I think that I predicted this one right.
May be i am growing OUT of admiration for Osipova, but i want to THANK Shipulina. she did FOUR performances, and let me dare to say that Bolshoi's Le Corsaire's Medora is more tenous than La Sulfide or Giselle. So, She managed to pull two performances back-to-back.
But we'd never know for sure what really happened - to delight everyone - Osipova didn't look injured or strained (not like poor Fadeyev)..............
Isn't there a theme, Osipova/Visheva - trying to get as many ABT performances and running out of steam/or time to perform with the home company. But it's not for me to judge ;-))
PS: I liked them all, but i'd agree with Hans, i liked Gulnara better than Medora
I cannot agree more, YID.
As the International Sales Manager for Gaynor Minden, I was in touch with Katya Shipulina throughout the tour (she is a Gaynor Minden Artist). She did indeed dance an incredibly large amount compared to her fellow principals/leading soloists. Last week alone she danced 5 Medoras - count them, 5, in a span of 6 days : Tuesday's General Rehearsal, Wednesday's evening performance, Friday's evening performance, Saturday's evening performance and Sunday's matinee. Not many dancers in the world could pull that off at the end of a three week tour with week two including Odette/Odile & Kitri and still be standing at the end of it. I was with her at dinner late Saturday night when she got the call that she was to dance the Sunday matinee ... she merely shrugged and finished her dinner and wished for a decent massage.
If only every dancer in the world could be as dependable, gracious and easy-going as Katya Shipulina, then she would have the benefit of not having to graciously dance so often for others who bow out at the last minute for 'unknown' reasons. That being said, I thought her Saturday night performance with Ruslan Skvorstov far superior to her Friday night outing with a partner that she had barely rehearsed with and who was evidently too short for her (finger turns were all but impossible!). On Saturday her arabesque at the end of her variation from the pas de deux in Scene II of Act I was divine - she lingered there for a few extra seconds, a look of pure joy on her face.