TV Talent Scouts

“Ազգային պարեր” (National Dances), Shant TV, Armenia
“Большой Балет” (Bolshoi Ballet), Rossiya-Kultura TV, Russia
May 2024

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

While German TV programs rarely promote the art of dance, dance is part and parcel of media abroad. The sequels of two dance competitions—Ազգային պարեր (Azgayin Parer/National Dances) on Shant TV, Armenia, and Большой Балет (Bolshoi Ballet) on Rossiya-Kultura TV, Russia—were broadcast recently. Both competitions are textbook examples of how to foster talent while simultaneously nourishing and cherishing dance culture.

Folk dance is a pillar of Armenia’s culture, and the Armenian State Barekamutyun Dance Ensemble has presented it professionally since 1987. Its founder and artistic adviser, Norayr Mehrabyan, is the father of Arsen Mehrabyan, who made his career on Western ballet stages. Shant TV’s first run of a folk dance competition reinforces the status of national dance.

Anna Davtyan, when describing the project on Shant TV, explained that the show was a compilation of ten broadcasts featuring Armenian folk dance and modern dances. It was produced and directed by Hrach Ghukasyan. Twenty young Armenian dancers participated in the open competition; ten of them men and ten women.
A jury of four along with intermittent guest jurors assessed their performances. Gagik Karapetyan (principal dancer and artistic director of the Armenian State Dance Ensemble), Arman Julhakyan (dancer, choreographer, and ballet master), Tigran Mnoyan (dancer and artistic director of Prof Art Dance Studio Yerevan), and Susan Mikayelyan (dancer, choreographer, ballet master, and the mother of the Bavarian State Ballet’s former principal, Tigran Mikayelyan) were permanent jurors.
They preselected six finalists from which the viewers chose Lida Hakobyan from Artik, a town around sixty-five miles northwest of Yerevan, and Shavarsh Margaryan from Yerevan as the winners. The project was so successful that a second run is already in the works.

Bolshoi Ballet on Rossiya-Kultura TV is already in its fifth run. The last series of seven broadcasts closed with a gala on April 20th. Sixteen young dancers from Russia along with Cuban, Kirghiz, and Uzbek companies participated, performing solos and pas de deux. Each sequence featured another topic, such as Classical & Soviet Repertory or Choreography of the 20th and 21st Centuries. One edition comprised choreography created exclusively for the competition (among others by Nacho Duato).
Svetlana Zakharova, principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet, and Igor Kolb, principal dancer of the Mariinsky Ballet, presented the broadcasts. The jury of four comprised Oleg Vinogradov (former dancer, choreographer, and ballet director), Maria Alexandrova (former principal of the Bolshoi Ballet), Gabriela Komleva (former dancer, coach, and repetiteur), and Farukh Ruzimatov (former dancer and artistic director). Each contestant received feedback from the jurors right after his or her performance. The quality of the performances varied but was often outstanding.

The prize for the best duet was awarded to Maria Ilyushkina and Even Capitaine from the Mariinsky Theatre. Kamilla Ismagilova from the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Musical Theater received the prize for the best female dancer; the best male dancer was Kubanych Shamakeev from the Chelyabinsk Opera and Ballet Theater. The Bolshoi Ballet’s Daniil Potaptsev was declared Discovery of the Year. The prize for acting talent was awarded to Nikita Ksenofontov from the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre (NOVAT). Ksenofontov also received the Soul Fulfilled Flight prize, which was established by the general media partner of the season: TASS.

The final gala included a group performance by all contestants as well as performances by previous participants and guests, among them Anna Tikhomirova and Artem Ovcharenko (Bolshoi Ballet), Maria Alexandrova and Vladislav Lantratov (Bolshoi Ballet), Amanda Gomez and Wagner Carvalho (Tartar State Academic Opera and Ballet), and Yulia Lukyanenko and Nikita Tchetverikov (Mikhailovsky Theatre). All episodes of the recent run can be rewatched on smotrim.ru.

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