Veronika had an incredible debut as Medora. Not even in my sweetest dreams I ever thought that she would dance it the way she did. It was incredibly refreshing to see her, finally, taking on a new role, and even better, doing it with such joy, security and success.
When she came out in Act I, her movie star looks made me gasp, no wonder the pasha passed out after she was unveiled, who wdnt !!! she is gotten really skinny, which has only accentuated even more her stunning lines and beauty.
Her first series of jetes were impressive and from there on, everything went flawless, the fouettes in ActII were done at great speed, like never before, with multiples doubles (never saw her do that either) and more importantly was the way she finished them, clean, perfect, freshhh, as if she were ready for another round. The complete Act II pdd was really wonderful; she used her gorgeous lines to bring the much needed grandeur to this part. Italian fouettes in Act III were gorgeous, pretty much on the spot.
I agreed with the fact tha Vasiliev handled her as only I have seen Marcelo do, and the moment commented by
fondoffouettes was really something, he afforded the luxury of going almost in arabesque, in demi-point, after having walked around with her up high there, it was really priceless, and beautiful too.
Cornejo was his usual wonder, he is always a pleasure for my eyes, and Cory was way better and confortable than in Sigfried last week, his technique, acting and partnering, I found everything way improved. I loved both of them in the bedroom pdd, and considereing Veronika’s height I think he partnered her really well. They are both very beautiful dancers and looked gorgeous on stage.
My take on Vasiliev is somehow in the middle, I have to say that in the opening night gala, I really found his dancing highly grotesque and vulgar, with all due respect for him and the divergent opinions, so I actuallly decided not to go to see him in La Bayadere. This is a matter of personal taste, of course. On the other hand, there is no question that his pyrotechnics are absolutely sensational, he seems to devour the stage with impetuous force, flies, spin, you named, like very few can do, he is pretty spectacular and also has this macho bravura that captivates somehow…..but it is also true that he completely lacks the lines, the elegance, the manners, to a point that is also surprising, considering the stage of his career (he is young but he has danced quite a lot already, and some very basic things at this point should have been more than covered), so I am skeptical about the fact that he can be taught those things, he could prob improve, and I really hope so, but some things you cant teach.
The weird thing is that besides all this, I kind of liked his pairing with veronika, who is prob totally the opposite, sounds a little crazy, but I actually wonder how this very two different dancers wd look in something like swan lake (with a more refined version of him, of course), for example, the contrast may bring a lot of fire to the performance, who knows….
I just want to add, that based on her success yesterday, one can only hope to see her taking on more new roles in the years to come, Kitri next year for example, and so much more, I am very happy that she was given this chance, and even more so on how well she rose to the occasion
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angelica, on 05 July 2012 - 06:21 AM, said:
