Mariinsky Young Choreographers Workshop Livestream

[Amour]

I don't know if anyone else watched this Mariinsky livestream but I did ( I'm on my second viewing). What a pleasure to watch Mariinsky dancers in new works. Not every piece is a masterpiece but many were very good. And how wonderful to see high production values (sets, costumes, lighting and live music) for young choreographers. Plus almost every piece is danced by the Mariinsky. Yermakov, Osmolkina, Shklyarov, Bondareva and more. What a treat!

My favorite piece was actually the one leotard ballet with only Vaganova students. I believe this was the piece Elementarium ( the pieces are not performed in the order on the program). 'Expertly performed, the music really fits the dance and reminded me of some Balanchine's leotard ballets. The 2 leads were fantastic. Ready for export to NYCB IMO. My second favorite was Smekalov's Orpheus in the Underworld. This ballet (led by Shklyarov and Bondareva) has lots of acting plus elaborate sets and costumes. It's quite sophisticated and though not entirely successful looks less like a "Young Choreographers" work than a work by an established choreographer.

I encourage everyone to see this. It's still up, playing on a loop at the Mariinsky.tv site.

[Birdsall]

Smekalov is basically an established choreographer in Russia. His Presentiment of Spring and Bolero Suite are in the Mariinsky's repertoire. His full length Moidodr premiered at the Bolshoi and is listed in the Bolshoi's repertoire. He has done other short pieces also. So it makes sense his work looked more established as you described. He still dances at the Mariinsky and is not a big choreographer name internationally so that is probably why they included him in this program, but I think of him as sort of "established" or already a "professional" choreographer.

[Cygnet]

Thanks for this Amour & Birdsall. These are wonderful new ballets for the company, and everyone looks great. I wish that new works such as these could be featured throughout a season and

not only premiered or showcased during the annual Int'l Ballet Festival.

[MadameP]

It just shows that beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. I watched the whole of this livestream event and honestly could not wait for it to finish. I wanted to watch to see the dancers, who all gave every piece their all. I found most of the works derivative and quite honestly, incomprehensible and often ugly. Personally I detest the trend for "dancing' to no music, electronic sounds, rainfall etc. I just don't like it. I found many of the costumes ugly also. Yes - of course it is good to encourage new choreographers, but watching this succession of horrible pieces made me realise that Pimonov really is their outstanding up and coming choreographer, although I like Smekalov's Parting (I think this shorter piece is much better than the bizarre Orpheus.) I wish instead of this evening, we could have been treated to an evening of rarely danced extracts that have been lost from the repertoire. They are still there in the memories of the coaches and older generation of dancers. The Vaganova students put on many of these in their concerts at the Hermitage, and if it were not for these concerts, often for young students, this repertoire would be totally in oblivion. Why can't the company show off this part of their repertoire, which is wholly neglected at the moment, and which has been part of its tradition instead of veering off at a tangent with all this modern choreography? I actually really enjoyed Pimonov's Bambi, but I do think it was wholly inappropriate as the opening ballet of the Mariinsky Festival, and the promised Stone Flower and Bronze Horseman would have been much preferable. I do fear that all these modern works are going to infiltrate the repertoire more and more as Gergiev is known to love modern music and productions. I respect everyone's right to have their opinions on this modern evening, but I personally HATED it!

[Amour]

In case anyone is interested, the Mariinsky tweeted me that the lead dancers in the piece, Elementarium (performed by Vaganova students), were Vera Segova and Adrian Mitchell. The two dancers in Smekalov's Who is My Shadow were not Vaganova students but Americans, Kenedy Kallis and Austen Acevedo.

[Amour]

It just shows that beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. I watched the whole of this livestream event and honestly could not wait for it to finish. I wanted to watch to see the dancers, who all gave every piece their all. I found most of the works derivative and quite honestly, incomprehensible and often ugly. Personally I detest the trend for "dancing' to no music, electronic sounds, rainfall etc. I just don't like it. I found many of the costumes ugly also. Yes - of course it is good to encourage new choreographers, but watching this succession of horrible pieces made me realise that Pimonov really is their outstanding up and coming choreographer, although I like Smekalov's Parting (I think this shorter piece is much better than the bizarre Orpheus.) I wish instead of this evening, we could have been treated to an evening of rarely danced extracts that have been lost from the repertoire. They are still there in the memories of the coaches and older generation of dancers. The Vaganova students put on many of these in their concerts at the Hermitage, and if it were not for these concerts, often for young students, this repertoire would be totally in oblivion. Why can't the company show off this part of their repertoire, which is wholly neglected at the moment, and which has been part of its tradition instead of veering off at a tangent with all this modern choreography? I actually really enjoyed Pimonov's Bambi, but I do think it was wholly inappropriate as the opening ballet of the Mariinsky Festival, !

I have to say I just saw two Pimonov pieces done for YAGP. one was called "Untitled" for Kristina Shapran and an ABT male corps dancer. The other was "Choreographic Game 3x3" for 6 Mariinsky dancers including Kondaurova, Sergeyev and Batoeva. Both were performed in ballet slippers and had a witty tone to them, with flexed feet, off balance turns. I call this modern dance not ballet. And with all due respect, I thought it was nonsense, really not suited in any way to the dancers and what they are capable of. Give me Smekalov (even rotten Smekalov) any day. At least he utilizes the ballet vocabulary. I thought the Pimonov pieces were terrible.

[MadameP]

Choreographic Game 3 x 3 and Inside the Lines have both been performed several times as part of the Mariinsky repertoire, outside the Young Choreographers' Workshop. Bambi and In the Jungle were chosen to open the Mariinsky Festival recently. Both the latter ballets in particular clearly utilise the ballet vocabulary and were well received by the audiences. What a shame though that the promised Bronze Horseman never materialised and Stone Flower also. Either of those two ballets would have been greatly preferable.