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Muguet

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    fan, former student, balletgoer
  • City**
    San Francisco
  • State (US only)**, Country (Outside US only)**
    CA
  1. We were ready to do our CPRs though and you only kept your eyes out for her but I was on the floor getting ready to do CPR. Whatever. Well somebody had to oversee the emergency response, and there were already three of you guys around her...
  2. Hey Cords, it was fun hanging out and talking ballet with our group, here's my review. This performance was attended by many members of the Russian community here in the San Francisco Bay Area, I heard a lot of people conversing in Russian around and inside the venue. I saw some little girls wearing fancy dress-up outfits complete with two-inch heels (what's up with that?), and also the more traditional little girls decked out in tutu costumes. Non-dancing drama included an audience member falling down and hitting her head during first intermission, my friends saw her go down and then converged upon the scene to make sure she was okay. Luckily she wasn't completely unresponsive and we didn't have to do CPR but we kept our eyes on her until ambulance arrived. Now to the dancing part of the show. What a difference a great Siegfried makes! Danila Korsuntsev's Siegfried didn't have to make a dramatic entrance, unlike Shklyarov's rather hammy entrance on Thursday night, to make it apparent to us that he IS the prince. It also helped that Korsuntsev has an interesting face, a countenance which naturally conveys sense of ennui tinged with wistfulness. This obviously added to his regal yet unmannered acting, and he conveyed varied emotions tailored to specified moments during the ballet. Technically he was stellar, solid, and wonderful partner to Kondaurova. They were such a nice contrast from Thursday, shaky pairing of Skorik/ Shklyarov, with Shklyarov basically manhandling Skorik all night. Korsuntsev and Kondaurova were very much in sync with each other and had the requisite chemistry as a pairing. I admit to having a rather neutral-warm opinion on Kondaurova as a dancer, I think for a principal ballerina, she has a very limited range in terms of roles danced, but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by her O/ O. For me, Kondaurova's Odette in Act 2 didn't impress with sense of pathos. She didn't emote fear or sadness as she told Siegfried of her plight, I would have liked to see more emotional take but that's just my personal taste. Anyways, her interpretation was more of a dignified grief, which suited her statuesque and elegant style quite well. Kondaurova's legato was also creamier than Skorik's take on Odette (analogy: Kondaurova was full cream while Skorik was skimmed milk), with a lot less contorted posing or going for extensions, and more connection with music and movement. Technically there wasn't a lot to pick apart either, I appreciated her musicality in Odette variation as well, phrasing the parts which demanded phrasing so that there was a sense of ebb and flow of grief. In Act 3, again I couldn't keep my eyes off of Yulia Stepanova and Karen Ionessian, they truly steal the show in their character solo work. But the audience seemed to like Hungarian Dance the most this time around. I also want to point out that the newest corps member, Keenan Kampa, had a minor and not very noticeable mistake towards the end of Prince's Brides dance. I sat exactly two rows behind the orchestra so it might have had the effect of magnifying every little mistake. But it appears that she definitely needs more time as corps member if only to get into comfort level within the company's style and productions. Unless she bypasses that and goes directly to dancing soloist roles, but that's another discussion. Kodaurova's Odile was not dripping with evil or glee like how I like my Odiles to be, but she did impress me with her characterization of Odile nonetheless. This Odile was cool and too good for Siegfried, and it not only piqued his interest in her but also made him madly proclaim eternal love. Her cool demeanor worked because he didn't want her to be The One That Got Away. In the PDD, Kondaurova did six or seven consecutive double pique turns before ending in supported attitude pose before Siegfried. This is in contrast to Skorik's alternating single and doubles on Thursday night or if I remember correctly Lopatkina alternates hers with chaines turns in recent videos. Also in the Odile variation, Kondaurova did double attitude pirouettes as opposed to singles, except on the third and last one where she fell out of it and had to stop abruptly while still facing the audience. Korsuntsev's variation was solid and mistake-free but danced also with verve associated with falling head over heels for Odile. Fouettes were fine with doubles on every third, though for a second she did travel forward suddenly and quite a bit, that I was scared she might wind up in orchestra pit. The final Act is my least favorite, but Konduarova managed to make it interesting to watch. I liked her Odette in the final Act more than Act 2 because it was clear then that her interpretation of Odette was linear and well-thought out. Kondaurova's Act 4 Odette was in emotional pain, it differed from Act 2 because now she was experiencing betrayal, eternal hopelessness while contemplating forgiveness. Here her expressions and movements all converge to show a layered, complex interpretation. I liked it very much. Korsuntsev's partnering in this Act was fantastic, his overhead lifts were easy and seamless in both lifting and coming down from lifts. His acting was great as well, convincing in sorrow and repentance. Other standouts in this matinee include Xander Parish again (I think he's ready to be Siegfried), Nadezhda Batoeva who danced a sprightly variation in Friends of Prince PDT, and Yulia Stepanova as one of the Big Swans. In fact Stepanova stands out so much in that grouping, I focused only on her and thought how wonderful it would be if she was to be given a chance to dance O/ O one day. Her build and especially legs are slightly bigger than other soloists, but not much bigger. Take into consideration how gaunt both Svetlana Ivanova and Maria Shirinkina looked as Cygnets, give me Stepanova-like ballerinas over those two any day. In fact, my friend who was sat next to me remarked to me (about Ivanova and Shirinkina) "those two girls are way too skinny, look at their arms and back!", she didn't know who they were but pointed them out to me.
  3. It's been a long time since I had last posted on BA, such that I'd forgotten my username and had to re-register as new member. I would like to share my thoughts to Skorik/ Shklyarov performance last night. First of all, this is the second time I had seen Skorik as O/ O, the first time being her opening night stint in OC more than a week ago. There were differences and similarities between both performances that I had seen. Her OC debut was shaky and nervous, even with the very generous audience applauding her on. However, last night it was clear that Skorik had improved technically, or at least watered down certain technical elements which are not, I would guess, her forte since that opening night. That is the good news. The bad news is that having seen her twice within such a short span of time and in such an iconic role as O/ O, I am forming the opinion that her rapid ascent within the Mariinsky is NOT justified. It would be one thing if Skorik was dancing soloist variations, in which case I would be less critical about up-and-coming, potential principal ballerina, but this is O/ O we're talking about.... The pairing of Shklyarov and Skorik is an odd one. She is simply too tall for him or the other way around, he is too short for her. This isn't to say Shklyarov didn't try his best to partner her, but just that aesthetically it didn't work for my taste. En pointe, she towers over him by at least 3-4 inches, and I'm not even around to mentioning how he almost dropped her on a couple of lifts both in OC and last night. Because of her height or his lack of height/ strength, there were no overhead lifts in Act II odd. They replaced it with a couple of very pedestrian promenade in penche, which in my opinion, robbed the pdd of greater emotional impact. I had seen Shklyarov as Siegfried before, when he partnered a very bland (and tall) Polina Semionova a few years ago, also at Berkeley. From yt videos and also these performances, it appears to me that Shklyarov is not the most reliable of partners, and especially for a skittish or mistake-prone dancer like Skorik. He shines more in his own variations, and not in partnering like, for example, Danila Korsuntsev. There was also very little chemistry between Skorik and Shklyarov, and this was apparent last night as well. Skorik's Odette has a tendency to rotely and briefly glance at Siegfried, then moving on to concentrate on doing her own thing the rest of the way. Because of this, her Odette is not a tender nor heartfelt Odette but rather one who has been schooled by coaches on how Odette should act. Throught Act II pdd and also Odette's variation and coda, Skorik seems to relish in holding poses which show off her tremendous extensions and long lines, I get the feeling that this is where she "shines" or has confidence showing to the audience. Not the most subtle of dancers in this regard, musically or in interpretation. Towards ending of Act II pdd, she glosses over what is in my opinion one of the most beautiful and iconic Odette steps, those petits battements sur le cou de pied between final, supported pirouettes. So this is just one example of lack of subtlety or perfection of fine or detailed technique on her part. Casual balletgoers won't notice but I find it sad that Mariinsky is promoting such a dancer as if she is already a wunderkind of sorts, a dancer whose talents are instantly recognizable. Act III began gloriously with lovely Yulia Stepanova and Karen Ionessian as part of the quartet in Spanish Dance. I just hope Mariinsky doesn't pull Stepanova over to the Character Dancers side just because she is slightly bigger framed than her female colleagues onstage. That would be a shame because she deserves to be seen by American audiences in something more than character dance or bit part in Carmen. Anyways, of all the character dances, the audience seemed to love Spanish Dance the most last night. Black Swan pdd went pretty smoothly for both Shklyarov and Skorik, although Shklyarov had some bobbles in his variations, I think his finished his turns rather messily. His Siegfried came alive in Act III more than Act II but then regressed a bit in Act IV. Overall I wasn't that impressed with his characterization. Skorik danced a competent Odile variation and easily sailed through single fouettes in the coda. I think it was a good idea for her to concentrate on doing competent singles instead of attempting doubles like she was doing in OC. Skorik plays Odile as straightforward, one-note seductress. I've always felt that Odile is the easier of O/ O for a ballerina to conquer as far as interpretations go. Skorik is definitely better as Odile, in interpretation and comfort level, than as Odette. Though her Odile has one expression, that of wide-eyed, cartoon-evil look, and she finished every move with an even wider smile. Act IV was the weakest of the acts, when in fact it should have been the strongest. But we only had Soviet ideology to thank for this. I actually prefer Bolshoi's Swan Lake, which I'd also seen this year, for its less ridiculous ending and for the fact that I like character dances being done in pointe shoes for the ladies. Back to Shklyarov/ Skorik paring, most of the lifts were concentrated in Act IV and it was clear that it took effort to lift Skorik. In fact, on the final lift, he nearly lost his hold or grip on her. It would have been a disaster had he dropped her, since she would have landed still in horizontal position. Other standouts in the performance were Xander Parish as Prince's Friend, Anastasia Nikitina as one of the Two Swans, and Ilya Petrov as the Jester.
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