Fosca

Did the new director release any DVDs already? I thought that was Heinz Spoerli in the past...

The name is Iana Selenko, not Lana :http://www.staatsballett-berlin.de/en/ensemble/iana-salenko/38

German companies which perform mainly (or exclusively) ballet: Berlin, Dortmund, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Karlsruhe, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart. Even Essen, Gelsenkirchen and Leipzig dance on pointe most of the time. I don't think that's "few", Diane.

László Seregi at Budapest, Hungarian National Ballet, with music by Karl Goldmark: http://www.opera.hu/en/balett/A_makrancos_Kata/20132014/info

Fateyev gave an interview to the German dance magazine "tanz" in December 2012 (only in print, not online), permit me to cite one of his answers, just to contradict the impression that he forces his dancers to do Forsythe: "Question: Are you afraid that your dancers might lose their pure, academic style when they dance Forsythe or other modern works? Fateyev: No. The balance is important. When we first staged our Forsythe ballets in 2004, it was like fresh air for the dancers. It was good for them to control their own bodies in a totally different way. Everybody absolutely wanted to dance it. It's not a coincidence that we will put that evening back on the programme. I also think it's interesting what Forsythe is doing today, that's why his own company will guest at the Mariinsky festival in March. Thus we can show the contrast in his oeuvre until today - here his classical pieces, there his recent performance art." And by the way: I loved the Mariinsky dancers in Forsythe, they did it in a very different, special style. Sorry, I'm European, I know we think different.

And Duato is the person who will bring her back to Berlin, the Mikhailovsky and the Berlin State Ballet will work closely together in the future, as a press release by the Mikhailovsky stated. Semionova did not leave for ABT, she left and wanted to be re-hired for Berlin as a freelance dancer with better money. She only got the job with ABT three months later.

This is SO true! The corps makes up for every soloist you may not like, and the magic always works...

Just some impressions about the evening, very personal I fear: as much as I love all the Mariinsky women (almost all), the situation with the men is getting desperate somehow. They're all fine, correct, in style, but so slow, so lackluster - where's the Ruzimatov/Zelensky/Fadeyev quality? Stepin was fine in Tarantella, but you need more energy and pizazz for DQ. Askerov is tall, young, bright, good partner, looks promising, but you really can't tell after one pdd. The dancing of some of the ladies like Gonchar or Martynyk looked a little seasoned, and though it's the end of the year a gala should not feel like tiresome routine. I adore Kondaurova, but the Grand Pas Classique is not made for her. I like Russian dancers in modern choreography, though neither Vishneva nor Merkuriev got the fluent, elegant style of NDT or the dark undertones of the piece. Never mind, it's interesting to see them do it in their very special way.

Here's the whole evening - Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, 27.12.2012 Pas de quatre Kondaurova, Yevseyeva, Vasnetosova, Krasnokutskaya Talisman Pdd Osmolkina - Sergeyev Tarantella Gonchar - Stepin Tchaikovsky Pdd Shirinkina - Ivanchenko Grand Pas Classique Kondaurova - Askerov Parting (ch: Yuri Smekalov) Yevseyeva - Sergeyev DQ Pdd Martynyuk - Stepin (should have been Shklyarov, dropped out last minute) Subject to change (ch: Lightfoot León) Vishneva - Merkuriev Pimonov, Nedviga, Petrov, Zainetdinov Kingdom of the Shades (with costumes and backdrop from the reconstruction) Skorik - Korsuntzev Shirinkina, Gonchar, Vasnetsova

They were all in the divertissement before: Shirinkina in Tchai Pas (beautiful, light and soft), Vasnetsova in Pas de quatre as Grisi, Gonchar in Tarantella with Stepin - I've seen that one more sparkling, but it was ok. The only positive surprise of the evening was Timur Askerov in the Grand Pas Classique, I had not seen him before. Maybe there's a small light of hope for the Mariinsky men.

Maria Shirinkia, Nadezhda Gonchar and Daria Vasnetsova.

I saw Skorik at the Baden-Baden Gala yesterday, she did Bayadère, Kingdom of the Shades with Korsuntzev. Well – she did not fall over, she executed all the steps correctly (one tiny problem after a pirouette), so I don’t see a reason for your excessive sarcasm, to be honest. I would have spared words like that for Mr. Ivanchenko in the Tchai pas, who danced distressingly and did not even make an effort to smile to cover it. But Skorik is a far cry from the famous Mariinsky Nikiyas, you’re right. Hyperextensions and long limbs are not enough for the role, her port de bras is not soft and lyrical, her dancing has no soul, no connection to her partner. I felt that you see clearly that she’s not from Vaganova school, it looks Russian, but not Kirov. Very disappointing, if you’ve seen Lopatkina or Pavlenko.

Well I'm not - I'd still like to see for myself how good or bad she is.

Baden-Baden is a rather small spa town in the Black Forest which has a very huge, new Festspielhaus since 1998, Germany’s biggest opera and concert hall with 2500 seats. The audience there is not as experienced as a New York audience. They are rich and have to pay very high ticket prices, as the Festspielhaus is the only German Opera House working without subsidies, but with the exception of some balletomanes who mostly come from Stuttgart or from France, they see rather few ballet performances. Nonetheless they know the Mariinsky Ballet very well because the company has been guesting there since 12 years. Baden-Baden is also a town where many Russians live, so there’s a huge Russian audience there. The Mariinsky mostly brings the Petipa classics and a gala, but they also show a new or modern piece every season. They always bring some of their top artists, for the last years Lopatkina was there almost every year for a Swan Lake and the gala, this year it’s Vishneva for the gala and Kondaurova for Swan Lake. I’ve seen Asylmuratova, Ruzimatov, Zelensky, Makhalina, Nioradze, Fadeyev, Dumchenko, Pavlenko there over the years. I saw Le Parc on Friday with Kondaurova and Zverev and was really surprised how fine Preljocaj’s ballet worked with the company – it was a very intense, subtle, tender performance, especially by Kondaurova. No, I did not see the Skorik Swan Lake, sorry.

There is a recording of the whole ballet music, made some years ago by the Orchestra of Stuttgart State Theatre with conductor James Tuggle. I have no idea if it is available in the US, here's a link to amazon.de: http://www.amazon.de/Eugen-Onegin-Staatsorchester-Stuttgart/dp/B00003ZA93/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339399365&sr=8-1 Even if it is not complete, the Australian recording is much better.

This is in Italian, but maybe it might help with some of the music themes: http://www.balletto.net/giornale.php?articolo=605

Actually, she started as a principal dancer, Malakhov hired her from the Bolshoi school and made her principcal directly.

If it was "Les Bourgeois" by Ben van Cauwenbergh, this was not made for Daniil Simkin, but for his father Dimitrij Simkin in 2003 at Wiesbaden, Germany. It has been danced at many galas by many dancers in Europe since then.

Here's a link to Vogel's Facebook page with pictures and dates. His recent roles at Stuttgart include Moondog in Cranko's Lady and the Fool, of course the classics like Swan Lake and Cranko's Romeo, but also Béjart's Bolero and the title role in Marco Goecke's Orlando, a very modern piece after VIrginia Woolf's novel. His name is Friedemann (not Friedmann or Friemann) - like J.S. Bach's son, which has nothing to do with fries, but literally translated means Peace-Man