blandness, monotony and lack of substance. What could have resulted in fresh and innovative readings of the great classics, turned into mannered and at times wayward interpretations, usually high on technical brilliance but short on dramatic impact. Her Aurora was too contemporary and athletic for the historical surroundings of Marius Petipa's reconstructed Sleeping Beauty, her Giselle appeared far too experienced, sophisticated and forceful to be credible within its Romantic bounds, and remained a sterile defiance of tradition. Her limited dramatic vocabulary and emotional range account for a very uneven and inconsistent Juliet, while her portrayal of Zobeide in Fokine's Sheherazade was too obvious and predictable to be of anything more than passing interest.

Incidentally, when Vishneva's persona and dancing style still needed to develop and find their proper place, many took her artistry already for granted. Moreover, in the early 21st-century Mariinsky, dutifully seeking to widen its range, new opportunities were offered. Her Manon in Kenneth MacMillan's ballet was initially a rather unmoving affair, again suffering from misplaced dramatic accents, but Vishneva has been able to take full advantage of the Mariinsky's recent infatuation with Balanchine and Forsythe. She is seen at her best in the 3rd movement of Symphony in C, as Terpsichore in Apollo, in Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #2, and especially in Rubies. The raw energy and hard-edged physicality of William Forsythe's choreographies (In the Middle Somewhat Elevated and Steptext) hint even more at where Vishneva's real strengths reside. Delivered with tremendous speed and clarity, the right feel of confrontation, but also with a fair portion of lyricism, they have proven revelatory in many ways.

At the Mariinsky Diana Vishneva is guided by Olga Chenchikova, but continues to prepare her roles with her Vaganova teacher Ludmila Kovaleva. She has been touring worldwide with the Mariinsky and is most frequently partnered by Farukh Ruzimatov. Other partners include Igor Zelensky, Vyacheslav Samodurov, Andrian Fadeyev, Ilya Kuznetsov, Igor Kolb, and outside the Mariinsky, Vladimir Malakhov.

Since 2002, Vishneva increasingly limited her appearances with her home company in favour of guest performances abroad. She guested among others with the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich (Manon, 2001), the Ballet of La Scala in Milan (The Sleeping Beauty, 2001), the Paris Opera Ballet (Don Quixote, 2002; Manon, 2003; Swan Lake, 2006), Staatsballett Berlin (Giselle, La Bayadère, 2002; Swan Lake, 2004; Manon, 2005; The Sleeping Beauty, 2005), New National Theatre in Tokyo (Nutcracker, 2005), and American Ballet Theatre: Juliet, in MacMillan's version of Romeo and Juliet (2003, 2006), Manon (2006), Giselle (2005, 2006), Don Quixote (2005), Odette-Odile in McKenzie's Swan Lake (2005, 2006), and in Balanchine's Ballet Imperial (2005).

She has been a recipient of the following awards: Gold Medal in Prix de Lausanne (1994), Divine Isadora Prize (1996), Alexandre Benois Prize (Paris, 1996), "Award of Gold Lights" (St. Petersburg, 1996), Baltika prize (St. Petersburg, 1998), Golden Mask for best female dancer for her performance in Jewels (Moscow, 2001), State Prize for achievements in the ballet field (2001). "Golden Mask" Prize for her performance in Balanchine's "Rubies" (2001).

Since January 2007 Diana Vishneva is a People's Artist of the Russian Federation.

Marc Haegeman


Her repertoire includes:

  • 1st shades variation in La Bayadère (Petipa, staged by Ponomarev, Chabukiani) (1995)
  • Clémence in Raymonda (Petipa, staged by K. Sergeyev) (1996)
  • Gulnara in Le Corsaire (Gusev after Petipa) (1996)
  • Kitri in Don Quixote (Petipa, Gorsky) (1996)
  • 3rd movement in Symphony in C (Balanchine) (1996)
  • 1st duet from In the Night (Robbins) (1996)
  • Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Lavrovsky) (1996)
  • Fanny Cerrito in Pas de Quatre (1996)
  • Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty (Petipa, staged by K. Sergeyev) (1996)
  • Masha in The Nutcracker (Vainonen) (1996)
  • Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux (Balanchine)
  • pas de trois in Swan Lake (Petipa-Ivanov, staged by K. Sergeyev)
  • the girl in Spectre de la Rose (Fokine)
  • variation in Paquita Grand Pas (Petipa, staged by Vinogradov)
  • title role in The Firebird (Fokine) (1997)
  • title role in Carmen (Petit) (1998)
  • title role in Giselle (Coralli/Perrot, Petipa) (1999)
  • soloist in Rubies in Jewels (Balanchine) (1999)
  • Terpsichore in Apollo (Balanchine) (1999)
  • Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty (Petipa, staged by Vikharev) (1999)
  • title role in Manon (MacMillan) (2000)
  • Zobeide in Sheherazade (Fokine) (2000)
  • Nikiya in La Bayadère (Petipa, staged by Ponomarev, Chabukiani) (2000)
  • soloist in Spring and Fall, Now and Then and The Sounds of Empty Pages (Neumeier) (2001)
  • soloist in Le jeune homme et la mort (Petit)
  • soloist in The Meaning of Reminiscences (Kabaniayev) (2001)
  • soloist in Duet (Kabaniayev) (2001)
  • soloist in duet from Bakhti (Béjart) (2001)
  • Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty (Petipa, staged by Nureyev) (with La Scala, 2001)
  • title role in Cinderella (Ratmansky) (2002)
  • title role in Raymonda (Petipa, staged by K. Sergeyev) (2002)
  • Nikiya in La Bayadère (Petipa, staged by Vikharev) (2002)
  • Nikiya in La Bayadère (Malakhov) (with Berliner Staatsoper, 2002)
  • Kitri in Don Quixote (Petipa, Gorsky staged by Nureyev) (with POB, 2002)
  • Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (MacMillan) (with ABT, 2003)
  • Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Lavrovsky, staged by Taranda) (with Russian Imperial Ballet, 2003)
  • soloist in Steptext (Forsythe) (2004)
  • Odette-Odile in Swan Lake (Petipa-Ivanov, staged by Bart) (with Berliner Staatsoper, 2004)
  • Brunnhilde in Ring um den Ring (Béjart) (with Berliner Staatsoper, 2004)
  • soloist in Ballet Imperial (Balanchine) (2004)
  • soloist in Ballet Imperial (Balanchine) (with ABT, 2005)
  • title role in Giselle (Coralli/Perrot, Petipa) (with ABT, 2005)
  • Kitri in Don Quixote (Petipa, Gorsky, staged by McKenzie and Jones) (with ABT, 2005)
  • Odette-Odile in Swan Lake (Petipa-Ivanov, staged by McKenzie) (with ABT, 2005)
  • Odette-Odile in Swan Lake (Petipa-Ivanov, staged by K. Sergeyev) (2006)
  • title role in Manon (MacMillan) (with ABT, 2006)
A biography and additional information on Diana Vishneva (in Russian) can be found in THE SMALL BALLET ENCYCLOPEDIA.
Official website of Diana Vishneva.

Copyright © 2001-2007
Text and photos of  Diana Vishneva Copyright © 2001-2007 Marc Haegeman. All rights reserved.