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Chaconne

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
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  1. Maya Dumchenko and Ludmilla Semenyaka. [Edit]: Evegenia Obratszova and Anastaisa Goryacheva kind of look alike, too.
  2. My impression is that Uliana has not danced lilac for quite a while and is unlikely to dance the role any time soon. No point for her to play second fiddle now that she is an icon of olympic status. On the other hand, at least we get Kondaurova and Skoryk as lilacs.
  3. Not to sound too semantic, I think it depends on what you think of as the evil in Odile. In terms of pure "oooooooooh.. scarrrrrry!" Marie-Claude Pietragalla gets my vote. For me, Odile is evil not only because she is on the side of Rothbart and thus an accomplice in keeping Odette in bondage, but also because she exploited the Prince through his best hopes. Deception in Odile is a big part of the character. I respect the Black Swan/White Swan dichotomy, which has its own artistic merits and embodies two basic types of ballerinas, yet dramatically, the story is less clearcut. Tchaikovsky's original music for the black swan is in no way Va-va-voom let's-get-the-Man. So Odiles who bare their fangs and flap their wings are scary but not credible. You are really going to succeed at seducing a guy like that, certainly not in full court. We audience know the story but the Prince does not. I found the Odiles who look almost like their Odettes are among the most evil--here is a dream of a woman . . . and yet something is wrong with her. So Odiles such as Fonteyn, Evelyn Hart and Alexandrova, who are less emphatic on the vixen factor, nonetheless convey evil in light of the bigger story. Agnes Letestu really saved her thunder for the final clap. I would imagine Platel would be this type, too, just like her snake-in-the-petals Gamzatti.
  4. I am afraid not. Kirov already ran into this problem when it performed at Zellerbach last fall. What is it with American venues and no ramps? Kirov also didn't have one in NYC--eeek! I am really glad to hear that Masha A. keeps pushing the limits. With the exception of Russian Seasons, she has danced in almost all of Bolshoi's premiere productions: from Jeanne to Paquita then to Coppelia--that's quite a trajectory! She always comes across as open-minded (e.g., YouTube has video of her working with Wheeldon) but not too extreme. It keeps her dancing young! Being used to the willowier Nikiyas of Lopatkina, Gracheva and Guerin, I still can't form a picture of her as Nikiya in my head with her athletic build and boyish haircut. The closest I can think of is Aurelie Dupont's Nikiya, who somehow can maintain statuesque stillness even in motion.
  5. That's a rare one. It felt very much like the times when Terekhova was dancing Giselle. I love Alexandrova but I have heard criticisms about her upper body being too stiff and her style too forceful. Is she just being a good trooper for the company (e.g., filling in for the matinee performance) or does she want to try something new?
  6. I still do. So do I. The first time I saw a clip of her Giselle I was momentarily tempted to put my eyes out (but thought better of it and turned the video off instead). Well, I hope you had the chance to see Zakharova once live after that missed opportunity, volcanohunter. You do realize that condemning an artist on account of a clip is rather cheap and doesn't really help anybody? I suppose it's a matter of maturing, and my impression of tackiness partly lies with SZ's early exposure in the major roles. Now a decade later, SZ has come into her own. What if she had been promoted to principal, say, three or four years ago? We would exclaim: "Venus has just come out of the sea!" All thanks to the Marijinksi management for putting the formative years in stage light for the audience. Some dancers--Kondaurova comes to mind--seem to get "it" from the get go, even if they were not yet their polished selves back then. Still, it probably did help for Kondaurova to have spent a few years of obscurity back in the corps/demi-soloists, rather than fast-tracking to the principal. Being away from the spotlight removes a dancer from the Next Big Move and may even give her better sense of stage, organization, etc. Bolshoi seems more observant of the "starting from the bottom" practice, and growing through the solos characterized the career of someone like Alexandrova. If Zakharova leaves anything like bad taste today, it's less the six o'clocks than the lingering self-satisfaction. As for Somova, she is not tacky so much as she has little to tack on to. If Vishneva seemed a bit wayward back in 1996, at least personality gave her performance a focus. Somova feels...badly in need of the well-tempered Terekhova.
  7. Thanks Marc! :-) I have been anxiously clicking your website for updates on Paquita. How was the performance? Please do tell!
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