17 replies to this topic

[Natalia]

Evgenia Obraztsova is one of the 8 female ballerina-stars of a new Russian TV weekly dancing series called "BOLERO" (Rosiya 1 channel) which pairs famous male figure skaters with star-ballerinas from Moscow or St Petersburg.  Obraztsova's partner will be Maxim Stavisky of the World Championship ice-dance team Denkova/Stavisky (represented Bulgaria but he is Russian).

http://pipcindom.ru/...read.php?t=1319

Head judge (the 'Simon' of the judges?) will be Vladimir Vasiliev. Other judges incl Gediminas Taranda and, from the skating world, Tatyana Navka and super-coach Tamara Moskvina.

Emcee is Ilze Liepa; famous journalist and author Vladimir Pozner will conduct interviews.

Choreographers for the weekly show include Nacho Duato and Radu Poklitaru.

The dancer-skater partnerships will be:

Moscow's 'Team Ilya Averbukh' -

Alexei Yagudin ('02 Oly Men's champ) with Kristina Kretova (Stanislavsky )
Maxim Marinin ('06 Oly Prs champ) with Natalia Somova (Staniskavsky )
Roman Kostomarov ('06 Oly ice-dance champ...w/ Navka, one of the show's judges...hmmmmm) with Natalia Osipova (Bolshoi Ballet)
Maxim Shabalin (multi World ice-dance champ) with Ekaterina Krysanova (Bolshoi Ballet)

St. P's 'Team Farukh Ruzimatov' -

Maxim Stavisky (multi World ice-dance champ) with Evgenia Obraztsova (Mariinsky 1st soloist & Moscow guest-fave)
Alexei Tikhonov ('00 World pairs champ) with Vera Arbuzova (ex-Eifman prima, now w/ Mikhailovsky)
Peter Tchernichev (US ice-dance champ, orig. fm Russia) with Irina Perren (Mikhailovsky prima)
Povilas Vanagas (Lith ice-dance champ, World medalist) and Yulia Makhalina (!!!Mariinsky Principal!!!)
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[Natalia]

Here is the steamy 'trailer' for the TV show, featuring Osipova with '06 Olympic Ice-Dance champ Roman Kostomarov:

http://www.1tv.ru/sp..._detail/si=5842

It appears like all of the dancing will be on land (on a stage) and not at an ice rink, thank goodness. We don't want Obraztsova and our other favorite Russian ballerinas injured, do we?

Russian Channel 1 is carried by COMCAST cable in several US markets. For ex., in the Washington, DC, area, it is channel #654. I'm fairly sure that it is carried by other U.S. cable providers, e.g., I saw it & other Russian-lang channels on Direct-TV in an Arlington, VA, home.

[Helene]

Vladimir "Simon" Vasiliev coached Maxim Marinin to several world championships and the Olympic Gold medal.  Kostomarov's wife and mother of their baby daughter is Oksana Domnina, Maxim Shabalin's former partner with whom she won a World Championship, European Championships, and an Olympic bronze medal.  

Skating is a small world.

[Natalia]

Helene, on 24 October 2011 - 07:36 AM, said:

....Oksana Domnina, Maxim Shabalin's former partner with whom she won a World Championship, European Championships, and an Olympic bronze medal.  ....

They of the much-discussed "Aboriginal Dance" costume with war paint and foliage.

[Helene]

Natalia, on 24 October 2011 - 05:38 AM, said:

It appears like all of the dancing will be on land (on a stage) and not at an ice rink, thank goodness. We don't want Obraztsova and our other favorite Russian ballerinas injured, do we?

From the trailer, on land seems dangerous enough ;)

All pairs and ice dance couples practice their lifts extensively on land before they transfer them to ice -- oddly, one of the things they never show in the behind-the-scenes videos, and possible never do?, on "Battle of the Blades" -- and their lifts have a lot of momentum even before they get to the ice, so the men have more experience in this than any of the non-experts in other ice or dance competitions.

Natalia, on 24 October 2011 - 05:38 AM, said:

Russian Channel 1 is carried by COMCAST cable in several US markets. For ex., in the Washington, DC, area, it is channel #654. I'm fairly sure that it is carried by other U.S. cable providers, e.g., I saw it & other Russian-lang channels on Direct-TV in an Arlington, VA, home.

Hopefully this will make it to YouTube.

[Cordelia]

Wow a lot of very respected dancers and skaters on the list.  But why these particular dancers?  Are they very famous in Russia or did they just get asked to do the show?  Are they going to dance mainly or actually skate?  I would very much like to see ballerinas skate!!!  Of course don't wish to see injuries I know how hard skating is, that's why I chose rhythmic gym. over figure skating when I was young.

[sandik]

Natalia, on 24 October 2011 - 07:49 AM, said:

Helene, on 24 October 2011 - 07:36 AM, said:

....Oksana Domnina, Maxim Shabalin's former partner with whom she won a World Championship, European Championships, and an Olympic bronze medal.  ....

They of the much-discussed "Aboriginal Dance" costume with war paint and foliage.

That couple?  Wow!

Skating may be a tiny world, but dance is pretty damn small too.

And yes, the trailer is quite hot.

[Drew]

When the dancing is choreographed, lit, shot, and edited the way it is in this trailer it scarcely matters that the woman is Natalia Osipova...except maybe when it comes to the height of the final leap and even that could be an effect of camera angles. It's sort of depressing to me, but perhaps the actual show will be more dancerly...

[Jayne]

well that promo was pretty dang hot!  Will be interesting to see how the ice dancing men do, most of them have prior barre training as part of their figure skating careers.  I think what will be most interesting is not the fish-out-of-water nature of "Battle of the Blades" on CBC (macho hockey players and their delicate figure skating cousins), but the potential for amazing new superb pairings and performances.   Both skaters and ballet dancers are known for amazing work ethics and ability to perform in pain.  

I am a little worried about Maxim Shabalin's knee.  It was completely thrashed by the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Bone on bone knee scraping, limping away from the ice, just made you wince to learn about it.  I hope he's had surgery and a lot of rehab! Roman Kostomarov is incredibly magnetic to watch.   Maxim Stavisky got into legal trouble in Bulgaria for a fatal car crash - he was driving after drinking alcohol.  Hopefully this show is some rehab of a different sort (his reputation).

I think the Russian station is available on my cable, but I would have to pay extra for it.  Will check into it, though.

[Natalia]

Cordelia, the eight selected ballerinas are especially beloved by the Russian public at large, e.g., Obraztsova, Perren, angelic Krysanova. Absolutely adored. Vasiliev, who is also a producer of the show, I think, had a hand in nominating the dancers. Yulia Makhalina is extremely beloved in St. P., for example, in a way that foreign audiences who may only remember her as 'Vinogradov's Choice' do not understand. I'm happy that Makhalina will be dancing with Povilas Vanagas, who is one of the TALLEST and most expressive ice-skating guys around; I think that this couple will surprise.

[Cordelia]

Thanks Natalia.  It looks like good cheesetastic fun.  Maybe it will show people another side of ballet dancers that will break stereotypes perpetuated in movies and popular culture.

[Natalia]

Has anyone been watching this? I saw bits of the first 2 weeks and the 3rd episode this past Saturday.  There haven't been any eliminations yet, it seems.

Kristina Kretova (ex-Kremlin/ex-Stanislavsky; recent move to Bolshoi) & her partner seem to be garnering the highest scores from the jury so far. They got a perfect '80' from the jury, as did the team of Osipova and Kostomarov. Arbuzova, Krysanova and their respective partners don't seem to be doing so well; both ballerinas seemed genuinely upset as they listened to jurors.

My favorite of the 8 routines last week was that of Yulia Makhalina & Povilas Vanagas, as a couple who 'come to life' from a photograph in an antique frame. [They scored close to 80...77 or 78, I think.] The jury & audience went crazy. If somebody would upload it from YouTube, I would be so grateful. It absolutely breaks the mold on Makhalina...she's so 'fresh' and 'loose' here - not uptight.

Osipova & Kostomarov danced a dramatic piece about a modern-day couple that breaks up, ending with Osipova letting go of a tea cup & saucer, which smash on the ground. Obraztsova & her overweight partner performed a very cute tango-like number; I'm not sure that she got the best of partners but she herself is dancing beautifully.

The entire show is filmed in Kekhman's Mikhailovsky Theater, St. P...with wild-crazy lighting effects. The jurors pontificate from theTsars Box. Vasiliev and skting coach Moskvina are the 'Simons'; skater Navka is the ditzy-pretty 'Carrie Ann' and Taranda is the 'looney Bruno' of the bunch.  Emcee Ilze Liepa looks gorgeous! This was filmed in September, by the way, so it's not 'in real time,' like DWTS in the US.

[emilienne]

Samples from a quick search:

Makhalina/Vanagas


Osipova/Kostomarov


Perren/Tchernichev

[Natalia]

Thank you, emilienne!  I had forgotten to mention Peter Tchernichev "special qualities."

[Natalia]

Two highlights from the latest episode (week 5). Both of these routines received perfect scores:

Irina Perren (Mikhailovsky Ballet) & Peter Tchernichev in a duet by Duato:


A GORGEOUS Evgenia Obraztsova (Mariinsky Ballet) and Maxim Stavisky in 'Assasin's Tango' by Yuri Smekalov:


Enjoy!