Evgenia Obraztsova
Evgenia Obraztsova is considered one of the most talented and promising St. Petersburg ballerinas of the new generation.
Born in St. Petersburg into a family of dancers, Evgenia Obraztsova graduated from the
Vaganova Academy in 2002 (class of Marina Vasilieva). The same year she won the Vaganova-Prix competition
in St. Petersburg and joined the Mariinsky Ballet.
In 2003 Obraztsova became the youngest ballerina at the Mariinsky Ballet to dance the title role in Leonid Lavrovsky’s
Romeo and Juliet since the ballet was first staged in 1940.
Rather early in her career Evgenia Obraztsova began to perform as guest artist with several foreign ballet companies.
In November 2005 she was invited by Carla Fracci, director of the Rome Opera Ballet, to dance the title role in her
new production of Cinderella (partner Giuseppe Picone). The following
year Obraztsova returned to the Rome Opera, appearing in May as Margherita in Luciano Cannito's
Dal Faust di Goethe (partner Andrian Fadeyev) and in October again in Fracci's Cinderella. Other companies include
Arena Ballet in Verona, Baltimore Ballet, Space Coast Ballet (Florida) and the Israel State Ballet.
On March 16, 2006, during the VIth Mariinsky International Festival, Obraztsova created the title role in Ondine (partner Leonid Sarafanov),
Pierre Lacotte's revival of Jules Perrot's romantic ballet from 1843. With this role she would win the Golden Mask
award as best ballerina in 2007.
Also in 2006 Obraztsova took part in the XIX International Rudolf Nureyev Festival of Classical Dance in Kazan, where she debuted
as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty and Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. The following year, opening the VIIth
Mariinsky International Festival on April 12, 2007 she created the role of Flore in Sergei Vikharev's reconstruction of Le Reveil de Flore (The Awakening of Flora),
the 1894 one-act ballet by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.
Next to the 2007 Golden Mask, Obraztsova won the prestigious Grand-Prix at the Moscow International Ballet Competition in June 2005.
The following year she was awarded the Leonide Massine Prize (Premio per la Danza Leonide Massine) in Positano, Italy.
In January 2006 she was featured in the American "Dance Magazine" Top 25 Dancers and described as "Russia's next Legend" (Margaret Willis).
Evgenia Obraztsova is currently listed as second soloist at the Mariinsky. Her partners include Igor Kolb, Andrian Fadeyev, Leonid Sarafanov, Vladimir Shklyarov, Anton Korsakov, Andrei Ivanov,
Andrei Merkuriev (now with the Bolshoi Ballet), and Giuseppe Picone. With the Mariinsky Ballet she toured
to Japan, France, Israel, the UK, Germany, Austria, the USA etc.
Her teacher at the Mariinsky Theatre is the famous former principal ballerina Ninel Kurgapkina.
Evgenia Obraztsova made her movie debut as the Russian ballerina Natasha in the French film
Les Poupées russes (Russian Dolls, directed by Cédric Klapisch) in 2005.
Dmitry Marenkov
Her repertory includes:
- Title role in La Sylphide (Bournonville)
- Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Lavrovsky)
- Title role in Giselle (Coralli/Perrot, Petipa)
- The three Odalisques in Le Corsaire (Petipa, staged by Gusev, Vinogradov)
- Dance of the bayadères, Manu, Shade in La Bayadère (Petipa, staged by Ponomarev, Chabukiani)
- Princess Aurora, Generosity Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty (Petipa, staged by Vikharev)
- Flore in Le Reveil de Flore (Petipa-Ivanov, staged by Vikharev)
- Variation in Raymonda (Petipa, staged by K. Sergeyev)
- Amour in Don Quixote (Petipa, Gorsky)
- Maria in The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (Zakharov)
- Shyrin in The Legend of Love (Grigorovich)
- Second Soloist in Ballet Imperial (Balanchine)
- Masha in The Nutcracker (Chemiakin/Simonov)
- Title role in Cinderella (Ratmansky)
- Soloist in The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude (Forsythe)
- Soloist in In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated (Forsythe)
- Soloist in Approximate Sonata (Forsythe)
- Nicole in Bourgeois Gentilhomme (Dmitrievsky)
- Rat Jester in The Magic Nut (Pandoursky)
- Title role in Ondine (Lacotte)
- Title role in Cinderella (Fracci) - with the Rome Opera Ballet
- Margherita in Dal Faust di Goethe (Cannito) - with the Rome Opera Ballet
- Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker – with Baltimore Ballet
- soloist in La Valse (Balanchine)
Copyright © 2007 Dmitry Marenkov
Photos of Evgenia Obraztsova Copyright © 2005-2007 Marc Haegeman. All rights reserved.
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