sparklingtonic

I believe the photos are fine some are even good and creative -- I think Herve has taken one to be his new FB photo -- If they do nothing else they put the ballet forward to a public who may not be aware of them -- Benjamin M is well aware of the value of publicity -- Slightly? off topic but a friend of mine who who is a member of the Tudor trust has seen the TV production of the Paris Opera Ballet in Lilac Garden which is on YT -- this person was extremely impressed and wonders if Tudor did the coaching and when this was done does anyone know? Karin Averty was the "woman from his past" ? Its a terrible copy and I culd barely make out the names of the dancers.

Review Swan Lake: Odette/Odile: Ekaterina Borchenko Siegfried: Viktor Lebedev Vladimir Tzal (Evil Genius), Zvezdana Martina (The Queen), Denis Tolmachev (court jester), Oksana Bondareva, Olympiada Saurat Alfa N’gobi, Anton Ploom (Pas des trois). Choreography: Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, Alexander Gorsky, Asaf Messerer revised by Mikhail Messerer Set and Costumes Design: Simon Virsaladze Ballet Master: Mikhail Messerer Principal Designer of the Revival: Vyacheslav Okunev Premiere at the Mikhailovsky Theatre: September 15, 2009 Production of the sets was generously subsidized by the Imperial Mikhailovsky Theatre Foundation I saw the Mikhailovsky Swan Lake today. I Loved almost everything about it. I did some research before writing this to try to figure out what exactly I was seeing since I was a bit put off by the costumes. From what I read it was a recreation of “the legendary ’Old Moscow’ production by Alexander Gorsky and Asaf Messerer. For many years it was considered in Moscow to be the standard production, and now it has been lovingly restored by Mikhail Messerer, Ballet Master in Chief of the Theatre.” This explained why the costumes seemed to come out of the Soviet era since the original of this production dates to 1956. I found the costumes and especially the gloves cumbersome and offputting. Having picked these nits -- lets get down to brass tacks --- the nitty gritty -- the real deal lol -- the dancing! Ekaterina Borchenko is Odette/Odile -- this is her role and there are those, on this list I am sure, much more knowing about ballerinas and what they do than I. I was impressed with the lovely and sinuous use she made of her upper body. She seems to be a tall dancer with lovely long legs and arms which she uses to good effect. I believed her as Odette -- wilting and pale, the embodiment of a tragic and condemned figure. Her Odile was good. But not quite as strong as Odette or perhaps her Odette left such a strong impression that Odile could not compete. Her dancing in the coda was precise and I wondered if, during the fouettes she was somehow attached to the floor. She did not do 32 but who was counting? I saw Makarova in this role many times. She travelled so much during the fouettes I thought she would land in the orchestra pit! Viktor Lebedev was only 20 when this was done in 2012, and only a short time out of the Vaganova Academy. He was an uninvolved participant in Act 1. He did his solo wonderfully but outside of that not much was going on. Clearly he was saving himself for what was to come. He came alive when he saw Odette in Act 2. He is a polished and elegant dancer. His stretched lean-ness is evident in his beautiful positions on arabesque. He seems to find 5th position in the air and his flawless technique, lite high jumps and fast and accurate turns are breath taking. He reminds me a bit of Mathieu Ganio. Although their techniques are very different they combine that technique with acting ability. I was convinced that this prince was looking for love and felt lost and alone at the end of act two, not something I usually experience. My one quibble is that he seems to lose his turnout at times. Which makes me uneasy in terms of future injuries. Borchenko and Lebedev are well matched physically and technically which became even more apparent in Act 3. I am not a great lover of a Swan Lake with a happy ending. So I was not overjoyed with the way this ended. But one cannot have everything and I was quite happy overall with this performance. Not as an after thought but I was happy to see Oksana Bondareva in the pas de troi. She has an unmistakable way of moving and an evanescent spirit that comes shining through.

he did not give any reason on his FB site!

He does promise this will be the last time that he changes his name -- it could get very confusing! He has gotten the plaster off his foot and should begin rehab -- lets hope he is a hard worker!

I am very new to learning about the POB - what I know of the dancers I love and I certainly admire the loyal and involved POB audience. In the short time I have looked at the POB I have truly fallen in love with the on-stage character of Laurent Hilaire. He was a very giving dancer - always in the performances I saw he gave a performance of high technical quality but also he gave of himself to the audience, he gave of his personality .. his stage character. After watching closely the documentaries mentioned and the Great Ballets of Rudolf Nureyev that featured Hilaire he seemed funny, interested, interesting and in the La Bayadere caring (I noticed for instance that he has trouble talking about Nureyev without swallowing and this long after Nureyev's death). It makes me very sad that the Paris company seems to have thrown him away like an old shoe. However, the separation packet he received (if that is true) should help grease his path and I hope they have not said 'and never darken our door again!' (Isn't his daughter Juliette in the corp??) -- he is known far and wide and should he choose I do not think he will have trouble finding another situation that should please him. I thought I understood that he was close to his family and perhaps a new job outside France might be difficult - still he is a luminary in the ballet world. It is difficult to explain but even while watching the videos his warmth and character seem to permeate the screen. I do not believe that he will abandon his love (dance) nor that it will forget him. I certainly will not. In fact in anyone is interested I have some bits of Hilaire on my YT channel should you want to see them, the channel is Judith Booth --

I am having trouble with the POB website -- and I find neither Dupont nor Belingard on the site -- is it just down or is there a reason for that?? I have tried the site it in French and English -- Thanks for the above information --

It does not look as though the company is doing La belle au bois dormant this season -- does anyone know when the performance with Mathieu Ganio and Eleonora Abbagnato that was on TV was done? There is no date on the program that I can find --

You all are very generous thanks again -- I did find him on the web -- finally -- but I had seen his name on the POB website up until a month ago so was confused -- 2010 eh, what a shame -- anyway thanks again --

Thank you --

Hi -- I am new here and this is so off topic and I am sorry but I hated to start a new topic just for this one question. I just checked the POB website and I am no longer seeing Yann Bridards name -- is he now retired? Sorry

Hi -- I am new here but I just thought I'd chime in -- I live in New Mexico and the Symphony and Chorus here went belly up last year -- the Chorus was mostly volunteer but still a great loss -- I wish there was something that could be done to generate interest -- And look what recently happened at La Scala -- I am told that was due to poor management and in the end they managed to pull together and save both the opera and ballet but here there just does not seem to be the will --

I am interested in knowing what happened to Yann Bridard with the Paris Opera ballet -- he was a principal dancer and does not seem to be listed on their website any longer -- I suppose there could be something wrong with the site but I do know he was approaching retirement age. If anyone can help me with this I would be grateful