She moves with a great finesse. Her manoeuvres are simply fantastic. She can do a “swan” move with ease and create a fantastic position in the air. She is the best contemporary ballerina. Anastasia Volockova’s performance was always fascinating. She was hailed as one of the great innovators as she creates her own artistic interpretation of some of the classics. However, deep inside the life of this ballerina is a rhythmic conflict between her art and her.
She was labelled as the “Paris Hilton” of Russia with her involvement to some of the power brokers of Russia. Although her life might not be as good as what one can see in the stage, she is still worth to be considered a prima ballerina of the modern world and the finest that Russia has produced.
Early Beginnings
Anastasia Volockova grew up in a middle class environment during the Communist era. Although her times were labelled as the modern day era of Russia as the impending perestroika by Mikhail Gorbachev were on its way, her life was far better than an average Russians. His father, who is a classy table tennis champion, was one of the most respected men in Saint Peters burg. Her mother also had a good clout into some of the most important person in Russia and at the same time a renowned tour guide. For Volockova, she had never been into a life of difficulty that many Russians had been into.
Early Break
Although she did not grow up in a family where ballet is the tradition,Volockova fell in love with the art when she attended a performance in Mariinsky Theatre by a group of ballerinas performing the classic “The Nutcracker” at the age five. It was also the first time that she got acquainted with the art. Although she admitted that her physique did not fit for being a ballerina, but with dedication and a very big heart to surpass all challenges, she managed to have stints to some of the finest ballet academy, the Vaganova Ballet Academy. It was here that she was mentored by Natali Dudinskaya, one of the finest ballerinas at that time.
Natalie Dudinskaya saw the potential of Volockova that she put here as one of the top performing soloist for Vaganova. Volockova made her first solo debut in 1993 while performing in Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theatre. It was here that she made a great impression to the audience with a very laud performance that prompted a lot of critics to name her as the future ballerina. It was her victory in 2nd Lifar International Competition in Kiev, Ukraine, which solidifies her position as a prima ballerina.
Bolshoi Stint
With this victory, she was invited to be part of the greatest ballet ensemble, the Bolshoi Ballet academy, where she performed to some of the finest ballerinas in her generation. But, life with the best ballerinas proved to be not what Volockova wanted. While being the best soloist, she does not have the chemistry to blend with other ballerinas. For this reason, she had numerous conflicts with some of the ballet dancers. However, Bolshoi disclosed that it was her stature that would not make her fit to perform with some of the ballerinas. While she sue Bolshoi and eventually won the case, she was not given a performance role leaving her on a hiatus. With no reason to stay Bolshoi, she parted ways and made big headlines in newspapers across Russia.
Some pundits believed that her departure from Bolshoi was due to her negligence to practice. In some instances, Volockova missed practice session and even had a conflict to numerous instructors. They also have a contrasting view with dance as Volockova believes in freestyle ballet, which is never heard in this art full of ritualistic moves.
Prima Donna or Ballerina
Ballet critics dismissed her performance as not worth watching in the context of ballet, but in a context of Broadway show or a burlesque performance. While they believe so, there are still many people who regard Volockova as the epitome of what a ballerina is. Though they may not be educated, but it is only Anastasia Volockova who exposed ballet to common people. She is credited of making ballet accessible to wide audience. No wonder, Volockova remained to be the finest ballerina that Russia ever produced.