Valentina Semyukova was Ahead of Her Time. Image: YouTube
Valentina Semyukova, (also written Simukova) was a gifted student from the Vaganova Academy in Leningrad. She was ahead of her time technically and artistically. In Luke Jennings’ article for The Guardian (guardian.co.uk) he describes in detail her mastery of technique. She was to be a star, but became instead a lost jewel.
In 1966, Valentina Simukova was a precociously gifted young ballet student on the path to international fame. This clip is the only recording of her – tragically she died a year later.
Valentina Semyukova studied with renowned ballet teacher Natalia Dudinskaya at the Vaganova Academy. She was an outstanding student, so much so, that she was performing with the Kirov Ballet (Mariinsky then) before graduating. She had danced in Don Quixote as the Dryad’s Queen.
The buzz around Valentina was sufficient for Leningrad TV to take notice, and around 1966 they filmed this clip of her dancing the Nutcracker pas de deux with Vadim Gulaiev. It’s a fabulous testament to her talent, and the only film of her ever recorded. A year after it was shot, Valentina caught the measles and died. She was, I think, just 17. This was at the height of the cold war; today, few ballet-lovers outside Russia have ever heard her name.
In the clip above you can appreciate her maturity, despite her age and lyricism interpreting the pas de deux. It’s hard to believe she is just 16! I especially find her penchés and the developpé a la second which she executes in minute 5:46 years ahead of what was technically possible in the mid-60′s.
If you’ve already watched the clip, please go back and read the complete commentary made by the poster (Nick Wallace Smith), who obviously has knowledge of ballet. Here’s a short excerpt:
She already seems perfectly formed as a dancer, about to enlarge on her technique.
Through the movement, there is a perfect disposition of the forms of her body – creating an continuously exquisite line.
The phrasing with respect to the music is always intelligently considered and placed in an unmannered fashion. Not just following the music but leading purposefully away and then returning to catch the beat.
She is still technically tentative, which is particularly evident in the section involving ‘fish dives’ – the choreography has been simplified somewhat for the still developing dancer.
How sad that such an amazing student, as Valentina Semyukova, did not live to continue to grow and share her talent with the rest of the world. Thanks to news like Mr. Jennings, Mr. Smith and our own, we can spread her video and be glad that she was filmed, at least this once.
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About Romy Macias, Senior Editor
