318 replies to this topic

[YID]

i liked this Carmen by Yermakov and Tereshkina - Bravo - besides his dancing he's great acting (i believed him) in those close ups, loved Tereshkina - enjoy, the fellow forum members

[Ilya]

The competition was filmed July 15-22.  However, they started showing it on TV only a few days ago, one episode per week.

[cubanmiamiboy]

I LOVED the excerpt from Sylphide...

[Tiara]

I think that Shapran is the most complete (female) artist in the competition and would love to see her win!  I just wish the Mariinsky could have kept her - terrible loss for them and really Fateyev should have done everything possible within his power to keep her.

[elena]

Tiara, on 27 October 2012 - 03:40 AM, said:

I think that Shapran is the most complete (female) artist in the competition and would love to see her win!  I just wish the Mariinsky could have kept her - terrible loss for them and really Fateyev should have done everything possible within his power to keep her.

I agree! I also think they should have tried to keep Smirnova but oh well, it makes sense for them to go elsewhere though it is a real loss for the Mariinsky. It speaks volumes that neither of them ended up deciding to join the company... in my opinion anyway.

[trieste]

Shapran is a huge loss for the Mariinsky, no doubt. She has the most consistently charming presence, where Smirnova, while stunning, can seem sometimes cold, a la Lopatkina, almost... Both are so exciting to watch develop.

[Natalia]

elena, on 26 October 2012 - 11:34 AM, said:

.... "Big [Bolshoi] Ballet") and Skorik was supposed to be the partner of Ermakov representing Mariinsky, but at the last minute she dropped out and Tereshkina had to guest with Ermakov in her place. ......

Indeed, Skorik decided to drop out at the last minute. It would have been interesting to see how Fateev's long-long-long 'It Girl' of the moment would have compared on this show against Shapran and Smirnova, the stars of the Vaganova Class of 2011 (and the best two female grads since Obraztsova in 2002, IMO).

On this TV show, the Mariinsky is better served by Terioshkina. That clip of Carmen that YID posted is electric. (Ermakov is fantastic in it, too.)

[Birdsall]

I just read a review of the Berkeley, CA Swan Lakes by Toba Singer, and she says she asked Fateyev why the Prince Siegfrieds she saw did not do turns a la seconde after Odile's fouettes. He told her that "not everyone can do that step".......and she saw Korsuntsev and Shklyarov. I find it hard to believe that Korsuntsev and Shklyarov can not do turns a la seconde. Even she says she can not think of a major company where the male dancers can not do turns a la seconde.

Then, we have the above case where Paul reported that Fateyev claims the ballerinas at the Mariinsky can not do frappes (in that series of steps).

What gives???? Why on earth would a director of the Mariinsky slander his dancers to people and tell people his dancers can not do steps that they can do? That seems beyond bizarre to me! What is his motivation to say such things?

[cubanmiamiboy]

Sarcasm...?

[Birdsall]

cubanmiamiboy, on 27 October 2012 - 07:23 PM, said:

Sarcasm...?

Maybe so. That seems like the only explanation. Otherwise, he is slandering and betraying his own dancers!

[Ilya]

Natalia, on 27 October 2012 - 05:49 PM, said:

Indeed, Skorik decided to drop out at the last minute. It would have been interesting to see how Fateev's long-long-long 'It Girl' of the moment would have compared on this show against Shapran and Smirnova, the stars of the Vaganova Class of 2011 (and the best two female grads since Obraztsova in 2002, IMO). On this TV show, the Mariinsky is better served by Terioshkina. That clip of Carmen that YID posted is electric. (Ermakov is fantastic in it, too.)

According to the narrative in the full episode (posted above by elena), Skorik dropped out two weeks before the filming commenced.  (My understanding is that the dancers were given one month for rehearsals, and then the filming was done over one week.)

For Carmen, the jury gave Yermakov both the most criticism and the lowest scores among all the competitors in Episode 1.

Also, the hit piece on Skorik in the middle of the episode uses quotes from Fateyev.  Based on those, it's hard to believe that she is his protege.  Either this is the result of creative editing by the producers of the show, or perhaps publicly badmouthing his own dancers is part of his management style.

[Tiara]

Mariinsky Theatre needs new management if this is so.  This type of management style is appropriate NOWHERE, and certainly not at the greatest ballet company in the world.  There have been just too many instances recently of favouritism, repetitive casting, creative promotions ... everyone accepts that backstage politics exists in every company in the world, but this is just too much.  Yuri Fateyev should go.

[mumwang]

This afternoon skoryk debuted as Nikiya during the Mariisky Japanese tour. Having seen videos of her earlier principal attempts I can only surmise that she has grown tremendously. She has a wonderful physical instrument, long tapered legs, a gorgeous instep and a swan's neck that renders her a fine pure classical line, nothing gimmicky. She was spontaneous and reactive in the first act and I thought she emoted well in the fight scene and in the basket dance though I would have preferred less histrionics at Nikiya's death. The third act is a challenge for many a ballerina and insofar as technique was concerned she acquitted herself well. She negotiated the tricky scarf adagio with confidence and handled most of the technical challenges admirably though I would have liked to see more soul and spirituality in the final act. There were some technical glitches (mainly minor partnering issues and one blotched turn) and there were understandably rough edges narratively and musically but it was overall a fine and sincere performance. I look forward to following her career.

On a separate note, kondarova gave a glorious performance the night before. The corps is on fine form and I was particularly impressed by Petushkova in the Indian dance and among the female corps and corphees  Svetlana Ivanova, Daria Vasnetsova, , Viktoria krasnokutskaya, Anna lavrinenko and yulia stepanova.

[fififi]

I simply cannot agree to that Skorik part.  I am afraid that it was the worst Nikiya I have ever seen.  The 1st act went okay but her 2nd and 3rd were truly awful.  The solo part in the 2nd act (poisonous snake bit), it was clear that she could not act at all, danced spasmodically, with no musicality whatsoever.  In the third act, she made so many step mistakes - she definitely has some chronic injury in her left leg - and no emotional connection with Shklyarov.  Her physique is just anorexic with her ribs so noticeable, which, people may call beautiful?  Yes, it was out of this world indeed just so ghostly.  Skorik also made me very nervous because she was very nervous - I was very unconfortable to see her dance with my psych like this.

The rest of the company were brilliant as mumwang described!  After the 2nd act, Evseeva danced her Gamzatti so beatifully perpect, she received so many bravos whereas Skorik got one from my husband (ie he did it sarcastically).

I saw Yelena Yevteyeva, the current Skorik's coach in the audience during the 2nd interval.  She was on her own sitting in her seat looking really melancholic.

In all, I really believe that Skorik is not worth having these people working for her.  I subsequently submitted a questionnaire sheet given earlier and spoke to one of the staff members of Japan Arts so that they convey my message to the CEO of the company as well as to Fataev.  I did not pay JPY20,000+ to see that Nikiya.

[Birdsall]

fififi, on 25 November 2012 - 05:10 PM, said:

I simply cannot agree to that Skorik part.  I am afraid that it was the worst Nikiya I have ever seen.  The 1st act went okay but her 2nd and 3rd were truly awful.  The solo part in the 2nd act (poisonous snake bit), it was clear that she could not act at all, danced spasmodically, with no musicality whatsoever.  In the third act, she made so many step mistakes - she definitely has some chronic injury in her left leg - and no emotional connection with Shklyarov.  Her physique is just anorexic with her ribs so noticeable, which, people may call beautiful?  Yes, it was out of this world indeed just so ghostly.  Skorik also made me very nervous because she was very nervous - I was very unconfortable to see her dance with my psych like this.

The rest of the company were brilliant as mumwang described!  After the 2nd act, Evseeva danced her Gamzatti so beatifully perpect, she received so many bravos whereas Skorik got one from my husband (ie he did it sarcastically).

I saw Yelena Yevteyeva, the current Skorik's coach in the audience during the 2nd interval.  She was on her own sitting in her seat looking really melancholic.

In all, I really believe that Skorik is not worth having these people working for her.  I subsequently submitted a questionnaire sheet given earlier and spoke to one of the staff members of Japan Arts so that they convey my message to the CEO of the company as well as to Fataev.  I did not pay JPY20,000+ to see that Nikiya.

It is unfortunate to read this. I also have a friend who saw it and said that in his opinion it was the worst performance of Nikiya by a Mariinsky soloist ever. I hope for her sake that she is improving, because she is now in the spotlight, but if what you write is true, it is sad that the Mariinsky keeps pushing her into high profile assignments before she is ready. It seems cruel for them to do this.