Birdsall

My experience living in Germany 20 years ago is that Germans are very knowledgeable and cultured people. Baden-Baden, which I visited, is probably Germany's version of Palm Beach (very wealthy town), so I would think you would send the same cast that you would send to a place like New York when you tour Baden-Baden. But maybe things have changed. I don't know. The Mariinsky tours there a lot, so they would know better than I do.

I bet it does! Great photo, Cristian!

Very sad. I assume the ones who did not vote were too scared to vote. People think their responses (what they voted for) will get back to administration even if that isn't always the case.

You should email her - seriously! And mention your own experiences with such things. It would be a nice gesture of solidarity. ;) http://www.daria-pav...shacontact1.htm Okay, I just did using the link you provided. Not sure if she wants to be contacted by a complete stranger, but when you suggested that, it occurred to me that when I was really down (and yoga helped me a lot) any kind word really helped me during those bad days. So maybe it was a good suggestion you made. I told her she was brave and that it is great she is fighting for her fellow dancers and told her a little about my experience and hoped she would not have the same experience. Editing to say that I tried both email addresses on her site and both came back undeliverable. Too bad.

Thanks, Diane! I did not mean to toot my own horn at all. I just wanted to give insight into what happens to people. I hope Pavlenko is not going through the same thing, although I suspect she is, since Gergiev already badmouthed her to the press in retaliation. She will have to be very strong, b/c it is a horrible situation to feel like your bosses consider you a trouble maker and because they do, some of your friends scatter. It still upsets me to even think about it, and I hope her experience is better.

There is an opera site that always has a quiz using pics from recent opera productions and asking readers to submit their ideas for what opera is being shown in the pics. It is almost always impossible to tell. It is sort of funny but sort of sad. But that is opera in 2012.....so this zombie nuns thing does not surprise me!!!

Hop O' My Thumb is one fairy tale I did not grow up with. I know what you are talking about b/c I have seen it in the final act of Sleeping Beauty in different performances, but I had never heard of that fairy tale until I watched Sleeping Beauty. But I agree that it is nice to see the children get dancing roles even slight ones. I love seeing the Vaganova children during the famous Waltz before Aurora comes out. How beautiful is that?????

Did you notice the second act set is actually the cake that is shown briefly in the first act? I liked that touch although I sort of agree that the colors and the sets are not as good in the second act, but for me it was saved by the fact it is supposed to be them dancing on top of the cake.

Oh, now I get it!!!! Cristian, I realize what you were saying now. I misunderstood you. You were asking WHY they got rid of the sliding on the cape. I have no idea. That is a great moment. I wonder if that is where Balanchine came up with the idea of doing a slide but instead of using a cape he used a special contraption that made it look like the ballerina is sliding on pointe as the Cavalier pulls her. I did check and actually watched the video tonight that this whole thread is discussing. It is the same cast as the dvd I own. So I suspect they simply streamed the one that is available on video. I do think the sets in the Royal Ballet's Nutcracker are gorgeous. The Christmas tree is like an actual German Christmas tree with candles and pretzels and wooden things. I also like the angels. Overall, Peter Wright's production is a very nice one. I think it is a good overall Nutcracker for most people to have. This is not a gaudy Christmas set. It presents a more European style Christmas, and I actually like that. The Russian dance is fun! Some of the other dances are not my favorite choreography, but the Russian dance is designed to rev up the audience!

Recent Sergeyev SB performances have a much more complete final act with more of the characters if I remember correctly. I think the Mariinsky has unfortunately deleted the first part of the first act in which the King forgives the peasant girls with knitting needles. I was just talking with a friend, and we think that this deletion is a mistake. It is important to see the King (instigated actually by the Queen) forgiving their subjects, because forgiveness makes Carabosse look worse, b/c she is the opposite of forgiveness, so I think that scene where we see the King as benevolent is very important to the actual story of Sleeping Beauty. I could be wrong, but from what I have seen the final act is more like the reconstruction even when they do the Sergeyev version. I also think the famous Waltz before Aurora enters is done more like the reconstruction also. Maybe someone else who has just seen the recent performances this month could let us know for sure. I think these are the current changes in the current Sleeping Beauty performances at the Mariinsky: 1) King's forgivenss scene is deleted. 2) Act 1 begins with the famous Waltz instead of the forgiveness scene. 3) Act 2 includes much more of the hunting scene with the Prince than in the commercial video from Canada. 4) Vision scene no longer has the fairies keeping the Prince away from Aurora at the beginning. It goes straight into a PDD for them. 5) The final act is more like the reconstruction with a lot more fairy tale characters (although I could be wrong). If anyone went to the performances this month, please let us know if this is what is going on with the Sergeyev version. I would be interested to know.

That dvd is still available from Amazon. There is one with Collier/Dowell (1985), one with Cojocaru/Dowell (2001), and the latest release with Yoshida/McRae (2010). All Royal Ballet Nutcrackers on dvd. If you mean why they took it off YouTube. That is copyright law, although the law changes, and is actually quite intricate, b/c there is "fair use" and the owner of the actual video has to renew copyright, I think . There really aren't supposed to be full-length commercial videos on YouTube, because these videos are owned by the Royal Ballet, for instance or else the BBC or whatever organization owns the actual copyright and whoever owns it is still trying to sell it and make money from the sale. When someone like me or you posts the entire video on YouTube we would be breaking the law, b/c I am stealing and keeping someone from buying the video legitimately. With that said I am thrilled when I find full-length ballets available for watching on YouTube, but whoever posts these things runs the risk of having to delete his/her account if the owner of the video in question finds out and pursues legal action, I believe. That is why you should watch a full-length ballet video the day you find it if possible, b/c it can be wiped off YouTube within days, especially if it is a Balanchine performance!!!!

There is a commercial video available with that same cast or very similar. It might be a transmission of that dvd. But I am not home to doublecheck. I do know that Yoshida and McRae and Loots are in the dvd I own. That doesn't mean it is the same performance, but it could be.

I agree about Lilac Fairy. I forgot about that. You do miss the pointe and dancing in the reconstruction. The Bayadere reconstruction temple destruction is not as beautiful as the Makarova version's temple destruction in my opinion. Makarova's staging that has Solor following Nikiya up the steps after the dust settles is just so gorgeous! I know Makarova's version has its own problems, but that last apotheosis is better done than in the Mariinsky reconstruction, in my personal opinion. I do agree with you that audiences probably do want the temple destruction for some sort of closure. Despite its own problems I think Makarova's version is a decent compromise even if the dancing in the last act is sort of modern-ish and doesn't flow with the rest of the ballet. Maybe if the Mariinsky had more money to redo the apotheosis I would like it better.

I wonder why he seems obsessed with the housing issue, when they sound like they are wanting to open up dialogue about so many other things. Sad. Pavlenko did a brave thing, but at the same time from my personal experience you are often protected by your own daring. Getting the news to pay attention to you when fighting the big people is very hard, but once you do get the press interested in what you have to say it is willing to do a follow up story, and top administrators are always scared of the press digging for more (because beyond your own issues there are many other horrendous things going on that could be uncovered) and anyone with the power to get press attention actually scares them. I stood up against a big boss in a large system and almost everyone who worked with me thought I was crazy, but once the press became interested in my story (I confronted the boss at her very first public speech and the press paid more attention to my issue than her speech) she left me alone because I also attended other public meetings and did not let the issue rest. The press was on my side. She called me by first name and shook my hand every time she saw me after all this. She hated my guts, but she respected me. In these instances it is quite amazing what happens. People you thought were your friends drop you like a hot potato and ONE person (if you are lucky) shows she is a very good and true friend. Being the person to stand up for yourself as well as other employees is a hard thing. People tell lies about you. Your own co-workers spread lies about you, and you are trying to help them. Administration tries to paint you as crazy. As I said, people who were your friends suddenly walk right by you without acknowledging you out of fear of getting in hot water with the big boss. It is an eye opening experience that I hope nobody has to go through, but at the same time you learn so much about human nature, so maybe everyone should experience it. I don't know. It is too painful though. I suspect some dancers are avoiding Pavlenko like the plague despite the fact she is fighting for them all. I hope I am wrong. I personally had to go to counseling despite being viewed as winning the fight against administration. You become totally paranoid your every step is being watched, and I think the most hurtful part is the friends who suddenly no longer acknowledge you despite whispering in your ear before you became notorious that you are doing the right thing. But in the end they are not true friends. They scatter when the ocean gets choppy.

You are right it is not listed on the website, so maybe it will be a recording like the recent Nutcracker. The article you provided also says the new theatre will not open until May. At first I thought maybe this will be performed in the new theatre, but apparently not. In fact, the opera Elektra is scheduled on the main stage on that date. So the reporter must have misunderstood. It must be pre-recorded.

The Bayadere reconstruction has pros and cons, in my opinion. When I saw the reconstruction of Bayadere I missed the Golden Idol big time. Even though this is a later addition it has almost become iconic. There are other little things as well. There are definite pros but there are also cons. With these reconstructions you gain some things and lose other things. I read that another theory about ending Bayadere after Kingdom of the Shades is that the Soviets did not like the sort of religious aspect of the final act. Who knows what the real reason is for the Soviets truncating it. There are various theories. The final act did not need much machinery or labor force to make it work (from the looks of it) at least not in the reconstruction. I think Russian audiences are so used to it ending after the Kingdom of the Shades that they went back to the Soviet version. Some of the dancing in the final act was actually placed into the Engagement Scene long ago, so it is really a mixed bag and problematic. When doing the reconstruction you are placing some dancing in places where people are not used to it. I think these reconstructions should be preserved on video, but I think there is an element of taking an eraser and deleting the traditions that slowly came into play as years went by if you replace traditional productions with brand new reconstructions that may or may not be accurate to Petipa. One case in point is the lovely way the fairies enter in Sleeping Beauty in the Sergeyev version. I actually prefer that over the SB reconstruction fairy entrance. I would hate for the Sergeyev fairy entrance and ensuing choreography to be lost to history also, although there is a commercially available video, so I guess it wouldn't be.

I agree. I think most people probably want reconstructions preserved on dvd. They are fascinating. Seems a shame to go to so much trouble to reconstruct and then not preserve it.

Eric, I am so glad you love Raymonda. I don't know why I do either. Maybe it is because of what you said. It does seem like pure Petipa. I do love the sets and story telling (mime) in the La Scala video and Novikova is terrific (although she was even better, in my opinion, in this past September's Raymonda at the Mariinsky). This is definitely an important dvd release that captures what Raymonda probably looked like in Petipa's time. So I treasure it. But I have to say that I prefer the Mariinsky version simply because the corps de ballet is so gorgeous with what I call their ocean flowing arms. When they dance together and those arms are flowing, I melt. I only see Novikova with Mariinsky style arms in the La Scala video. The rest are much more stiff looking to me. Even the Sergeyev Sleeping Beauty at the Mariinsky is my favorite. I know people will be aghast that I prefer the Sergeyev over the reconstruction. When the fairies enter in the Sergeyev version with their ocean flowing arms altogether it takes my breath away. It is such a beautiful moment for me. When the fairies do not enter with ocean flowing arms like at other companies I am disappointed.

A shame to hear that Alagna is resorting to falsetto. He was famed for his pianissmi at the beginning of his career.....something many tenors can not or avoid doing. I agree Amneris is a juicy role. My favorite cat fight scene is in Anna Bolena, and Anna Netrebko surprised me last season and did it pretty well. I had seen her Vienna Anna Bolena and was not impressed, but she was much more temperamental at the Met, in my opinion. Netrebko rose high in my personal estimation after seeing her Anna Bolena. I think the rumor that she might take on Norma at Covent Garden is exciting news.

They did indeed, Helene... "O Patria Mia" was delightful...it is an aria that I always feel very personal... Did she sing the high C "dolce" as marked or screamed out like so many sopranos? Caballe's studio recording of Aida ruined me for most Aidas. I like how she sings that aria with a truly "dolce" high C. I want everyone to sing it like her. My favorite recordings are the ones with Caballe and the one with Giannina Arangi-Lombardi from 1928! Love that name: Giannina Arangi-Lombardi!!! I believe Caballe must have been familiar with Arangi-Lombardi's recordings, b/c she copies Arangi-Lombardi on her Aida recording (to my ears) as well as her rendition of Tosca's Vissi d'arte where Caballe (like Arangi-Lombardi) ends the high note sequence at the end without taking a breath. Absolutely astonishing! I think these two were the only sopranos to sing it that way, but I could be wrong. I suspect Caballe must have been well acquainted with Arangi-Lombardi.

I do too. I loved his book *Cuban Ballet*

I love Olga Borodina, but the mezzo really shouldn't be the best part of Aida!!! LOL Things are getting bad in the world of opera, when I want to see Aida because of the Amneris!!!! But this Monastyrska, who I have never heard of, sounds good from your reports. You do need good piano singing for "O terra addio!" The tomb scene is one of my favorite scenes in all of opera. Alagna can get through Radames, but he's not really the right voice type, but in his defense Celeste Aida is a killer entrance! I will look for the date for the encore and see if I can go. I do love that production.

Glad to hear it was good. The only cast member that made me want to go was Olga Borodina who is a GODDESS! But I didn't go. Maybe I will see the encore.

Why was she called Queen of the Jelly Fish? What did she do that was so bad? I am just asking b/c I have never seen her dance.

There are some beautiful clips available of the recent Mariinsky Sleeping Beauties......Kolegova is breath-taking! On the other night Stepanova was a terrific Lilac Fairy!!! We are so lucky to live in a time when things performed so far away end up on the internet days later sometimes hours later!!!! These are the types of dancers that make the Mariinsky Ballet so famous!