Viviane

Sorry, I'm spoiling the chronology of the performances a bit. I need to keep my promise and post something on 'La Bayadère' ! "La Bayadere" 02 August 2003 Nikya : Daria Pavlenko Solor : Andrian Fadeyev Gamzatti : Elvira Tarasova Travelling to see the Kirov : it's always exciting ! I had a ticket in my pocket for Kirov's old/new Bayadère on Saturday 02 August and I was more than happy because Daria Pavlenko had recovered from illness ! Earlier this year I saw Vikarev's reconstruction of "La Bayadère" for the first time in Paris and I was completely bowled over So, I saw -months later- a production where almost all the flaws seemed to have vanished. I had no problems anymore with so-called 'slow parts' in the first acts, costumes were adapted and dancers were no longer struggling with attributes. Even the elephant didn't rush over the stage this time . Maybe the tiger will come out of the jungle instead of the toyshop till they are touring the USA ? After her unforgettable "Swan Lake" in Graz, I had high expectations of Pavlenko's performance. And I can't wait to tell she didn't disappoint me this time too ! Her entrance was impressive and what a face ! She was a very determined Bayadère and the High Brahmin (Vladimir Ponomarev) couldn't influence her. The first pdd.already set the tone : Solor and Nikiya are in love, no doubt about that. Pavlenko seems to have a remarkable influence on her partners : I saw Fadeyev like I never saw him before, he was even better this time than in Paris : warmer and emotional ! He was really convincing in his love for Nikiya and the Brahmin was tormented by the idea ! The Second Act brought us an impressive confrontation between Nikiya and Gamzatti (Elvira Tarasova). Tarasova is a firstclass ballerina and actor, her despair was human and plausible and she had no problem in taking us along in her mental development of the character. Pavlenko's strong bodylanguage made the confrontation absolutely stunning. I felt realy spoiled with the cast : we had Yana Selina, Irina Golub, Svetlana Ivanova and Olesya Novikova as the 4 Bayadères Manu's dance was a bit of of let-down...there was absolutely no comparision with the delightful Vaganova-students in Paris. Ofcourse the "Infernal Dance" with a pure Rakhmanova, powerful Baimuradov and Scherbakov made me forget everything ! Btw -since Graz- Baimuradov is a new favourite of mine , he has style ! Nikiya's melancholic dance of the Bayadère, her hidden despair, the joy when receiving the basket with flowers : I was totally carried away and -to my surprise- I found myself with my hands on my face, appalled by the betrayal. In the Third Act Gamzatti is totally convinced in having Solor as her own until the shade of Nikiya appears and Solor seems completely absent. His dream was a delight to the eye : Irina Golub (she became a gem !), Irina Zhelonkina (a marvel !) and the younger Tatiana Tkachenko (she brings something sweet to her dancing). Fadeyev was 'grand' and I adored Pavlenko's balances and little gestures. I can't find words for the "Kingdom of the Shades", the line-up of 32 shades is a mindblowing perfection. The Orchestra was in superb form and the audience was completely in spell of the performance : the auditorium was as still as a mouse until the very last note. A tunderous applause afterwards was sending waves of appreciation to the dancers. As I already said before, I adore the Fourth Act ! No matter how long it makes the performance... Although this time I was a bit less enthusiastic : 'the Dance of the Lotus Blossoms', executed by children of diverse English balletschools could'nt compete at all with the divine Vaganova School dancers. I can't say they didn't do a good job on the London-stage, you simply can't compare it. But I don't want to be picky here : the audience loved them and there were some extraordinary and charming dancers between them. The Pas d'action delighted me thanks to Tkachenko and Selina, even Sukhorukova surprised me by being more elegant. I'm always in awe for the haunting shade of Nikiya who disturbes the dancing of the marrying couple : Daria Pavlenko was mesmerizing and the cold-white spotlight helped her in her commanding interventions. I had an apocalyptic picture in my head about tunder and lightning, falling collums, stones and whatever made the temple collapse from my Parisian viewing....none of this was happening that evening -well not exactly- but absolutely not in that overwhelming way !? What happened ? Have they reduced these scenic events or was there a technical problem ? Nevertheless, the apotheosis was great...the applause immense and one of the first things Daria did was coming forward and send a 'thank you' to the Orchestra : a beautiful gesture ! A pity the organisator offered only 4 performances of 'La Bayadère', they easily could have another sold-out evening and I already regretted not to be able to see her 'Swan Lake' on the 08th of August I can't help it, I'm becoming more and more in the spell of the Kirov Ballet, how will I survive next season ?

Yes indeed Marc, I went to see La Bayadère too ! I'll write something about it tomorrow ...and my Eurostar was delayed due to the heat ! :sweating: Thanks for the info re- high-kicking legs, I apologize towards Balanchine fans !

Marc, how could I resist your invitation to post about my tropical London-visit ? I hope you don't mind that I start with the 'Contrast'-performance. I must say I have mixed feelings about the evening of 04th August. I don't think it was such a good idea to bring 'Serenade' and 'Etudes' into one programme, adding 'Rite of spring' to this was, well euh...a real contrast ! More, we have discussed already several times the problems for dancers to adapt to another 'style'. I can imagine that dancing 'Etudes' after the 'Rite of spring' wasn't easy, apart from the energy-consuming choreography of the 'Rite..' !? Add to this some technical problems, a lack of rehearsal time and the performance falls to pieces I found "Serenade" appealing for its playfullness, its pureness and fluent choreography. Well, sometimes this makes me forgiving towards Mr.B. for high-kicking legs ;), but I consider it no more than a finger exercise. Natalia Sologub was outstanding and I was also happily surprised (again !) by Irina Golub. Korsuntsev and the most charming male-dancer of the Kirov : Viktor Baranov (!) showed more competence in this plotless ballet than I've ever seen before. Nevertheless, I always remain with some dissatisfaction : one can make another twelve simular choreographies on Tchaikovsky's Serenade ?! "The Rite of Spring", a meticulous reconstruction by M.Hodson and K.Archer, should have been the crown-piece of the evening. Shame, but to me it wasn't. I find it hard -knowing about all the efforts the authors took to come to this result- to judge on it. Personally, it was a disappointment : it didn't work for me! Ofcourse it's difficult to put aside other, good performances of the Rite in order to see this one with new eyes ! OK, there were marvellous bits in it. I adored the costumes, the settings, the ritual cadance and the force of the dancers, though they need more time. The orchestra was breathtaking and made me shiver ! But, at some point I even wouldn't have mind if the blocked curtain stayed down The ballet missed completely his climax at the end, no matter how convincing Yulia Makhalina was in her performance. The most frappant and powerfull picture of the performance for me is Yulia, standing for minutes in the same position, realizing she's the choosen one and no escape is possible. "Etudes", a real pleasing choreography with simple but effective lighting turned out to be underrehearsed or were the dancers too tired ? Apart from this I ADORED the leading maledancers : Sarafanov and Fadeyev. Zakharova sparkled in a ballet where she could demonstrate her dazzling technique, but again there remained some imperfection : not the slightest emotion

Thank you Marc ! I had already put Daria Pavlenko on the list of unique "Swan Lake"s too. I can't wait to see the same cast tomorrow !

Beckster, your description of Aysem Sunal is completely what I see... and not see in her. She's a good dancer, tiny indeed : must be heavenly for her partners who need to lift her ;) but....she never makes me go 'Wow', to use your words ! She can be completely blank. Your interpretation that you noticed the choreography more than the dancer, isn't a surprise to me ! Jeroen Hofmans and Alain Honorez, both come from the company's school. Hofmans must be known by NYCB-fans, he's been a soloist there for a couple of years.

beckster, I would love to hear which cast you saw.

Baletoman, I'm surprised no-one has to add something about these performances ! I saw both evenings and have enjoyed it in a great way ! Ok, I do understand that a lot of balletomanes are not into gala's but to me it's still a wonderful opportunity to learn about dancers you otherwise don't see that often ! More, this evening was reasonable priced and in terms of 'entertaining' a great value for money. I don't find RAH that bad...maybe I was just lucky with my seats ? Indeed some people in the Arena (top-price) -with flat floor ! - had problems with visability On to the dancing now : I quite liked "Madam Lioneli" - the new work of young choreographer Kirill Simonov. What we saw was a sharp, flashy choreography tailormade for Nioradze on music by Adams and Bryars. I thought the first part, the strongest (maybe due to the music ?) and you have a point concerning being 'predictable' in some way. We haven't seen a masterpiece, but an entertaining choreography and with a stellarcast like Nioradze and Kuznetsov it wasn't boring to me, even not on a second viewing ! My greatest disappointment was the absence of Daria Pavlenko. After missing her in Paris, I was really looking forward to have a taste of her moving dancing so that I could fill the gap until the summerseason ;) Instead of Pavlenko and Tarasova one had invited a Maly-theater's principal : Irina Perrin. This poor replacement was the only real blame on the evening. I don't think it was a good decision to put such an inexperienced ballerina on the London-stage. A pity the organisation even didn't made the effort to add a cast-change note to the programme : so, I heard the French family next to me complaining about the dancing of Daria Pavlenko !!! I must say I was intrigued by "Legend of Love", a ballet I only heard of and at first sight a bit bizar, on the second night...I hadn't enough with the Monolog and Adagio, I wanted to see more of it ! Is there any chance they'll bring this some day to London ? The "Le Corsaire"-pdd was saved by Igor Zelensky. Great to see him back after such a long absence. Although he seemed carefull and omitted some lifts (? have I seen this right ?), I adore his commending of the stage. Half of the venue was looking with eagles-eyes towards the excerpts from "Manon". A difficult task for Ilja Kuznetsov and Yulia Makhalina, not at least that building-up emotions along a complete ballet is so difficult to recreate in a flash. If possible, Kuznetsov is grown even more impressive as when I saw him a couple of years back in the London season, where he danced somewhat everything ! Not that he was a perfect cast as Des Grieux, but together with Makhalina they made a good couple. It was the first time I saw Makhalina and I'm not sure she convinced me totally. Given the hype a group of fans is creating around Nikolai Tsiskaridze, I wasn't sure he could meet my expectation. He brought "Narcissus" and I agree he didn't disappoint ;-) He's a born stage-man, I must see more from him ! Irma Nioradze and Farouk Ruzimatov took us for a while into the world of Fokine's "Scheherazade". Irma was in wonderful form and the performance of both these mature dancers was putting the Black Swan pdd - which followed - completely in the shadow ! I have never been moved by Evgeny Ivanchenko, even if he seems to be the most solid partner ever, and the combination with a insecure Perrin made me decide to forget quick about it. Ruzimatov gave a breathtaking performance in Béjart's "Death of the Poet". Makhalina and Kuznetsov made me longing to see - as soon as possible - "Raymonda" live !!! Why does Russian companies don't bring this to UK ? With "Don Quixote" Nioradze and Ivanchenko warmed up the audience for a surprising ritmic finale ! Completely in-line with the atmosphere of this Gala, every dancer offered us an extra injection with great show-off dancing. These brilliant evenings, made me look forward to see some of these dancers in full-length ballets this summer.

Marc, thank you for spreading this to the world ! I beg the good fairies to send someone who will pamper us with classical ballet ! Although...I'm not so convinced about Leona Detiège's taste !? ;)

antoP, I must confess that I'm not very objective when watching ballet in Italy

Aubri, you are absolutely 'spot-on' ! Apart from the wealth in very different personalities among the leading dancers, the corps de ballet always shines through it's enthusiasm (instead of unison !). I know this has little to do with a real 'style'-definition but it's undoubtly a major signature in performances by Italian companies. Last time I saw La Scala was in Paris with 'Excelsior'. Despite this rather eclectic and out-of-date ballet, I had a great time thanks to the enthusiasm of ALL the dancers !

Marc, I must keep your analogies between period styles and ballet styles in mind ! Hmm...I wonder which ballet style you connect with Baroque ? and I'm waiting to read your Bolshoi definition ...

And there are two new principals announced ! From September on, Viacheslav Samodurov and Federico Bonelli, both currently first soloists at "Het Nationale Ballet" in Amsterdam, will join the company

I must disappoint you Marc ! So far I haven't seen much of DNB A shame, I know, because travelling to A'dam is easy. When I had to make a choice I prefered Paris and London ! But the whole company has conquered me with their R&J : the best production I've ever seen and Larissa Lezhnina is a real 'ballerina' in every sense of the word. Another point : I just discovered that topseats are about half the price of POB...and I won't mention RB !

Oh dear, another temptation ! Is casting already available ? I never have seen casting on their website, me think ?!

hmm, well if I need to do a self-sacrifice, I'd rather go and see 'Swan Lake' a second time :rolleyes: Can you believe there are a lot of schoolperformances sceduled too ? I have pity on the teacher who need to explain all these chimeras to teenagers !

Since all performances in Antwerp were sold out, there is an extra evening : 27 March 2003. Marc, is it possible we have missed out on something ? ;)

Lynette, that's exactly how I feeled after the Swan Lake performance "sorry for the dancers" ! And this performance is even worser ! It's a real pity they bring these performances internationaly. One gets a one-sided view on the company and the dancers hardly have the chance to show what they are worth ! Marc, I don't know which cast you saw, but in the Fourth Mouvement of Symposium, Olga Voloboueva was outstanding !

Yes Mashinka, Valery Panov became AD in 1984 or 1985, I can't remember exactly and his wife Galina Panova became a principal dancer with the company. He was succesfull in attracking former dancers of the troupe : Koen Onzia, Ben & Tom Van Cauwenbergh returned and it was the start of a short but marvelous period ! Discussions with the board of directors made an abrupt end to the collaboration with Panov : a disaster in my eyes. I even remember that some dancers went on strike against this decision and occupied the operahouse so that several performances had to be cancelled.

Leigh, I even don't need an explanation to understand ! A lot of my balletfriends simply skip Bogaerts work. Thank you for the link, Marc. I didn't realize they had a real light designer for 'Not strictly Rubens' ! I hardly can remember more than the harsh strobophobic lights I missed out on R&J last year ! A bit odd to go and see it in London isn't it ? Maybe I should not be that harsh towards the costume-design. There are good ideas in it (apart from the SM-influence !) : f.i.the pieces in the Blue Rubens = purety. But it had not the overwhelming effect that I expected on stage !

Marc, they are bringing this to Sadler's Wells in May ! eh...I still haven't figured out what those strange, wheeled symbols steered by aliens (?) were during the "Golden Rubens" !? Any idea ?

Alexandra, the only 'enticing' thing in it, is that I can't resist in posting a reply The whole media-campaign around this 'balletproject' made me decide in advance : 'this is a ballet I don't want to see'. A combination of Van Beirendonck and Pragha Khan seemed hot enough to attrack all kind of people. We were flooded with articles on those two in lots of magazines and the dancing disappeared to the background as a rather marginal element, used and abused to serve their creativity. But my curiosity has won and I've seen the performance last Friday....and I only can agree with Marc on all what he wrote about it I still don't get it what Rubens had to do with it : I found myself as a hostage of an SM-freak, trapped in a mad world with no possibility to escape : bad music, bad lighting, in-existing choreography, and the costumes (?) :a long story with very little contence ! I only want to forget as fast as possible about it : another waist of money, a lost opportunity. The REAL highlight of the evening "Symposium", had nothing to do with the name of this double bill : a choreography inspired by the wonderful world of painter Mondriaan on music from Leonard Bernstein. Here we saw the Royal Ballet of Flanders on it's best ! It was a feast to see the well-trained dancers in a piece they really could call their own. This creation from d'Amboise was in the same line as the "Three for the road" triple bill I saw some months ago. Artistically the company seems 'on drift' and being the only classical company overhere, this is alarming ! Judging from the "grey-curly hair ladies", I saw at the performance, a new audience hasn't been discovered yet ! I can't remember I ever left a ballet where I refused to applaud, no matter how sorry I felt for the dancers !

this is not about 'bad' language, but about a tendentious posting : something rarely seen on this site.

I sincerely hope we get another account to read about this performance instead of an inaccurate translation of Cathérine's posting on another forum !

Françoise, I heard that a lot of cast changes in Jewels, are up for the coming days ?! Anymore news ?

I must say I rather prefer a well-balanced partnership instead of one of the partners 'stealing the show' ! That's one of the components that lifts a performance to that 'ultimate level' ! I you go and see Kobborg and Cojocaru, you'll know what I mean.