35 replies to this topic

[carbro]

singing medora, your fears and sadness are very understandable.  I hope you can see forward to the time when your company is able to move back to its own, familiar theater with new, modernized features.

I hope your company finds someone to sponsor tours for you and provide support in the interim.  No doubt it will be difficult, and it should not be for a nation's premiere company.  It is unfortunate, though, that the arts are not held as a vital part of society by the governments.  

In the meantime, I wish you and your colleagues courage.  If all of you can make it through this difficult time, I expect you'll find that as a group and as individuals, you are stronger and more adaptable than you might have imagined.

[shulie]

I have been to Minsk Opera years ago when I was a kid (about 11) since I had a Belorussian friend. It indeed was a quite worn down building in desperate need of a refurbishment and complete make over. Lovely 19th century building- huge and looked surely fabulous when it was built- comparable in splendor and size to the opera houses of Vienna and Milan.
Still everything inside was worn down and in a very miserable state- and this was the representative part for the audience only! Imagine how bad the practise and dressing rooms for singers and dancers must have looked!

I got a ballet calendar from the Belorussian Ballet in 2001 and still keep it on my wall- the pictures are so gorgeous! It would be a shame if there was less money for the company than it used to be.

I wish you luck and all the best- unfortunately shortage of money and cutting down on cultural institutions first to save money is a common disease nowadays- not only in the former Soviet Union countries- they fired our local classical ballet company years ago and made them into a modern dance company with 9 dancers instead of a full classical ballet company with soloists, demi soloists and a full corps- just because the modern dance company was so much cheaper to keep up!!!
It is a shame!

BTW: I was impressed back then in Belarus that they actually had mandatory ballet training in normal public schools! Cool!

[singing_medora]

Hi!
THank you very-very much for your support! I really do appreciate it and I'm glad that you share my hopes for the bright future of our ballet!
The latest news. Ivan Vasiliev(gold, juniors, X Intern'l comp. in Moscow) has decided to continue his education here in Minsk inspite lots of invitations and even from the Bolshoi. To my mind deserves applause  !
Yesterday was the fist performance on another stage...   .As I've mentioned - acoustisc unbearable, the stage is awful - seems that the curtain is somwhere in the middle ( In the middle somewhat elevated!) and when the act finishes the dancers stay somewhere before the curtain. Yesterday was  "La Bayadere" and at the end of the 2 act, when Nikia dies, the curtain was about to fall behind them!!! Can you imagine?! Dead Nikia stands up and goes backstage?!! Thanks to our premier Igor Artamonov everything turnd out OK. In the last moment he took Nikia And holding her in his arms with desperate face full of sorrw and a silent question"Why?" in his eyes slowly moved backwards. It was just great! Like a new version of the final! Thanks to him!
But still very difficult situation...The building does not have any rehearsal halls and our company still rehearse in the native building. But the restoration is to begin this weeks and the company will be left without any halls to rehearse in! And what do you think? Our government offers them a hall can you believe where? in the kindergarten! For the company of more than 70 dancers!!! I dunno but my boyfrian in this company is 2 metres tall and if he makes just one jete this small kindergarten will need resotration!!!And again - it's the leading company of the country!!!!!How can't they understand?!:bash:
still hope for someone's help...

[singing_medora]

Hi, everyone!
Yesterday and tomorrow Yuka Miyaki with our company! She has already danced  Don Quixote and is going to dance Giselle! Don Quixote was marvellous? gorgeous and just brilliant! Everyone is striked!
By the way? does anybogy knows, what did she win this year in Nagoe?

[singing_medora]

Ivan Vasiliev who has won gold at Moscow Int'l competition is going to dance Don Quixote at our theatre! I will try to leave photos or video on the net!

[carbro]

How exciting!

Please also post a report on the performance here.  We'd love to hear about the performance!

[bart]

Absolutely!  Please share this with us.  

[singing_medora]

Tell me please, is it possible to post photos within my message on the forum?
Like: I write a description and then place a photo and then again?

[carbro]

Sorry, Medora.  Members cannot post photos here.  What you can do, though, is post links to photos on other sites.  If these are your personal photos (i.e., with no copyright issues), you can post them on a photo site such as Snapfish.com, or Shutterfly.com.  I think Yahoo also hosts a photo posting service.  Registering at these sites is free of charge, and viewers can order prints, if they like!

[singing_medora]

Here is a link where you can see some pics of Belarussian ballet. I'm a "pure non-professional' in the field of photo and loading them on site, that is why... Sorry in advance!  
They are very few but still... It's just my first attempt to help you find out more about this company!

[singing_medora]

http://a.photofile.r....php?id=1143727

[singing_medora]

Hi everyone! Here are Some new Photos! Among them fabulous  couple Borchenko in The Swan Lake
http://b.foto.radika...8527f501883.jpg
http://a.photofile.r....php?id=1143727
Share your impressions!

[carbro]

These are lovely photos, Medora!  Certainly don't look like the work of a beginner!

I think our readers would be very grateful if you could identify the ballets and transcribe the dancers' names into the Latin alphabet.  I know I would!

[Canary]

Singing Medora, is there an opera company at the Minsk opera house, or the former opera house? What operas do they perform? How terrible that you are currently without a theatre, but don't lose hope! No matter how terrible things are something always turns up. I am an opera student and I have always wanted to visit Eastern Europe and Russia. Financial situation seems difficult there, but there are beautiful cities and talented artists.

[singing_medora]

2 Canary
I'm so glad you're interested in Belarussian Opera! Of cource? there is such a company! When a child I was singing in a musical studio within this company? we performed a lot of plays for children and that was really cool! The feeling of being on the stage of the most famous theatre in the country! That's even difficult to express! there we took up singing professionally and I even took classes for a year from a very-very respectable teacher of our Conservatoire, so to say one of the founders of our singing school. You see, belarussain opera shcool is young - it started at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as ballet school, but Conservatoire appeared earlier than ballet college, so our singers started to get professional education earlier. Now we've got a lot of talented singers? our opera is very popular in Germany and Switzerland. They tour there every year and participate in different festivals. well, it's a bit out of topic i guess. So if you've got some more questions you can e-mail me singing_medora@yahoo.com and ask everything you want! I will answer eagerly!