Veronika Part Shines in Fadeyev Ballet Nutcracker

Above photo: Veronika Part and Andrei Kisselev with Nutcracker Prince Michael Pezzuto and Abby Jiang as Marie (left side) and Juliana Fadeyev (right side). Fadeyev Ballet presented The Nutcracker last week at the Jeanne Rimsky Theater in Port Washington, Long Island. The performance featured former ABT Principal Dancer Veronika Part in the Grand Pas de Deux. Nice to see her back in action after her final ABT performance last July. Saturday evening, she was lovely as ever with her finely honed Russian Vaganova technique and expansive expressiveness. She was paired with Andrei Kisselev, who showed off nice double tours, with Natalia Sheptalova as Snow Queen.

Yaroslav (known as Slava) Fadeyev and wife Juliana founded Yaroslav Ballet over a year ago in Greenvale, Long Island, focusing on the Vaganova method (the Vaganova method is a ballet technique and training system devised by the Russian dancer and pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951)). Slava was a Soloist with the Mariinsky/Kirov Ballet; his mother was a Principal Dancer at the Mikhailovsky Ballet and his brother, now Artistic Director at Yacobson Ballet, was a Principal Dancer at Mariinsky Ballet. All three trained at the famed Vaganova Academy.

It is impressive that the school was able to pull off a Nutcracker given its short existence. I was associated with a company linked to a dance studio many years ago and appreciate the massive amount of time and energy it takes from the artistic director and parent volunteers to complete such a performance. The artistic directors are active in every facet of the performance from costumes to sets to student recruitment and development. I hung around after the performance to see that Slava had changed into work clothes with knee pads as he was busy tearing down the sets. His students, some new to ballet, had abundant energy and I look forward to seeing how their talent develops and matures under Slava’s direction.

Fadeyev Ballet Nutcracker

Artistic Director Yaroslav (Slava) Fadeyev as Drosselmeyer