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Mikhailovsky dancers


aqualia2008

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Just some fleeting impressions: I liked both Borchenko (a rather melting Odette) and Bondareva (more soubrette style in the Act I pas de trois in Swan Lake) when I saw them in London a couple of years ago. Not all-time "great" dancers but both very fine. I believe Perren was a hit in London in one of the full length roles--Giselle I think--but I myself only saw her in Spring Waters and she simply didn't have the daring (perhaps was just too tall) to pull off the flamboyant nonsense aspect of the choreography. Shemiunov did not make much of an impression as Siegfried. Those are the only ones I remember by name. I think on the whole, speaking of the company and its soloists/demi-soloists, I thought they were very good with some interesting repertory but, in the three performances I saw, did not strike me as a world-class "great" company--though the character dancing in Swan Lake and "Le Halte de Cavalerie" was terrific: in the latter ballet "character" dancing in both senses of the word was excellent...at least I thought so. Others on this board have seen more of them than I.

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Irina Perren is a very fine dancer who performs the whole classical and contemporary repertoire. Her Giselle is impressive - I saw her London performance and it was really touching. With her husband Marat Shemiunov they are one of the most popular ballet couples in Petersburg with many fans. Marat performs both character and classical roles, maybe better in character ones.

Ekaterina Borchenko is famous mainly with the role of Odette/Odile in the Messerer's "Swan lake" that brought her a Golden Mask nomination for the Best female role in ballet and with "Nunc dimittis" created by Nacho Duato specially for her. An interesting fact - after finishing Vaganova, she was invited to join Mariinsky (but without her twin brother) and she refused. She is tall, with very long and beautiful lines, very flexible, with regal posture, musical, with excellent style and feeling. Today she dances mainly with the very young Viktor Lebedev, who is the most promising classical dancer in Petersburg.

Among the others I want to mention Oksana Bondareva who will dance Kitri in London (with Denis Matvienko), Valeria Zapasnikova who just made her debut as Laurencia, Andrey Yakhnyuk, Ivan Zaytsev, Anton Ploom, Sabina Yapparova - all great dancers.

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I recently saw two performances both with Valeria Zapasnikova in Laurencia at Mikhailovsky Theatre. She is an outstanding ballerina, with virtuoso technique and great presence. The scenes where she incites the villagers to go and fight and her triumphant final scenes were just amazing - especially her expression, which penetrated to the very back row of the theatre. She is a great talent. Lebedev is a truly elegant danseur, with smooth, creamy technique and was in the pas de six, clearly the best male dancer on the stage, also deserving of principal status in any company, and by far better than Marat Shemiunov, whose Frondoso was really extremely sloppy technically.

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For me, Duato's choreography is all wrong for classical ballets, such as what he staged at Mikhailovsky for Sleeping Beauty and Romeo & Juliet. The previous versions were vastly superior. I am not a fan of any of his choreography, but many like his contemporary choreography. I am old fashioned and over 70 years old.

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For me, Duato's choreography is all wrong for classical ballets, such as what he staged at Mikhailovsky for Sleeping Beauty and Romeo & Juliet. The previous versions were vastly superior. I am not a fan of any of his choreography, but many like his contemporary choreography. I am old fashioned and over 70 years old.

From what I have seen of Duato's work I totally agree with you. I hate it. Hopefully, the Mikhailovsky will retire some of his ballets. I think his tenure there was a big flop!

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I haven't seen Duato's Sleeping Beauty or Romeo and Juliet (need to carve out time to watch above videos), but my hometown company does perform Jean-Christophe Maillot's R&J, and I've heard some people express reservations about it in terms of what they think of as the original productions (Lavrovsky and Macmillan) I think of the Maillot in much the same way I think of Matthew Bourne and his alternate versions of Swan Lake and other heritage works -- I don't expect them to follow the choreographic pathway of the original productions, but I'm curious to see what he does with such central works. Some of them have been more successful than others on their own terms, but I know that if I were hoping to see a restaging or reconstruction of the original choreography I would be confused and upset. I wish that the Mikhailovsky could have kept their earlier productions in play along with Duato's new versions -- that could have been a fascinating experience.

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I don't know. I think she is much better Giselle than Vorontsova. Same for Soboleva, both wonderful.

Perren will dance the role of the Actress Diana Mireille in "Flames of Paris". It is a beautiful and very difficult role. She will alternate with Borchenko who is excellent. Borchenko will dance also Myrtha and The Queen of dryads. Sadly no "Swan Lake".

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Why wasn't Perren listed for any lead roles in the Mik tour schedule for NYC in Nov 2014?

GISELLE, OU LES WILIS

November 11, 7:30 pm Natalia Osipova, Leonid Sarafanov, Ekaterina Borchenko

November 12, 2:00 pm Anastasia Soboleva, Victor Lebedev, Irina Kosheleva

November 12, 7:30 pm Angelina Vorontsova, Ivan Vasiliev, Ekaterina Borchenko

November 13, 7:30 pm Natalia Osipova, Leonid Sarafanov, Ekaterina Borchenko

THE FLAMES OF PARIS

November 14, 7:30 pm Oksana Bondareva, Ivan Vasiliev, Irina Perren, Leonid Sarafanov

November 15, 2:00 pm Angelina Vorontsova, Ivan Zaytsev, Ekaterina Borchenko, Victor Lebedev

November 15, 8:00 pm Oksana Bondareva, Ivan Vasiliev, Irina Perren, Leonid Sarafanov

November 16, 2:00 pm Angelina Vorontsova, Ivan Vasiliev, Irina Perren, Leonid Sarafanov

THREE CENTURIES OF RUSSIAN BALLET

November 18 and 19, 7:30 pm Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev, Leonid Sarafanov, Ekaterina Borchenko, Angelina Vorontsova, Irina Perren,

Anastasiya Soboleva, Victor Lebedev, Ivan Zaytsev, Marat Shemiunov

DON QUIXOTE

November 20, 7:30 pm Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev, Ekaterina Borchenko

November 21, 7:30 pm Angelina Vorontsova, Victor Lebedev, Ekaterina Borchenko

November 22, 2:00 pm Oksana Bondareva, Leonid Sarafanov, Svetlana Bednenko

November 22, 8:00 pm Angelina Vorontsova, Ivan Vasiliev, Ekaterina Borchenko

November 23, 2:00 pm Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev, Svetlana Bednenko

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