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Moscow Int'l Ballet Competition reports


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Official list of the participants of the second round is published at the site of the Ballet magazine:

Juniors: http://www.russianballet.ru/rus/mlgr2tur.html

Seniors: http://www.russianballet.ru/rus/stgr2tur.html

To my regret, no English version is presented. Between others – dancers from the US Mathias Dingman and Christina Shevchenko.

Natalia, sorry.

The competition of choreographers will be continued on Satruday morning. Dancers will show numbers which were not included to their official programs of the first round.

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2 Chiapuris

Hi!

I'm greatly interested in your impressions about Kate and Peter Borchenko! Yuo've wrote theat theu've impressed you. Please, :beg: tell me what exactly? This couple is working in our theatre and I'm trying to get the more impressions that I can for i want to write an article about them.

Hoping you will help me,

:smilie_mondieu:

In case you wnat to write a letter to me, here is my e'mail - singing_medora@yahoo.com

AND perhaps there is someone who also watches this contest and can help me!please!

One more thing, I'm interested in Buber and Vasiliev too.

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Thanks for the info, Mikhail, & for posting the lists. I, too, have just seen them.

Happy for the Americans who have passed on to Round 2 (Dingman and Chevchenko), as well as the Mexican Hernandez, who studies in the USA.

The Filipinos have made it on, for those who have been asking me about them. Good for them!

On the other hand...oh my goodness, the Israeli who was so praised for his technique, Vladimir Kuklachev, has been eliminated. Huh?????? Lola Kochetkova of the Bolshoi has also been eliminated, although in her case I know that she is rather weak in classical.

Natalia

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For the record i want to list by day of competing the dancers that impressed me.

(Haven't seen the results for 2nd round)

First Day

Ivan Vasiliev Belarus

Matthis Dingman USA

Anna Tikhomirova R

Oksana Karash R

Zherlin Ndudi Ukraine

Igor Motizov R

Isaak Hernandez Mexico

Secoond Day

Alexandra Dorofeyeva

Alexander Shpak

Alyona Samraskaya

Maria Vinogradova

Anastasia Gubanova

Christine Shevshenko (sensational in her contemporary piece by Benjamin Millepied)

Anastasia Sheptifratz

Andrei Pisarev

Natalya Yershova

Natalia Vorontsova

Mikhail Martynyuk

Sun Xin

Wang Zhi Wei

Tabledy Doszhan

Alexander Buber

Natalia, The non-contest choreographies so far, have been 'better'

than the contest entries. The contemporary piece of the Phillipine dancers

(Faustino & ?), Shevshenko's Millepied's Paganini piece were really good.

So was Poklitaru's --also a non-contest piece.

More later.

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Thanks, chiapuris. You hit most of them right!

This morning, several of the Russian sites are hotly commenting on the non-passing of the Israeli dancer. Some believe that his "wild style" may have been a bit too much for the prim judges! One site reports that Kuklachev and his support team may be filing a protest (whatever good that does...I don't know).

On the more positive note, one site reports that the huge favorites in contemporary dance, so far, have been the Filipinos (in the spider dance, mentioned above) and a Russian fellow named Mikhail Martinyuk, who reportedly made the audience "howl with enthusiasm"!

Chiapuris - What, in your opinion, was the downfall of the Israeli, Kuklachev? Was his dancing as "wild" as some of the Russian sites describe it to be? He did Acteon for his classical variation, if my memory is correct.

Natalia

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Natalia, my take on Vladimir Kuklachev is that the judges did the correct thing

for a cogent reason: there was no standard by which to judge what he 'did'.

The audience was very much for him, in large part because he was such a relief with his non-chalant spirit and his antic (difficult, unique, but antic) leaps and twists in the air and not knowing what he would do next. In the 'classical' Acteon, there were sudden leaps and then bizarre poses

that the audience really found refreshing --especially after the repetetive nature of seeing any number of short, coherent, totally organized series of movements, sometimes repeated more than two or three times (Don Quixote, Male variation XXX, Don Quixote Male variation, yyy, Don Quixote Male variation, zzz). Then comes this force of nature named Vladimir Kuklachev.

How do you give points? Especially when his contemporary piece was more like a physical comedian's 'act'. I wish I had counted the times he ran off stage while the audience was howling about what he had just done. To give an example: for his whamo finale he turned facing one wing (and I thought he's not going to do that?) and fell straight as a board flat on his back.

Now how does a ballet judge deal with that? What Kuklachev was doing reminded us of the

french ice skater Phillipe??? who has a free-spirit attitude and his back summersaults, but who also skates very well. My opinion is that Mr Kuklachev did not dance very well, because what he did is not comparable to what the other contestants did, at least by the standards of ballet.

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What Kuklachev was doing reminded us of the 

french ice skater Phillipe??? who has a free-spirit attitude and his back summersaults, but who also skates very well.

Phillipe Candeloro is the name of the skater. He won bronze medals in two Olympic games and has been skating professionally ever since.

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After this morning's session on choreography, the choreography results appear

this eve. at 6:00 pm (it's 3:12 pm right now).

Here's some choreographers who impressed me: (I've starred the one I think are choice)

Zhukoff, Mikhail Poland

*Fiorucci, Laura Venezuela

*Krichmarev, Vyecheslav R

Parfyonov, Maxim R

Barragan, Elloy Mexico

Yachmenyova, Marianna

*Tikhomirova, Maria R

Sayfretdinova, Rezeda R

Morihiro, Ivata Japan

*Vyskoubenko, Youry R

To Singing Medora : I'll respond a few days later--actually after the Competition is over-- when I have seen them dance again!

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Hi!

I'm greatly interested in your impressions about Kate and Peter Borchenko! Yuo've wrote theat theu've impressed you. Please, :(  tell me what exactly? This couple is working in our theatre and I'm trying to get the more impressions that I can for i want to write an article about them.

. . .

AND perhaps there is someone who also watches this contest and can help me!please!

One more thing, I'm interested in Buber and Vasiliev too.

Hi, singing medora! So you have rooting interests in this competition? It must add considerable suspense as you follow their progress, even from a distance.

We hope you'll become a regular contributor and keep us posted on the events at your home theater. Meanwhile, here's a link to our Welcome Page. Please "click in" and tell us a little about yourself. You'll also be able to make the acquaintance with other members.

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6/25/05

I've just come back from the first session of the 2nd Round and what a great evening it was!

Some thirty-five dancers participated in pdd or solos with an intermission between the end of the

classical selections and the contemporary selections (about 5 1/4 hrs).

Here are 15 dancers that I singled out in the order they performed:

Elena Kazakova

Jherlin Ndudi

Ivan Vasiliev

Igor Motisov

Alexander Shpak

Matthias Dingman

Chinara Alizade

Isaac Hernandez

Anna Tikhomirova

Ekaterina Khanyukova

Oksana Kardash

Natalia Vorontsova

Christine Shevchenko

Ilia Bolotov

Ekaterina Krysanova

All except Krysanova are in the Junior division.

Krysanova was listed last and gave what seemed to me a flawless performance

in the Black Swan pdd. There were other flawless performances, I thought,

such as those of Shevchenko, Hernandez, Vasiliev, and Ndudi.

Some of the contemporary pieces were outstanding:

Ndudi and Denis Cherevychko in a Hans van Manen piece,

Dingman in Syrtaki from M Bejart's Greek Dances,

Vasiliev in a Poklitaru piece to Saint Saens The Swan,

Krysanova in an exotic piece as a snake and a Snake Charmer.

More later.

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26 June

This was the second and final day of the 2nd Round, and it was a day packed with top-drawer dancing. The morning session had 19 competitors; I'm listing below some who caught my attention ....and kept it.

26 June Morning Session:

Maria Seletskaya

Ekaterina Alayeva

Ludmilla Konovaleva

Natalia Osipova

Natalia Yershova

Sun Xin

Wang Zhiwei

Christina Kretova

Roman Artyushkin

Mikhail Martinyuk

Eugenia Obraztsova

26 June Evening Session:

The session had 15 competitors.

Alexander Buber

Yaroslav Salenko

Victoria Luchkina

Matvienko Anastasia & Denis

Borchenko Ekaterina & Piotr

Irina Koleshnikova

Natalia Domrayeva

Victor Ischuk

Ekaterina Kozachenko

Natalia Matsak

At the end of the evening session it was announced that the results for the 3rd Round

would be announced in two hours-- which is about twenty minutes ago.

Natalia you'll probably have the results before us. I may try a Russian paper.

I can't imagine how they're going to cull from the second round because most of the dancers

seem so strong and at the same time so unique.

In the morning session Obraztsova was a standout, carving a niche for herself by being the

only dancer to dance the variation from Lavrosky's Romeo and Juliette. For her contemporary

piece she danced the variation (including an articulated gargouillade) from Balanchine's Tchaikovsky pdd. I thought she was sensational.

Another (expected) sensation was Natalia Osipova, who was flawless in the Diana &

Actaeon pdd.

Ekaterina Alayeva (Estonia) was a hit with Balanchine's Sylvia pdd, and for her contemporary piece, danced Balanchine's The Man I Love from Who Cares.

Another morning favorite were Sun Xin and Wang Zhiwei in Gsovsky's Grand Pas.

In the evening, special mention goes to Alexander Buber, who danced for his classical piece

Balanchine's Tarantella. There were two more Tarantellas as the contemporary selection.

The Matvienkos, Anastasia and Denis, danced it and so did Natalia Domrayeva and Victor Ischuk.

(For their classical, the last two dancers chose the pdd from Balanchine's Stars and Stripes.)

Other evening pleasures included the DQ pdd of the Matvienkos, the Bayadere 3rd act pdd of the Borchenkos and the DQ with Koleshnikova and a non-competing partner. There was also a nice, if idiomatic, Fascinating Rhythm danced by Ekaterina Kozachenko.

My next question is, how many prizes are there, and how do the judges decide between

best and better?

On to the 3rd round on the 28th.

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Ekaterina Alayeva (Estonia) was a hit with Balanchine's Sylvia pdd, and for her contemporary piece, danced Balanchine's The Man I Love from Who Cares.
Alayeva is from Ukraine, not Estonia. Maria Seletskaja is from Estonia and I'm happy to hear you were impressed by her. Thank you very much for all of your reports! I read them voraciously.
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Thanks for the fabulous reports, chiapuris, and for the links, Mikhail!

I'm happy to hear that the Kirov's rising star, Yevgenia Obraztsova, made such an impression in the Lavrovsky Romeo & Juliet excerpt,during Round Two. She has been making this her signature role at the Kirov, since her debut, at age 18 or 19, two years ago! Many of the knowledgeable 'locals' who sit in the 'cheap seats' of the Mariinsky Theater adore her & compare her Juliet to that of Galina Ulanova, no less. Obraztsova made a favorable impression in the not-too-well-attended Kirov season in Cardiff, Wales. Hopefully, more people will be able to catch her miraculous Juliet in London (although her participation is yet to be confirmed...but it would be ridiculous, IMO, to omit her from the London tour).

Natalia

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3rd Round, Junior Division, 6/28/05

Junior women (my lists, not in any order)

Christina Shevchenko USA

Marina Burtseva R

Maria Vinogradova R

Oksana Kardash R

Alyona Samarskaya R

Elena Kazakova R

Chinara Alizade R

Junior men

Ivan Vasiliev Belarus

Alexander Shpak Ukraine

Zherlin Ndudi Ukraine

Igor Motizov R

Isaac Hernandez Mexico

Matthias Dingman USA

This evening was the Third round for the Junior division. Each competitor had two classical variations or, instead, one pdd. Two competitors selected pdd:

Kazakova Corsair act II, and Alizade Swan Lake act III. Both had non-competing partners.

The evening as a whole showed some cases of understandable stress and tension,

so there little slips and hesitancies that showed some performers not at their very best.

Others came through energized to a degree that showed them in superb form.

Among these were Christine Shevchenko, Alexander Shpak [Actaeon and a wonderful Giselle act II variation], Ivan Vasiliev, Isaac Hernandez, and Zherlin Ndudi for his second variation. (His first was good and he received enormous applause [DQ] but his second [Actaeon] was right on ). Burtseva for her second dance performed a variation

from Esmeralda act II -not the tambourine variation- but another with slow movements

and bourees with parallel feet going backwards in long lines across the stage, that were greatly appreciated by the audience.

The results are to be posted at midnight, local time. That's about now.

PS I'll be glad to provide any details or specifics but there's just too much to write about.

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Thanks for your report, as always, chiapuris!

Comment & Question on one of the junior male finalists -- Zherlin Ndudi of Ukraine. I saw him in the video of the 2003 Eurovision Competition, when he won the top prize, so I know what an amazing raw talent he is (was 'raw' then...surely with more finesse now, two years later). QUESTION: He is Ukrainian but do you know his ethnic background? He is a very good looking mulatto. I would have guessed him to be Cuban, in fact, but the name is not Spanish. Perhaps he has African blood? I'm sure that his history has appeared in the Moscow newspapers, by now. Thanks, in advance, for any info that you have on the background of this fascinating dancer!

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A friend in Moscow has given me the results of the juniors:

WOMEN

GOLD - USA!!! Christina Shevchenko for soloists

Russia's Chinara Alizade wins jr. women's gold for duets

SILVER - Natalia Vorontsova among duets; Maria Vinogradova among soloists

BRONZE - Elena Kazakova among duets; Anna Tikhomirova & Marina Burtseva (TIE) among soloists

All female medalists except for Schevchenko are Russians.

MEN

GOLD - Ivan Vasiliev (Belarus)

SILVER - Zherlin Ndudi (Ukraine)

BRONZE - TIE between Isaac Hernandez (Mexico) & Matthias Dingman (USA)

No jr men duet awards were given but Karim Abdullin (Russia) obtained a special award as non-competing partner.

All the remaining junior participants in the third stage obtained diplomas.

CONFIRMED via the Russian magazine, Balet, site:

http://www.russianballet.ru/rus/mlgrlaureat.html

Natalia Nabatova

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Congratulations to all of the junior winners and to all of the fine dancers who particpated in the junior division of this competition. And thank you ciapuris, Natalia and the others who helped us keep up with the results. It is exciting to wait for the senior results.

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