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Vishneva (continued)


Giannina

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The epic poet of ballet has been giving news on her site regarding 2007 NYC performances. "I shall dance in MET in May-June 2007." "Yes, we with V. Malakhov plan to dance in the next year." "Probably I shall dance a Sleeping beauty in MET in 2007."

This third remark does not mention ABT specifically, although it would be so out of character for the MET to risk inviting the Mariinsky for a season (I bet they have no idea that it would sell out a full multi-week run with virtually no adverts), but seems consistent with Bingham's post under Sylvia today: "In the OCPAC announcement for the (mid July) 2007 ABT season, they mentioned that ABT is performing a new "full-lenght favorite direct from it's premiere at the Met".I hope it is Sleeping Beauty."

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Diana on her website also reveals that she wanted to be a figure skater as a child. I wonder how the figure skater/dancer distinction is chosen, because many figure skaters (Katia Gordeeva for example) started out as dancers and vice versa.

Another vice versa was Nina Ananiashvili. From her site's biography:

Because Nina was often sick as a child, her parents decided to enroll her in figure skating lessons in order to improve her health. By the time she was six years old, Nina was a ranked skater, and at ten became Georgia State champion in the junior division.

But also at age 6:

In 1969, Ananiashvili entered the Georgia State Choreographic Institute. Tamara Vykhodtseva was her first teacher there. The great Vakhtang Chabukiani also took little Nina under his wing. Her progress was so impressive that it drew the attention of teachers from the Moscow Choreographic Institute, who convinced her parents to allow Nina to continue her studies there.

One wonders what Katherine Healy might have become had she succeeded in joining ABT. The skater/skating choreographer was a principal dancer in three European companies.

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"In the OCPAC announcement for the (mid July) 2007 ABT season, they mentioned that ABT is performing a new "full-lenght favorite direct from it's premiere at the Met".I hope it is Sleeping Beauty."

I think Diana's comments just about confirm it. Art076 had the same idea, too, based on the fact that ABT and the Royal Ballet shared Sylvia in the same way, and that we'll be seeing the beloved :devil: Farmer designs from RB's recent SB production back with ABT next season.

I think the Kirov is touring with just Swan Lake and R&J next season, and it would be unusual for Malakhov to dance with them.

--Andre

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Andre posts, "...we'll be seeing the beloved Farmer designs from RB's recent SB production back with ABT next season."

Andre, that must be why Kevin McKenzie was in attendance at the Royal's final SB in Washington. I was hoping it was a sign that ABT might be looking to share the production. We've waited too long a time for a new full length SB from them.

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I have really enjoyed the wonderful and thoughtful descriptions of Vishneva's dancing. (Though it makes me a little frustrated that I've seen her performances only on video.)

The picture that is emerging from these posts is of a risk-taking, dedicated and conscientiious artist, full of desire to captivate and reward her audience. She seems to have a longer-range plans -- and a higher goal -- than merely winning lots of "bravos" on any given night.

A question: is there any chance that Vishneva may develop into one of those ballet dancers who -- like Pavlova, Nureyev, and Barishnikov -- create so much excitement that they expand the culture's interest in, and audience for, serious ballet? That would indeed be something worth getting excited about. :devil:

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Andre, that must be why Kevin McKenzie was in attendance at the Royal's final SB in Washington. I was hoping it was a sign that ABT might be looking to share the production. We've waited too long a time for a new full length SB from them.

True about ABT needing to put on Sleeping Beauty. And aside from a few things like Wheeldon's Garland Dance, I like the version.

But I still found the sets dreary and clashing a bit with the somewhat tacky costumes. But maybe the whole thing will look better on the Met stage, I thought it looked cramped at KC. And maybe some lighting changes will help here and there.

In spite of these semi-negative comments, I think ABT could do worse. I guess I'm still feeling a bit disappointed about seeing the sets last month in DC although all around I was very happy with the two fine performances I saw.

Richard

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A question: is there any chance that Vishneva may develop into one of those ballet dancers who -- like Pavlova, Nureyev, and Barishnikov -- create so much excitement that they expand the culture's interest in, and audience for, serious ballet? That would indeed be something worth getting excited about. :tiphat:

bart, very good question. We'll see. She seems so far to have almost unanimously won over 'The Major Critics'. As a member of the public I have planned cross country trips to coincide with her performances. I would also do the same to see Ulyana Lopatkina. Other possibilities would be a Kirov series, maybe the Bolshoi, maybe Alina Cojocaru and maybe Daria Pavlenko. There are not any other peformers of any kind that I have done or would do this for.

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Time for the "Midnight Diana Report". Just finished my nightly viewing of the Diana Giselle DVD---Grand Pas De Deux to End. ****An Absolute Symphony Of Reverberating Waves****

Buddy,

I enjoy your enthusiasm, and it's clearly not blind. But where do you get your DVD's, especially Diana's?

Bart's question is making me look at ballet as the relatively small cultural phenomenon that it is, where few of its great artists capture the public imagination (Margot Fonteyn appearing on the cover of Time magazine, for example). I'm not even sure I would want that for an artist I admire. But I believe Diana Vishneva has the gifts for that kind of breakthrough. How is she seen in Russia, where ballet does capture the popular imagination in a way that is rare here?

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But where do you get your DVD's, especially Diana's?

jps, the Diana Gislle video as far as I know can only be bought by someone in Japan. A friend from Japan telephoned her neice in Japan, who bought it there and sent it to us. There is a company on the internet using only Japanese that has it, but as far as I can tell will not sent it outside Japan. Diana Vishneva on her site has said several times that the video can only be obtained in Japan. If I find out otherwise I will post it. I generally get my other videos from Amazon.

I do follow the ballet internet from Russia somewhat (relying mostly on loose computer translations.) It is usually quite favorable to Diana. Her Swan Lake devides opinion the most at the moment. I have been to the last two Mariinsky winter festivals and audience response to Diana is always very enthusiastic, but generally these are enthusiastic audiences probably made up of a lot of folks from outside Russia. The only performers that I remember the Mariinsky adding extra chairs for are Ulyana Lopatkina (both times) and Nikolai Tsiskaridze. There was one other performance that I can't recall. It might have been this year's final Gala, where she did appear along with many others. This year it must be remembered that she was unable to perform her evening (Ondine) because she was ill.

Still when push comes to shove I think the public in Russian is firmly with her. When it was rumored that she might join the Bolshoi, there were internet appeals for her to stay in St. Petersburg. The folks in Moscow seemed just as enthusiastic that she was performing there. I could be wrong, but I believe that she is often refered to as "Divine Diana" in Russia. [Added Later---The only Russian word that I can find for "divine" does not start with a "D". Maybe it's English speaking Russians who do this?? I'll try and check it out.] There seems little doubt in my mind that she is extremely popular in Russia.

[Added a few minutes later. As far as worldwide poularity is concerned, Diana had a small picture of herself on the cover of the New York Times a year ago when she performed with the ABT.]

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A question: is there any chance that Vishneva may develop into one of those ballet dancers who -- like Pavlova, Nureyev, and Barishnikov -- create so much excitement that they expand the culture's interest in, and audience for, serious ballet? That would indeed be something worth getting excited about. :yucky:

bart, another response to your question. Robert Gottlieb in discussing Diana Vishneva's ABT performance of "Romeo and Juliet"----Possibly 'The Quote'(!) Of The Last Four Hundred Years!!----"When Someone Dances At This Level, You're Simply Grateful To Be In The Presence Of Such Mastery--To [Heck] With Juliet!" (Smile) (Italic's word and capital letters by me.)

http://www.newyorkobserver.com/20060724/20...ttliebdance.asp

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She seems so far to have almost unanimously won over 'The Major Critics'.

In regard to Diana Vishneva, Marc ( Haegeman), if you are reading this, I definitely consider you one of the most highly regarded of 'Dance Commentators' (Critics?) and I know that you do not necessarily share the views of some of the others. I am just trying to say that your opinions are respected very highly.

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Why doesn't my computer make those cute little smiling faces like your's does?----Cheers!

Underneath the post box, there's a little checkbox and the phrase "Enable emoticons?" If that box is checked, you should see a box to the left of the post box entitled Clickable Smilies, with all of the symbols displayed. (If it's too narrow to display all of them, there's a little left/right blue scroll bar that will allow you to see the rest.) If you click on one, the "code" for the smilie will appear in the post wherever your cursor last was, and when you preview or post, the code will convert to the smilie.

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This might be yet another of my complaint about technical ability of ballet dancers now, but most dancers now do not have the highly lifted and light buttocks that dancers of the past had. Vishneva is not an exeption. In order to see it you have to look at the place where the buttocks end and the legs start ( it has nothing to do with the length of the legs), it is much lower now on most dancers and as a result the dancing looks more par terre. So here is a difference between great dancers of the past and Vishneva. I am only adding a perspective , so please do not take it badly.

P.S I do like her strong and tough personality on stage , In my opinion she is more suited to character dancing.

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omshanti, forgive me if I'm missing something, but I really don't understand what the buttock placement is, and what a good example of "highly lifted and light buttocks that dancers of the past had." And I kind of don't understand how buttock placement prevents one from being a great dancer??? Again, forgive me because I kind of don't understand the importance of buttock placement.

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Canbelto I did not say that this will prevent Vishneva from being great , I only stated one difference between her (or most dancers now) and dancers of the past . As for explaining the lifted buttocks I do not know how to explain it on computer , and in my opinion it does make a little if not great difference in dancing and the look of the body of dancers. Almost all dancers from the past are good examples of it. There were still many good dancers who can be a good example of it even only a generation a go, but somehow it is almost nonexistant now apart from very few exceptions. I think the easiest way to see it is to compare Ghislaine Thesmar (lifted ) and Aurelie Dupond (not lifted ) from the two POB La Sylphide DVDs. You might be able to see it.

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Canbelto I did not say that this will prevent Vishneva from being great , I only stated one difference between her (or most dancers now) and dancers of the past . As for explaining the lifted buttocks I do not know how to explain it on computer , and in my opinion it does make a little if not great difference in dancing and the look of the body of dancers. Almost all dancers from the past are good examples of it. There were still many good dancers who can be a good example of it even only a generation a go, but somehow it is almost nonexistant now apart from very few exceptions. I think the easiest way to see it is to compare Ghislaine Thesmar (lifted ) and Aurelie Dupond (not lifted ) from the two POB La Sylphide DVDs. You might be able to see it.

I guess I have been looking in the wrong places when I watch ballet :) Anyway, point made omshanti, unless it can be explained why this matters for the viewer.

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omshanti, I'm sorry if I seem like I'm peppering you with questions, but when do you think this phenomenon happened? I admit that I have never really looked at buttock placement carefully in dancers. And I have never seen the earlier version of La Sylphide, so I can't use that as comparison. And how do you think that affects the line of dancers?

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