Maya Dumchenko
Born in St. Petersburg on 13 September 1976, Maya Dumchenko started dancing at six, going to several studios
before she reached the proper age to apply for the Vaganova Academy.
Rejected a first time, she went to study for a while in Perm.
Finally accepted for the Vaganova, she completed the full-time course (studying with Galina Novitskaya and
Nina Sakhnovskaya) and became a laureate of the international Vaganova Prix for young dancers
in 1995. During that contest Maya Dumchenko was praised by none else than Irina
Kolpakova, who headed the jury, as a true classicist in the grand Leningrad tradition.
She joined the Kirov Ballet upon graduation in the same year and was, as one of the youngsters
benefitting from Makhar Vaziev's rise to power within the company, swiftly promoted to soloist.
Tall with strikingly long, thin and delicate limbs, a physique
that combines fragility and vulnerability, Maya Dumchenko is cast in a much softer mould than
most of the dancers of her age in the Kirov. Moreover, her dancing style, avoiding flashy effects
and gymnastic extensions, is remarkably pure in shape and manner.
Dumchenko is outstanding in the classical variations of Petipa (the pas de trois in Swan Lake,
Coulante in The Sleeping Beauty, the last
Act solo in Don Quixote, 3rd Shade in La Bayadère) and is, with an approach solidly embedded in tradition,
arguably the most satisfying Aurora
of her generation in the Kirov. Yet, it is by the genuine lyricism and her dramatic gifts that
she surprises most of all. Her performances reveal an almost old-fashioned
emotional commitment, sensitivity, and intelligence, qualities which have become all too rare.
Maya Dumchenko's interpretation of Giselle provides a good example of her art. Already in 1997 her Giselle was remarkable by
its combination of simplicity and youthful spontaneity with a surprisingly tragic undertone,
especially convincing in the 1st Act.
After a few more years, her interpretation shows even greater understanding of the dramatic and choreographic whole.
Some of the initial freshness may have disappeared, yet the pace of the 1st Act, leading subtly but
inexorably toward the mad scene is now superbly judged, while the mad scene itself quite naturally became the dramatic climax of it all.
With the quality of her plastique improved beyond all, Dumchenko also came to terms
with the style of the 2nd Act, completing a portrayal worthy of the Kirov lineage.
A good actress with a keen eye for theatricality, Dumchenko is very much at home in
the Soviet dram-ballets. The character of Maria in The Fountain of Bakhchisarai is painted with much
intelligence, subtlety and sense of style (again her care for plastique pays off in the opening scenes and in
the solo in the 2nd Act),
while her interpretation of Lavrovsky's heroine in Romeo and Juliet is convincing by
her affective and gently feminine characterisation, and her approach which remains totally genuine and unmannered.
Dumchenko also proves a succesful Shirin in Grigorovich's Legend of Love, easily bringing out the
multiple facets of the character.
At the Mariinsky Maya Dumchenko prepared her roles with Olga Chenchikova, later with Yelena Yevteyeva.
She also worked with Galina Kekisheva for The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, and learned the role
of Shirin in Legend of Love with the help of Tatiana Terekhova. While preparing the part of
Juliet with Chenchikova in 1996, she was assisted by Galina Ulanova.
Marc Haegeman
Her repertory includes:
- Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty (1996)
- 4th Movement in Symphony in C (1996)
- title role in Giselle (1996)
- Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (1996)
- Masha in The Nutcracker (Vainonen) (1996)
- Lucile Grahn in Pas de Quatre (1996)
- 2nd movt in In The Night (1996)
- third Shade in La Bayadère (1996)
- Raymonda's friend in Raymonda (1996)
- Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote (1996)
- Prelude Girl in Chopiniana (1997)
- Variation in Paquita (1997)
- Shirin in Legend Of Love (1997)
- "Russian Girl" in Serenade (1998)
- Polyhymnia in Apollo (1998)
- Maria in The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (1998)
- Poem of Ecstasy (chor. Ratmansky) (1998)
- Kitri in Don Quixote (1999)
- Gamzatti in La Bayadère (1999)
- Emeralds and Rubies in Jewels (1999)
- title role in La Sylphide (2000)
- Ballerina in Petrushka (2000)
- soloist in Jeune homme et la mort (Petit) (2002)
- title role in The Firebird
- Masha in The Nutcracker (Simonov)
- Princess Pirlipat in The Magic Nut (Pandoursky)
Copyright © 2001-2007
Text and photo of Maya Dumchenko Copyright © 2001-2007 Marc
Haegeman. All rights reserved.