Geier

Opus Arte (channel "opusarte") is doing that.

...Cojocaru and Kobborg announced to dance it...

It depends on the cast: Ferri doesn't dance the divertissement pdd, I think the other Titanias dance it. Oberon doesn't dance the pdd: Titania's cavalier dances it, I think that sometimes he is the same dancer of the first act, some other not. In the performance I saw that pdd was danced by Marta Romagna and Mick Zeni.

I think they had at least a pdd created for them, but I don't remember the piece nor the event. To add to the general list also Marianela Nunez and Thiago Soares (both principals of the London Royal Ballett), officially engaged and maybe close to wedding: as reported, Soares proposed himself at the end of a recent Sleeping Beauty -on stage but with curtains down-, in front of the whole company and dressed as prince Florimund!

The filmed Giselle was supposed to be a Ferri and Bolle one, but Ferri’s injury gave space to that strange thing … “Svetlana with a romantic tutu”. Honestly I cannot understand the reason to film another Ferri’s Giselle, this time partnered by Bolle’s insipid Albrecht (no acting, modest batteries – yes, lots of entrechats, but what about the quality????… :foot: ). IMO Bolle is another unreasonably overrepresented dancer in DVD. I’ve not seen live La Scala Bayadere, but it was broadcasted and a friend recorded it for me: I thought they televised it because they didn’t dare to put it on DVD, but I was wrong. I agree with your comments about Zakharova’s Nikyia, but she is the only watchable thing of that performance. I’ve been told that in the public presentation meeting Makarova said clearly that she was absolutely disappointed by the quality of the company, especially the women. The next La Scala DVD –or the next televised thing- should be Balanchine Midsummer Night’s Dream, starring all the etoiles: Ferri, Bolle and Murru. I’ve seen one of the performance and I ask myself how the Balanchine trust could accept it. Ferri was good, with her great stage presence; Murru was in a very bad mood (at the end my mood was even worse thinking at the price of the ticket I paid to see his sulky face ) and for that reason almost unwatchable; Bolle wasn’t able to create even a pale Oberon and looked physically tired, with a heavy and slow dancing. La Scala public, always enthusiastic, was cold at the end…. a boring and modest performance indeed: I hope that the others were better, but I’m not really confident. IMO, at the moment the level of La Scala company is very low. Ferri’s retirement is a sort of disaster: nobody can take her place and the “big star” of company is even more the boring Bolle, a sort of idol in Italy (a lot of people consider him not just a good danceurnoble with a clean technique, but also a great and passionate actor and a “virtuoso” … ). Of course Zakharova, returning also for Sleeping Beauty, is an idol too: the best dancer in the world and a fine actress… But the perception of her absolute perfection and greatness is not really consolidated and some perplexity is arising about her acting and her waved legs. I think that to create a better taste and a culture of ballet, La Scala public should be allowed to watch other ballerinas and some great male dancers too (as a guest they had –and will have- just Sarafanov for Lacotte’s Sylphide, La Bayadere and Sleeping Beauty!). Carla Fracci in Rome is doing a good job, with a rich, interesting and unusual programming (well, not everything is good, but the majority of the productions is really interesting) and with several guests (Obraztsova, Fadeyev, Lunkina, Yebra, Picone, Lund, Lezhnina, Bolle himself and others…). The centre of the Italian ballet cultural movement has probably moved to the capital city and La Scala seems to live just of its great, but empty, name.

I’ve seen very few films of Rojo: the already mentioned “5 Brahms Waltzes in the manner of Isadora Duncan”, her Kitri in a Don Quixote opposite Johan Kobborg (broadcasted by BBC in 2002, I think), Don Quixote pdd opposite Rupert Pennefather (from the “Tsunami gala”, in 2005), Black Swan pdd opposite Maximiliano Guerra (from a gala I don’t know), some Ullate works with Tamara still in the corps, and her Blancanieves (I was lucky enough to buy it in Spain… not a great work, to be honest, but nice to see). I think that Spanish channels could have broadcasted something else recently. She is a wonderful artist, with a very personal way to be on stage. I think she has to be seen live to be completely appreciated … yes, this could be valid for all the dancers, but, I think, especially for her: her special energy and charisma cannot be captured entirely by a film.

It could be, but in that case I should complain to have had off nights only from her (quite a lot indeed). She is a good technician, with good jumps and turns, but I don't like her upper body and arms at all. IMHO she is in no way an actress or a moving dancer, even if she could be really nice to watch in some ballets.

I checked this on Amazon. It's $121 there!!! The DVD will be released in May by Deutsche Grammophon... it should be cheaper! Search for Chopin and "newest release" http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/home.htms

Probably my taste is identical to Ms Simpson one and I agree completely with her comment. Lamb is a lovely and beautiful ballerina and I truly enjoyed her Sylph, but I enjoyed far less, for example, her Aurora, quite flat, IMHO. I think she is a very good technician and clever dancer (even if I had a little doubt about that when seeing her dancing Chroma with her false coup de pied , quite visible in naked legs and wearing slippers... ...well, she remains absolutely beautiful, but it was quite funny), but I also think that her intelligence could be a limit: her brain is often more visible than her soul and her way to be on stage appears to me (happy to know not only to me) a little too constructed, cold, impersonal, vaguely scholastic and "already seen"; exaggerating the idea, she looks (to me) like a sort of "cloned ballerina" Nevertheless, I quite like to see her dancing and she has been for sure a great acquisition for the Royal Ballet, but , generally speaking, I prefer ballerinas with a much more personal, deep and intense artistic dimension. Her interview seems to clarify her approach to ballet dancing and confirm me in my opinion; the same I could say of this other interview http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre...icle2173019.ece, given by Alina Cojocaru, an artist that I understood being closer to my taste than to Mr. Leonid one.

La Scala is dancing Chauviré version of Giselle, as you can see in their recent DVD. It is difficult to say it without seeming indelicate, but, as Helene wrote “La Scala Ballet isn't one of the top tier companies” and the cast includes just first soloist and not the etoile (Alessandra Ferri, Roberto Bolle and Massimo Murru) and not only 175, but even 75,5 euros are a quite a lot of money. In my opinion, it is really difficult to understand how they can dare selling tickets at those prices especially for a gala like that: the higher price for Sleeping Beauty with London Royal Ballet is 87 pounds (130 euros, and you can have great dancers, including the magnificent Alina Cojocaru) and for the next mixed bill (with two world premieres and lots of principal dancers on stage) just 37,5 pounds (56 euros), you can have Coppelia or Don Quixote with Opera Paris and its etoiles for just 75 euros. If you want to start with ballet and you are not ready to travel from the real beginning, maybe you can invest 175 euros in 6-7 good DVDs and find out which are your preferences. I’ve seen La Scala ballet a few times and, with respect but also with honesty, I really don’t think that after the show you, Dave, could be happy to have spent 75-175 euros for that ticket…

The dancers are good and honest professionals, but I wouldn’t spend more than 50 euros, to be really generous, to see that show. 175 euros is a crazy price, I think it could be better to save money to travel to Paris... The Cage is a modern and quite intersting piece by Jerome Robbins.

Plissestkaya and Rojo were awarded with Prince of Asturias Prize the past year (in 2006 the winner for Arts is Pedro Almodovar) Coming back to the first post: Francisco Franco died in 1975, ages ago. :-) Since then they didn’t do steps, but run an entire marathon and today Spain is as modern and dynamic as a Calatrava building! Would they put together all their dancers (just a few names: Alicia Amatriain, Ricardo Cervera, Angel Corella, Carmen Corella, Lucia Lacarra, Carlos Lopez, Josè Martin, Josè Martinez, Laura Morera, Jesus Pastor, Tamara Rojo, Zenaida Yanowsky, Igor Yebra), they could have a fantastic company! Good luck!

Even though some performers are trying to transform it in a gymnastic event, ballet is an art and not a sport; in football any team “needs” another team to play with and also common rules and events: a ballet show is not a competition and, in my opinion, the companies can be more independent. Ballet doesn't need an organisation to decide the dimension of the stage or how many second you should maintain an arabesque, as the FIG (Federation International of Gymnastic) does, so I think that probably the general cost benefit ratio of a ballet world federation would be close to bankrupt…

[ ... ]Italian citizenship or citizenship of a Member State of the European Union;Is this common with ballet companies in EU countries?

Try everything to see Uliana Lopatkina: she IS the Swan!!! And, to my taste, try more than everything to avoid Somova... :foot: