dwil

Smirnova, Krysanova and Chudin in La Bayadere (3/8/13) were as good as correspondents intimated and received 5* review in the Telegraph. If she hasn’t done already it can’t be long before Smirnova moves from First Soloist to Principal. It’s still difficult to better the Bolshoi’s Don Q. 3 years ago when the principal ballerina was injured and Kitri had to be taken by a certain rising star – Osipova! – accompanied by Vasiliev. I have never witnessed a standing ovation at the ROH (although I’m sure there have been some) but this performance warranted one which lasted for some 15 minutes – and this at a matinee.

Thanks Drew & Helene. I hoped by going for Saturday night that i would get a great cast. Zakharova is on Friday night. My wife has a prior engagement & is very jealous!

Performance of La Bayadere I'm seeing 3 August has Olga Smirnova,Ekaterina Krysanova and Senyon Chudin in lead roles. Any comments? Who is the 'in' ballerina of the moment in the Bolshoi?

Saw Alina C & kobburg in Manon at ROH on Saturday. Knew it would be magical - and it was. She has flawless technique & her interpretation of the role puts her in a special class. The chemistry with Johann puts the icing on the cake.

Went to see Don Q sunday matinee on 8 August at ROH. Following suggestions I wanted to see Osipova but could only get tickets for Zakharova. As it happened Z. was injured so O. took on Kitri. I was also trebly fortunate that not only did I get front row seats but Vasiliev danced Basil. Outstanding! It was the most appreciative audience I've seen at the ROH and the pair got an 8 minute standing ovation - never seen that before.The soloists were very good also and the corps de ballet were extremely disiplined.Add that the costumes were outstanding and it was one of ,if not the best, ballet performances I've seen. The grand pas was worth the ticket price alone.

Well I'm back. Went to see Don Q sunday matinee on 8 August. Following suggestions I wanted to see Osipova but could only get tickets for Zakharova. As it happened Z. was injured so O. took on Kitri. I was also trebly fortunate that not only did I get front row seats but Vasiliev danced Basil. Outstanding! It was the most appreciative audience I've seen at the ROH and the pair got an 8 minute standing ovation - never seen that before.The soloists were very good also and the corps de ballet were extremely disiplined.Add that the costumes were outstanding and it was one of ,if not the best, ballet performances I've seen. The grand pas was worth the ticket price alone.

Thanks all. Very informative. In the end unfortunately I had to take what I could get. I wanted to see Don Q and I wanted front row seats! Having had the Mariinsky ruined last year by sitting in row 2 & having to peer round someone's head the seating was more important than the performer as I knew they'd all be good. I started on the phone at 10 am when booking opened and it was 5pm before I got through! ( I wasn't holding all that time by the way - it was just giving engaged tone). I did start with Osipova and worked down but by that time everything was gone. However in the end I managed to get Sunday matinee row A so although it's with Zakharova I'm sure it'll be brilliant. At least the Bolshoi,like the Royal Ballet,put top performers for matinees. I went to see the Kirov a few years ago and they seemed to give the reserve team a run out in the afternoon.

Thanks. Why not zakharova?

I've posted this in another forum but I'll try here as well as I'm due to book today: I'm hoping to see the Bolshoi at ROH in August. Can you list these ballerinas in order of must-see: Svetlana Zakharova Ekaterina Krysanova Natalie Osipova Thanks.