C culture
Culture (Opener)
Born-Again Ballerina
Russian dancer Diana Vishneva’s career experiences a renaissance, thanks to support from a far-off collaborator, Orange County’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts
YULIA PLAKHOTNIKOVA
D
iana Vishneva isn’t a stranger to glamorous locales. Today, the dancer is a vision at the Hôtel de Paris in Monaco. She resembles a Sargent painting, her hair slicked back, large black eyes luminious. She’s just finished a long day of rehearsals with Jean-Christophe Maillot, the artistic director of Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, a neo-classical choreographer who draws work from the likes of Balanchine and Pina Bausch. “We met when I was a baby at the Vaganova Academy,” Vishneva says. “And after 17 years we are finally working together. You can imagine how when you are waiting that long for something, you become a little bit afraid. But the creative process is incredible. This is what I need—this is my life.” >>
Diana Vishneva backstage at the Mariinsky Theatre in Russia with tutus designed by Tatyana Parfyonova, who also designed the ballerina’s wedding dress.
WRITTEN AND EDITED BY ELIZABETH KHURI CHANDLER NOVEMBER 2013
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