Sarah Fabergé & Xander Parish

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Fabergé Editor

Dear Fabergé Friends,

I hope this finds you and your loved ones well during this time. While we all wait for positive news, it helps to be distracted even if just for a while.

Like my late father Theo, I am a ballet fan. Fabergé and ballet have always had a synergy. Our work tells stories and we aim to engage with people at a deeply emotional level. Naturally, Fabergé today continues to be inspired by our Russian heritage and the ballet is no exception.

There was a strong link between Fabergé and the stars of the Imperial Russian Ballet. After performances, dancers were often given Imperial gifts, all from Fabergé: jewels for women, cigarette cases or cufflinks for the men. Dancer Mathilde Kchenssinksa (known as Mala) who stored her jewels on Fabergé’s premises, was lavished with Fabergé gifts by her admirers and wore Fabergé jewels on stage. In La Belle Pharao she flaunted a suite of magnificent sapphires, set into a corsage by Fabergé. There was a film made about her in 2017 (Mathilde) which premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg. St Petersburg is of course where the Fabergé story began when, in 1842, Gustav Fabergé opened for business in a modest basement shop at 12 Bolshaia Morskaya.

Since the relaunch of Fabergé in 2009, many designs over the years have referenced its Russian roots and the ballet; the Scheherazade suite and the Ballet Russes egg pendants being just two examples. 2011 saw the launch of “Mir Fabergé” a creative art journal inspired by Mir Iskusstva, the influential art journal and movement founded by Serge Diaghilev. One of the stories included was Nijinsky and the Diamonds, a tale of the “Dieu de la Danse”.

I recently had the honour and pleasure of being introduced to Xander Parish OBE, the first British dancer to be employed by the Mariinsky Ballet, St Petersburg.

Xander kindly agreed to answer some questions that I was burning to ask:

Xander thank you for taking time out of you schedule and thanks also to our mutual friend, Hugh Thompson, for introducing us. It’s an amazing accomplishment to be the first Briton to work full time for the Mariinsky Ballet Company where you are now a Principal dancer. I read that you have mastered the language which must make life easier. How is life in St Petersburg right now?

Thank you, Sarah, it’s a great pleasure for me to meet you too and I was blown away by your own story when I read it! With the theatres being closed I’m certainly missing the stage but the quarantine measures have not been strict here so at least I’ve been able to get out to walk and run. I wouldn’t say that I’ve mastered Russian exactly, but I can speak enough to live a comfortable life here and communicate with my friends.

Who was your role model when you were growing up?

When I was growing up I was much more into sports than the arts, especially cricket. My role model was Darren Gough, who was a fast bowler for Yorkshire, and I studied every video I could find of him bowling!

And who inspires you now?

My fellow ballet dancers - my colleagues from the corps de ballet and up through the ranks constantly inspire me. Ballet is not an easy career, taking huge amounts of dedication and sacrifice to maintain the levels required to perform and often on a difficult schedule. So, just looking around the stage or the rehearsal studio there is bucket loads of inspiration to be had from dancers who’ve had to overcome injury, to those who are pushing themselves to perfect a new role.

In your experience, how does the world of ballet in Russia differ to that in the U.K?

The ballet world in Russia is certainly a tougher world than in the UK. We (when working and not quarantined!) have a schedule that would make most people’s eyes water, often going weeks without a single day off. This is because we have a lot more shows to put on, sometimes up to 35- 40 a month and maybe out of those shows, 15-20 different productions! Companies in the West tend to do blocks of shows of one production, maybe 25 Nutcracker shows over Christmas for instance, but the Mariinsky constantly rotates its repertoire to keep everything on the boil.

I am sure that everyone asks you this but what has been the favourite role of your career so far?

My personal favourite is Fokine’s “Scheherazade”. It’s so rich with colour, passion and flavour from the Bakst scenery to the Rimsky-Korsakov score and the choreography is exotic and wild. It’s so much fun to dance, especially as portraying the Golden Slave character couldn’t be more different from the usual Prince roles I perform in Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty. I’m very blessed to get to perform a wide range of choreography from old classics to new creations, which I’m grateful for.

Naturally, your profession is very much your life and therefore free time is rare. However, St Petersburg has been your home for around 10 years now. Have you had much opportunity to get to know this beautiful city? Any recommendations for visitors?

I love St Petersburg and everyone who visits me always says how fortunate I am to live here! This city is overflowing with beauty, incredible architecture, canals and bridges, has white nights in summer and is a snowy wonderland in winter. The palaces and museums are extraordinary, and I feel that just walking around and absorbing all of this helps my dancing and constantly inspires me. There is so much to see; in St Petersburg itself the major museums such as the Hermitage, Russian Museum and of course the Fabergé Museum are must sees but also the smaller Yusapov Palace is a gem of a palace and just around the corner from the Mariinsky. One also shouldn’t miss the chance to go out of the city to visit Catherine’s Palace at Pushkin which is surrounded by beautiful gardens and parks.

You received your OBE last year for services to dance and UK/Russia cultural relations. Congratulations! This must have been such a proud moment for you. Not only are you a role model for aspiring dancers but I guess that makes you an Ambassador for Britain too. Do you get special attention in Russia?

Thank you! It was a huge surprise to receive the OBE as I certainly wasn’t expecting one. I’m honoured to have received it for dance but even more proud of the fact that it was given for relations between the UK and Russia. These are two great nations both with extremely rich histories connected by royalty until the tragedy of the murder of the Romanovs in the revolution. With so much political tension in today’s era, I’m glad that my presence here can be seen as being for good and to strengthen our cultural ties. The attention I have received here certainly reflects that as I’ve often had Russians thank me for choosing to come and live in their country.

The COVID pandemic will mean that The Mariinsky cannot always perform to live audiences in the theatre. Can we see you and/or the Company online?

The Mariinsky has a very active YouTube channel which through the first lockdown during the COVID pandemic streamed many of our past performances for audiences to enjoy for free. I featured in their recordings of Raymonda, The Fountain of Bakhchiserai, and a gala programme featuring Sleeping Beauty Act III. Since the theatre resumed performing, I think a lot of the content is still available online.

You last performed with the Mariinsky in London in 2017. It is wonderful to have the excuse to visit St Petersburg of course but do you know of any plans for to return to the U.K.

It’s always a huge privilege to tour back to London with the Mariinsky, especially as we usually dance in the Royal Opera House where I had my first job as a corps de ballet dancer with the Royal Ballet! The Mariinsky is due to return to London next year in summer 2021 but of course considering the global pandemic it’s not clear yet whether this will go ahead or not. I’m of course certainly hoping that it will happen!

And finally, can you give us any hints as to what we might expect to see when the Mariinsky returns to the stage?

The Mariinsky was the first theatre to reopen to the public back in July with live performances, albeit with audiences reduced to 50%. Since then, we have been putting on full length shows and I have danced Le Corsaire, Giselle and excerpts from Romeo & Juliet in gala concerts too. What has been really encouraging are the amazing responses we have had from our audiences who have come in their masses to see our live shows and have given such enthusiastic applause at the curtain calls to show their appreciation of being able to have an evening of normality at the ballet again! I just hope that the world can get back to normal again soon too.