364 replies to this topic

[Birdsall]

I posted this in the tour topic, but I think some people may miss the news if that topic doesn't interest you. Oxsana Skorik is now listed on the Mariinsky web site as a First Soloist.

[Natalia]

Hasn't she already been 1st Soloist for a few months???

[Birdsall]

Maybe so, but I didn't know that, and it is just now listed on the website. I don't think it was listed there before. I guess they just updated it, so I thought she was 2nd soloist!

[Natalia]

Maybe you're right and she was just elevated to 1st Soloist because she's about to open the 3-week USA tour as Odette-Odile, which is kinda important.  On the positive side, hopefully this will also 'elevate' her technique...she will rise to the title!?

Maybe Shirinkina will be promoted from 2nd to 1st soloist just before she opens the Kennedy Center run as Cinderella?

[Birdsall]

Does a First Soloist get extra coaching? I mean, can she get more coaching/training time as opposed to when she was a lower rank? That might be good if so.

[amiaow]

Congratulations Ms Skorik! When she is on she is just glowing. Wishing her all the best!

[cubanmiamiboy]

VERY sceptical here...but then, I guess I'm the one who got to catch that early, unfortunate performance of hers that still wins the title of "worst Odile ever" in my 25 plus years of ballet watching.  Maybe I was in the wrong place at the wrong time...?

[Paul Parish]

Christian, what was it that you did not like about "the worst Odile ever?" And how was her Odette?

Her many detractors, and her many fans, seem to argye askew from each other. People who post YouTube clips in her DEFENSE put up instances of such bad dancing it's hard to believe the "supporter" isn't really an enemy in disguise.

But anything can be done with edited, compilations to make a dancer look unmusical. I'd like to know what someone who saw a whole performance thought of her ability to BUILD a performance over the whole evening, and would LOVE to know your opinion, since I share your tastes in so many ways.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Paul Parish, on 28 September 2012 - 10:35 PM, said:

Christian, what was it that you did not like about "hte worst Odile ever?" And how was her Odette?

Paul...there was no Odette.  It was during a gala performance.  Here's a post about it..

http://balletalert.i...post__p__291322

[Natalia]

Paul, she is both - hot or cold! One never knows 'which Oksana' will show up on a given day. I've seen her live several times, most recently as the lead (pdd and solo) in Chopiniana at the Kennedy Center, where she delivered two very different performances -  different like night and day, just two days apart! I'm not just refering to steps and technique; even her FACE (countenance, expression) was different - the first very serious, tight, and nervous, barely aware of her partner; the second relaxed, smiling, joyful, soft, making eyes with her partner. Cristian had the misfortune of seeing 'bad Oksana.'

Here's wishing that California sees 'good Oksana' dance the full Swan Lake this coming week and next.

[Tiara]

This promotion is terrible news.  A First Soloist should not be "hot or cold."  Any corps dancer is already a finished product of the  Vaganova Academy, and by the time a dancer reaches First Soloist category, every aspect of her technique and interpretation should be beyond reproach - every time.  This promotion really is an insult to the wonderful ballerinas now sharing the category with her.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Tiara, on 29 September 2012 - 05:42 AM, said:

This promotion is terrible news.  A First Soloist should not be "hot or cold."  Any corps dancer is already a finished product of the  Vaganova Academy, and by the time a dancer reaches First Soloist category, every aspect of her technique and interpretation should be beyond reproach - every time.  This promotion really is an insult to the wonderful ballerinas now sharing the category with her.

Amen. And besides...I'm really sick and tired of the idea of dancers-(rather than Ballerinas)- that are said to be "wonderful" but then they can't deliver proper technique-(yes, 32 fouetes  for Odile and Kitri included...sustained balances for Auroras and soaring jumps for Myrthas).  Still, they are so lucky to get praised for "artistry", and "lyricism", and "suplessness" and "being willowy" and so on and so forth.  Basta! You either get the whole package together or not.  And if not, then you're not still a BALLERINA.  Remember that distinction that wonderful Mme. karsavina mentioned in Dolin's documentary of Giselle..? "No, I was a soloist...oh, no...yes, I was already a Ballerina!"  That differentiation happened in that very imperial stage now Skorik attempts to walk thru...

[Cordelia]

cubanmiamiboy, on 29 September 2012 - 12:38 PM, said:

Tiara, on 29 September 2012 - 05:42 AM, said:

This promotion is terrible news.  A First Soloist should not be "hot or cold."  Any corps dancer is already a finished product of the  Vaganova Academy, and by the time a dancer reaches First Soloist category, every aspect of her technique and interpretation should be beyond reproach - every time.  This promotion really is an insult to the wonderful ballerinas now sharing the category with her.

Amen. And besides...I'm really sick and tired of the idea of dancers-(rather than Ballerinas)- that are said to be "wonderful" but then they can't deliver proper technique-(yes, 32 fouetes  for Odile and Kitri included...sustained balances for Auroras and soaring jumps for Myrthas).  Still, they are so lucky to get praised for "artistry", and "lyricism", and "suplessness" and "being willowy" and so on and so forth.  Basta! You either get the whole package together or not.  And if not, then you're not still a BALLERINA.  Remember that distinction that wonderful Mme. karsavina mentioned in Dolin's documentary of Giselle..? "No, I was a soloist...oh, no...yes, I was already a Ballerina!"  That differentiation happened in that very imperial stage now Skorik attempts to walk thru...

Technique should be a non discussion if the dancer is dancing lead roles in such great companies. If Skorik and other new or greatly promoted new dancers are not up to technique needed in Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Giselle for instance, then don't go praising them for artistry and lyricism. That is like saying to a writer, your grammar stinks but your handwriting is gorgeous. What I am saying is this is how puzzling rise of dancers like Skorik came about.

So the Mariinsky AD praised Skorik for being perfect because of her physique?  So looks before abilities and other qualities at Mariinsky ballet?  I am on the tall and skinny side myself and when I studied ballet it was a drawback. Now it seeems being tall is requirement to be prima at certain companies. The Mariinsky especially loves this look at the expense of everything else.

[ksk04]

But we've had this discussion many times before, no? I'm thinking recently of Veronika Part; even as an ardent fan of hers I am aware going to a performance she may have an off night, technically. But the quality of her dancing/movements, her acting and her presence make me not care if she can or cannot do 32 fouettes perfectly every time; that's not what her performance is about to me (and I assume many others who admire her).

I don't think Skorik is in this category (having not seen her perform beyond small clips so far), but I think there will always be exceptions to the rule, of dancers who offer less than technical perfection every time. It's when that magic "something else"/je ne sais quoi is lacking, on top of the problems with technique, that I would begin to have a problem with a dancer.

[Tiara]

ksk04, on 29 September 2012 - 04:55 PM, said:

But we've had this discussion many times before, no? I'm thinking recently of Veronika Part; even as an ardent fan of hers I am aware going to a performance she may have an off night, technically. But the quality of her dancing/movements, her acting and her presence make me not care if she can or cannot do 32 fouettes perfectly every time; that's not what her performance is about to me (and I assume many others who admire her).

I don't think Skorik is in this category (having not seen her perform beyond small clips so far), but I think there will always be exceptions to the rule, of dancers who offer less than technical perfection every time. It's when that magic "something else"/je ne sais quoi is lacking, on top of the problems with technique, that I would begin to have a problem with a dancer.

It seems we are all in agreement.  Yes, on very rare occasions there may come along a dancer who has such outstanding gifts of interpretation that they transcend technique and physical make-up, and then there is a case for exceptions being made for outstanding artistry, because I believe that artistry can overrule technique. Even in these cases though, there still has to be a certain technical standard reached. Here in Oksana Skorik's case there is no such exception: yes, she is tall and skinny, but personally I do not admire her physique, she is weak technically, unmusical, cannot act and her artistry is in question. She does not make me believe in any of the characters she portrays.  The only "magic" connected wth Oksana Skorik, is the inexplicable and unseen reason for her promotion - because there is certainly no visible reason for it.   I for one would never pay to see her.