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Skorik


Birdsall

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In quick reference to Alina Somova, several years ago at a Mariinsky Festival, I saw an elderly lady, who looked like she could barely afford the ticket, with tears in her eyes after Alina Somova had performed. I totally sympathized with her appreciation and will probably not forget her.

Added thought:
In similar regard to Oxana Skorik, sometimes something more than the perfection of the performance can come into play.
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Since we are here could I please mention one other quality in the Legend of Love video. Alina Somova in this performance seems a bit more expansive with long lines, which I really like. Oxana Skorik, who is also very capable of this, is less expansive but has such a beautifully lyrical motion in this containment.

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If you want to make a side by side comparison of what I've mentioned in the post above, 1:30:00 into the video might be a good place.


I've been watching the Legend of Love video quite closely and it continues to be highly interesting. Oxana Skorik seems to evolve in posted videos. Perhaps she's 'maturing' or 'settling in'. For me, it's a subtle transformation, but a revealing and fascinating one, which is why I continue to comment here.


I've noticed another basic facet in her stage persona, echoed in the beauty of her dance. There is an essential 'Niceness' to it. No matter how intense her character, Giselle in the 'mad' scene or Mekhmeneh Bahnu (Legend of Love), she seems to rein it in. She commits herself to someone that she can personally identify with, a very nice, perhaps innocent, young woman. Her characters are very interestingly and distinctly, but subtly, constructed. I think that it's brilliant and touching and reflects in the loveliness of her overall performance. I'll continue to watch for this and see if my perception is somewhat correct and meaningful.

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Hello Everyone,

I am quite a fresh fan/ballet goer (in the middle of my second season) and I am only learning what to appreciate in ballet dancing except for the overall feeling of awe I get to experience quite often. My two favourites so far, Alban Lendorf and Susanne Grinder in Neumeiers lady of the Camellias and NYCB with their Balanchine guest performance (4 April cast) both left me mesmerised and speechless.

Hello NATinCPH and welcome to the forum. I'm unable to PM you, so I apologize to everyone else for using the Skorik forum to let you know I'm bringing a group of ballet lovers to CPH in March (can't wait to see Alban LEndorf in Manon!!) and would love to meet up with you. You can email me at toursenlair@gmail.com
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Hello Everyone,

I am quite a fresh fan/ballet goer (in the middle of my second season) and I am only learning what to appreciate in ballet dancing except for the overall feeling of awe I get to experience quite often. My two favourites so far, Alban Lendorf and Susanne Grinder in Neumeiers lady of the Camellias and NYCB with their Balanchine guest performance (4 April cast) both left me mesmerised and speechless.

Hello NATinCPH and welcome to the forum. I'm unable to PM you, so I apologize to everyone else for using the Skorik forum to let you know I'm bringing a group of ballet lovers to CPH in March (can't wait to see Alban LEndorf in Manon!!) and would love to meet up with you. You can email me at toursenlair@gmail.com

I can only say you are doing the right thing!:-) going to see Manon this Sunday and cannot wait. Will email you later today!

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This promotion is terrible news. A First Soloist should not be "hot or cold."

Agreed. What Skorik lacks is consistency, and personally I think she is terribly unmusical. And yes, her first solo performances were a complete disgrace.

However, I must say she has improved greatly during the past two years. Her acting and stage presence is much better and there is far less stumbling and hopping around.

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I wonder if all the teachers/coaches could have a meeting with Fateyev and Gergiev and express concern about quality and the hours spent helping dancers not quite ready vs. the lack of hours spent coaching excellent dancers who deserve more coaching to perfect roles. Maybe the coaches do not want to speak up or they already have and feel it is like talking to a brick wall.

They are afraid. Fear of being replaced. At Mariinsky there are no irreplacable people.

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It is amazing that Fateyev slandered his own dancers. Very strange.

None of the discussion that took place in the Fall 2012 lost any actuality.

I find it ironic that in the thread started in anticipation of Skoryk's opening night performance of «Swan Lake» in California, not a single person reported on that performance. A catastrophe occurred, as some feared, in the fouettés. This did not prevent Fateev to give her 4 more «Swan Lakes» during that tour. In Berkeley, however, he decided to place Kondaurova on the opening night. I enjoyed that performance tremendously in spite of the fact that apart from Adagio, Kondaurova was not particularly subtle as Odette, while her Odile was marred by quite a few small lapses and her fouettés were weak.

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I think Oxana Skorik has a real problem with that left ankle. That was a calamitous performance. Bad fouettes and bad ballonnes and numerous mistakes - whether these are because of underlying faulty technique or physical limitations, or both, she is very lucky that the current Acting Artistic Director has a forgiving nature.

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Thank you all for your thoughts on these matters. Especially Natalia, for that splendid collection of links, but really all of y'all, even those not sympathetic to my view, since it's such a stimulating conversation, and you all know so much.

Birdsall, you raise a point about why the men's variations -- I have not heard that argument, but I remember hearing it was common knowledge that Petipa did not choreograph the men's variations, but let the men choreograph their own most effective solos.

Petipa created male solos that were not danced by the hero, but by a surrogate of sorts in some of his ballets. Also, Petipa did choreograph male solos: in two of Doug Fullington's presentations, a dancer demonstrated Prince Florimund's Wedding PDD variation from the notations, and it looked a lot more similar to Bournonville in style than the big sweeping variations we see today. Also Doug noted that in at least one case, the male dancing toward the end of Peitpa's life had already changed the variation to what we would think of as a more modern "after Petipa" style. (It may have been Gorsky.)

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David Dougill in Sunday Times

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/arts/article1443371.ece

Quote:

"First off were Oxana Skorik as Odette/Odile and Timur Askerov as Prince Siegfried both of them first soloists. Askerov has a warm personality (he smiles a lot) and a plushly elegant dancing style. Skoriks Odette has beautiful line and phrasing, but is too remote and mannered in characterisation. Their lakeside pas de deux was meticulous but soulless. In the ballroom scene, Skorik was a dazzling fouetté-ist, but her seductiveness was mostly surface."

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There is now a June video clip of Oxana Skorik performing Diamonds ( Драгоценности) (with Konstantin Zverev). I’ve seen a lot of Oxana Skorik performances (and a lot of videos) and all I can really say is that after two viewings -- I’m Spellbound.

Correction: Драгоценности translates (Google) as "Jewelry," thus Jewels, but Oxana Skorik and Konstantin Zverev are performing the duet from Diamonds.

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It is his job and his right, given, to do as he pleases, but...history-(and not only ballet's)-is full of case scenarios where "rightful" decision were-(are)-endlessly questioned when outcomes are just too much to witness or accept. Given, Skorik is dancing right now all she wants under her powerful tutelage, but given also that this is being exposed to the whole world as the decline of the company. It is not a win-win situation. Both Skorik and Fateev are destroying a legendary symbol. And yes...this is all "legal".

In Oksana SKorik's case, Fateyev has well and truly exercised his "right" to cast whoever he pleases in whatever roles he pleases, and seemingly with no thought to her suitability. There are very few principal roles that she does not now dance, and the major omission at the moment is Aurora. Even this role, she is to dance. She was originally on the playbill to dance Aurora long ago (I will try to research the date, but I think it was right at the start of the season, or maybe even last season) but she was replaced. Recently I sat in the loge next to the stage for her Raymonda and did my best to watch objectively. I still see an inexpressive dancer, although she did smile, but that was her only expression apart from here normal still face. I do see a dancer who has gained very much in confidence and also who is technically much improved, and undoubtedly this is because of the sheer amount of stage exposure she has had. However, I still do not see an artiste, and I am very much surprised by those who claim this for her. Yes, she has beautiful lines, but what good are they when they are not used to illuminate a role? Her roles are interchangeable - she does not characterise - and really I feel that watching her, I am watching a student perform exercises. It's difficult to explain it, and many have said they see no "soul" in her dancing. That's what I feel, too. I wish Yuri Fateyev had championed some other dancer. She is not a Mariinsky dancer, in that she does not reveal the soul and heart of her performance through every movement, and that for me is the great VaganovaMariinsky tradition, which she does not exemplify.

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I believe debuts for both. I think Aurora was the only classical main role Skorik lacked and her debut was supposed to be a year ago or so but she canceled. I don't think it is ideal for her at all. I like Auroras to have a joie de vivre that I have never seen Skorik have.

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Look at the casting for April 8!

Performers

Princess Aurora: Hee Seo (ABT)

Prince Désiré: Vladimir Shklyarov

The Lilac Fairy: Yekaterina Kondaurova

The Diamond Fairy: Sofia Ivanova-Skoblikova

Carabosse the Wicked Fairy: Islom Baimuradov

Princess Florine: Maria Shirinkina

Bluebird: Alexei Timofeyev

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