I went back to rewatch bits of Bolshoi World Ballet day stream from 2023 and found the section with Lanatrov, Koshkaryova rehearsing Gamzatti almost excruciating to watch.
Maybe it's also having the hindsight now of knowing how her first performance of Gamzatti will go but the coaching from Goryacheva toward Maria seemed so hesitant and unclear. I thought Lagunov seemed like a much, much better and also warmer coach than Goryacheva and he was definitely trying to help Maria but obviously he doesn't seem to know her very well. Lanatrov also seemed to be trying to re-explain/adjust things for her which just emphasises that Goryacheva isn't doing that.
Goryacheva's big contributions are been telling Maria to keep her shoulders down whilst turning (said as Maria is dancing and without calling for a pause to repeat the moment with corrections) and then later on when Lagunov and Vladislav are trying to work out how to help Maria be more co-ordinated/faster in a transition telling them to just have Maria come stand next to Vladislav and go straight into developpe which came across to me as like cutting a corner and also being quite dismissive of Maria and her ability as a dancer? Particularly the way she went straight to Vladislav to suggest the change - referring to Masha as she even though she was only a few feet away, marked it out with him and only then turned to talk to Maria and asked her to come and do the new transition.
Generally it felt like whilst Maria learning Gamzatti's steps and blocking as quickly as possible was a priority in the rehearsal, Maria having the opportunity to be an actual person in the rehearsal and learn and grow and improve was an afterthought. Honestly at points it also seemed like she/her inexperience was an inconvenience for everyone else there -> Lagunov is having to focus on Maria instead of Vladislav, Vladislav then also ends up trying to help her and join in coaching her but even that only emphasised the gap in age/experience between Maria and everyone else.
Maybe it's just a reflection of the fact that the debut was very rushed so they were all trying to just get something passable together as quickly as they could but in that case I don't understand why nobody was pumping the breaks...particularly Goryacheva.
To be clear this isn't a critique of Maria at all. She's clearly trying her best and very nervous (she hardly speaks throughout the whole rehearsal and even then usually speaks to Vladislav quietly rather than Goryacheva -> another red flag about the coaching situation). But I really do hope her coaching situation has improved/she and Goryacheva have a better rapport now.
Also they mention that Goryacheva has only been coaching full time for two months! Which makes it even more insane that they decided to have her be in charge of a dancer straight out of school who is trying to adjust to the company and they were planning to have prepare multiple principal roles within 3 months. It's definitely wasn't setting either of them up for success (and is probably why Goryacheva didn't have the experience or nerve to say we need to slow down).
THANK YOU, ANON, for providing such a deep dive. I didn't closely watch the rehearsal last time. Inspired by your take, I decided to watch again. I think your observations are pretty spot on. There are a couple of things that I wanted to add. For context, I mostly watch the Royal Ballet's excellent Insight series for ballet rehearsals, which are both a rehearsal and also a means to educate the public about process. I cannot praise the Royal Ballet enough for making those videos. I wish more companies did this! That said, what I've noticed in the Royal Ballet rehearsals is that when there are two coaches, one often defers to the other. So I think Goryacheva was deferring to the very senior, experienced pedagogue, Lagunov. I found it rather telling that he didn't even know Maria Koshkaryova's name and at one point, turned to Goryacheva, and said, "What's her name, again?" He gave her very pointed corrections, while Goryacheva was more observant and deferential to him offered very little. Maybe one-on-one, there are more corrections? But still….pairing a brand new dancer, fresh out of school, with a brand new coach also new feels like a mismatch. Here's to hoping for better results next season. Another thing that struck me overall is that Koshkaryova also looked out of sorts during company class. She was consistently behind the music hopping through pirouettes and adagio. In rehearsal, the partnering corrections from Lagunov seemed to overwhelm her. And we all know about her less-than-stellar debut as Gamzatti. Fortunately, Masha improved throughout the season. Here's to hoping her coach does as well.
Your observations above really hit home just how important the coaching relationship is for dancers. As an example, I watched the mini-tribute to the recently departed Svetlana Adyrkhaeva that begins @ 01:29:44. Her comments and interactions with soloist, Sofia Maimula are simply gold. Here's a quick link to the Bolshoi 2023 World Ballet Day for anyone who wants to go down the rabbit hole!
