Tiara

I have seen Keenan dance many times, and recently, and I have not seen any outstanding excitement of character and find her singularly inexpressive and actually most of the time she looks ill at ease on the stage. She is certainly different though and that is where the problem lies - whether as one of the two Wili attendants or one of the jewel variation fairies or one of the swans, she stands out because of her lack of upper body fluidity and stiff arms and this is because she does not have adequate Vaganova training. With regard to why she was chosen to dance with the Mariinsky, consider that at Boston Ballet she was not considered talented enough to dance Kitri or any of the roles she is now given at Mariinsky, the best company in the world, and she is the subject of a tv documentary that is currently being filmed. Whatever the reasons were for bringing her in to dance for Mariinsky, they were not based on her talent alone, because you only have to watch her to see she is vastly inferior to the other Vaganova trained ballerinas.

I saw Xander Parish's debut with Osmolkina, replacing the unfortunately injured Ivanova, and he has a lovely stage presence and his performance was full of thoughtful acting detail He has a fine, princely physique and partnered Osmolkina well despite the limited rehearsal time. He also has beautiful legs and feet. Osmolkina's act 2 Giselle in particular was soft and lyrical. Maria Shirinkina's Peasant Pas was also very charming and light and Konstantin Ivkin showed off his amazing elevation, although not yet having quite the refinement of Filipp Stepin in this role.

It does look very like a box at the moment, and it can never compare in atmosphere with the Mariinsky Theatre - especially for ballet performances - but hopefully it will give more dancers an opportunity to perform more often, rather than just the favoured few.

I saw Oxana Skorik's Nikiya at Mariinsky on 4th February, and if this was exciting then her calmer moments must be described as comatose. As Act 1 Nikiya her face was like a blank canvas and I never saw a more emotionless portrayal. At times she did smile, but for the most part she had a completely still face. Nikiya needs to be very expressive - the music calls for it - but Oxana Skorik's heart and soul do not connect with the music.

I want to laugh at your hoedown remark as it is funny, but really the fact that Kampa gets not just one, but two Kitris is a complete disgrace. She had a great Basilio, wonderful Mariinsky corps and soloists, the best coaches in the world ... every possible opportunity she could have to give a good performance and all she could produce was this travesty of Kitri. And this terrible performance is rewarded with another Kitri? Inexcusable.

I hate gloomy and would much prefer Osmolkina (or anyone but the 3 Odd-alisques). Hey, I see that Osmolkina has just been announced as Odette-Odile for one of the Swan Lakes at the MT,later this month...Lopatkina does the first & Osmolkina the 2nd. So maybe bright days are forthcoming? More great news, in Moscow: Obraztsova debuts as Nikiya in Bayadere on the 30th, at the Bolshoi! She is also preparing to debut as the lead in Balanchine's Diamonds, later this winter (no date yet)...I'll also post this in the Obraztsova thread, if not already there. Woohoo!!! http://www.evgeniaob...a.com/news.html Katya Osmolkina's upcoming O/O will be her first follow-up performance in her home theatre with her home company since her debut several years ago. Her second and third performances of O/O were given with the Royal at Covent Garden after her home debut. I don't believe she's outsourced the role elsewhere. So, if this casting holds, this is tremendous news for her because know this: If things were "normal" in the company right now, she and many other deserving ladies, wouldn't be getting these opportunities. At this point Fateev must feel that he doesn't have a choice but to cast these women, *(against his "better" judgement). Isn't that ironic? The fact is he has always had a treasure trove of talented and gifted -but criminally under-utilized dancers to choose from. I too am totally ecstatic about Obraztsova's upcoming and long overdue Nikiya and Diamonds debuts with the Bolshoi! Her Solor will be fellow refugee Mikhail Lobhukin, who also couldn't promote to Principal in Gergiev's House of Blues. During Makhar Vaziev's and the current Regime, Evgenia was consigned to the Danse Manu in Act 2 and the first Shade variation in Act 3 of "Bayadere." Apart from her officially approved emploi of roles such as Aurora, "Romeo & Juliet," "Nutcracker," "Giselle," "La Sylphide," countless dolls, obscure pdds from obsure Petipa works, supporting cast Balanchines, the occaisional Kitri, Forsythe, Ballerina in "Petrouchka," Ratmansky's "Cinderella," and other quaint vignettes, Obraztsova was systematically denied Nikiya, O/O, Raymonda, Medora and the lead in all three segments of "Jewels." Yes, you hit the nail on the head - Fateyev has a secret treasure trove or a real Aladdin's Cave full of wonderful ballerinas and he just needs to let them out of their dingy corps dressing rooms and give them a chance to dance. In a normal world many of them would be stars already and he would have no need to bring in foreign ballerinas, or over-use the favoured few, or to seek sponsorship to boost the Mariinsky coffers: he has all this wonderful depth of talent within his company and why doesn't he have the vision and intelligence to be able to use it correctly? It really is time for a change in Mariinsky management.

Agree about Stepanova and others who've been waiting a while for O/O debuts. Did Vasnetsova ever debut as O/O? I know that she had been training the role(s) for a while but may have even been scheduled but not performed. Alas, if there is to be a new 3D Swan Lake filmed, O/O will likely go to a member of Fateev's Unholy Triumvirate: Somova-Skorik-Kampa. Yes, Vasnetsova danced one full length Swan Lake in, I think, autumn 2009, and one Corsaire in early 2010, but apart from those she has really been woefully underused. As has already been said, she is an absolute beauty, both physically and facially and technically a wonderful ballerina. Her adagio work is superb and she also has outstanding arms - her beautiful arms as Clemence in Raymonda recently were a real reminder of what a great Odette she is and also she is such a great actress. Really her Phrygia was just heart rending, especially in her mourning over the dead body of Spartacus, and she was also a very moving Maria in Fountain of Bakhchisarai. I can't understand at all why she is still only a coryphee. It would certainly be wonderful if she could do the 3D Swan Lake, if it ever materializes, but with Fateyev's dreadful and unfair casting, this seems very unlikely.

Would love to see Novikova featured in this Swan Lake broadcast or, better still, a debut from Stepanova or Nikitina. It's time there were some new Odette-Odiles at the Mariinsky and Stepanova's Odette-Odile is long overdue.

Renata, I know that you meant well but I got full-metal indigestion, after seeing the rough-cut sapphire between sterling silver and 24-karat gold. In addition to the flapping port de bras, Kampa's big weakness seems to be the huff-n'-puff facial expression with open mouth, gasping for air. Lavrinenko & Nikitina are cool, calm & collected - every inch the aristocrats, flanking the huff-n'-puff gal. THEN the piece de resistance: Valeria Martinyuk's Diamond/Fairy Brilliant enters the stage and WOW! My indigestion totally cured. As for Batoeva, she was BORN to be a Kitri, a 100% natural Latina-looking spitfire, with the technique, proportions and schooling to shine in the role. She should be Kitri and not just one of the 2 friends here. (She and Frolova were the super-surprises of the recent Kennedy Center Cinderellas.) Vasnetsova is truly beautiful, elegant and properly schooled; at least she gets a decent solo in her role on the 16th. It will be interesting to see Kitri and Dryad dancing in the Dream Scene, side by side. Agree about Vasnetsova - she is a wonderful classical ballerina and a great dramatic ballerina too. She was simply amazing in all her expressions as Phrygia in Ilya Kuznetsov's Spartacus debut last month, and she was also a superb Florine. She should be dancing principal roles and not wasted on solos. Btw, that is Chereshkevich, not Nikitina, as Silver Fairy in the clip above!

Renata, please tell me that this clip is just a joke and comes from the old TV show Amateur Hour! The port de bras alone...wow. What on earth is going on with this company? As for the announcement of Ms Kampa's latest debut as Kitri on January 16, words fail me. They really do. Maybe all of the recent odd casting decisions, on tour and at home, relate to marketing moves, i.e., in Kampa's case, her contract 'deal' may be linked to getting footage of her in starring roles for the bio-documentary on her story that is currently in the works? The Skorik Revolution may be trying to fill a marketing void (?) also. Fortunately, words rarely fail me, and so I will say that I find this DQ casting a complete joke and actually a disgrace. But hopefully the joke will be on Fateyev when his appalling casting decision is well and truly ridiculed by ballet public and press alike. Keenan Kampa does not have the technique, style or personality for this role. It is ludicrous. Where is the crystalline purity required for the Dryad scene? Where is the spitfire footwork and great jump? Where are the expressive port de bras? Where is the sparkling personality for Kitri? Kampa looks terrified every time she steps on stage and not surprisingly - she must know she simply is not up to dancing on it. The Mariinsky has so many wonderful ballerinas who could and should be given a chance to dance this exacting role. What about Stepanova and Batoeva, both newly promoted to coryphee and as yet without a full length ballet role to their name? Krasnokutskaya also would be great in the role. And both Novikova and Martynyuk have already proved themselves wonderful Kitris. If only the true reasons for this oddest of odd casting decision could be brought out into the open, whether marketing or sponsorship related, because at the moment Mariinsky audiences are just being cheated.

Ksenia graduates in 2014.

Indeed! Zakharova is also possibly the most commercially filmed of current ballerinas making it even less interesting to see her. I don't find her to be the kind of dancer who puts on a radically different performance based on different shows/partners. We can all just pop in her Bayadere filmed at La Scala with Bolle and probably see the same thing--she's too methodical. As a huge fan, I admit to not minding if Alexandrova gets the other lion's share of broadcasts, but there are many Bolshoi ballerinas I would be equally excited to see in place of Zakharova. I do agree and am not excited by the prospect of seeing Zakharova - as you say, I do not find much variance between her interpretations at different times. The performance I would love to see broadcast is Obraztsova/Lobukhin/Tikhomirova - great roles in particular for the very exciting Lobukhin and high-flying Tikhomirova!

Why is this topic only suitable for NYCB and North American companies? I see nowhere any mention made of the greatest company in the world - the Mariinsky. And - as for Balanchine being the only choreographer who "really gives attention to the corps de ballet" - I completely disagree as imo Petipa is the master of choreographic composition for the corps de ballet, and Balanchine himeself acknowledged his huge debt to Petipa. Without Petipa there would have been no Balanchine. Just look at Petipa's use of the corps - as a framework, the inventiveness of the floor patterns made by the corps, the sheer technique and unanimity of style needed to dance his corps work impeccably. Petipa is master of choreography for the corps de ballet. No other choreographer could imagine or choreograph a scene of such genius as the entry of the shades in Bayadere, for example. It is a pinnacle of choreographic inventiveness and sublime in its simplicity. Petipa is the master of ballet. And imo the dancers who perform his choreography the best and as he would have intended, are those in the Mariinsky. Today's corps de ballet at the Mariinsky contains approximately 100 ballerinas, each of whom would be a soloist in any other company in the world. If we are to talk about particular dancers, then I must mention Yulia Stepanova, Nadia Batoeva, Anastasia Nikitina, Viktoria Krasnokutskaya and Dasha Vasnetsova. Dasha has been in the company for 8 years, still a coryphee but dances often in the corps, as do the first four, who were promoted a few months ago. Still in the corps are Oksana Marchuk, Viktoria Brileva, Margarita Frolova, Alisa Sokilova ... really the list is endless. All of these girls have amazing star quality and should already be principal dancers - in any other company in the world they would be principals. Such is the greatness of the Mariinsky, that even its corps de ballet contains dancers of this great calibre. So if you ask which are wonderful corps dancers and which is the greatest corps de ballet, then the answer must always be the Mariinsky has the best corps de balleet in the world, and any one of its corps de ballet dancers would be a soloist anywhere else.

Mariinsky does have dancers with very fast, brilliant footwork - Valeria Martynyuk, Olesya Novikova, Nadia Batoeva, Viktoria Tereshkina and many more. All of these dancers have the speed and attack for Balanchine, and in addition they have the hallmark beautiful Vaganova arms that give added beauty to the Balanchine choreography and which American dancers lack imo.

I saw Oksana Marchuk in two Nutcrackers recently. She played the sister of Masha to both Osmolkina and Evseeva. Both ballerinas were good, and Evseeva for me wonderful and so poignant, but whenever Marchuk was onstage she completely outshone every ballerina and I could not stop watching her. She has unique presence and personality, some of the best arms in the company, and I could not stop wishing she was dancing Masha. Columbine is a great role for her, but she should be dancing Masha, Aurora, Syuimbike - and many, many other roles that she would be superb in. The same can be said for Nadia Batoeva, who is a great dramatic ballerina, with superb technique - she is a gorgeous Columbine, but she too should be dancing principal roles - Aurora, Kitri, Nikiya ... Krasnokutskaya too I like - she has a sparky personality and always stands out on stage - and think she could be a fabulous Kitri. And Varentseva is still very young and I saw her Florine debut in Sleeping Beauty. Technically she is accomplished, but of course she needs time to mature and I hope Fateyev will not push her into too many new roles before she is ready. She needs time to develop as an artist although she is certainly promising and I enjoyed her Florine.

I would say the reverse - there is not one dancer at NYCB, except any Vaganova trained dancers, who would be fit to dance for the Mariinsky. I think if Balanchine were alive today, he would say himself that the Mariinsky dancing his ballets is far preferable to NYCB. They give wonderful renditions of the Balanchine they have in their repertoire, and enhanced by their wonderful unanimity of style, which no other company in the world has, and certainly not NYCB. Technically and artistically they are superior in every way, with their superb upper bodies and fluid arms, which are unique to them. Their superb training enables them to dance any style wonderfully. Jewels, Symphony in C, Serenade, Ballet Imperial, Scotch Symphony - in these and many other Balanchine ballets they are unsurpassed imo. As for principals, I recently saw Ashley Bouder dancing in Tarentella, and she is far from what I consider to be a classical ballerina, both physically and as regards technique. She has no refinement whatsoever. All the Mariinsky ballerinas I have seen in this role are by far better. Mariinsky ballerinas are the best in the world, and better than Bolshoi ballerinas because of their refinement of technique, and the unique Vaganova training, which gives artistry, meaning and soul to every movement, rather than the reliance on bravura technique and bold effects emphasized by Bolshoi ballerinas. St Petersburg does have the best company in the world - the Mariinsky - and their dancers imo are the best in the world.

My two cents....Paris. When Ganio performed at the Mariinsky Festival with Novikova, he raved about Aurelie Dupont, and Novikova famously said that she would not be good enough for the Mariinsky corps.

My two cents....Paris. No - not Paris, despite all the complaints that have been made on this thread, the Mariinsky is still the greatest company in the world, to the extent that I believe that any Mariinsky corps dancer would be a soloist in any other company in the world. Also, I would rather see the Mariinsky with Kampa or Skorik dancing Nikiya, Giselle or Odette/Odile, than any other company in the world with any other ballerina. Even with these two ballerinas dancing, imo the Mariinsky is still better than any other company in the world. It is very noticeable the extent to which ballerinas from other companies are both technically and artistically inferior to Mariinsky dancers when seen as guest artists in, for example, the Mariinsky Festival. Not only do the guest ballerinas look completely out of place, but but imo they even look inferior to the corps ballerinas, who would perform their principal/guest roles far better .

There are some amazing boys in the corps atm. Latipov, who just joined this season, is a very exciting prospect. I saw his Talisman recently and he has wonderful jump and great turns, very graceful with a lot of crowd pleasing charm. I liked him a great deal. Ivkin, also in corps, is another exciting male dancer, with the most astonishing ballon and elevation. Popov is also very good, as is Tkachenko (coryphee) and Ermakov (2nd soloist.) All deseve more chances. Maybe Stepin was having an off night? Usually his dancing is full of panache. However, amongst the principals you are right and they are definitely a lacklustre bunch, especially Ivanchenko and Kolb. Kolb really needs to hang up his prince boots straightaway and Ivanchenko also. Ilya Kuznetsov has all the panache and passion for any role, but he is never given a chance to dance principal roles, but I saw his Spartacus debut recently and it was outstanding. Same as for the women, the Mariinsky management just needs to give dancing opportunities to the right men, and stop favouring the dull/past it/inadequate ones.

Yes, you have indeed been cheated. We all have. The Mariinsky Theatre still contains the greatest dancers in the world, but unfortunately, these are not given the chance to dance. There are numerous unfair casting practices, many of which were recently mentioned in an open letter from the dancers to Gergiev. The same dancers get given the same roles time after time, while talented ballerinas in the corps and, indeed, at all levels, are ignored. Any person wanting to see true representatives of Mariinsky style can be assured they are still there - but you will often have to look at corps and coryphee level to see them. During the last few years, there have been a stream of talented dancers who have all graduated and gone elsewhere - Smirnova, Shapran, Strelkov, Lebedev - as well as dancers such as Obraztsova and Lobukhin who have left the company, largely because of unfair casting practices. If all of these dancers were still with the company and dancing the roles they should be, then the Mariinsky would be seen in all its true glory. But the fact is that audiences are being cheated as you say, because we are not being given the chance too see the dancers we should be. Oxana Skorik and Keenan Kampa are most unfairly being given the dancing opportunities that many gifted ballerinas such as Stepanova, Batoeva, Nikitina, Vasnetsova and many others should have had years ago. They as well as us are being cheated.

I agree! BRAVO for this great comment!!!

Please could you give a full cast list as I would like to know who all the leads were? Who else was in the pas de quatre? And who was with Askerov in QPC? How did Shirinkina do with the very difficult and fast fouette/coupe section towards the end in the Tchai? Agree Stepin needs someone more sparkling than Gonchar to dance this Tarentella - he was great with Cheprasova (now left) but I would love to see him with either Oksana Marchuk or Nadia Batoeva in it.

Gonchar is another soloist who is being given many roles at the moment, somewhat surprisingly imo. I like Maria Shirinkina very much. Vasnetsova is great in adagio work - I imagine that third variation was wonderful. She really should have been promoted long ago and be dancing principal roles. I saw her Phrygia in Spartacus recently and her Florine and she was absolutely outstanding in both. She is a very great actress and a wonderful ballerina.

No - just executing the steps correctly is not enough. I think you have said it perfectly - hyperextensions and long limbs are not enough. But apparently Fateyev thinks they are - as this is the only explanation for his continual casting of Oxana Skorik. Nikiya needs beautiful port de bras, expressive upper body, spirituality, the Mariinsky soul and what a travesty that a ballerina who has none of these attributes is entrusted with this great role.

Are you going to Oxana Skorik's Masha debut? If you are, please write a review on here and let us know how the performance goes. I do think it is a completely bizarre casting choice and would to hear about it!