64 replies to this topic

[chiapuris]

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.

[Natalia]

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"!  [I see that chiapuris has Martinyuk on his list.]

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

[chiapuris]

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.

[Helene]

chiapuris, on Jun 24 2005, 01:03 PM, said:

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.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

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

[chiapuris]

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!

[carbro]

singing_medora, on Jun 24 2005, 07:26 AM, said:

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.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

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.

[chiapuris]

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.

[Renata]

Thanks for giving us your impressions.  It helps those of us who are attending only by this web-site.
Renata

[chiapuris]

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.

[Marga]

chiapuris, on Jun 26 2005, 04:56 PM, said:

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.

[Mikhail]

Participants of the 3rd round:
Juniors: http://www.russianba...s/mlgr3tur.html
Seniors: http://www.russianba...s/stgr3tur.html

[singing_medora]

2 Chipuris
About the prizes read
http://www.russian-k...eng/awards.html


Yahoo!!!My couple, Borchenkos, are in the third tour!!!   

[Renata]

Thanks Mikhail, for posting the links.  Thanks to the others who are taking the time to report.
Renata

[Renata]

singing medora...thanks for the link to the prizes.

[Natalia]

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