Natalia

ABT has a great history of diversity with Hispanics (Alonso!) and Asian-heritage (not just Hee Seo or Stella) ballerinas. I'm sure that they'll have a truly worthy black ballerina for the classics in due time. (I like Misty in contemporary.) It's too bad that ABT let Michaela De Prince "go" after she graduated from their school (eventually to Amsterdam). Maybe she'll be one of ABT's promised "exchange guests" in the future? 

4 hours ago, Lilia75 said:

Natalia what an unfair and arsh judgment you are giving to Nicoletta

 i don't know if you came to Milano to see her in many leading roles she got, but i never heard such a low comment about her.....

she has a strong if not perfect tehcnique, very light and flawless jumps and yes....i prefer her in Giselle role instead of Myrtha ,too  without this heavy comparison you gave to her...

 

and now Misty:  maybe you can helps us (europeans) why she gained so much interest and fame  despite she often shows weak technique..... this past autumn, whe she danced at la Scala with Bolle she made a couple of mistakes that i ever never seen done by a "prima ballerina" ....although i consider Nunez, Zacharova and Semionova an other planet

 

just a comment i heard at the end of her Romeo e Giulietta with Bolle this last december, when i was in the line to go out of the Theatre a group of french people at the presence of a famous russian teacher were chatting puzzled about Misty  and  about her technique showed  that evening " was not even enough to be considered part as a general ballerina in a leading corp de Ballet"...... and that they were kind of ashamed that Bolle  kneled down to invite ther as a Etoile guest just answering to a Fame due to politically correct  that surround her

 

What do you think about that sentence!? is it wrong?

thank you!!!  Lilia

I love Nicoletta in sweet soubrette roles, Lilia. She's adorable as Kitri or as the leading girl in The Garden of Lovers (opposite Bolle). She has a real "aire de angel" (as we say in Spanish) about her. I could picture her as the sweet Giselle. As a nasty villainess like Myrtha? You have to be kidding!!! (It's about the angelic face & manner; not height.) My comment was about the idiotic casting, not about Nicoletta herself. Could you imagine Evgenia Obraztsova or Sarah Lane as Myrtha?

Misty: I saw the RAI telecast DVD. The MacMillan Juliet is her finest leading role, IMO. She excels in contemporary drama, even with weak "basic" technique. Bolle must have seen her fine performances at the Met the previous summer and got La Scala to extend the invitation after the originally-cast Juliet (Osipova?) pulled out. Just guessing.

7 hours ago, ksk04 said:

I saw the first show last night with Misty Copeland ....(she slipped off pointe twice during the hops in Act 1, though she got through more than I was expecting). What I took away from her dancing overall ...."comfortable" pose for her, whatever that is at the moment.

 

Is this acceptable? Is Misty Copeland capable of performing a single leading role in a 19th-C without having at least one major mishap in a key solo passage? 

No surprise about Nicoletta Manni not being an effective Myrtha. That's like asking Minnie Mouse to play Lady Macbeth.

So happy for Xander Parish!!! Too bad that he won't be coming to Washington, DC this fall...instead of Askerov? We can wish.

So many great (non-Grigorovich) productions in the Bolshoi's rep that they could've taken to NY this year. Very puzzling.

The most satisfying major Bolshoi tour that I recall was the one in 2007 to the London Coliseum: Ratmansky's Corsaire, Bright Stream (in the gorgeous B. Messerer designs), and a mixed bill including the Wheeldon Misericordes and Class Concert, for starters. I saw all of these in a span of 3-4 days. DQ and maybe SL were also on that tour. The Hochausers know what to present.

I would have taken the Megabus to NY to see the Bolshoi had they presented any of their recent stunning Petipa recons such as Esmeralda, Corsaire, Coppelia or Paquita Grand Pas (as part of a mixed bill). Or what about their Massine Triple Bill that includes Les Presages?

Ms Grumpy is "She who rarely smiles" and totally lacks charisma: Mme Matvienko. I've bought tix to see one of the Batoeva-as-Gamzatti performances in DC but everything is subject to change. 

Batoeva brings the biggest excitement to the announced Kennedy Center casting (week of Bayaderes next October). Fingers crossed that the casting sticks. If things shuffle and I end up with yet another Gamzatti by "Ms Grumpy," I'll scream.

So sorry to be reading this. Loved her in many ballets, especially in Namouna (title role). My first thought was that she is way too young to retire but, no, she graduated SAB in 1998 - almost 20 years ago. Yikes, time flies! She participated in the memorable joint performance by SAB and Vaganova Academy students at BAM around Jan or Feb 1998.

The only clue in the mailer about Other Dances casting is the photo of Gillian (alone) on the back, in her OD costume...a far more balletic photo than what's on the cover.

My first thought was "Hooters Ballet Theatre." Let's see a basic professional-ballet look. I thought, for a moment, that I had received a flyer for my local college's amateur year-end workshop.

I've just received my flyer for the ABT fall 2017 season in the mail. Sorry to be so crude but...that has to be the least appealing cover photo for what's intended to be a ballet-marketing brochure. Good grief! They obviously were aiming for the least classical look possible! Yuk. (Those who got it know what I mean...it's not worth acknowledging who is depicted. I feel sorry for the man in the pic, who is a fine dancer and always looks good.) After seeing this, I've decided to completely forego the season & stay in Washington, DC.

26 minutes ago, chicagoballetomane said:

Dying to hear a recap of the opening of the Jewels festival - hopefully some one was there!

There are some reports in the POB forum's thread on the LC Fest Jewels.

17 minutes ago, Drew said:

 

That's not just an accent, that's the pas de deux 'signature'-- is it possible they just did it in some very, very soft way that obscured it? (Either way...disconcerting to read.)

Even this is not as bad as the recent Bolshoi staging of Emeralds, in which the entrance diagonal of the "Mimi Paul solo" is done totally on pointe...even the usually flat-footed bowing movements. 

On February 5, 2017 at 6:50 PM, cubanmiamiboy said:

 

I assume Viengsay Valdes, who might be 40 by now, or maybe pushing it, won't be dancing too much longer. Then Delgado would be Alonso's senior ballerina. 

Off topic...I find cute that we have two Cubans...one in Miami...the other in Havana...both Principals and with such similar names. Annette Delgado and Jeannette Delgado.?. A collaboration among the two companies would be wonderful. One only hopes...

Indeed. Annette graduated in 1996...making her 38/39...contemporary with Veronika Part, Daria Pavlenko, Zakharova, Wiles, etc. The year 1996 was a great one for budding ballerinas!

Husband & I weren't going to this but have caved in to one performance - Saturday night, whoever may be dancing. Presently it's supposed to be Kondaurova/Askerov/Batoeva....subject to change. The Shades will always be there.

To think that next year marks Petipa's 200th birthday anniversary. I'll be in Moscow in May 2018...but most definitely NOT for this. Hopefully this will not eat into the dates for the Petipa Gala in late May & the planned reconstruction tributes later that summer. Forward with Petipa!

Хорошо!!!

I definitely saw one SL O/O in StP ca 1998 - at least a year before Zubkovskaya died. Her Siegfried may have been Ilya Kuznetsov....who usually danced Von Roth. It was an unusual Odette-Siegfried pairing. (My Russian playbills & albums are at home. I'm currently on work-related travel.)

fauxpas, she may have gone to Alexander @ Steps, but...

2 hours ago, abatt said:

...

Also wanted to add a question.  I thought Part was a wonderful dancer and I treasure her performances.  If Part had stayed at the Mariinsky, do you think she would have eventually been elevated to principal?  The competition at the Mariinsky is fierce and they had so many world class ballerinas who were Part's contemporaries (Lopatkina, Vishneva).  At ABT, she was a unique dancer with Vaganova training, unlike any of the other ABT ballerinas.

That was my heyday of living and working in St Petersburg. So glad that you asked this Q, Abatt.

Short answer:  No-Way-in-H***. 

Longer answer: Until her mentor Zubkovskaya passed away ca 1999, Part was given occasional chances at major roles (a couple of O/Os, Emeralds "walking pdd girl"  role, a Muse in Apollo, etc.) and, of course, that great chance as the first Lilac Fairy in the SB-Vikharev revival in spring '99. After Zubkovskaya died, she danced very little and had gained noticeable weight (for a dancer). For ex., during a 2000 tour of Japan, she danced "Big Swan" to Gumerova's O/O in a famous telecast. (To put things in to perspective.) I remember Wash DC fans who knew of her, barely recognized her "stuffed" into her Lilac costumes on the first of the annual Mariinsky tours to DC, ca 2000/01. Her career stalled; she was not involved in big Vikharev and Ratmansky premieres in her last two years in Russia. When she re-emerged in the USA, she had to work hard (at NYCB studios, I think, because her then-boyfriend worked there) to regain her 1999 figure and strengthen the technique that, to be honest, was barely there. But the beautiful dancer prevailed and got into ABT. To her great credit, she defied the thinking of all of us who knew of her in St P from 1995/96 (her grad year) through her departure: she miraculously became an ABT Principal. When I think back to the tall beauty who carefully essayed her "Pavlova & Ceccheti" solo - because it was basically a solo with Vadim Desnitsky standing by the side as Ceccheti - at the 1995 pre-graduation year, I am so pleased that she defied the odds and had a notable career. I would never have predicted that. So now I celebrate the greater-than-imagined career that Part enjoyed. Cheers!

Abatt, during her five or so years as a pro at the Mariinsky, she contended with much more than Lopatkina & Vishneva. Remember -- Zakharova was then there. Also, then vying for Principaldom, Dumchenko & Pavlenko. She also overlapped with Volochkova's first 3-4 years at the MT, before she went to the Bolshoi. The Russian ballet world is much tougher on "big" ballerinas than we are in the West (think Volochkova!). That alone would likely have relegated her to walk-on roles. She was so lucky to have made it out of Russia. [Kondaurova's extreme slenderness helped her cause...ditto Lopatkina. Their very tall & big-boned contemporaries, Part, Amosova and Serova, weren't so lucky.]

Just asking, that's all. Trying to find a reason other than ABT's wish to promote others.

duplicate - deleted

Didn't Part have a reputation for being difficult to partner in extended lifts, not just because of her size? The same thing was written about tiny-sized Gelsey Kirkland...that she did not wish to employ the measures to assist the man with the lift, such as deep plié and certain "propulsion" weight-shifting methods. In other words, she expected the man to carry "dead weight" for artistic beauty reasons. If strong men had trouble with tiny Kirkland, imagine with Part (if such talk is true).

I could also imagine things said to partners as they tried to work on lifts...maybe choosing wrong words? English is Part's second (or third) language.

One of the great things that I've noticed about Sara Mearns is how she does everything in her physical power to assist the guy with lifting her. I noticed that a lot in the recent RO-DEO at the Kennedy Center. That lady propels, as if she has inner jets! I've noticed the same on films of Carrie Imler.

10 hours ago, ksk04 said:

For those who follow the Mariinsky casting ups and downs more closely than I do, does this casting shed any light on the SCFTA casting for Chopiniana, Scheherezade, Spectre, or Dying Swan the week before?

Due to the brevity of the ballets being performed, as well as timing following their respective maternity leaves, you may get Alina Somova and/or Kristina Shapran in California. Shapran definitely back to performing at home; Somova not yet. Remember that Lopatkina returned to performing as Scheherazade in the SCFTA, following her long absence due to a combination of injuries and maternity leave...so maybe this will be Somova's return?

The one Bolshoi dancer who I would have expected to see cast as Nureyev is missing: Artyom Ovcharenko, who played him in the recent TV docudrama.