Mariinsky ballet dancers as never seen before (PHOTOS)
From the 1970s to the early 2000s, photographer Valentin Perelmuter took photos for St. Petersburg’s leading ballet company on and off the stage. Here are his most extraordinary shots.
Photographer Valentin Perelmuter joined Leningrad's Kirov (Mariinsky) Opera and Ballet Theater in 1977. He was invited by the then artistic director and ballet master Oleg Vinogradov to create a visual brand of the world famous ballet. Perelmuter dedicated 20 years to photographing the Mariinsky ballet company, which included international tours to Japan (1979), France (1983), the U.S. and Canada (1992).
As a ballet community insider, Perelmuter had unlimited and exceptional opportunities for taking pictures both on and off the stage. He had very close and trusting relationships with the dancers, and he made portraits of the lead dancers. At the same time, however, he extensively filmed the corps de ballets in the classrooms, showing the dancers’ daily routine of hard work. After taking pictures, Perelmuter later experimented in the darkroom, and was one of the first to do multi-exposure and pioneering photomontage.
Irina Kolpakova was Mariinsky's prima ballerina for several decades, 1977
Galina Mezentseva was famous for her talent at improvisation, 1978
Classic. Ballerina Galina Mezentseva, 1980s
Self-portrait with the leading Mariinsky ballerina Tatiana Terekhova, 1984
Tatiana Terekhova in action, 1984
Prima ballerina Olga Chenchikova, 1984
Future ballet star, Ulyana Lopatkina, as the white and black swan, 1991
The Wilis (or ‘Giselle’), 1991
Principal dancer Farukh Ruzimatov, 1994
After the third bell, 1992
Yulia Makhalina as the swan, 1993
Generations, 2001
Future ballet stars, 2001
An exhibition of photographs by Valentin Perelmuter will be on display at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg until July 28, 2022.
