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Mariinsky Ballet in London August 2009


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Please find herewith a link to the programme (not very exciting) for the Mariinsky Ballet at the Royal Opera House August 3 -15 2009

http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/mariinsky/index.aspx

Details of Gergiev's 'Ring' Cycle is also shown.

Hooray! one can get a chance to see Somova as the lead in everything they are doing (well the Balanchine as casting isn't up but one can assume she'll be cast in that as well)!

:o

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Here are the daily cast for the London performance

Romeo and Juliet

http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=9642

3 August , 19h30

Juliette : Alina Somova

Roméo : Vladimir Shklyarov

4 August , 19h30

Juliette : Olesia Novikova

Roméo : Igor Kolb

5 August 19h30

Juliette : Ekaterina Osmolkina

Roméo : Evgeny Ivanchenko

6 August , 19h30

Juliette : Evgenia Obraztsova

Roméo : Anton Korsakov

Swan Lake

http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=9651

7 August , 19h30

Odette-Odile : Uliana Lopatkina

Siegfried : Daniil Korsuntsev

8 August, 14h

Odette-Odile : Ekaterina Kondaurova

Siegfried : Igor Kolb

8 August, 19h30

Odette-Odile : Viktoria Tereshkina

Siegfried : Evgeny Ivanchenko

10 August, 19h30

Odette-Odile : Alina Somova

Siegfried : Daniil Korsuntsev

11 August, 19h30

Odette-Odile : Viktoria Tereshkina

Siegfried : Vladimir Shklyarov

Homage to Balanchine

http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=9667

12 August 2009, 19h30

Serenade

Alina Somova

Evgeny Ivanchenko

Ekaterina Osmolkina

Daria Vasnetsova

Denis Firsov

Rubies

Irina Golub

Vladimir Shklyarov

Ekaterina Kondaurova

Symphony in C

Viktoria Tereshkina

Anton Korsakov

Uliana Lopatkina

Daniil Korsuntsev

Olesya Novikova

Filip Stepin

Nadezhda Gonchar

Alexei Timofeyev

13 August 2009, 19h30

Serenade

Daniil Korsuntsev

Ekaterina Osmolkina

Irina Golub

Yulianna Chereshkevitch

Denis Firsov

Rubies

Viktoria Tereshkina

Alexander Sergeyev

Anastasia Lishyuk

Symphonie in C

Alina Somova

Anton Korsakov

Maxim Zuzin

Ekaterina Kondaurova

Evgeny Ivanchenko

Ekaterina Osmolkina

Vladimir Shklyarov

Evgenia Obraztsova

The Sleeping Beauty 

http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=9660

14 August 2009, 19h30

Princess Aurora : Olesia Novikova

Prince Désiré : Igor Kolb

Lilac Fairy : Ekaterina Kondaurova

Saturday, August 15 2:00 PM

Princess Aurora: Evgenia Obraztsova

Prince Désiré : Vladimir Shklyarov

Lilac Fairy: Uliana Lopatkina

Saturday, August 15 7:30 PM

Princess Aurora : Alina Somova

Prince Désiré: Léonid Sarafanov

Lilac Fairy: Uliana Lopatkina

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Good grief - look who opens and closes the season. On the other hand, she will be the one who is reviewed by the London critics, right? :clapping:

So the Mariinsky will open the season with a Juliet who has yet to perform the role anywhere...not even at home? Maybe a miracle will happen, eh? Maybe rehearsals are going so splendidly that she is declared to be the obvious choice to open the London season. Right.

On another dancer: So Olesya Novikova will miraculously give birth and recuperate in time for the London season?

One more observation: No Vishneva? Well, not totally a surprise. She now dances more often in Washington, DC tours than in London tours.

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At a guess I would say that Golub will replace Novikova in R & J and Tereshkina in Beauty, but of course casting is an art akin to necromancy at the Kirov these days.

There is dismay among the London Kirov fans over Somova opening and closing the season, traditionally the last night is a bit like party night in London but this year all the guests will be absent, I imagine the generous floral tributes from the audience will be absent on those nights too.

The critics may spring a surprise over A.S.'s Juliet as most of the critics are too young to have seen any greats in the role and it isn't a ballet they bring that often, her youth and prettiness just might carry the day and if she changes or leaves out passages of choreography (as is her wont) I doubt if many of them will actually notice. :clapping:

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.....most of the critics are too young to have seen any greats in the role and it isn't a ballet they bring that often, her youth and prettiness .....

I hear you, Mashinka. All excellent points. However, ahem, "prettiness" is not a word I would ever associate with a dancer who possesses a bony face with pointed chin, "flat ski" feet, lemon-yellow rooted hair, false fingernails or 'sickly' skin tone. Or is this the description of "prettiness" for Generation Me? Long skinny legs alone do not a beauty make, IMO. It's all in the eye of the beholder, I realize.

We shall see what transpires.

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Vishneva's absense in the London tour is due to her appearing at the World Ballet Festival in Tokyo, partnering Malakhov.

Somova is opening the Japan tour in November with Swan Lake, and also the Japan premire of Little Humpbacked horse with Gergiev conducting.

But it seems that most Japanese Mariinka fans do not like her, and I think her ticket sales will be a flop. Who wants to see her Odette when Vishneva and Lopatkina, Tereshkina is also in that role?

And also Aurora with Vishneva and Tereshkina as alternatives.

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Right, naomikage. Thanks for your insights. Interestingly, the Japanese reporter with whom I met last month in St. Petersburg -- the one who first told me about the addition of LHH to the Japan tour -- told me that Somova is a "big favorite with Japanese businessmen. She is very beautiful." [The reporter is a man.] So maybe the businessmen -- not traditional, knowledgeable fans -- will fill the hall? Like I wrote earlier, it is all in the eye of the beholder.

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The critics may spring a surprise over A.S.'s Juliet as most of the critics are too young to have seen any greats in the role and it isn't a ballet they bring that often, her youth and prettiness just might carry the day and if she changes or leaves out passages of choreography (as is her wont) I doubt if many of them will actually notice.

I absolutely agree with the sentiment you express Mashinka in respect of the majority of London critics. Every critic has the right to an opinion, but in the major newspapers I expect it to be informed opinion.

I have noted that most seasoned ballet watchers and especially literate female watchers dislike Somova. What is the appeal of this dancer?

Natalia writes, "Thanks for your insights. Interestingly, the Japanese reporter with whom I met last month in St. Petersburg -- the one who first told me about the addition of LHH to the Japan tour -- told me that Somova is a "big favorite with Japanese businessmen. She is very beautiful." [The reporter is a man.] So maybe the businessmen -- not traditional, knowledgeable fans -- will fill the hall?"

In general, I find the over extensions in penchee arabesques and jetes vulgar as the groin area is brought into emphasis. Is this what the casual male ballet attender wants to see? Is this what artistic directors wants to see? For me it goes beyond the aesthetic of the academic classical ballet genre.

I personally would not object if male dancers wore some kind of costume arrangement that could move and not destroy the leg line yet remain somewhat modest.

It is the incarnation of dance and the inspiration of choreographers and dancers that makes me watch dance not the physicality of dancers bodies.

I will see a good number of performances of the Kirov this summer , but none of my money will be spent on Miss Somova.

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Somova's actual hair color is brown, if you see in the movie "Ballerina." She looks much better with that original color. But maybe I'm a bit sensitive about this but "yellowed skin tone"? I am of Asian descent and was picked on as a kid for having "puke colored skin" so I don't think anyone's complexion disqualifies them from being attractive.

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Oh, canbelto, I did not mean that at all. Sorry if I offended you! I meant that her skin tone has been looking (to me) sickly of late. I did not want to write "jaundiced" but that's what I had in mind. Even compared to seeing her live in DC in January. I was, frankly, shocked when I saw her live in StP last month, compared to two months earlier in DC.

p.s. - I just edited the offending post and replaced the "yellow" with "sickly."

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The blinding blond hair may be a generational thing -- funny since it is a staple of ballroom dancers and ice dancers, who are as stylized as they come -- like the not-found-in-nature blue/purple/orange hair that older generations of women sport.

(I think the demise of hair dates back to Heather Locklear showing her dark roots on "Melrose Place". That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)

I think Somova is very, very pretty in the ways many of her film contemporaries are pretty. She's got the preferred look of her generation, a bit Disneyfied, which can turn vacant, something I noticed and found very disconcerting during the City Center run last April. Danila Korsuntsev reminded me of Patrick Dempsey in "Enchanted" when partnering her in "Ballet Imperial", with a similar look, but not with other partners or in the "Swan Lake" DVD. Watching their faces, I thought I was watching a Disney romance movie.

I think that's one of the reasons I like Tereshkina so much: she looks like she knows where's she's going next, and like there's a brain ticking.

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It's alright Natalia, just something I'm sort of sensitive about. :clapping:

But anyway Somova as Juliet? Can't picture that. Also, I guess Daria Pavlenko is once again getting shafted? Surprising, considering she had quite a success in London guesting with the Royal Ballet, did she not?

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Yes, she did, canbelto. Pavlenko is still working her way back to the prima roles, following her long maternity leave. She is finding her way back to the stage through smaller-but-important roles, such as Street Dancer in Don Q.

On the 28th April Daria Pavlenko is dancing Maria in The Fountains of Bakhchiserai at the Maryinskii Theatre

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[A] Japanese reporter with whom I met last month in St. Petersburg [ ... ] told me that Somova is a "big favorite with Japanese businessmen. She is very beautiful." [The reporter is a man.] So maybe the businessmen -- not traditional, knowledgeable fans -- will fill the hall? Like I wrote earlier, it is all in the eye of the beholder.
:unsure::beg:

Helene, I agree entirely about liking dancers who look like there "is a brain ticking." These dancers move from the inside, always seeming in charge of their own movement (unless the choreography demands otherwise). You can imagine that there are choices being made.

My impression from watching Somova on video is that there is something marionette-like in her use of limbs and torso. Forces from the OUTSIDE are pulling things out of line -- manipulating her into the positions that have become her trademark. The effect is strangely passive, even weak. This might be especially appealing to someone like Natalia's Japanese businessman, looking forward to unwinding at the end of a long day toiling in a what is still, essentially, a man's world.

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The Official Salaryman's Ballerina! :unsure:

Somova reminds me of Russian girls who work in bars in Roppongi, Tokyo where Japanese businessmen go after their work. Actually there are quite many of those girls who looks like her.

And I don't know what company is going to sponsor the Mariinsky Japan tour but at the Bolshoi tour, a securities company was the official sponsorso there were many businessmen who were invited as a result of that.

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Welcome to BalletTalk, robert.

My uncontested choice would be Tereshkina, but I have never seen Kolegova, have no idea what she's like. To me, Tereshkina is very present in the moment, unlike Lopatkina, who gives the impression of a single interpretation that, down to the last eyelash, does not vary from performance to performance. Lopatkina is fascinating in that regard, definitely worth seeing, but I miss the "aliveness" that Tereshkina brings and makes my experience more satisfying.

I hope that, after you've seen the Swan Lake, you'll let us know whether, cumulatively, we've given you good advice. :wink: Meanwhile, I invite you to introduce yourself in our Welcome Forum.

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many thanks for your suggestion. strangely i had seen both tereshkina and Ivanchenko on youtube recently and thought them both wonderful. i do love russian ballet and the kirov/mariinsky and bolshoi are in my opinion the best companies in the world. i recently went to moscow to see the bolshoi and was amazed at the standard of everyone on the stage.

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On the 28th April Daria Pavlenko is dancing Maria in The Fountains of Bakhchiserai at the Maryinskii Theatre

Daria Vaznetsova replaced Pavlenko as Maria in that performance. Dasha Pavlenko will bourree between knives again as Street Dancer on May 16 (so far). Tatiana Tkachenko will be Kitri - ( :( for this casting decision )! She deserves more opportunities to dance leading roles in her home theatre, and not at the Hermitage & Palace Theatres, (venues of the Hermitage Ballet).

QUOTE (Natalia @ Apr 16 2009, 05:00 PM)
No, the performance on the 20th will be Irina Golub with Igor Kolb.

Golub as Juliet opposite Kolb is wonderful news! This is another tremendous opportunity for her! A word of caution: As with everything, nothing is etched in stone; casting is subject to change (and unannounced casting also), right up until curtain. There's one "R & J" performance scheduled in June: June 6. If there are no more "R & Js" performed during the White Nights Festival in July, it's high probability that this will be Somova's D-Day. "D" is for "debut". On the other hand, if June 6 isn't the date, Covent Garden will be graced with her debut as Juliet on opening night. That will be a double-dip of firsts for her: A Covent Garden opening night, and first Juliet. If that's their plan, to field her as Juliet - sight unseen and without a test drive, in a Covent Garden opening night, one must question the "logic" behind it.

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