Essay collection 2023.
"Dance. Book of Reflections"
Heroes of the book are famous foreign and Russian choreographers and artists who reflect on what dance means to them, raising eternal philosophical questions. In concise and deeply personal essays, choreographers Paul Lightfoot and Sol León, Marco Goecke and Alexey Miroshnichenko, Alonzo King and Eric Gauthier, Olga Pona,Guillaume Côté and Goyo Montero, artists Marcelo Gomes and Aurélie Dupont connect the concepts of love, faith, loneliness, music, philosophy, support, unity, individuality, strength, life, and death with contemporary choreography. Especially for the book, Diana Vishneva wrote an introduction reflecting on how encounters with choreographers influenced her destiny, how a new production changed her not only as an artist but also as a person, transforming her views on art as a whole. The prima ballerina also shares memories and thoughts on the formation of the Context festival, its goals, heroes, and the results of the first decade.
The name Context. Diana Vishneva holds a special place in the book - work on its publication began in 2022, in the tenth year of the contemporary choreography festival's existence, and the book release (2023) is timed to coincide with its transition to a new format and a new decade. The selection of the book's heroes is conditioned by the history of the festival, and each essay is illustrated with archival photos chronicling performances shown at Context in different years. The book is aimed not only at dance professionals and enthusiasts but at everyone, as it speaks about universal and cultural values in a clear and engaging language.
Child's book "Why People Dance.
A History of Dance for Children"
Published by A+A
2022
In December 2022, the book "Why People Dance. A History of Dance for Children" by Irina Sirotkina and Maria Titova was released by the publishing house A+A, in collaboration with the Diana Vishneva Foundation and the Context.Diana Vishneva festival.
This illustrated book tells the history of dance, from tribal dances to contemporary choreography, and it has no counterparts in Russian or foreign publishing. What is dance: art or magic, pleasure or work? How is dance born and how long does it live? Are there rules for dance and why are they sometimes broken? Under what music is it easier to move and can one dance in silence? Why did ballerinas start dancing on pointe shoes in the 19th century, and in the 20th century switch to sneakers? What is modern in contemporary dance and how is modern dance different from postmodern dance? How can one notate dance on paper? And most importantly, why do people dance?
Addressing these and many other questions, historian Irina Sirotkina references ancient Greek choral dances, court balls, folk dances, Diaghilev's Russian Seasons in Paris, romantic "white" ballets, and digital dance performances. Readers of this book get acquainted with ancient dances and contemporary dance styles, outstanding choreographers and performers, learn about dance notation and dancers - in short, they immerse themselves in the infinitely diverse world of dance, where everyone dances differently, but everyone has their place. After all, people dance because they cannot not to dance.
Jubilee books "Diana Vishneva. XX" and "Giselle. Diana Vishneva," January-May 2015
The book titled "Diana Vishneva. XX" contains 300+ photos illustrating her twenty-year artistic career from her very first steps in the theater to the heights of maturity as an artist, her performances in the best theaters of the world, and her collaborations with great partners and choreographers in the rehearsal halls and on the stage. The book was published in Russian and English.
The album titled "Giselle. Diana Vishneva" is dedicated to one of her iconic roles in "Giselle." In order to perform this part, the dancer must have the highest level of technique and a deep dramatic talent. The author and creator of the book was Nina Alovert, a famous photographer and ballet critic.
Film "Gravitation: Variation in Time and Space"
Director: Andrei Severny
Choreographer: Mauro Bigonzetti
USA, 2015, 14 min.
The art film "Gravitation: Variation in Time and Space" focuses on a ballet performance by Russian star Diana Vishneva. It transforms contemporary dance into a vivid abstract fabric, a unique synthesis of ballet, cinema, new technologies, and space research. The black-and-white film was shot with the use of high-tech Phantom Flex 4K movie cameras which allow the viewer to have a detailed view of movements slowed down by 30-40 times. The film can be presented in cinemas, art galleries, and contemporary art museums.
Andrei Severny, director and editor: "Diana's unique talent, mastery, and courage and the state-of-the art filming technique made it possible to reveal the dancer's movements in a completely new way. Bright back lighting and slow-motion shooting focus the viewer's attention on the perfect calligraphic lines and the exquisite choreography by the Italian master Mauro Bigonzetti. The film is an immersion into an unusual visual world of fascinating forms, which are freely born before our eyes. Images of the moon and space from the archives of NASA are turned into metaphors of eternity, loneliness, and the infinity of space, and they force us to rethink the very concept of time."
Film "Tribute to the Teacher"
"MULTIVERSE" book was intended as a platform for those artists who explore and create a new type of art. Whatever their sphere — contemporary dance, design and technology, video art, or architecture — each of them follows the path of art synthesis, which today has become a unique opportunity to reflect the sophistication of the modern world and our knowledge about it. Diana Vishneva's position as a tireless searcher and experimenter rightfully guides her to explore new forms of stage art. "MULTIVERSE" is the first step towards a new type of theater based on the synthesis of arts, opening up fundamentally different opportunities.
The co-authors of "Multiverse" reflect on the nature of art in the 21st century. The book's audience will expand their understanding of the possibilities of art as they read 24 conversations with bright innovators in the contemporary artistic sphere, including choreographers William Forsythe, Carolyn Carlson, Moses Pendleton and Édouard Lock; artists Olafur Eliasson, Bill Viola, AES+F and Miguel Chevalier; architects Toyo Ito and Santiago Calatrava; designers Iris van Herpen and Ross Lovegrove; photographer Nick Knight and ballet dancer Diana Vishneva.
Self-expression through digital forms, the conclusive blurring of boundaries between viewer and performance, the merging of art with science and technologies, existence at the intersection of digital and spiritual worlds… How does art evolve in our rapidly changing world? What will be the theater of the future?
"Multiverse" was authored by Anna Yudina, a writer and curator in the field of architecture and design.
The book was published in a limited number of copies.
Inside the book there is a unique code which opens access to "Gravitation: Variation in Time and Space," an experimental art film by Andrei Severny featuring Diana Vishneva.
Film Director and choreographer: Stepan Lyubimov
Russia, 2022, 30 minutes
Starring: Diana Vishneva, Olga Smirnova, Kristina Shapran, Anastasia Lukina, Zlata Yalynich, Maria Bulanova, Darya Ionova, Maria Khoreva, Anastasia Smirnova, Anastasia Nuykina. Also featuring Vladimir Malakhov, Vladimir Shklyarov, Timur Askerov, and artists from the Mariinsky Theatre.
The film was created by The Diana Vishneva Foundation for the Coordinated Development of Ballet with the support of the Ilim Group in 2022.
A tribute to Lyudmila Kovaleva, teacher, professor of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet.
The film shows the process of preparation for the evening dedicated to Lyudmila Kovaleva, which took place at the initiative and personal participation of Diana Vishneva in July 2021 on the historical stage of the Mariinsky Theater. The evening brought together graduates of Kovaleva's class, as well as invited soloists.
The film shows fragments of rehearsals and backstage at the Mariinsky Theatre. In the hall, famous ballerinas become students again, catching every word of their mentor.
The second line in the film is a dialogue between Lyudmila Kovaleva and Diana Vishneva. The teacher and ballerina talk about their common path for the first time - the years spent at the Vaganova Academy, working on new roles, friendship and continuing cooperation to this day.
Diana Vishneva and the creators of the film "Tribute to the Teacher" position it as an opportunity to say thank you not only to Lyudmila Kovaleva, but also to every teacher who raises talented children into real ballet artists."