16 replies to this topic

[Birdsall]

Has anyone seen the Mariinsky's Shurale? What do you think about it? It has amazing sets, costumes, female dancers who have to dance like they are birds (reminding one a little of Swan Lake), etc. Seems like a ballet ripe for spreading around the world if the Mariinsky would take it on tour and give people a look at it!

[vrsfanatic]

Having seen Shurale in St. Petersburg two years ago, I would have to say it would be very expensive to tour and perhaps not so cost effective in doing so. While I enjoyed the ballet and all that it entails, including the dancing, I do not think it is a ballet that would sell well as a full length in the US. There might be excerpts that would do well in a repteroire setting however the entire ballet might have a bit too much character work for the American taste. Just an opinion.

[Birdsall]

I guess you are probably right. The sets are so fabulous and probably hard to take on tour. It is a shame. I think it should be seen by more people. Maybe the Mariinsky will release it on dvd.

[Helene]

I thought I remembered seeing a listing for this on DVD, and in my search, found these excerpts on YouTube with Obraztsova, which gives some tastes of it and the score:





The text says it's from a full-length Blu Ray DVD, but I can't find a listing for it anywhere.

This looks more homemade:

[Birdsall]

The Mariinsky should release it on dvd. I bet people would buy it out of curiosity. It is a lovely ballet. I see the Mariinsky is playing it again this coming season.

[Rosa]

Those clips are beautiful!  If it was released on DVD, I would get in line for it.

[hayden]

So beautiful. I would love to see it all

[Birdsall]

The sets and costumes are gorgeous! The Mariinsky went all out for this production! The fire at the end rivals anything I have seen in Wagner's Ring! LOL

[Tiara]

I have seen several performances of Shurale and rate it as one of my favourite ballets!  I love everything about it, including the music!  It has folkloric elements and much work for the character dancers and dancer-actors and children as well as the classical elements.  Syuimbike is an ideal role for a lyrical, expressive ballerina, such as Obraztsova and Shirinkina in the performances I saw!  Obraztsova was just luminous in it!  The whole of the second act is a beautiful spectacle - music, costume, set. and just so moving and heart-warming in its story-line! If only this could be toured abroad instead of the horrible Ratmansky Cinderella because it is really an unknown gem in the Mariinsky repertoire!

[Rosa]

I can see why this would be challenging to take on tour. Still it looks quite lovely...

[YID]

Just a tiny guess, why it's not taken on a tour. The Mariinsky's USA tour manager is Ardani artists (Osipova, Vasiliev, Semionova) and very friendly with Ratmansky. The Cinderela we'll have to "suffer" through in DC is Ratmansky's child. Shurale is Yakobson's.  Quoting - Music by Farid Yarullin, Choreography by Leonid Yakobson, Libretto by Ahmed Faizi and Leonid Yakobson after motifs from Tatar folk tales, Full revival of the 1950 production http://www.mariinsky...12/9/23/1_1130/  I'd personally rather see Shurale than Ratmansky's Cinderela.

[Helene]

Ratmansky has surpassed Wheeldon as the hottest name in ballet.  He's highly visible at ABT as well.  I suspect his name alone would sell tickets.  The Mariinsky now isn't like the Kirov of old, touring to the US once in a blue moon, and for which people would buy tickets to see the company take barre.

Shurale would require audience education to attempt to fill the Kennedy Center, and the casual audience for ballet can be resistant to that.

I suspect if the Ardani connection was responsible for Ratmansky's ballet being presented in DC, it replaced "Swan Lake," "Giselle," or "Sleeping Beauty," not "Shurale."

[Natalia]

Helene, on 26 September 2012 - 09:00 AM, said:

Ratmansky has surpassed Wheeldon as the hottest name in ballet.  He's highly visible at ABT as well. ....

Absolutely unjustified, IMO.

The first version of Alice aside (the one on the DVD, since replaced by a new version with more dances), Wheeldon is a thousand-times Ratmansky's superior, IMO. Different strokes for different folks.

YID, as always, you are 100% 'spot on'!

[ascballerina]

This is beautiful; I'd never heard of it before!  Thank you, everyone who posted the Youtube videos!

One question (please help the little ignorant person here)...what is the story?

[Natalia]

ascballerina, on 26 September 2012 - 11:01 AM, said:

....

One question (please help the little ignorant person here)...what is the story?

The 3-act synopsis is here:
http://www.mariinsky...12/9/22/1_1900/