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Oct 8 - Lopatkina Swan Lake Opens 04/05 Season


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The 2004-2005 Kirov-Mariinsky ballet season will open in grand style this coming Friday night (Oct. 8), with a 'Swan Lake' led by Uliana Lopatkina & Daniil Korsuntsev. This is the first time in many, many years that Lopatkina -- considered by many as the true Prima Ballerina of the troupe -- will open the season. It is a highly anticipated event....could it be the return of Lopatkina to regular performances of meaty, full-evening roles? She IS scheduled to dance Nikiya in the Soviet version of 'Bayadere' on Nov 14, as well as a couple of autumn performances of the Forsythe triple bill.

Welcome Back, Uliana Lopatkina!

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Indeed, Jasper. It's not that she hasn't been on stage during the past year...but only very, very rarely...a Bayadere in January...a Swan Lake during the the last Mariinsky Festival (March)...a 'Diamonds' at the White Nights. That sort of thing.

At least we know that she's dancing Odette/Odile AND Nikiya withing the space of one month. Now, that's progress!

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Lopatkina & Korsuntsev Triumph at Mariinsky Opening Night!

I've just gotten off the Russian chat rooms...last night's 'Swan Lake' was a huge triumph not just for Lopatkina as Odette/Odile, but also for Danil'Korsuntsev as Siegfried. Unlike an earlier SL by the pair this year, Lopatkina & Korsuntsev, this time around, were totally in the spirit of the characters and each other. There was emotional electricity in the theater, last night (beside the usual beauty!). Furthermore, Lopatkina seems to once again be at peak physical form; one review points out that she "seemed to fly on her own power" in the Black Swan pdd! Another poster also praised the "predatory grace" of Ilya Kuznetzov's Von Rothbart. Kudos, too, to Irina Zhelonkina as a solo swan in the Act III Valse Bluette, and to Anton Korsakov as Siegfried's Friend (who dances the Pas de Trois in Act I). The only 'downer': the somewhat-tepid reaction among some foreign VIP audience members who nowadays tend to populate the more expensive seats...some of whom would chit-chat or even humm along with the orchestra when the more famous tunes are played. [Editorial note - Such people, of course, are not to be found among us Ballet Alerters when we are guests in foreign theaters! Unfortunately, opening-night and/or Gala audiences often include many people who would normally not think about going to the ballet.]

- Natasha

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