Birdsall

Maybe they had to keep him until the end of the 2012-2013 season due to his current contract. The previous articles did hint at some board members having ruffled feathers or hurt feelings. I think often these things are very personal and both sides have his/her own story. Often egos play a huge role. If someone feels snubbed and is made to feel little, there will be revenge, if that person has an upper hand. But we can't pretend to know what happened here. It could be something so simple as someone turning his back on someone as she is trying to speak to him. Something that small and petty can create a feeling in a person for revenge. When made to feel small, people go to great lengths to get back at the person who made him/her feel small. So this could have all been caused by some petty slight. We will maybe never know! Let's just hope that they don't cancel this coming season!!!!

I suspect that he is deeply wounded. That is MAYBE why he hasn't spoken up about Lopez. MCB was his "baby" and it's being taken away from him. How can he not have some anger or hurt? And artistic minds are emotional. How can you wish someone well (even if that person did nothing to you) when in one sense he might view her as helping to steal his "baby" away, even if it is not her decision. People are feeling creatures. I really can't fault him for being closed mouthed. I suspect every time he talks about this in private he's probably very angry or hurt. You can't expect someone who is hurt deeply to put on a smiley face and hug the person replacing him. Something similar happened to Judy Drucker who headed up the Concert Association of South Florida and brought some of the best opera singers, for example, to Miami, but she also ignored the rising debt, so the board ousted her. She said that they were taking her "baby" from her. So Miami no longer gets concerts by the top opera singers. I think this is probably a common problem in arts organizations. They are started by someone with vision and a love for the arts, but that singular vision and love for the art form keep them from wanting to pay attention to the cost aspect and thinks the board needs to focus and solve that problem while they create beauty on stage. They want to focus on art and want others to manage the finances. So conflicts arise. I bet this is common. Without Judy Drucker I don't think Miami would have seen some of the great "stars" that it did in the past. In one season she brought down Kiri Te Kanawa, Montserrat Caballe, Cecilia Bartoli, and Cheryl Studer. But, of course, boards do worry about the money aspect, and that makes sense too. Drucker enabled me to see the biggest names in opera in Florida, so I think she is fabulous, but the board probably doesn't share my enthusiasm for her, and that makes sense too. Same with MCB. Without Villella there wouldn't be a Miami City Ballet, but he probably cared only about the artistry, and I don't blame him in his position. Anyone in his shoes would have put artistry first. That was his first priority. But the board got tired of the deficit. I don't blame them either. Their top priority is making sure bills are paid probably. This is just a sad story. I'm not sure anyone is totally to blame. It is a sad mess. However, I have to agree that I don't think decisions like this should be made in secret closed door meetings. Look how it comes out in the end anyway. Honesty and open-ness is the best policy. I suspect this executive board meant well, but they are going to come off as the villains in the piece because of the secrecy. They should have been open about it from the beginning.

La Source has all the ingredients of a good ballet but somehow bored me to tears. I really wanted to like it. There are very beautiful moments, but somehow it didn't keep me interested. That Bayadere is also worth viewing. Pagliero gets promoted to etoile during bows.

Phenomenal night - Yuriko made me wonder why Seo was being promoted instead of her. Okay, call Vasiliev a "circus animal", vulgar, etc. but if you were there you saw his astounding performance and a "theater animal" - how he loves the audience and vice versa! Osipova - perfection, absolutely. A night to remember. I am in the Pro-Vasiliev camp, but I understand what people are saying to some degree, but I think they are dismissing much hard work that goes behind his "tricks." Each performer has his/her good points and weaknesses. All of them. These so-called "tricks" have always and will always be part of stage performance and will always thrill audiences. Opera lovers still collect the Maria Callas Mexico City Aida to hear the famous huge, long held E flat she sings at the end of the Triumphal Scene. It isn't in the score, and even she didn't want to do it originally b/c she thought it was bad taste, but the impresario convinced her to do it, and she did and the crowd went wild. Now it is a legendary bootleg recording that every opera lover worth his salt owns. Now today in opera we have very polite singers who (barely) hit all the notes but screech and bleat their way through (and the audiences do not seem to notice). But they are all rather polite and genteel. No risk taking, no individuality. They would never interpolate a high E flat during the Triumphal scene, and they will never give the thrills that Maria Callas could give with her little pinky. I will take "tricks" and "vulgarity" over boring and lifeless anyday of the week. The world would be deadly dull without Callas and her way with words, Caballe's famed pianissimi, Sutherland's over the top embellishments......the more unique a performer is the more legendary the performer becomes. I'm talking opera, but the same applies to dancers, in my opinion. The elegant performers are remembered also, but the ones with extreme unique qualities are remembered more. That is simply a Law of the Universe.

Paul Taylor Dance Company is doing "The Uncommitted" at Sarasota Ballet in October. Has anyone seen this ballet? Is it worth seeing? Should I drive down to Sarasota and see this (3 hour drive, but I do have friends there so more reason than one to go down).

That makes sense now that you say it. I guess in this economy they have had to figure out how to cut costs wherever they can. I have to say that I enjoyed Ratmansky's Symphonic Dances (world premiere in Miami this past March and playing in the regular MCB season this coming season). I have seen his Humpbacked Horse and Flames of Paris on dvd and clips of his Cinderella. I tend to like his ballets from scratch (at least Symphonic Dances) better than his reworkings of ballets originally done by other people. So I think the triple bill might be a better experience for many people next season compared to Firebird. I think when you take a work people already know and love and change it, it is harder to accept. I think his original stuff is probably easier to judge on its own merits, so I wouldn't write off the Ratmansky evening.

Osipova danced with the company in Chicago this past March (I saw the performance); According to the listings on the ABT website for their last Asian tour, she also was scheduled for an R&J w. Hallberg in Japan. I assume it happened but don't know. I do not see her scheduled for their Asia tour this year. I'm impressed! I didn't realize she was doing so much touring. I know she (and Vasiliev) cancelled on the second Tour de Force (the gala at Segerstrom), but don't know about other commitments. I was stunned to see Vasiliev doing four consecutive Corsaires earlier this month. Perhaps they both want to show they're reliable team members. Osipova is listed now as a regular principal, but not Vasiliev. Perhaps that will be next. Now that they've cut ties with the Bolshoi and Mikhailovsky couldn't perform at Lincoln Center, they need a high-profile home, and that would seem to be ABT. I think those two simply want to get out on stage and dance. They love it. You can tell. I think that was one of their reasons for quitting the Bolshoi. They sat around waiting to dance (Bolshoi requires a commitment to be available for many months supposedly and then they have to give roles to other principals) while getting offers from all over the world. They said they want to dance. The Mikhailovsky apparently told them they would be able to dance wherever they want. At the time we thought they were CRAZY to leave the Bolshoi for the Mikhailovsky, but from what I've read it has mostly to do with freedom, so it sort of makes sense. Sorry to go off on a tangent......I am wondering how scheduling will be for the Met 2013 season. This past one for the most part had one ballet all week long (for most weeks that is). For us out-of-towners that is not ideal, although I did love seeing three Bayaderes back to back. I remember previous season schedules had two or three ballets playing at the same time so you could actually see two or three ballets in one week. I wonder what the pros and cons for both types of scheduling are, and I wonder if they will go back to rotating the ballets. The Met backstage certainly handles rotating productions.

Super cool info, Natalia! Thanks!!!!

True. I bought a ticket to Vasiliev's Solor so I could catch him, even though I had already planned on the Vishneva/Gomes/Osipova Bayadere (although Vishneva cancelled). So it probably does make sense to separate the Osipova/Vasiliev phenomena to help sell more shows. However, they did do a Corsaire with them both. So I am still hoping for at least one of the DQs having them together. I think both Basilio and Kitri are like signature roles and they both have the same level of energy on stage. It would be a shame to deny people who like them both the chance to see them in it together at least once. But it probably is smarter to separate them out.

OHHHHHH....scanned the list and assumed that this had been announced, with title "2013 MET Season." Took it to be that. My bad. Maybe the title of this thread should be "Fantasy 2013 MET Season"? Mussel was very accurate last spring when he announced the 2012 season. I tend to think he knows what he's talking about. Sure, things could change between now and spring 2013, but he was great at his "predictions" (notice the quotes) a year ago.

ABT would be crazy not to schedule Osipova and Vasiliev together in at least one or two of the Don Quixotes. That seems like a no brainer (cash cow) situation. I suspect they will.

LOL Okay, I understand the laughter better now. I thought it was Schadenfreude, but maybe it was just that it was simply not expected and that Miko's mother was so emotional about his quitting that made them laugh b/c I guess there was humor to the whole Jules storyline.

Elena, Thanks for your comments! I am in total agreement with you. I did not find Miko and Jules' mother bad at all. She simply wants success for her children. Her crying when her son decided to quit was simply disappointment, b/c it probably complicates matters (having to take two children to two different trainings and events should he decide to do something like hockey or whatever), plus a dream dissolved. Life was easier when they were both doing it. She probably had a little dream of seeing them dance together one day. For the audience to laugh at her sadness is bizarre to me. If you see someone crying, you should want to console or at the very least not laugh!!!! Laughing at someone's tears is like scowling at someone's laughter. Why? When Miko's mother talked about their food and how she doesn't want them to get "big," it reminded me so much of my mother. My mother considers me obese, and I am 6 feet 190 lbs. and workout 3 times a week and do yoga 4-6 times per week. No beer belly here, but I am OBESE in her eyes, b/c I don't look like I did when I was 16 years old (a weed). I am 45 and most 45 year old men look much worse in the weight department. But this type of parenting does keep you concerned and constantly working on your weight throughout your life like weeding the garden. It never ends. Asian mothers don't want us to throw in the towel and just let ourselves go no matter what age. She will eat a tiny cup of soup for dinner at a restaurant. I know I would be just like my mother or Miko's mother if I adopted a child. I would want my children to succeed at what they want to do, and I would not want them to get "big" for the simple fact that it makes life harder (society looks down on "big" people whether that should be the case or not and sometimes health suffers). If she were beating her children and they were shown crying constantly in the movie I would understand people's reactions to her behavior, but to me she seems like a very good mother who lives for her children and wants them to succeed. I see nothing wrong in that at all. Birdsall

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Don't go!!!!!!!!! You are never going to hear the end of it from me!

Vasiliev does that almost arabesque half point as Basilio in the Act 1 coda of Don Quixote also while holding Kitri in the air. I understand both camps concerning him. Totally exciting and thrilling stage performer, but not exactly elegant, almost reckless looking, but that is part of the thrill. He's a risk taker. I think ballet will always have a circus element to it, and many people don't like that, but it is here to stay. Never going to go away. Personally, I am glad. I think there is room for all types of performers. But if you see Vasiliev in DQ, for example, you see there is more to him than just circus tricks. He acts well too. This is a true animal of the stage.

Hope you're having the time of your life, Cristian! I was in Paris with my family when I was 16 or 17 and loved it, but the memories are like yesterday. Don't you dare go see La Fille Mal Gardee!!!!! (This is a joke between us)!

The Bolshoi's version with Nadezhda Gracheva. I looked at the Bolshoi's website and it seems that it is a hodge podge of choreography by Vakhtang Chabuiani, Nikolai Zubkovsky, Konstantin Sergeyev, Yuri Grigorovich, and, of course, Marius Petipa. Basically, a version that includes scenes that have been added or changed over the years.

I haven't seen this DVD, so I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing, but you see the red tile roofs all over central Europe. Google-image for cities like Prague or Tallin and you'll see them. Okay, I take your word for it. I lived in Germany and Austria 20 years ago and even visited Prague and I don't remember those tiles, but I might not have paid close attention. I associate those tiles more with Italy where I noticed them everywhere, but my memory may be faulty. My sister died suddenly (in the U.S.) when I was living in Austria, and so I have never been back to Europe, but for a while I was going almost every year. I've never experienced the Euro and only knew the different currencies. That's how long it's been, so I am sure my memory is wrong. So I will backpedal and apologize to Simon Virsaladze since I doubted his knowledge of roof shingles! LOL I don't mean to pick on his designs. But I don't agree with some of his choices.

I received my copy of the new Bolshoi Giselle dvd in the mail the other day and watched it. During another topic I discussed my dislike of Simon Virsaladze's Raymonda designs. I sort of feel the same way about his Giselle, although it is better than the Raymonda. I have never seen Mediterranean Spanish style shingles on houses in a Giselle production before. Maybe this version is set in Spain or Italy. I think of Giselle as a Northern European story, so I was surprised to see that. During the second act we see cheap multi-colored Christmas lights twinkling to let us know that Myrtha and the Willis are coming. I was shocked how cheesy it looked. This is the Bolshoi! Christmas lights from WalMart should not be the signal for Myrtha! LOL Bathilde always gives Giselle a necklace, but in this version she gives her tacky disco ball Mardi Gras beads from the looks of it. This has got to be the ugliest necklace in any Giselle production ever. It really looks like a complete joke. I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought I was in New Orleans trying to catch beads! One of the worst camera moments is that when Giselle starts the Spessivtseva variation, the camera is not showing her feet during the first balance. That was irritating. Otherwise, most camera angles did not bother me. Svetlana Lunkina was great for the most part, although she is ultra serious. Even her bows at the end are so serious. I think this works both for and against her in this role. Giselle is a very sensitive character, so she should be somewhat serious, but I like the first act Giselle to have a bit more love of life and more happiness. I think her Mad Scene had the same ups and downs. At moments she seemed madder than most Giselles and at other moments too thought out and contrived. I can not fault her dancing though. It was wonderful. Her seriousness also keeps her from seeming otherworldly and strong in the second act (strong in defending Albrecht against Myrtha). I have to say that I would still see her in a heartbeat if she were dancing Giselle near me (this is a top notch dancer worth seeing), but for a dvd we always hope to be totally transported. Dmitry Gudanov gets better and better as the show progresses. In his solo variation during the 2nd act he really turned it on. I feel like Gudanov and Lunkina excelled at making Giselle look like she's actually flying in this video. This part of the video is really magical. The effect is wonderful. Lunkina continues this when she does the thing where Giselle is hopping sort of in a backbend (maybe someone else knows the official term for this move). The peasant odd was very nice. I especially liked Chinara Alizade. Andrey Bolotin was pretty good too but not quite as good as Alizade, I thought. One big disappointment is Myrtha's entrance. She sort of does the walk/dance thing that happens in ballet when crossing the stage. No bourees as she enters. Overall, Maria Allash is a decent Myrtha but not commanding or threatening or scary, but she does dance well. I suspect Griogorovich is to blame for the absence of bourees at her entrance. Does anyone know? When she leaves at the end of the ballet she bourees, so Allash can bouree just fine. Cristian (CubanMiamiBoy) showed me the Alicia Alonso Giselle (which I later bought) where Giselle holds a flower and Albrecht leaps and grabs it. This is done instead of the more common version in which flowers are thrown on the ground and he just picks them up. Well, Cristian told me that many years ago the great Albrechts would leap as Giselle throws the flower into the air, and they would catch the flower in mid-air. This Bolshoi version looks like they were trying to do this, but Gudanov wasn't able to time the leap with the flower or maybe she simply throws it and he doesn't catch it in the Bolshoi version, but to me it looked like a holdover from times gone by b/c when she threw it up in the air it looked for a second like he might run and jump and grab it. Maybe one day we will see something that spectacular! That would bring down the house! Anyway, I enjoyed the video overall. I don't know if it should ever be someone's only Giselle. But it is enjoyable. A good, solid performance but not transporting.....I notice that new videos are often very well priced when you pre-order. I got this for around $20 on Amazon. I think once it comes out the price actually goes up. But even at $29.99 (the current price I see listed) it is still cheaper than most seats in the house. This is how I condone buying another dvd.

Since I saw that the Bolshoi is going to transmit its Bayadere into movie theaters next season I suddenly realized that I've never seen the Bolshoi's Bayadere. I have all the currently available commercial videos of the ballet and am familiar with the Mariinsky's traditional and reconstructed versions of it as well. But I never saw a Bolshoi Bayadere. So I did some searching and found a video. I wanted to tell anyone who has never seen the Bolshoi's version some of the things I have never seen in any other version. I looked at the Bolshoi's website and it seems that it is a hodge podge of choreography by Vakhtang Chabuiani, Nikolai Zubkovsky, Konstantin Sergeyev, Yuri Grigorovich, and, of course, Marius Petipa. Basically, a version that includes scenes that have been added or changed over the years. The curtain opens with the fakirs acting wild around the fire.The way the fakirs are treated in the Bolshoi version is similar to Makarova's production. Their choreography is a lot wilder than the Nureyev version, for example. The warriors come skipping and jumping on stage and Solor does several jetes. I am used to him leaping from the wings onto the stage but not leaping across the stage at his entrance. So right off the bat I knew this was not going to be a Bayadere like any other. Nikiya's 2nd appearance (sort of a variation) is with a jug. The moves make more sense while she holds a jug. At the beginning of the second scene a parade of whip wielding guys come parading out and then some moors in black face (this scene would not fly in the U.S.). They are all followed by Gamzatti who is dancing across the stage. I have to say that I always find the second scene sort of empty. There is normally very little dancing (just D'Jampe dancers normally), and the only thing that holds our interest is the Dynasty (Krystle versus Alexis) cat fight between Gamzatti and Nikiya. For the most part it is mainly an "acting" scene, not a dancing one. Well, the Bolshoi changes all of that. As I said Gamzatti dances across the stage and then the stage becomes the inside of the palace and she dances a variation that includes hope en pointe. I wonder who choreographed this. Since most versions leave out the last act this addition in the Bolshoi version gives Gamzatti some more dance time. Then, the moors dance before Nikiiya and the slave come out for the short pas de deux known as "Nikiya and the Slave" which is in Nureyev's version and the traditional (as opposed to the reconstruction) version at the Mariinsky. Unlike the POB and Mariinsky, this is danced before Solor arrives which makes much more sense. I never thought it made sense for Nikiya to come dance before both Solor and Gamzatti and not figure out what is happening. So the Bolshoi puts this added PDD in a good place. She dances for Gamzatti and then leaves. That makes more dramatic sense. Solor only arrives after the stage clears and Gamzatti's father tells him he's going to marry his daughter, etc. Then, Gamzatti gets a short variation again before she and Nikiya have their confrontation (she's called for Nikiya). What really surprised me is that parts of the confrontation are actually done en pointe and not just ballet running around the stage like in all the other versions. There are even grand jetes thrown in. However, the one mis-step in this version is that Nikiya seems to grab the knife to stab Gamzatti with even less provocation than in other versions. During the engagement scene the Golden Idol has a couple of extra leaps thrown in and returns for the coda. Solor has a variation that is set to totally different music in this scene. Nobody does the Nikiya "sad" variation as well as the Russians. Their spines are like rubber bending all the way back to the leg. Now Kingdom of the Shades. OMG!!! The Bolshoi has three ramps!!! Three levels that the shades must descend. That means when some are finally on the stage floor, you are seeing 4 levels of shades coming forward. It is absolutely MARVELOUS!!!! This more than any other difference is by far the best thing in this version. At the end of the Kingdom of the Shades the palace/temple/whatever collapses on Solor (he's the only person on the stage at the end) and Nikiya appears above him, and he dies reaching up toward her. Anyway, those are the differences. I thought many of you would like to hear about that. Basically, I enjoyed Gamzatti getting two variations in this version, the cat fight being partially on pointe, and the shades descending three ramps! Those were the most interesting and fun parts of this version to me. Have any of you seen this version? I can't wait to see it at the movies next season now! To think I was going to skip it since I thought I knew Bayadere backwards and forwards! LOL

Pavel Dmitrichenko was interviewed during the transmission (he danced Abderakham), and his take on the character was that he is just so in love with Raymonda and he says he loses the battle with Jean de Brienne b/c he takes a second to gaze at Raymonda and then Brienne strikes the blow. However, the transmission did not capture his gaze toward Raymonda, and I have never noticed this detail in any production. The La Scala production has the White Lady shine a mirror in his eyes which causes him to fail (she is the protector of the House of Raymonda or whatever you call it! LOL). I have always felt sorry for the character myself. He is depicted as "different" and "rough" compared to the "European" characters, but I would be surprised if viewers hated him. The Mariinsky's version (unlike the Bolshoi's) does have him shoving his slaves around (sort of mistreating them though). I do think with hindsight that Alexandrova, as much as I loved her performance, overdid the digust. I don't remember any other Raymonda being that grossed out by Abderakhman.

On the Bolshoi website Simon Virsaladze is listed as the "designer." I don't know if that means he also designed the costumes or just the sets, and if he didn't design the costumes I wonder who did. Would Grigorovich have designed them? I don't know about ballet, but in opera there is usually a costume designer and many of them do research the time period before they make the costumes, although this is becoming rarer, since many stagings seem to just use off the rack stuff from Macy's b/c the story is usually updated (these stories have lasted centuries and moved people for centuries but suddenly in the last 20-30 years they must be updated to make them relevant). I knew a costume designer years ago, and he took his work very seriously. Of course, sometimes finances of an opera company kept him from realizing what he wanted to do. I am not really defending Raymonda or the Bolshoi's depiction of Abderakham. You have every right to your feelings about the depiction of this character. I think the Mariinsky's Raymonda has a similar costume if I remember correctly. I will have to go back and look. I have to say I am not very impressed with Simon Virsaladze's designs overall anyway. The Bolshoi really needs a new production of this ballet. I really hate the Michael Jackson cape that Jean de Brienne wears! And I find it hard to believe Crusaders dressed like that, so you might be right that no real thought was put into the costumes. You have just given one more reason to get rid of this production. It needs replacing big time! It also is hard to like these sets and costumes after La Scala came out with such a beautiful production last October.

Madama Butterfly has always been one of the few operas I had major problems with. I think Puccini's librettists misread Asian culture completely. Their intent was to show how America basically messes up Asia. It was an attempt to be pro-Asian, but in its attempt it is actually very condescending toward Japanese culture. My mother is Japanese and married an American navy guy, but I know she would not wait for years for him to come back. He knew he might not come back so he re-enlisted, married her (despite the navy trying to stop it) and brought her to the U.S. So I feel my mother's story is the TRUE Asian Butterfly story and Puccini's opera is all wrong about how submissive Asian women are. But slowly over years the music won me over. I no longer have a problem with Madama Butterfly. I love seeing or hearing it, although there are no sopranos who can sing it today, so why bother? It is a tougher role than most think, and I can't stand to hear the screeching you usually hear in it. So I probably won't ever see it again despite the fact I finally now like it! LOL Anyway, my point is that there is no getting away from the fact that some of these very European based stories in ballet and opera are problematic to many of us. This is probably why so many directors are re-interpreting operas on stage which I am so tired of although have like SOME re-interpretations.

As mentioned above the entire story of Raymonda (dealing with the Crusades as an underlying theme) is really not PC, but it is what happened in history (Christians versus Muslims). And it is still going on, believe it or not. Just recently, the Muslim center near Ground Zero was hotly debated. It would be hard to show any story about the Crusades in a PC light, and actually I think the issues contained in Raymonda are still very relevant. I do think that the fact that Raymonda has Aberakhman as a guest at her birthday party and the fact he falls in love with her shows some "human" interaction in which humans attempt to see humans as humans and the religious and cultural conflicts fall to the wayside for a very brief moment in their lives. Of course, it is fatal to Aberakhman in the end. I interpret this as how we want to understand other cultures but in the end we most often fail to do so despite a desire to do so. I think Canbelto is trying to say that despite the non-PC elements, there is no need to dress him up and overdo it and make him into something comparable to an Aunt Jemima. However, I wonder if the costume designer actually looked into the Muslim dress of that time period. Maybe that is how they dressed. I have no idea. Of course, in ballet you have Indians in Bayadere dancing in tutus so costuming in ballet is never 100% historically correct. Maybe my point is silly. It would be interesting to know, however, if any amount of research went into the costume for Abderakhman or if it was just someone's personal idea of Muslims. If some attempt at historical accuracy in all the costumes was made (some middle ages European dress is shown in Raymonda), that might explain it. But if no attempt, then I think Canbelto has a point. Others have mentioned other offensive elements in other ballets. Personally, I think the Chinese dance in Nutcracker is stereotypical. I am half Asian, but I actually enjoy the Chinese dance when I see it in most productions (often wonderfully danced). It is a problem in operas and ballets.....these are very European art forms based in the attitudes of the time and preconceptions about cultures, and so sometimes something is a bit shocking. I really don't think ballet will ever be PC no matter how much we might want it to be.

OMG! I laughed about the "kooky pants dancing" comment! Still laughing. And your comment about how disgusted you would be too. I think in some productions she is supposed to be attracted to Abderakhman, and I do think Alexandrova overdid the disgust or unease. I think the 80s videos make Raymonda a little more hard to gauge in this respect. I think they are all a little scared in both videos, but not necessarily disgusted. I remember them going back and forth between apprehension and intrigue. I think "intrigued" is the right word especially since Grigorovich choreographed the Danse Orientale for both characters right after the Spanish Dance. In the Bolshoi version the Danse Orientale is the moment he is really trying to win her over and she is TRYING to get into the idea of Eastern culture (my interpretation). I think Alexandrova's disgust is either her invention or the director told her to do that as a new take on the story. I don't remember Bessmertnova or Semenyaka being quite as disgusted, but when I saw this the other weekend I assumed it was simply Alexandrova's stern facial features that made me feel she was too disgusted by him. Now that you bring it up, I think it is a mistake in her interpretation or the director's. I do think she should either be intrigued, as you say, or she should be oblivious, but not really disgusted. I did find the dancer who danced Abderakham more cartoonish looking in this latest transmission. I think Taranda was all man and would make any Raymonda consider ditching boring Jean de Brienne!!!!