Birdsall

I love the ballet The Fountain of Bakchisarai and even a B cast is still fun to see in it. Obama Bondareva was better in this than as Gulnare, and Iosifidi was a terrific actress as Zarema torn by despair and jealousy. She managed the back of the head kicks okay. This was not an earth shattering night at the ballet but still totally enjoyable. A Brazilian woman and her children chatted with me, and she kept saying how courageous for me to come to St. Petersburg several years in a row and see a ballet every night. I told her it did not take courage, just money! LOL Vitaly Amelishko debuted as Vaslav tonight. I think I would grow to like him if he didn't remind me so much of the giant woman on Game of Thrones. I think he has potential and seems better since he's lost some weight. Nail Khairsanov blew me away as Nurali, the male in the ballet, who like the women, seeks desperately to please Ghirei. He acted up a storm and showed incredible acrobatics in the final act. Nikolai Naumov was a decent Ghirei but can not erase the memories of Kuznetsov's towering depiction of the Khan. Maria Adzhamova was a very sexy 2nd Wife. I wish we could see her in larger roles! I think Fountain is a totally exciting Soviet ballet. Glad to see it!

Makhalina was listed as one of the coaches for tonight's Fountain of Bakchisarai.

The Bolshoi is done for the season. I went last year. But nothing to report this year. Just returned to see the Kremlin which was closed on the day I traveled to Moscow last summer. The Diamond Fund has Catherine the Great's coronation crown and Orlov Diamond! OMG! So dazzling!!! Moscow is definitely exciting. I prefer SP but Moscow is very exciting and amazing!

The Bolshoi is done for the season. I went last year. But nothing to report this year. Just returned to see the Kremlin which was closed on the day I traveled to Moscow last summer. The Diamond Fund has Catherine the Great's coronation crown and Orlov Diamond! OMG! So dazzling!!! Moscow is definitely exciting. I prefer SP but Moscow is very exciting and amazing!

The Bolshoi is done for the season. I went last year. But nothing to report this year. Just returned to see the Kremlin which was closed on the day I traveled to Moscow last summer. The Diamond Fund has Catherine the Great's coronation crown and Orlov Diamond! OMG! So dazzling!!! Moscow is definitely exciting. I prefer SP but Moscow is very exciting and amazing!

Raymonda with Lopatkina and Korsuntsev tonight! These big stars seem to rise the temperature in the theatre because it felt like a happy audience. Lopatkina had a very good night. I used to find her on the cold side but she has developed a warmer persona on stage, and her acting is often much better than before. You see a complete professional who knows what to do, and on her best nights like tonight she hits a home run. She no longer holds balances very long but she was totally in character. I actually think she is better in Raymonda than Swan Lake at this point. She seemed like a young girl in Act 1, very frightened by Aberakhdam in Act 2, and a haughty queen (metaphor) in Act 3 after going through a lot. The girl turned into a woman. Korsuntsev was in much better form tonight than in Wednesday's Swan Lake. He is a fabulous partner too! Smekalov is great as Aberakhdam. Sorry so short. On a night train to Moscow and need to talk to my Russian friend! More later...

If you visit St. Petersburg visiting the little Theatre Museum near the Alexandrinsky Theatre in Ostrovsky Square not far from Vaganova is a must! The museum has ballet slippers from so many historical ballerinas so you can imagine how tiny they were. The only current ballerinas with slippers there are Diana Vishneva and Ulyana Lopatkina. It is shocking to see how huge Lopatkina's shoe is compared to all others! Compared to the others it looks like a giant's shoe! There are costumes, set designs, photos, etc. from drama, opera, and ballet....a very fascinating museum I skipped this museum the first few trips. I shouldn't have. So posting this to alert others. My guide book made it sound so minor and not a major sightseeing place, but ballet lovers will LOVE it!!!! There is even a drawing of the Mariinsky's original curtain.

Le Corsaire tonight... I think this was Alina Somova's second assumption of Medora, if I am not mistaken. She was amazing, and I think people who avoid her performances are missing out. She has blossomed into a dancer with a light and airy style. I know all the complaints in the past on this forum but she is a stronger dancer and I encourage everyone to see her. Her acting was great, technically I saw no mistakes, and there was a general feel that this dancer has come of age. Some great balances during her variation in the pas de trois coupled with a persona of someone who is simply delighted to be dancing was infectious and the Russians loved her! In contrast, I felt Oxana Bondareva's Gulnare appeared mired in self doubt or something. She seemed tentative and glossed over steps that I have seen Yevseyeva, in contrast, do crystal clear. It wasn't listed as a debut. At first I assumed it was since she seemed like she was trying to remember steps. Yevgeny Ivanchenko has to be the most frustrating dancer on the planet. You see the Vaganova pedigree in his movements especially in the arms but it is like he's coasting on auto-pilot. What he does is fine and you see the potential for elegance but somehow it feels like he is saying, "This is good enough!" and "Why over exert myself?" I think Ali is Kimin Kim's best role. It is one in which all his best attributes are shown off. His elevation, his deep cambres that end his variation and coda, and his turns look pretty amazing, and the crowd goes wild! He has even worked to make his pirouettes elegant reminiscent of Andrei Batalov. He did one like Batalov and then bobbled on the next but it was minor. Valeria Martynyuck, Nadezhda Gonchar, and Anastasia Nikitina were the Odalisques. I liked Martynyuk and Nikitina the most. I read on here that Nikitina slipped and hurt herself during the NY tour, so it is great to see her back in great form! Overall, a fun night at Mariinsky 2....

A friend arranged for me to meet her. I ran into in the audience twice after that! Very down-to-earth sweet woman and so incredibly beautiful! I met Alina Somova tonight, and she was nice too.

The Sarasota dancers seem to use the upper body a lot in Ashton as does the Mariinsky. Royal Ballet seems to prefer very stiff arms and upper body. Maybe that is why critics think their Ashton technique has declined.

The Sarasota dancers seem to use the upper body a lot in Ashton as does the Mariinsky. Royal Ballet seems to prefer very stiff arms and upper body. Maybe that is why critics think their Ashton technique has declined.

Amy, the Sarasota Ballet has been getting good reviews in its Ashton ballets, and it is a style I am learning by attending Sarasota Ballet and it is a great thing for his ballets to get staged all over. People see that Balanchine is not the only great 20th century choreographer. For anyone interested in the Mariinsky's staging, the program for Sylvia said the choreography was revived by Christopher Newton.....staged by Anna Trevien and Susan Jones

Tonight was Sylvia. Oxana Skorik made her debut in the role with Timur Askerov partnering her. I used to dread the idea of a Skorik performance but her Paquita in DC showed a huge improvement so I decided to attend her Sylvia. She no longer makes huge blunders but there were a couple of times she fell out of a turn awkwardly but that was nothing compared to the mistakes she used to make. I was worried about the pirouettes in the last act when she had to end on pointe in an arabesque and rotate, but she managed them. Not smoothly but not a disaster. There were times she looked like she was counting steps and a couple of times she was not dancing to the music. I would say that if she appeared with one of the local ballet companies in Florida or even a weekday matinee at ABT she would be just fine, but at the Mariinsky you really expect more. She does look more confident on stage nowadays and that helps. This wasn't a performance of a lifetime but it wasn't terrible or laughable either. Askerov also still feels like a B cast dancer. Not a disaster but he doesn't rock your world either. Yuri Smekalov was terrific as Orion making the most out of the role. He looks beefed up (muscular). He was passionate about Sylvia but also a great villain. To me he almost stole the show with his acting. Alexei Tyutyunnick was enjoyable as Eros, and Tatiana Tkachenko was riveting and on fire as Diana! I wish she would get more chances. I think she went through a period of weight gain but she seems fit now and is always very exciting to watch. Valeria Martynyuk and Vasily Tkachenko were SO CUTE as the goats!!! Ashton's choreography is much more enjoyable to see live rather than on the Royal Ballet's commercial DVD. I forgot how many beautiful patterns for the corps! Basically it was a mixed bag but still fun to see this work and to look around and remind myself I was in the most beautiful theatre in the world!

I forgot to mention that just before the curtain went down Chebykina chose an unusual and awkward pose with arms reaching above leaning on Siegfried and one foot slightly off the ground but lost her balance and had to put the raised foot down on the ground. To me it symbolized how awkward the whole performance was to me. But like I said, the audience roared way stronger than it did for Kolegova last night. So maybe I am on another planet.

Tonight was another Swan Lake at M-2, and I really wanted to like it. I had hoped Chebykina had improved. Last summer I saw her as Gamzatti and she seemed to hardly dance to the music. Tonight she was much better in that respect, but she did unusual things. During Odette's variation when she does developpes a la seconde her legs were more in front of her than a la seconde. I never saw anyone do that. And I love flowing arms but Chebykina's arms seemed like an exaggerated spoof of a Mariinsky dancer. There were a couple of moments I almost laughed out loud because it was almost like watching Les Trocks make fun of a Russian ballerina. Other comic moments were her facial expressions for Odile. Whenever she did an assisted turn she finished with a look of "OMG! Did I just do that?" and when Odette frantically appears in the background as Odile is seducing Siegfried she made a face like, "Uh oh! The jig is up!" Like Lucille Ball would do. I really thought I was watching a spoof! But the audience greeted her with an ovation like they just saw Anna Pavlova so what do I know? Personally I feel she is not ready for Prime Time. She did do some lovely things at moments, but overall I do not like her artistic choices at all. Xander Parish has always done well in solos but I was interested to see if his partnering had improved. It has but he still slows ballerinas down during the assisted paddle turns. The minute he starts to paddle they slow down and wobble. The same ballerinas do not do that with other partners so I am pretty sure he is causing it. It literally happens the second he touches them. If he could improve this issue he might become a reliable partner because his overhead lifts are great. Anastasia Lukina made her debut as one of the prince's friends and I really liked her. She had the misfortune of entering and snagging her costume on one of the side panel backdrops and had to tear the thread clinging to her away before launching into the pas de trois. I want to see more of this dancer who just graduated. Very promising! Martynyuk is always great. She was the other friend. David Zaleyev was the exciting male friend. Ilya Zhivoi was a great jester making the character actually seem cute and charming. Roman Belyakov was an exciting Rothbart.

Glad you share my admiration for Kolegova!

Tonight I saw Swan Lake at the Mariinsky-2 theatre. I prefer the historic theatre, because it is so much more magical entering that theatre, but the M-2's curtain depicting a rough lake and one huge white feather helped set the mood nevertheless. Anastasia Kolegova was Odette/Odile, and I have championed her for a while on BA. Often she is criticized for failing to act. Whenever I see her I think she almost always has the expression or feeling I would have as Odette/Odile if I were a ballerina. I really don't know what people are talking about when they say she doesn't act. She is subtle, so maybe that is why. To me she is the opposite of flashy or being obvious, but I see a ballerina who acts. I love the way she moves her arms and hands. Simple moves like when Siegfried picks her up and she places her hand in his hand are so feminine and delicate. These ultra feminine movements and her very subtle depiction of the character seem to go hand in hand. When she falls back with Siegfried catching her it is breath-taking how her arms undulate right before he pulls her back up into arabesque. During her coda diagonal her hand comes gracefully up near her face with every turn. To me she is poetry in motion. Her movements tell the story. Like her lacy looking jewel tiara that she wore tonight as Odette she danced the role with extra little nuances or embellishments...like filigree... I was able to meet her after the performance and it is amazing how unaffected and normal this beautiful woman is in person. We tried to go to a cafe but it was closing, and I tried to explain they were turning away a great ballerina who needed to eat. All she wanted was a shake. The woman just rolled her eyes. LOL Kolegova was not insulted by her at all. I guess the workers were also tired and wanted to go home. I guess I can't blame them. Danila Korsuntsev showed some signs of wear and tear with slight bobbles, but his partnering is still great and I can't fault a man who has been a more than reliable partner to so many ballerinas. He is also not the razzmatazz type dancer (not showy), but I think audiences will miss him when he retires. He gave Kolegova a very sturdy partner than she normally seems to get, in my opinion. Yaroslav Baibordin made a zippy Jester that the audience roared for everytime he finished a big moment. He also stayed in character while standing off to the side. His turns in second were much faster than most recent Jesters at the Mariinsky. Let's hope Fateyev starts giving more chances to young dancers so we can see a variety! Konstantin Zverev was an excellent Rothbart, but he deserves better roles where the audience can see his handsome face. It was nice to see Anastasia Nikitina back after a lack of opportunities even if it was just a Big Swan. Sofia Ivanova-Skoblikova was the other Big Swan, and despite her incredibly thick muscular legs (unusual look at the Mariinsky) I loved her both as a swan and as the prince's friend (Alexei Timofeyev and Oxana Bondareva were his other friends). She showed off some great high Russian attitudes in her short variation. Overall, a wonderful night at the ballet! To me there is nothing better than seeing the Mariinsky in Swan Lake. They dance it like a dream come to life. One critic said the Mariinsky dances it more like a tone poem. I agree and love it that way!

I often wonder though if we would react the same to performers of yesteryear the way audiences did back then. I have often thought I would love a time machine to go back and see Giuditta Pasta as Norma in 1831. But since Maria Callas is so famous in the role (with many recordings and even very brief film clips) and practically changed how we think of the role.....I wonder if I would be satisfied with Pasta's Norma. I am much more likely to enjoy Callas in the role in the 1950s much more. The problem is that we can not go back in time and actually see with our own eyes how these people sang or danced (the people before recordings that is), and often in my lifetime I have disagreed with critics, so I am not sure reviews from the past are always accurate. We have to simply assume the eyewitness accounts are accurate from the past. We are trusting without seeing for ourselves. We can read that Zucchi was expressive but until we get into a time machine and actually see for ourselves we can't really be sure. The performing arts have changed so much. I often wonder if the theatres were darker b/c they were lit by candlelight so people may have been watching people in dancing with less stage light. No idea. So what they were seeing might have looked better in the dark! LOL

I feel like there is a lot of acting integrated into movement at the Mariinsky. It is a different style, but each ballerina acts Odette and has emotions. I have watched so many Mariinsky performances on video and in person and there is tons of opportunities for acting, but it is integrated into the dancing a lot more than Petipa's time. Each ballerina does it slightly differently. I guess the Soviets wanted Dramballet and there are pros and cons to that, but I love it....the acting is often totally integrated into the movements of the dancers. Even in opera I much prefer how the 19th century began to have recitative sung with the orchestra so they blended with the arias much better than when they used a harpsichord to accompany recitatives (probably 18th century and earlier). Same with Broadway musicals. I like when they are through composed and they do not stop and speak and then start to sing. I like everything to flow and not have a stop and start quality when it comes to art. This is also the root of why I prefer the Mariinsky and Vaganova graduates. They have a flow to their movements unlike any other company, in my personal opinion. I want flow, flow, flow. If there is stopping and starting it breaks the magic spell for me. So for me personally mime actually breaks the spell and makes me realize I am not in this magical world. But like I said this is not black and white. There are some mime sequences I like. I just don't want it to go on and on. It makes me feel like they are trying to talk to dummies who aren't "getting" it when we got it long ago. I have read that the Soviet authorities did not like mime because it was a coded language that the aristocrats knew (from going to the ballet for so long) and they wanted ballet to appeal to the masses. I think there are pros and cons to this. It changed ballet (and you think for the worse), but I actually think it makes the story flow and creates more poetry to the acting and dancing (because it is blended together).

I agree that Paquita is not the best story. I love the famous excerpts but the whole ballet (I saw this Munich version online and I have also seen the Paris Opera Ballet version by Lacotte on dvd) doesn't seem all that engaging as you say. I know you will shake your head (and others will too), but I actually do not like very much mime. I think it is interesting to see how the mime was, and it does tell the story or parts of it, but once you've seen the mime once and you've seen a ballet over and over the mime gets in the way, in my opinion. It is a case of, "Okay, I know this already....let's get over this and get to the dancing!" LOL I think this is why mime has declined. To some of us who are mainly interested in the dancing and the acting embedded in the dancing steps, we sort of get bored by the mime b/c we've seen it and know the story already. With that said it is not black and white. Even in opera you have recitative versus arias/duets, etc. And often the recitative is beautiful and you miss it if they cut parts of it out (although this is happening less nowadays). So there are instances when I think mime is necessary and other times when I feel it goes on too long. I am probably in the minority on this topic. For example, as someone who has seen Swan Lake many times and knows the story well, I don't really care if Odette mimes about tears creating the lake. It makes no difference to me if a production includes that or not. I think, in contrast, it is sometimes nice to see Giselle's mother explain the Willis like in the Royal Ballet production. However, even that I am not upset if it is left out. I guess to each his own. I am glad you got to see that Paquita. I do agree that it is fascinating to see the way dancers danced back in the day. Not 100% sure I want all ballets returned to that type of dancing, but I do like that it is being investigated and put on stage for people to learn and enjoy.

Wow! Great info! I actually find this sort of thing more fascinating (why did things changeover time) than actual reconstructions.

Miami City Ballet specializes in the Balanchine and NYCB style repetoire, as you probably know, and they are quite good in that rep. I love Jeannette Delgado and Patricia Delgado. Among males Kleber Rebello is my favorite with his flowing arms. Others have impressed me like Jennifer Lauren and Tricia Albertson. Unfortunately they only do 4 programs (not counting Balanchine's Nutcracker) per year. And I hear that arts funding in Florida has been drastically cut recently, so if they depend on state funding they aren't going to add more shows in the future probably. They usually do at least one full-length (DQ or Giselle or Coppelia or Jewels or Cranko's Romeo and Juliet) per year plus Nutcracker. They are adding Midsummer Night's Dream to their repetoire this coming spring. That is their full-length offering this coming season. There is also Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami that puts on a ballet festival every fall and then does some shows during the year specializing in the classical repetoire (sometimes full-lengths) but usually sporadic and almost spontaneous (often announced when I already have plans so can not attend). There are some schools that put on shows as well. As for touring companies you should vist the Arsht Center's website (the performing arts center in Miami), although I am not sure much is announced yet for next season. Unfortunately, mostly modern dance troupes seem to tour there and none of the major international ballet companies seem to stop there (no Bolshoi, no Mariinsky, no Paris Opera Ballet, no Royal Ballet, etc). I believe that performing arts in Florida competes with the beach. People come to Florida mainly to go to the beach and party at night.

I will definitely report on what I see and am always interested in seeing new young dancers like Lukina to see how I like them.

I will be going to SP again in July and Anastasia Lukina is scheduled for the role of Falina in Bambi at the end of the month (a new ballet that premiered earlier this season) with Zaleyev as Bambi, so that is another unexpected surprise for my trip. Can't wait to see her live and glad to see a young dancer get a chance so soon. I will definitely report on all the ballets I see probably under a White Nights 2015 thread. Last summer I saw 11 ballets in 11 days. This summer it will be 11 ballets in 14 days! LOL

Sometimes they end up on YouTube at least for a while.