Doing the ‘Stravinsky stomp’ in St Petersburg

Stravinsky often wore his specs on his face and his shades on his head, giving the impression that he could go from light to the darkness with a flick of the wrist.

It was a pose of course, but a statement too from a strange, determined man who was almost ruthless in his pursuit of success.

He was a musical ”dissident’ who lived the life of a Hollywood star and often sold part of his powerful and enigmatic musical soul to cartoon god Walt Disney.

One way or the other though Stravinsky created a musical revolution throughout Western society.

And yet his musician parents had insisted that he study law at the University of St Petersburg instead of music…

Stravinsky knew what he wanted to do. And that was a good thing for us all. His music – sometimes pompous and over-blown – spoke to the century it was created in and still now resonates across the world.

He was a Russian traditionalist too, pulling at the heart-strings with folk stories and raising the heart-beat with his foot-stomping calls of rage and pride.

His third work for the Ballets Russes was The Rite of Spring, which first made its mark in Paris in May 1913....

It told the story of a young girl who was chosen as a sacrificial victim and danced herself to death. It was set against the violence of Stravinsky’s ferocious rhythmic drive.

And somehow this photograph, by Alexander Petrosyan, of wild street dancing in St Petersburg captured the real heart of Stravinsky music, dogged determination against all the odds, stoicism, abandonment and fire.

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Alexander Petrosyan is probably one of the best photographers working in Russia today.

He was born in the Ukraine in 1965 but has lived in St Petersburg for almost half a century. And it shows … he knows his city warts and all.

Lonely Planet said ‘the sheer grandeur and history of Russia’s imperial capital never fail to amaze, but this is also a city with a revolutionary spirit’.

And Alexander’s photographs capture not only the grandeur but the squalor and despair of this city of five million souls… he also captures the city’s pride and its  memories of revolution.

Alexander, who worked for his local newspaper for many years, has been published in the best publications across the world … and he agreed to us publishing his work… we will be returning often.

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