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I agree with all the previous posts, but I as most surprised at the bobbles between Kondaurova and Askerov. Nerves? Not sure what happened there. I much more enjoyed her as Odile. She was wonderful there. I was not impressed with the hostess/narrator. Blech. I also found it VERY long. I understand that this is a 'live' performance, but when it is taped live, cut out the intermissions. We just stood around the movie theater (which was sadly almost empty) waiting, and then waited longer through the 'interviews'. This is the second ballet movie I have taken my students to and I find the intermissions too long for them. They would do better with the 'electricity' of a full audience during the intermissions, but this was ploddingly long.

Very interesting. Hmmm.....

Yes, Kondaurova was the least noisy and it was lovely. While I am well versed in pointe shoes (and on how to make them quieter), I was still very distracted by how loud they were at such an elite level. And, yes, I think a noisy shoe is a sin

I forgot to add something. Did anyone else notice, or was it just me, that their shoes were incredibly loud? I was in the 2nd tier and both my colleague and myself thought the shoes (for ALL female dancers, including Tereshkina) were incredibly loud. And, it looked like everyone had new shoes. Was anyone else distracted by this or was it just us?

I, too just returned DC. It really was a wonderful performance. There is nothing like seeing The Kirov live. I was absolutely unimpressed by Carabosse Anton Pimonov. Is this a regular role for him? He was too...swishy. He seemed very little and did not play a large enough character for me. Florina was Oksana Skoryk partnered by Andrey Solvyov. While he was very good, he really did not excite me. Someone had mentioned *phoning in* his performance, and that is exactly what I felt. Though, honestly, he was very good. Just somewhat un exciting. Oksana Skoryk was lovely, though her music seemed excruitiatingly slow (can't remember if it was her variation or during the coda/and or apothiosis). Wasn't quite sure why they even bothered to put Little Red Riding Hood in the cast change. She barely did anything, and I would have preferred to have seen the variation. Never saw Cindrella. Sadly, I was completely unimpressed by Maya Dumchenko (who I have followed since she was a student). Diamond was Tatyana Tkachenko and she was outstanding. Sharp, exact, executing the variation nicely. White Cat Yana Selina was truly a character. Viktoria Tereshkina was lovely. There was the one bobble on the fish dive pose at the end of the grand pas that was nicely saved, but a bobble nonetheless. Ekaterina Kondaurova was regal, elegant and I really enjoyed her (almost better than Tereshkina, though they are not similar in my estimation). I wish I could have seen more than one performance. It was the trip of a lifetime for me. Truly, truly priceless.

No review?

Soooo excited!! I am going to DC with another ballet teacher to see the Kirov on Sat night!! I don't care *who* we see, I know it will be good. I kind of wish it was a split bill because I would like to see the Sat matinee as well as the evening, but I would like to see 2 different pieces. Ahh, a field trip out of the studio and to see an elite level performance! Airfare for plane ride....$300 Tix for performance....$100 Hotel, taxis, meals......$300 Value of seeing Kirov....truly priceless!

Indeed we do! Damian was my Fritz a llloooonnnngg time ago during the E. Virginia Williams days of Boston Ballet. A little mischevious one he was! A great fun to have in a cast and in a class.

Just saw Giselle at The Ohio Theater tonight. I thought it was very nice. The corps was very clean. Carrie West as Giselle was lovely, quite ethereal. I took an 11 year old student of mine. First time at a ballet performance. I loved in the second act when they took off Giselle's scarf and I heard an audible gasp from her during the arabesque hop turns. It was great. And, then to hear her gasp again and say..."oh, how cool!" during the entrechat quatres series. It gave me goosebumps to be passing on the love of a good, classic ballet.

I believe in our 'libretto', we used the term 'enchanted bouquet' or magical bouquet. Carabosse puts some sort of enchantement on the bouquet that enticed Aurora to take the bouquet.

Oy, vagansmom! We must have similar tastes! I am plodding through the first book today. I started this morning, and I have found many things to do *while* I am reading the book. Like clean my house, read a page or two, make breakfast for b2, take a shower, read a page, make lunch, play on the computer, read a page. I really don't want to dislike yet another book I have *just* purchased! These books are expensive!! b1

I also read it just recently (it was given to me by one of my passengers on a flight). It took two one hour and thirty minute flights to finish. It did drag in the middle, but I felt tied to the book, in a way, and wanted to finish the story. When I first read the back of it, I thought, oh, I don't want to read anything about Afghanistan anymore (just reading news accounts). But, I found it intruiging. The book was an emotional heavy for me, but a good read. b1

vagansmom, I felt like it was just one big rant/vent regarding poor punctuation usage. She would give examples of bad grammar and punctuation, and then never give the proper usage. I agree with her that the influence of the internet has produced some horrible writing. So many kids today really don't know proper punctuation. I was struggling because as I wrote the title in my post, I couldn't figure out how to underline it! I guess you can't do that with the modern computer (or can you?). b1

"Eats, Shoots and Leaves", by Lynne Truss. It's a small book, but after a while each chapter is the same. Trying to get through it. Also just bought the first Harry Potter book "The Socerer's Stone". My 4(almost 5) y.o. and I are going to read it together. Should be interesting The new Better Homes and Gardens magazine just came so I have to escape to my dream home and garden for a while before hitting the Harry Potter book tomorrow (thinking it is not best to be read before bed, lol) b1

BalletMet usually does the classics to live music. It was only recently due to tight budgets within the arts that taped music was used last year. I would be very surprised if they did not use live music for this opening season classic piece. I saw BalletMet do Giselle in 2002 (I believe). It was very nice. I enjoyed this version. I am/was a big fan of the ballerina who was retiring at the time, and it was a lovely 'last dance' if you will However, time and company roster has changed and I am not sure who is performing it this time around. As mentioned, call to find out before you purchase your tickets. b1