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9th MARIINSKY FESTIVAL: Performance Reports


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Bart, one would think. However, when a dancer is not necessarily on the 'Most Favored' list -- and very few are -- then anything could be used against her. Obraztsova carried-on very well, though, considering how badly the adagio had gone. She truly saved the day.

It just upsets me how one or two 'Most Favored' dancers can make a travesty out of Balanchine choreography and be allowed a 'pass.' It's just not fair, IMO. :)

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Corella is generally a very exciting dancer who is known for his bravura turning skills. However,sometimes he takes too much risk and then ends up paying the price by falling out of a turn. Most of the time he can pull off the excessive speed he so loves, but once in a while it backfires. I've seen this happen to him during his performances at ABT numerous times. It's unfortunate that he had an off night, but I'd rather see Corella than someone who always plays it safe.

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>Corella is generally a very exciting dancer who is known for his bravura

>turning skills.

Known for his high-energy, intense performing skills too! And his jumps!

Who knows how long they had to rehearse this pas before the performance.....

That situation too often leads to small and big disasters...

>However,sometimes he takes too much risk and then ends up paying

>the price by falling out of a turn. Most of the time he can pull off the excessive

>speed he so loves, but once in a while it backfires. I've seen this happen to

>him during his performances at ABT numerous times. It's unfortunate that he

>had an off night, but I'd rather see Corella than someone who always plays it safe.

Off nights, bad nights, partnering mishaps happen.... especially when there is little

rehearsal time.

And it is a professional female's job to conquer the freak-out nerves that come about,

as quickly as possible, when her partner messes up the partnering... unless she is injured

having to leave the stage....

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And it is a professional female's job to conquer the freak-out nerves that come about, as quickly as possible, when her partner messes up the partnering... unless she is injured having to leave the stage....
I imagine a lady would be pretty shaken, too, perhaps too concerned with her own nerves to tend to her partner's, especially if they were near strangers, and extra especially if they didn't share a language in which they were both perfectly fluent.
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And it is a professional female's job to conquer the freak-out nerves that come about, as quickly as possible, when her partner messes up the partnering... unless she is injured having to leave the stage....
I imagine a lady would be pretty shaken, too, perhaps too concerned with her own nerves to tend to her partner's, especially if they were near strangers, and extra especially if they didn't share a language in which they were both perfectly fluent.

It's a different language, not talking, while being on stage. It's about sending one's physical energy to the partner struggling to stay afloat by giving one's self extra calmness, humor, as much as is possible, and communicating that to the partner. Not easy to do, but totally necessary, often... unless you are dancing with a partner you've comfortably worked with for many years.

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My initial review of the Ratmansky Little Humpbacked Horse -- post #2 of this series -- has now been edited and refined. I had worked on a tiny, cramped keyboard from my hotel bedroom, accounting for the earlier typos. It should be a smoother read now. Enjoy! :unsure:

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And I agree, definitely not Murphy - those are not her Gaynor Mindens. The Cyrillic caption says Nadezhda Gonchar.

As the International Sales Manager for Gaynor Minden, I'd like to say that my colleagues and I genuinely enjoy reading these reports from Saint Petersburg. We all wish we could be there in person to experience these fantastic performances from such talented artists.

I would like to respectfully point out that while those are not Gillian Murphy's Gaynor Mindens, they are most certainly Nadezhda Gonchar's Gaynor Mindens. Nadia has been wearing them for some years now, as do nearly all of the First and Second Soloists, Coryphees and Corps de Ballet (including recent graduates from the Vagonova Academy, such as Anastasia Nikitina).

In summer of 2007 the color of the outer sole was changed from grey to tan, to give the shoes a more traditional look on stage.

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MUSINGS ON THE 9TH MARIINSKY INTERNATIONAL BALLET FESTIVAL

Now that the dust has settled and I’ve had a chance to reflect on 10 amazing days in St. Petersburg, certain images and dancers remain in my mind:

* Polina Semionova’s Nikiya in BAYADERE – the finest night of the Festival to me. Semionova ‘earned’ my greatest respect that night – the finest Nikiya that I’ve seen live since Lopatkina’s debut in May 1995. I will forever remember Polina Semionova’s steady triple-pirouettes, in both directions, while holding onto the white tulle scarf in Act III. Even better, I’ll remember her sculptural purity in solo adagio moments, such as her initial dance around the fire, after the Brahmin removes her veil. The normally-hokey Soviet-era ‘Slave Adagio’ in Scene 2 became a true work of art with Semionova’s plastique, with fine partnering from the ultra-strong Sergei Salikov.

* Viktoria Terioshkina – undoubtedly the ‘Queen of the Festival’ among the many fine local ballerinas. She consistently displayed not only her trademark technical facility but also charming, moving drama in all three of her Festival assignments – the Tsar-Maiden in Ratmansky’s LHH, Odette-Odile and Manon pdd with Marcelo Gomes at the final gala night. Terioshkina grew in my estimation to a true ‘Prima Ballerina’ as the Tsar-Maiden, with the ‘Yawning Solo’ that commences Act II as the landmark moment – including those eight consecutive languid renverse turns without placing the free foot down. She’s a certain Golden Mask 2010 nominee and, so far, most likely awardee, unless other great premiere performances happen in Russia between now and the end of the current season.

* It’s hard to crown a “King of the Festival,” as no one local-favorite dancer blew-over the competition as did Terioshkina among the women. Still, I’ll give the nod to Leonid Sarafanov for three excellent, crowd-pleasing performances: Ivanushka in the 2nd cast of LHH, Basilio in DON Q and TARANTELLA at the final gala. We can forgive him the occasional smiles at the audience and ‘clappings in time” to get the ovations rolling. Of course, my personal King of the Festival was a guest – Marcelo ‘The Magnificent’ Gomes of ABT!

* Discovery of the Festival: Without hesitation I name Anastasia Petushkova – the character-soloist lady in the BAYADERE Hindu/Tom-Tom Dance – as my female discovery of the Festival. This bold and big dancer MUST be seen and recognized by the rest of the Ballet World. She is extraordinary. Also very promising among the ladies is Oksana Skorik, whose Moyna in GISELLE truly turned a lot of heads. Among the gents, I must single out young Ilya Petrov – Vaganova Class of 2008 – who wowed us as the opening-night Humpbacked Horse. What a role for a first-year novice! He did the Mariinsky proud. Among the corps dancers who did not have solo moments but were prominently featured in clusters, I could not help but admire every appearance of the cutie-pie-faced Anna Lavrinenko and the scene-stealing gent, Karen Ioannisian.

* Previously-strong impressions were cemented by such top-notch dancers at the Soloist level such as Ekaterina Kondaurova (wonderful as the Queen of the Seas in LHH and Myrtha in GISELLE), Islom ‘The Energizer’ Baimuratov in anything he did, Konstantin Zverev’s Espada in DON Q, Evgenia Obraztsova’s 1st Shade in BAYADERE, Vladimir Ponomaryev as the ‘Main Character Man’ in practically every full-length ballet, and Irina Golub in FLAMES of PARIS pdd the final night (with a series of magnificent fouettes performed with one hand on her waist throughout).

* SINGLE-HAPPIEST MOMENT OF JOY – Surprise of the Festival: The new-and-gorgeously-improved Tatyana Tkachenko stepping out, unannounced, to dance the Dryad Queen in DON Q…replacing you-know-who.

* The guest dancers – beside the amazing Semionova – were mostly quite strong this year. Grand impressions were left by Cuba’s Viengsay Valdes as Kitri in DON Q with her surreal balances and fouettes; Marcelo Gomes of ABT in his two testosterone-plus appearances, including an unforgettable Albrecht opposite Vishneva’s GISELLE; and Mikhail Kaniskin of Berlin Ballet’s low-key but beautiful Siegfried opposite Terioshkina in SWAN LAKE. With all due respect to Ms Valdes, the "Saddest Guest Cancellation" award goes to Ashley Bouder of NYCB, who was originally scheduled for that DON Q Kitri; hopefully, Bouder may grace the Festival roster in the future?

* The company’s two ‘Super-Duper Primas’ both had wonderful moments – Uliana Lopatkina in DIAMONDS, at her otherwise-regrettable gala evening, and Diana Vishneva as GISELLE – so superior to her mostly-lamentable ‘BEAUTY IN MOTION’ evening.

* The fun and over-the-top craziness of the Final Gala, warts and all. I would never-ever want to see a performance of Schmuck’s LE GRAND PAS DE DEUX again but, boy, was it fun to see that one time with Uliana Lopatkina and Igor Kolb!

* Most Missed Dancers at the Festival: Andrian Fadeev (recovering from foot injury sustained at the Kennedy Center in January), Olesya Novikova (happily expecting), Ekaterina Osmolkina (guesting with the RB-London), Daria Pavlenko (no excuse), Anton Korsakov (another no-excuse…as are…), Maya Dumchenko, Tatiana Nekipelova-Bazhitova, Svetlana Ivanova, Elena Sheshina, Nikolai Zubkovsky…so many able-and-available choryphees and soloists who delighted us at home and on tours during the past year or two, now in Ballet Siberia?

* Special Final Kudos to the personnel and ‘characters’of the Mariinsky Theater who are so memorable – from the programme-selling lady who always snuck into my box to view ‘special moments’ – especially Sarafanov’s solos -- to the coat-check fellow who delighted in practicing his English with me every night, to the kind and courteous box-office lady with whom I had no trouble collecting my on-line purchases (the Mariinsky On-Line ticketing is A-#1!)…even the nutty clacquer known as ‘Yevgeni the BRAVO MAN’ who brought unexpected laughter with his big mouth, yelling ‘Bravo!’ at most unusual moments…Thanks for the Happy Memories!

Natalia Nabatova

Washington, DC

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'Natalia' date='Apr 3 2009, 08:49 AM' post='245222'

MUSINGS ON THE 9TH MARIINSKY INTERNATIONAL BALLET FESTIVAL

* …Thanks for the Happy Memories!

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed reading your posts. Thank you for taking us along. :o

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