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Kevin Ng

Inactive Member
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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    Critic
  • City**
    London, Hong Kong
  1. From what I remember from the programme notes last week, there was no mention of anyone from the Balanchine Trust being responsible for staging "Symphony in C". (It's the same version which the Royal Ballet danced in the 1990s with costumes designed by Dowell.) Patricia Neary was listed as the stager for the other two Balanchine ballets - Agon and Prodigal Son.
  2. And I guess that the board of directors was mostly handpicked by Martins. I just read this week's review of NYCB by Robert Gottlieb in the NY Observer, and I find very meaningful his last paragraph in which Gottlieb wrote that NYCB should be the Balanchine museum. http://www.observer.com/pages/dance.asp
  3. At least for their one-week tour to St. Petersburg beginning on 30 July, the repertory fortunately consists mostly of Balanchine's masterpieces. I noticed from the Mariinsky playbill that Gergiev will conduct the opening night at the Mariinsky Theatre. http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill?pbmy=200307 http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill?pbmy=200308 I am considering a trip to attend the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg to see the company instead of coming to NYC next season in view of this very disappointing centennial programming.
  4. I think the answer to Dale's question boils down to what Peter Martins really thinks of Balanchine's works. I quote from Arlene Croce's review in The New Yorker in 1993 during the Balanchine Celebration. "Many of us were shocked by what the past decade gradually but unmistakably disclosed - that Peter Martins was not Balanchinean, not a believer, and didn't want to be."
  5. It is disgraceful for Peter Martins to honour in this way the centennial of the greatest choreographer of the 20th century. If I come to NYC next season, I will pick a week with the most Balanchine ballets and avoid the rubbish choreographed by Martins.
  6. I think the Gala shown on BBC was filmed on Friday night. On Saturday night President Putin and the visiting heads of state saw a different, and probably more interesting ballet performance at the sumptuous Peterhof Palace by the St. Petersburg Conservatory, according to this report from the St. Petersburg 300th anniversary website. http://www.300spb.ru/enews-item.html?id=321
  7. There's a mention of Alexei Ratmansky's Cinderella in the Moscow Times by Raymond Stults, which was pointed out by Ari yesterday. "Privileged over the past 50 years and more to have seen the very best in ballet on the stages of Chicago, New York, London and Paris, I cannot recall a production of greater overall beauty than the Mariinsky's "Cinderella." http://www.tmtmetropolis.ru/metropolis/sto.../04/18/113.html
  8. It is noteworthy that the Royal Ballet will give an all-Balanchine programme next Jan. - Agon, The Prodigal Son, Symphony in C - to mark Balanchine's centenary. I saw Nureyev in The Prodigal Son in the early 1980s, and I don't think it's been revived by the Royal since then.
  9. I don't know about the exact height of Sofia Gumerova, but I don't think that Anton Korsakov is too short for her. Korsakov is nearly 5'11". Korsakov actually made his debut as Solor in Washington, he had never danced this role in St. Petersburg before. I am glad to hear about Gumerova dancing. She was indisposed last month, and didn't dance a single performance in the Mariinsky Festival.
  10. Bilbo, the hotels nearest to the Mariinsky Theatre are the Hotel Astoria and the Hotel Angleterre. Both are about five minutes away from the Mariinsky by taxi. I have stayed in both and recommend them. Hotel Angleterre, which is slightly cheaper than the Astoria, has just been renovated, as I found out when staying there during the Mariinsky Festival last month. Hotel Astoria is more prestigious as it is used by heads of state.
  11. Paris Opera Ballet will also perform Jewels (as well as La Bayadere) in Tokyo for their tour in late March.
  12. I found some casting information for the first four performances from another website. 21/02 La Bayadere: Diana Vishneva, Elvira Tarasova, Manuel Legris 22/02 Cinderella: Natalia Sologub, Andrey Merkuriev 23/02 La Bayadere: Daria Pavlenko, Ekaterina Osmolkina, Nikolai Tsiskaridze 24/02 Giselle: Alina Cojocaru, Johan Kobborg
  13. Ina, thanks for your news, I didn't realise that Vladimir Malakhov won't appear in the festival. The revised programme for the Mariinsky Festival is now in the English section of the Mariinsky website. http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/
  14. Jeannie, I share some of your enthusiasm for Chemiakin's Nutcracker. I like Simonov's choreography for the grand pas de deux, which at the performance I saw at last year's Mariinsky Festival was beautifully danced by Natalia Sologub and Andrian Fadeyev. I just noticed that the revised programme for the Mariinsky Festival next month is up in the English section of the Mariinsky website. http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/
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