Birdsall

From what I heard when Orlando Ballet did "Swans: Black and White" it was done as a full-length Swan Lake in 2012. Not sure what was different about it. Maybe they added black swans all night long and that was the only change. No idea. I didn't go. For all I know maybe what I saw last night was the exact same version they did when they staged it as "Swans: Black and White".....if so, I wish it had been called "Swans: Black and White" once again, b/c I think I would have stayed home.

Helene, I can agree with some of your comments about chopping things and rearranging, I guess (it has been going on since Swan Lake existed), but not the Othello/Otello one. That is comparing apples and oranges, in my opinion. When a book is made into a movie, the movie is a totally different work of art. People complain like crazy when a movie version is not just like the book that they read, but the movie director is actually making a new work of art "based" on the book. Same with Verdi/Boito when they created an opera. They created a new work of art "based" on Shakespeare's play, so having changes is actually expected in that situation. What happened last night is comparable, in my opinion, to attending a Shakespeare play sold as a Shakespeare play and deleting an act. I doubt if any Shakespeare lovers would be happy with that. Of course, maybe this actually happens. I have no idea. And I did go in wondering how they were going to pull this off and with good memories of a previous Swan Lake and planned to expect fewer swans, fewer everything. I was prepared for a small company doing its best and failing to live up to international standards but at least having a love and respect for Swan Lake. I was simply hoping for a "That was decent for a small, regional" company experience. What I saw, in my own personal opinion, was a travesty. To me it was impossible to get up and leave, because it was like watching a car wreck. You had to be there. It was like watching a spoof of Swan Lake, so there was some humor in it, therefore, entertaining in a bizarre way. Last time they did Swan Lake they actually called it "Swans: Black and White" because the Black Swan movie had just had a success. I think it was maybe 2012 or so. I saw the Orlando Ballet do a more normal Swan Lake in 2007 and loved it. I skipped the "Swans Black and White" because it sounded junky and silly. I knew I would hate it. This season they announced "Swan Lake" and so I thought they were going back to a more "normal" Swan Lake. I lowered my expectations, but apparently I did not lower them anywhere near enough. A few weeks ago I actually attended a touring Russian company (The Voronezh State Ballet that tours as the State Ballet Theatre of Russia), and I lowered expectations b/c I had read some negative reviews here on Ballet Alert, but I was amazed at how much I enjoyed it even though it was definitely a regional style Russian company. I would definitely see them again. So I can lower expectations and have a wonderful time. I do not need the "best" Swan Lake or an "international level" Swan Lake to enjoy Swan Lake. They danced to canned music also, by the way. Kbarber, Orlando Ballet, by the way, does have a version (*The Swan Princess*) specifically geared toward children and families that is one hour long, so the evening Swan Lakes billed as Swan Lake, I assumed, were geared for adults/general public. Maybe I was wrong. I feel like this Swan Lake was directed at people who have zero knowledge of Swan Lake. I understand including intermissions when thinking of timing and costs. I think it is quite possible that they had to come in under 2 hours, as you suggested, but I was just responding to the fact that Swan Lake is not over 3 hours exactly. I meant to only say it is not really a long ballet. It is not a 3 hour ballet without intermissions, but with intermissions it is. I personally think they should have cut the character dances if they wanted to cut anything. But that is my opinion and each person will have a different opinion. My tickets were $108.75.....I think there were all ranges of prices. I really, really hate to give a bad review of a regional company because I know how hard it is for the arts to thrive in the U.S., but I have to say I was sort of speechless after last night. I couldn't believe it.

The Mariinsky (Sergeyev version) runs 3 hours 10 minutes due to 2 half hour intermissions. I have many recordings of it without the intermissions and have also seen it live. The actual ballet by the Mariinsky without intermissions is a little over 2 hours.....2 hours 10 minutes probably at the most. I think most ballets are this long or longer not including intermission. And almost all operas are even longer. So I found Robert Hill's comments that people are not willing to sit for 5 hours at a show to be a strange comment. Swan Lake is not long. I think almost ALL shows that people attend (even Broadway or concerts) are usually approx. 3 hours when you include intermissions. I am not being argumentative but trying to show my love of the Mariinsky version when I say the following: I think there is a lot of information given to the audience even in the Sergeyev Mariinsky version even without much mime. It sets up the story. We see a carefree prince partying away when he should be studying and the Queen is not overly happy when she arrives and sees "playing" in progress and a tutor asleep. She also presents him with his crossbow and that sets up the next scene. It is also telling that everyone begins to dance again the minute the Queen leaves. That says, "We're still going to do what we want even though we got into mild trouble!" To me his carefree life is in complete contrast to how he falls for Odette in the next scene. Also, as a side note, the Jester is trying to win over one of the prince's friends and chases her and is excited to get a kiss from her near the end (which is why I actually like the Jester in the Mariinsky version.....there is a story all its own)..... Plus, the gorgeous music and dancing that only Vaganova grads are capable of.....that for me is so important in Act 1.....it puts me in ecstasy. The Mariinsky corps at one point does this thing where the males and females take turns standing tall while the other sex stoops low, and I have heard the original Swan Lake had the girls getting up on step stools. This is probably a holdover from that. And to me it also mirrors how the little swans and big swans do a similar thing later in the white swan scene. I consider the Mariinsky/Sergeyev version the caviar version of Swan Lake despite some flaws many people find in it. I think it gets the mood and beauty of Swan Lake just right and creates a swoon effect. With all this said, I did not expect the Mariinsky. I went expecting a regional company that did their best to present a great ballet. I assumed a regional company would not have the sheer numbers of dancers to fill the stage with a big corps in Act 1 and then again in Act 2 (or Act 1 Scene 2 depending on version). I expected less swans, less people in Act 1, etc. In 2007 I was not disappointed. Last night I was and mainly due to what I consider poor choices on the artistic director's part. But I am sure you both are right about needing to use Swan Lake to put butts in seats. I just think this inadvertently made Orlando Ballet look really bad to anyone with even moderate experience with Swan Lake, but the audience did clap at the end. So who knows?

If that is the case I think it would have been better to present "excerpts" billed as excepts. Maybe the white swan act and black swan pas de deux on a double bill with some other short ballet. The contrast between Orlando Ballet's 2007 Swan Lake and its 2015 Swan Lake was like night and day. To me it was like watching a spoof of Swan Lake or a Laurel and Hardy version. I am still in a state of shock. I think you have to really work hard to ruin Swan Lake in this way!!!!

I write this review with some reluctance, but I felt I needed to write it so that artistic directors of regional companies would not commit such a blunder in the future. I attended Orlando Ballet with lowered expectations. This was a regional company that is probably struggling to stay afloat in difficult times for arts in America. So I went really wanting to like and enjoy what I saw, and I think the dancers gave their all. I knew what I was going to see would not be the Mariinsky or even ABT. What I am saying is that I attended really, really on Orlando Ballet's side. I wanted to enjoy it. Back in 2007 I saw a very decent Swan Lake by the same company. Back then the artistic director was Bruce Marks who had taken over after Fernando Bujones' death. I only attended the company sporadically back then since I lived in Tampa at the time. My memory is that the Orlando Ballet presented a very beautiful and decent rendition of Swan Lake. It was regional ballet but still put a smile on your face. The Swan Lake magic was still there. Last night I entered the new Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center's Walt Disney Theater (my first time in this new theater which was miraculously built during the economic downturn) to see huge speakers and an empty orchestra pit. That was disappointing because a live orchestra is always what we want to see especially for classical ballet, and in 2007 there had been a live orchestra. BUT I thought, "No problem. As long as the dancing is good I can deal with canned music...." So the ballet started and during the overture you saw the Queen give the Prince his crossbow and SUDDENLY Act 1 Scene 2 (in some versions Act 2) started!!!!! Yes, you heard right. Act 1 was deleted. Absolutely no Act 1. The overture went directly to the white swan scene!!! Later to my utter shock I was to view the Act 1 pas de trois inserted into the black swan scene!!!! Basically, forget Tchaikovsky's gorgeous waltzes in Act 1......what I saw last night was more like "Excerpts of Swan Lake rearranged"..... The recording used skipped a lot in the first scene so before all the swans came on there was a long pause to fix that problem. That actually didn't even bother me. Notice how I kept trying to find positives. Canned music. Okay, I can handle that. Recording skipping. No problem. The dancers did not react and kept dancing. Very professional of them. But chopping off Act 1 is for me a shocking act. So I just now googled Orlando Ballet and Swan Lake and found an online interview in which Robert Hill (Artistic Director) said that audiences today do not sit through 5 hour long ballets. This is bizarre to say the least. Swan Lake is only about 2 hours (not counting intermission). It is NOT a long ballet. It does not need to be cut. People sit through 2 hour movies today!!!! People still through Wagner's Ring Cycle which includes 5 hour operas. What is he talking about????? He proudly discussed how they tell the story during the overture to get it out of the way and cut directly to the swan scene. So I googled his bio thinking this must be a business man who has no true love of ballet, and to my shock he was a dancer at ABT, NYCB, etc. and a choreographer. How could he do this to Tchaikovsky, Petipa, and Ivanov?????? How can anyone with a serious career in ballet do this to Swan Lake? It gets worse......for those of you who hate the Jester in Swan Lake (and I have read Ballet Alert long enough to know that EVERYONE except for me hates the Jester), well, there wasn't just one jester. There were TWO Jesters, and their choreography had them falling and jumping over each other and rolling on the ground. The choice of national dances was a bit unusual (Neapolitan, Russian, and then the Act 1 pas de trois.....no Spanish, no Hungarian, no Mazurka), but that I can even handle, although the pas de trois showing up was weird. I seriously felt like I was on Candid Camera. To her credit Chiaki Yasukawa danced a very nice Odette and great Odile (going way beyond 32 fouettes) while this catastrophe was going on around her. She did fall after her variation almost in the wings, but falls happen to the best dancers. The rest of the cast threw themselves into their roles and did their best. If it were just for the dancing I would have given this company an overall thumbs up and this would be a more flattering review, but I have to honestly say that if I were on the Board of Directors I think I would be lobbying hard for Robert Hill's dismissal. I place all blame of this catastrophe on his shoulders. I don't think I will ever see the likes of this again. This did not present Orlando Ballet as a serious ballet company. It desecrated a great classical work. The whole thing was just plain shocking. I think if there are not resources to present Swan Lake, a company like this should present and advertise, "Excerpts from Swan Lake" and rehearse them well. Or stick to modern works. This experience was very disheartening for ballet in America. I have a Russian friend coming to visit me, and I would be ashamed to take him to this production.

Thanks for posting that video. It is fascinating to see how much work goes into putting something on stage and how many people are involved in setting up. We often forget about all this. The Met has shown back stage crews during intermissions since they started the Live in HD cinemacasts, and I always found that fascinating too, despite many opera fans saying it breaks up the magic. I think intermission and going pee and getting a glass of wine and talking to friends already breaks the spell, so I never understood the dislike of showing the backstage work during intermission. I love it. I find it fascinating.

She is also listed as being with Stanislavsky since 2014, because she actually joined in December, and the website was updated yesterday.

This is an intangible element of seeing the Mariinsky over and over. You start to see a refined style that ideally goes from the corps to the principals, but the trend at the Mariinsky now is to hire dancers who were trained elsewhere besides the Vaganova Academy, and, often, even when these dancers are often solid or even good they do not quite fit in style-wise. This is apparent in Parish, as you say above, in Skorik (she has gotten technically better but doesn't have the same flowing upper body and arms of a Vaganova Grad), Bondareva, Gonchar, and the fairly new Chebykina. All of these sort of stick out as not having the right style. Even a guest artist like Olga Esina, who IS a Vaganova graduate, has spent so much time elsewhere that she seems to have lost some of the style and become more "cosmopolitan" or "international" in her style. Hardcore Mariinsky lovers are actually heart-broken about this trend. But audiences seem to be fine and even love the non-Vaganova graduates so one day the unique style of the Mariinsky may disappear especially since the acting ballet director doesn't seem to like Vaganova graduates. Maria Shirinkina is one of the few who graduated elsewhere whose style fits in with the Mariinsky, in my opinion, although her petite size and frame limits her a lot (for roles).

Thank you for your review, Amour! I felt like I was there! Tereshkina is a much better Odile than Odette, but I feel her Odette is not bad. But she is deliciously evil as Odile. She almost always gives a solid performance in anything she dances, and she has red hot energy, in my opinion, and that probably does not work too well for Odette. She comes off as more at home in roles like Kitri where she can be extroverted. Yermakov is amazing as Rothbart adding jumps I never saw in that role before him. But I long to see him as Prince Siegfried personally, but I don't think he has ever had that chance. He has danced Jean de Brienne in Raymonda. I think he could be a great Prince Siegfried. For some reason he only gets Rothbart. Shklyarov is always solid too. So from my experiences with these dancers I think you are totally spot on in your assessment, although I was not there last night. I personally love how Odette and Siegfried come downstage and gaze into the light as the curtain falls at the end. For me it is an "Ahhhh...." (such beauty) moment. The happy ending does not bother me the way it does most people. To me even when a company does the "tragic" ending of them throwing themselves in the lake, they are shown in Heaven happy together, so it is still a happy ending, so I actually see no difference personally. Even the tragic ending is very happy. So the Soviet Happy Ending is fine by me.

Helene, you sort of said what another friend told me privately, that the Vaganova Academy is not just a feeder school. It is basically the reason for the Mariinsky Ballet historically. But then that makes me even more shocked about Fateyev's interview. To basically insult the Vaganova Academy which historically created the Mariinsky is a huge surprise. I am surprised more people are not shocked by his comment.

But do most companies totally ignore its feeder school graduates and keep them in low levels while promoting outside dancers? I am truly asking this question because I do not know. I have heard complaints about ABT doing that to an extent, but I was shocked to learn that in the past 10 years, no Vaganova graduate has gone higher at Mariinsky than coryphee with the one exception of Batoeva. And now we have Fateyev saying point blank in a British magazine that Vaganova graduates are basically only good for corps de ballet and coryphee. And his actions seem to support what he says in the magazine.

Please post a review. I love Lebedev!

Daria Vasnetsova is so outstanding. You can spot her talent a mile away in the smallest role. Now she has gone to Finnish National Ballet and is using her husband's name Makhateli. Letting this treasure slip through his fingers is like a crime beyond belief while promoting outside dancers who do not create any magic whatsoever. Same with Victor Lebedev. Amazing dancer. To me Lebedev is like a modern day Nijinsky!

What puzzles me is that the Vaganova grads seem to occasionally dance solo roles in ballets at the Mariinsky, yet Fateyev says they are not good enough for soloist status. Why are they good enough for soloist roles but not soloist status? The entire thing is strange. Zhiganshina danced several roles including Masha last year. Of course, she ended up going to the Bolshoi. Shakirova danced several roles including Apollo and Concerto DSHC in London plus the Rubles lead and Florine at Mariinsky. Tskhvitaria danced Florine at the Mariinsky also. Shakirova and Tskhvitaria graduate in June. Maybe Fateyev's opinion is a new one, since this season no Vaganova grads have danced. Helene, could this thread be moved to the Mariinsky forum? I thought originally since I posted an excerpt from a magazine you would want it here, but many people have privately said it belongs in the Mariinsky forum.

That is exactly how I interpreted his answer to the question. I wanted to know if others felt he said that.

I like this what you said, b/c I think artists have to be nurtured and given roles little by little. Classical ballets are set up where there are many small parts of varying difficulty and length to give dancers some experience before giving them a large, full-length role. So hypothetically the small roles should be heavily rotated in my opinion. You want MANY dancers who can do the peasant pas de deux in Giselle or Big Swans and Little Swans in Swan Lake. To my eyes it seems like he uses the same people over and over when it should be rotated so that at times there are at least 20 different corps dancers who could step in for someone else in a small role in cases of injury or tours. Meanwhile, that gives all of them experience on the stage and doing some difficult variations and then you notice which ones might be able to handle a larger role. Maybe I am wrong in my thinking but I think the small roles should be given out like hot cakes. I understand limiting who dances Odette/Odile......but the small roles get the young girls ready for the big roles and stage experience. And to me that would nurture the dancers and the individuality will come. I have worked at schools where children had to wear uniforms and many parents complain at first (until they discover it is much cheaper for them to buy uniforms and not keep buying the latest fashions) that it will take away individuality. I have never seen individuality go away in human beings that I worked with. Every single human is so unique that individuality is there even if you put everyone in straitjackets. So I am confused by Fateyev's comment about individuality. I think all the Vaganova dancers I have seen are so different. I sit and watch many Mariinsky Swan Lakes and every single dancer does little things that are totally unique to her. Yes, the choreography is adhered to but there are differences in expressions, emotions, hand movements, etc.

A lot of Mariinsky Ballet and Vaganova Academy admirers are surprised by Yuri Fateyev's interview (excerpt below). I would love to hear people's reactions to this: Igor Stupnikov: Many leading company dancers are not graduates of the Vaganova Academy. Does this indicate that the Academy does not produce enough dancers to fill vacancies? Or is it that not all graduates meet the high standards of the company? Yuri Fateyev: The Vaganova Academy is an excellent nursery for dancers and produces many professional artists every year. The majority of them are good for the corps de ballet, with some for the higher rank of coryphee. However, the Mariinsky needs more talented dancers with individual qualities who can perform leading roles in the classics. It is, I think, a problem for any company in the world. The thing is that nowadays parents prefer to send their children to all kinds of sports-gymnastics, skating, football. It is from Dancing Times (Dec. 2014 issue)

In the December issue of Dancing Times (British magazine) Fateyev implies in an interview with Igor Stupnikov that the Vaganova Academy produces dancers fit mainly for corps de ballet and coryphee level......I wonder how Tsiskaridze will take that once he starts having graduates who he considers really good and wants the best for them. I am wondering if he will start calling Fateyev on the carpet then. I know he will suddenly go from villain to hero in a lot of people's eyes then!!!! LOL

I think Ayupova is the Assistant Director and is supposed to be the one in charge of artistic decisions (so she is in Asylmuratova's former position, I believe), while Tsiskaridze is supposed to be the overall director (so hypothetically maybe his main duties should be the business end of things), but apparently he prefers a hands-on approach to things and is involved in all aspects. This is what I believe, of course. I could be mistaken. I do think Tsiskaridze is mistaken about copyright. As noted above no one is going to pay Bach or Handel or Verdi to play their works anymore, so he was probably just grandstanding and making an overall point. Surely, if he has a law degree he knows about copyright and how there is no possible way Russia could claim money for other nations playing ballets created in Russia well over 100 years ago. However, I think he was exaggerating and grandstanding in order to make a broader point about his opinion of Russian ballet in general being superior.

I know that Tsiskaridze is a controversial personality and I was not happy when he became director of Vaganova, but two friends of mine have sat in on lots of rehearsals where he took part and they were both originally against his appointment. They say that he gives his whole heart to rehearsals and to the students he is coaching and they were absolutely amazed and shocked. Zhanna Ayupova has raved about him also to one of these friends, and he does not think she was just saying that to keep her job. She truly meant what she said. Nobody is 100% evil or 100% good. We are all a mixture, and Tsiskaridze does tend to have diarrhea of the mouth, but apparently he is a gifted teacher and actually does care.

At his home base in St. Petersburg he is not being hidden at all. In fact, he is given so much that you can not "not" see him. I think he is talented, but there are many others at the Mariinsky with just as much talent or more, and my main problem is that he has this general all-purpose grin throughout his roles that never seems to change. He has the ability to knock your socks off in roles like the Golden Idol, but in full-length dramatic roles I find him very lacking. I would rather see Yermakov or Stepin anyday.

I drove down to Sarasota yesterday to see Sarasota Ballet's La Fille mal Gardee. I saw them do it season before last as well, I believe it was. I had a great time. This little company is a little gem that keeps surprising everyone! Iain Webb and Margaret Barbieri run the company, and they were taught this ballet by Ashton himself, I believe. You can tell they have prepared the ballet with loving care. The sets and costumes were by Osbert Lancaster (same designs as the Royal Ballet and Royal Birmingham Ballet). Ormsby Wilkins did a wonderful job conducting the Sarasota Orchestra. I heard things I hadn't noticed before. Here was last night's main cast: Lise Victoria Hulland Colas Ricardo Rhodes Alain Logan Learned Widow Simone Ricki Bertoni Hulland is a very beautiful woman, and that always helps to win a person over. She also acted splendidly creating a fully three dimensional character for Lise.....sort of naughty but a heart of gold. Her dancing was fine. I do tend to prefer ballerinas to have more flow to the upper body and arms, but since this was not the Mariinsky I understood I would not get that exactly, although Webb and Barbieri (she is not only Assistant Director but also the head of the school) seem to have stressed upper body more than most American companies, because during last spring's Ashton Festival I saw some nice flowing arms, and I felt the corps were doing their best to flow last night as well. Anyway, my only quibble is that I would have liked Hulland to use more flowing arms, but that is just a personal taste issue, and she did a great job otherwise. I do think Kate Honea the last time I saw this seemed slightly more at home with the steps, but I did enjoy Hulland. After she is embarrassed that Colas overheard her thoughts about having 3 babies with him, she was perfect when he started kissing her arm and then she gave him the other to kiss. That is probably my favorite moment in the ballet b/c you say, "Aw! True love!" and her embarrassment turning to "Okay, now kiss this other arm too" was perfect. A very dedicated dancer! Ricardo Rhodes was great as Colas. I was glad to see him in top form, because I saw him last season in something and was slightly disappointed and so when I saw he was in my cast for La Fille this season I was a bit disappointed initially, but did he prove me wrong! He was great! Some great turns and he partnered very well too. When Colas dances around the two bottles of wine he actually made it look risky because he actually danced close to them as opposed to playing it safe and dancing at a safe distance. I would gladly see him dance again, so I am glad I got another chance to see him. Anyone who has seen Logan Learned knows he is special. I have seen him twice as Alain now and in Ashton's Les Rendezvous (in the pas de trois) and as the Blue Boy in Les Patineurs. He is one of those rare artists who make you think, "I have just seen the best Blue Boy I will ever see!" or "I have just seen the best Alain I will ever see!" He is that great in movement, facial expressions, acting, timing, and musicality. He really belongs in a major company. However, the problem is that he is a very petite dancer who is probably limited in what roles he can dance at least in the classical repetoire. In abstract ballets there are plenty he could dance. Anyway, my advice is to RUN, not walk to a ballet with his name listed in the cast. It is hard to believe you can see someone of his caliber in a small company in a small city. He is amazing! Rick Bertoni was great as the Widow Simone. His clog dance was terrific. He also has great comic timing (like Learned). His "on purpose" slips in the clogs looked like real slips if you didn't know the ballet. And Bertoni did not overdo the character the way it is easily exaggerated. I felt he attempted to make the Widow real as opposed to just an over the top caricature. Anyway, I know not many people get a chance to go to Sarasota, but if you do and your visit coincides with a Sarasota Ballet show, you should definitely check them out! Some great things are happening there.

You don't have to sit way up in the balcony to see the full effect of the corps. The Stalls boxes and dress circle boxes (formerly called the Belle Etage, I believe, but I notice on the website that they now call them different names more in line with "American" tiers) are terrific for seeing the corps completely. And you are not so far away that you can still enjoy the acting and facial expressions. What I think makes people love the Mariinsky corps is that they are uniform like POB or other companies, BUT the flowing arms which are impossible to have exactly matched even when every arm moves in the same direction at once make them seem warm and human. So you realize they are all moving in unison, but the flowing upper bodies give a warmth to the uniformity that other companies can not match. To me POB looks too stiff and mechanical almost like robots in comparison. This is my own personal interpretation for the high esteem in which the Mariinsky corps is held. It is like taking many flowers in a row and moving them and the wind will blow their petals in one direction but the petals will undulate just ever so slightly differently. This for me is the magic of the Mariinsky corps and it comes from the Vaganova training they all have (or most of them have had). To me Mariinsky dancers are like creatures of nature (not human) that amaze and delight, and often you can spend the entire night paying closer attention to the corps and how lovely they move. Btw, unlike you I LOVE when the blue curtains separate on Act 1 Scene 2 with that gorgeous music and the swans (which look to me like actual models and not projections) floating on the lake. The beautiful lighting and those curtains opening to a scene from "nature" is for me breath-taking added to the feeling of, "Here comes Odette soon.....". I consider the Mariinsky's production to be the most beautiful in the world, because it has such an amazing mood to it. Your description of the pros of the production are how I feel too. I await your other reviews. Kolegova is one of my favorites (one of the most feminine and physically beautiful Odettes ever), so I am hoping you enjoyed her in your third Swan Lake. She gets criticized for her lack of emotion from very well-known critics, but I think it is a St. Petersburg style of acting (very subtle) that is simply different. When you see her over and over you see how amazing she is but very subtle (never overacting) and a very gentle, elegant Odette. Her Odette is a thing of great beauty and people will go years hoping to see similar beauty in an Odette and won't find it. Her Odile used to be her weaker moment, but her Odile has grown a lot (spicier than it used to be) judging from her YouTube videos of the very performance I believe you saw.

I have to admit that this is one of the sopranos from the past that I never really "got." Of course, I only know her from the few recordings she made. She definitely sounds like one of the hearty dramatic sopranos that seemed to be in plentiful supply in the 1950s/60s for some reason (and this type of soprano seems to be extinct today). I want to love her and this live rendition of Casta Diva is more impressive than her studio recording (a case of needing to be there), but I wish she did not take as many breaths as she does chopping up Bellini's long lines. Still she would probably mop up the floor with any current Normas today. Comparing her to the Met's most recent Norma (Radvanovsky) I would jump on a plane pronto to see Cerquetti! The speculation of her reasons for quitting so early in her career have added to the mystery and probably collectors' love of her.

I agree they are aware of it, but I don't think they can control it, but I think when you say that Yulia Stepanova is an "extreme" example of being close to fans and saying she leaks Mariinsky information, you need to provide proof of where you are getting that. To me it is calling her professionalism up to question, and I had a boss do that exact thing about me very publicly and I fought hard for an apology in a very public way. So for me this is a very sensitive subject. I was devastated that my professionalism was called into question in what I considered a witch hunt. So when I read that earlier today I have to say it shocked me. I am just saying how it could feel to Yulia Stepanova. Fans posting what they know may or may not be the truth. Her Facebook page is run by a fan also, so that is not her giving info out.