Natalia Osipova @ ABT

[aurora]

or (as Vipa writes) that "in the ABT world a lot of ticket buyers will always go for the Russian import!"--(neither of which phrases suggests all that much respect by the by).

It is so me to put my foot in my mouth. Again, I meant no disrespect to fans of Osipova. I only meant that there are ticket buyers, who are not regular ballet goers, who assume that the Russian import is superior.

To those who point to exhaustion, fevers etc. I just have to say that for me the performance I see, is the performance I see. In opera I don't want to hear that so-in-so is not in good voice that day.

I just think that if you go out there and do it there are no qualifiers, whether you are a tennis player or a ballet dancer.

I wasn't saying it to say you shouldn't be disappointed, but when you are judging a live performer on a single performance, and saying, based on that, that she isn't suited for that role...well I think it is a legitimate thing to take into consideration. And you saw her in the role. Many of us who purchased tickets to see her in that role did not, because of that illness. It may have been poor judgment on her part to continue and perform, I won't argue that point. But it is unfortunate for her to therefore be judged *in her appropriateness for that role* based on that performance, in my opinion.

[Lidewij]

Interesting to note that up till now Natalia Osipova hasn't danced either Aurora or Juliet.

Ah but she danced the Rose Adagio on the stage of the old Bolshoi Theater one sunny December afternoon in 2002, as part of a school performance that also featured a production of the Drigo Magic Flute (also starring Osipova). I can vouch for that as I was there.

And snippets of that are to be seen in the documentary (I think it's called "un an au Bolshoi") focusing on some Bolshoi Academy students, Osipova being one of them. The fragments shown are unfortunately not enough to be able to say anything about the performance..

[Michael]

But it is unfortunate for her to therefore be judged *in her appropriateness for that role* based on that performance, in my opinion.

I wasn't judging her on the quality of that performance - in fact she danced well. It's on her suitability for the role, given her physical type - i.e., I think she's basically demi-caractere and Medora, in my view, calls for a more Princess-type of dancer. I base this on her features -- little turned up nose and pixy expression, and her basic dance features - middle height, big jump. She's more of a Giselle than a Medora. Disagree please, it's just my opinion - but at least understand what I say. MP

[dirac]

or (as Vipa writes) that "in the ABT world a lot of ticket buyers will always go for the Russian import!"--(neither of which phrases suggests all that much respect by the by).

It is so me to put my foot in my mouth. Again, I meant no disrespect to fans of Osipova. I only meant that there are ticket buyers, who are not regular ballet goers, who assume that the Russian import is superior.

To those who point to exhaustion, fevers etc. I just have to say that for me the performance I see, is the performance I see. In opera I don't want to hear that so-in-so is not in good voice that day.

I just think that if you go out there and do it there are no qualifiers, whether you are a tennis player or a ballet dancer.

I take your point but nevertheless qualifiers do exist. If an opera singer is suffering from a cold or other minor ailment, often an announcement is made before the show, and everyone takes the singer's indisposition into consideration when evaluating the performance (or ought to, in any case). If a top tennis player is injured and has a temporary run of disappointing results, that too is considered when evaluating his performance. If a dancer is suffering from injury or illness, surely the same applies. Special pleading happens too, but there's a difference between that and acknowledging that a performer through no fault of his own wasn't functioning at peak level.

[vipa]

I take your point but nevertheless qualifiers do exist. If an opera singer is suffering from a cold or other minor ailment, often an announcement is made before the show, and everyone takes the singer's indisposition into consideration when evaluating the performance (or ought to, in any case). If a top tennis player is injured and has a temporary run of disappointing results, that too is considered when evaluating his performance. If a dancer is suffering from injury or illness, surely the same applies. Special pleading happens too, but there's a difference between that and acknowledging that a performer through no fault of his own wasn't functioning at peak level.

I respectfully disagree. I really do not want to hear about a singer's cold, I wish those announcements would be banned. If not banned I wish that when the announcement was made, an offer of a refund or ticket exchange would also be made. As an audience member, I do not want to take anyone's indisposition into consideration. How can I lose myself in a performance if in the back of my mind is the idea that the performance that I'm seeing is not the best it could be.

Imagine if we heard about every performer's problems: back's a little sore, going through a divorce, upset stomach etc.

I could go on and on, but I feel like I am going really off of the Natalia Osipove@ABT topic. Sorry! But we on BT have been critical of many performers. If we knew the "inside scoop" of how they were feeling should we have been less critical?

[abatt]

I also find the pre-curtain announcements at the opera regarding a singer's illness disconcerting. However, unlike ballet,there is a tradition in opera of rude boos if a performer's singing is sub-par. (I have even seen Placido Domingo booed at the MET for conducting poorly.) I guess these announcements are designed to create sympathy in the audience to prevent such audience reactions.

[richard53dog]

I also find the pre-curtain announcements at the opera regarding a singer's illness disconcerting. However, unlike ballet,there is a tradition in opera of rude boos if a performer's singing is sub-par. (I have even seen Placido Domingo booed at the MET for conducting poorly.) I guess these announcements are designed to create sympathy in the audience to prevent such audience reactions.

Like vipa and abatt, I'm not thrilled with the pre-curtain announcements in opera. As I look at it, you are either up for the perfomance or not. I don't get a reduced ticket price because you are singing over a cold.

Unfortunately, these announcements have become traditional, I doubt they will go away. And singers seem to use them as a kind of pressure valve, often

they sing better after the announcement has been made. It's sort of perverse, "now that you know I'm sick, I can sing more like I'm well". Oh well.

Going back to Osipova, if she was a singer rather than a dancer, there might have been an announcement at her DC Corsaire. Particularly since she seemed to be feverish (and perhaps exhausted), it's a bit different than the more common dancer problem of soem kind of injury.

I'm hoping to catch her with ABT next year, but I'd rather see her as Kitri than Aurora or Juliet. I guess she's sort of tired though of the role.

[dirac]

Imagine if we heard about every performer's problems: back's a little sore, going through a divorce, upset stomach etc.

Respectfully, I think that's a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it? Highly unlikely that things would ever go that far as far as announcements are concerned. There's a middle ground between being less than 100% for a performance and having to cancel outright.

Going back to Osipova, if she was a singer rather than a dancer, there might have been an announcement at her DC Corsaire. Particularly since she seemed to be feverish (and perhaps exhausted), it's a bit different than the more common dancer problem of soem kind of injury.

The dance world tends to be much more closemouthed, which has its good and bad aspects.