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[Buddy]

And tonight Ekaterina Kondaurova was the Tall Girl !

She Is Not To Be Believed This Year !


Welcome To The Ekaterina Kondaurova International Dance Festival !

[Buddy]

Tonight Olga Esina Was An Absolute Gem In "Swan Lake" !

The quiet, yet subtle, airy fineness of her dancing along with often sublime, outreaching highlighting made her performance perhaps the most *Beautiful* that I've seen at this year's Festival.

[ksk04]

Full length video of Big Red being Ruby Red emerges via youtube user baletvideo. Not sure how long it will last so don't want to post a direct link (Novikova and Schyklarov also appear).

[elena]

Tonight Olga Esina Was An Absolute Gem In "Swan Lake" !

The quiet, yet subtle, airy fineness of her dancing along with often sublime, outreaching highlighting made her performance perhaps the most *Beautiful* that I've seen at this year's Festival.

I just saw the clips of this (uploaded by the user ksk04 mentioned) and she truly was very lovely - how I wish I could have seen it in person.

I also noticed she did the the double frappe into fondu after the pirouette en attittude in Odile's variation (I remember reading a conversation on this forum about how not many dancers are doing this and omit it so now I notice whenever someone does it).

[trieste]

If this first bit is off topic, feel free to move or delete, but...

Whenever I watch clips of Russian troupes doing Rubies, what strikes me most is the shallowness of the iconic plies. Obviously there are other issues (Novikova in particular makes too much a princess of this role and seems afraid to drop that nobility and engage the humor of the choreo), but I wonder if anyone knows if this is an issue with training, staging, or just mannerisms...? Surely the dancers at the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky are trained for deep, fully turned out plies! Why do we not see them? Aside from this Kandaurova was perfect for the role.

As far as Esina, she is of course very good, but lacking in what I would maybe call...musical sensitivity? Her phrasing is correct, everything is in place. I just get a sensation of disjointedness when I watch her swing so effortlessly into those ultra-geometrical arabesques. She is one of those dancers that I don't 'get' for reasons I can't place. Although I appreciate her controlled extentions, as I'm sure many here do!

Zakharova always surprises me with her Giselles! She has a harshness to her that she can turn off and on with a switch. When you see her Odile or Kitri you forget how fragile she can be. (And physically, how fragile she looks. I can't help but worry when I see that many bones.)

[cinnamonswirl]

Whenever I watch clips of Russian troupes doing Rubies, what strikes me most is the shallowness of the iconic plies. Obviously there are other issues (Novikova in particular makes too much a princess of this role and seems afraid to drop that nobility and engage the humor of the choreo), but I wonder if anyone knows if this is an issue with training, staging, or just mannerisms...? Surely the dancers at the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky are trained for deep, fully turned out plies! Why do we not see them? Aside from this Kandaurova was perfect for the role.

As far as Esina, she is of course very good, but lacking in what I would maybe call...musical sensitivity? Her phrasing is correct, everything is in place. I just get a sensation of disjointedness when I watch her swing so effortlessly into those ultra-geometrical arabesques. She is one of those dancers that I don't 'get' for reasons I can't place. Although I appreciate her controlled extentions, as I'm sure many here do!

When you watch City Ballet or Miami do Rubies, the dancers really move their hips. They're thrusts more than plies, and their hips change angles. When other companies do Rubies (Mariinsky, POB), they do a more correct ballet pile and don't move their hips enough IMO. I don't know if it's lack of coaching or what but to me it is emblematic of the fact that most non-American companies don't "get" Rubies they way American companies seem to. (Besides NYCB and MCB, I saw a very credible Rubies from Washington Ballet a couple years ago.)

I see what you mean about Esina. I think it's something about the way she uses her elbows and wrists, there's a kind of flippy quality. (Her arms in turns also bother me but that is a technique choice.) She's a great interpreter of Odile though.

[abatt]

When the Mariinsky came to NY City Center in 2006, Rubies was one of their offerings, and Novikova ended up doing the lead in virtually every performance (Vishneva was scheduled, but was injured, Big Red did tall girl role). I distinctly remember thinking that Novikova in particular was totally miscast for the reasons stated above- too much a princess, no angularity of movement, no sense of humor in the role.


I don't think this problem is unique to the Mariinsky. When I saw two etoiles from the Paris Opera Ballet perform the Rubies pdd at an NYCB gala a few years ago, it did not look anything like the way it's done at NYCB. They were very prim and proper, without angular movement. It was one of the worst performances of the Rubies pdd I had ever seen. (I think it was Dupont and Heymann, but I'm not 100 percent sure.)

[cinnamonswirl]

Yes, it was Dupont/Heymann. I agree, it was not very good.

Lopatkina as Tatiana (donkey pd2)

[Tara]

Thanks so much for the above video of Lopatkina. Definitely warmer than I had expected and a very endearing kiss at the start.

When you watch City Ballet or Miami do Rubies, the dancers really move their hips. They're thrusts more than plies, and their hips change angles. When other companies do Rubies (Mariinsky, POB), they do a more correct ballet pile and don't move their hips enough IMO. I don't know if it's lack of coaching or what but to me it is emblematic of the fact that most non-American companies don't "get" Rubies they way American companies seem to. (Besides NYCB and MCB, I saw a very credible Rubies from Washington Ballet a couple years ago.)

Exactly! It's the more "jazz" hip movements incorporated throughout Rubies that European companies tend to lack. It's also (imho) what makes Rubies so unique and interesting to watch in the first place. Those hips are where the attitude/vibe of the piece live and breathe. No hips equals a very different ballet. It can still be good ofcourse but it loses that sort of primal nature one can see when it is danced by companies that specialize in Mr. B's works.