Hello everyone!

My girlfriend and I are looking for a documentary about Yuri Soloviev.

The title is, "I'm Tired of Living In My Native Land". I've only found small clips on youtube and else where of him. As a male dancer, I'm extremely interested in seeing more footage of him, particularly this footage. My girlfriend was trained by Madame Legat, Soloviev's widow. At any rate, if anyone has an idea about how to obtain/view this doc... I'd be absolutely thrilled!


So far I've found the distributor, and the producer's name

Producer: Galina Mshankaya

Distrib: Russian State Tele-Radio Company

off-the-air copies of this documentary were circulating around the time this film was first shown in the russia, but i've never known the film to have been released or televised in the US. it would seem the NYPL dance coll. does not have a copy, but i may not have searched accurately.

The film was shown in a few Dance Film Festivals, so it has been shown outside of Russian television. What I don't know is if a new English narration track was recorded over the Russian or if they did subtitles.

i forgot the screenings on film festivals, and i should have said i don't know of its having been released commercially for sale as a videocassette or dvd.
if mem. serves the nyc-area DANCE ON CAMERA screenings had subtitles, but others may have different recollections.

if it's performance segments of soloviev's dancing being sought, the following, all of which may be familiar, films are on videos which were commercially released:

NB: the last named filming of GRAND PAS CLASSIQUE comes from soviet television program (sometimes circulated as an off-the-air video cassette but which has not been released commercially, to the best of my information, either in or outside russia). this program also included Blue Bird Pas de Deux, Flower Festival pas de deux, La Bayadere (excerpt) and Sleeping Beauty pas de deux.
the list below is from the NYPL cataloguing, other excerpts might also be on the market in video/dvd compilations as well.

The magic of the Kirov / produced for the Entertainment Video Company by Gosteleradio ; video concept, Christopher Peers ; UK editor, Clement Crisp. Long Branch, NJ : Kultur, 1989, c1988. (60 min.) : sd., col.
Danced by the Kirov Ballet.
**The sleeping beauty: Act II, scene 1, the vision [excerpt] (ca. 5 1/2 min.) / recorded in 1976 ; choreography, Konstantin Sergeyev after Marius Petipa ; music, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky ; danced by Irina Kolpakova, Yuri Soloviev, and others.
**The sleeping beauty: Act III, grand pas de deux [excerpts] (ca. 4 1/2 min.) / recorded in 1976 ; choreography, Konstantin Sergeyev after Marius Petipa ; music, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky ; danced by Irina Kolpakova and Yuri Soloviev.


The sleeping beauty / Lenfilm Studios ; directed by Apollinari Dudko and Konstantin Sergeyev ; choreography by Marius Petipa and Konstantin Sergeyev ; music by Peter Tchaikovsky.
U.S.S.R. : Lenfilm Studios, 1964 ; [U.S.] : Corinth Films, c1990 ; W. Long Branch, N.J. : Kultur. (84 min.) : sd., col.
Notes :Motion picture originally released by Lenfilm Studios in 1964; re-issued as a videotape in 1990 by Corinth Films, Inc.
Libretto, Konstantin Sergeyev, Iosif Shapiro ; scenery, T. Vasilkovskaya, V. Nlitko, E. Yakuba ; photography, A. Nazarov.
Performed by the Kirov Ballet and students of the Vaganova Choreographic School.
Alla Sizova (Aurora); Yuri Soloviev (Désiré); Natalia Dudinskaya (Carabosse); Irina Bazhenova (Lilac fairy); Kaleria Fedicheva, Inna Korneyeva, Ludmila Kovaleva, Emma Minchenok, N. Sakhnovskaya (fairies); Natalia Makarova (Princess Florine); Valeri Panov (Blue bird); G. Kekisheva (white cat); O. Kuznetsov (Puss-in-boots); others.
Conductors: B. Khaikin, Y. Gamalei.

Russian ballet, the glorious tradition. Volume three / Telecompany Ostankino [and] Val G. Productions, Ltd.
Fort Lee, NJ : Video Artists International, c1993, 1940-1993. (67 min.) : sd., col. and b&w
**Grand pas classique (b&w) / recorded in 1974 ; choreography, Victor Gsovsky ; music, Daniel Auber ; danced by Gabriella Komleva and Yuri Soloviev.

How would one get their hands on any of these performance segments? Any and all? What dancer doesn't appreciate Rudy, Misha and now (for me especially) Soloviev? Gosh... for the 60's, I'm just amazed. I've read so many legends and to finally see him... I've gotta see more.

Thanks for the information. I'm really just looking for a direction to go with searching for this Documentary. I don't mind doing some uncovering or making phone calls. I think it's vital to understanding the evolution of the male dancer to know as much about him as I can. Thank you!

some of the above vids are still available, and are sometimes offered for sale 'used'.
why not have your girlfriend try to locate t.legat and ask about obtaining a copy of the docu.?

"The Glory of the Kirov" is available on DVD. It has the Laurencia Pas de Six with Nureyev and Kurgapkina (and Tatiana Legat!). "The Sleeping Beauty" with Sizova movie is on Kultur DVD. "The Magic of the Kirov" was available on Kultur VHS and has clips from the 1976 live "Sleeping Beauty" with Kolpakova. It is now out of print but isn't hard to find. "Russian Ballet: The Glorious Tradition" has the 1974 "Grand Pas Classique" with Komleva but it was on VAI VHS only and is long out of print. There is also a clip of Soloviev dancing the Black Swan PDD from "Swan Lake" with Kaleria Fedicheva that is floating around the internet and can be viewed.

I have never seen any of the other clips (Blue Birds, Bayadere) or the documentary.

We've found Legat and are in the process of drafting a letter to be translated. Caitlin insists that Madame won't have the Documentary but will probably have a lot of the other vids.

That could solve half the problem- the other half would be seeing the documentary

i recall that around the time of the docu's appearance, if mem. serves, that T. Legat had much to do w/ it - she's certainly in it, so i would suspect she has a good copy herself.

I'll certainly ask. Thank you everyone for the info/feedback

Hi MJSoden,

T. Legat lives with her daughter who speaks English very well. I know someone who speaks to her regularly who has a current phone number and address -- who also remembers a student named Caitlin N. -- who would be happy to help, if necessary.

I don't think you'll need my help but if you do, unfortunately, you cannot PM me with your contact information...perhaps a moderator could pass that on to me to give to her.

Good luck!

Yuri Soloviev and Gabriela Komleva in "Grand pas classique" can be viewed on youtube. Do a search, and gasp at the sheer ELEVATION and speed of Soloviev's entrechats. No wonder Rudolf Nureyev would say upon receiving a compliment, "You should have seen Soloviev!"

The moral: Never be generous about the talents of a colleague. Eventually someone ( I don’t mean you, canbelto ) will cite it as irrefutable evidence that the other fellow was better than you.

Hi all..

I hope you find what you are looking for. When I was a young ballet student growing up in my native New Zealand a touring group came from the Kirov. One of the dancers was Yuri Soloviev. I used to go to performances night after night sitting high up in the "gods". From where I sat to the stage, the view was somewhat distorted, almost like being directly above the dancers, but despite that, Soloviev's batterie was text book perfection and his elevation outstanding. I always wondered why he was always slightly "marginalised" though. He was truly a magnificent dancer, and in my opinion, somewhat underrated.

Does anyone know if "Bringing Back Balanchine" was ever released commercially in the US (or anywhere else for that matter?)

thanks

Michael Baker

i've heard of no commercial release of BRINGING BACK BALANCHINE hereabouts.
you might try to reach the balanchine trust on balanchine.org to see if there are any plans.