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Thanks again for finding these videos. My first thought on watching: not half-bad, really. I often seem to have aesthetic issues with Russian stagings of Balanchine works, but the Bolshoi is getting better at it judging by this effort. The Bolshoi bills the ballet as Apollon Musagète and that explains the older form of the ballet (and I think that was a good decision). I personally prefer Jacques D'Amboise's "wild child" approach to the Apollo character, as it provides a whole other level of character development and drama - without that approach we get only the danseur noble behaving nobly (surprise!), and very little change beyond that. Semyon Chudin tends toward the noble Apollo approach, but he does have his dramatic moments. The only part of these videos that really bugged me was right at the beginning - his 'Pete Townshend windmill' motion: it was rather bland, and didn't correspond to, or emphasize particularly well, the dynamics of the score (and this IS wonderful music after all). Fortunately, things generally improved from there. I have minor quibbles with things here and there, but again, not bad, judging from the videos. That's my two cents.

Thanks Dirac. ;) There is of course no one way with art, or feelings. I tend to think that it is as much the viewer's job to find something, anything, worthwhile in an art piece, as it is the job of the artist to create something 'significant'. Much of the time, as viewers, we are just lazy, and wait to be entertained, but art of any depth usually requires work on the part of the viewer...

I will echo the sentiment that the Entrance of the Shades is one of the classic moments in traditional ballet. When I was just starting to take an interest in ballet performances, and wondering what was what, and who was who, I happened upon a DVD of the POB's "La Bayadere". (This was before I had seen any Balanchine ballets, and other 'modernist' choreographers.) And I thought, "the pseudo-Indian stagings are impressive - reminds me of Leon Bakst", but, it was the Shades processional that really hooked me, and then I thought, "So this is what can be done". I do find it to be a lovely marriage of music and choreography (the only Minkus music that IS lovely to me). It strikes me as being very 'pure': similar to the kind of pure dance Balanchine often tried to achieve in his abstract ballets. Calling the Shades processional boring is like calling the POB's Grand Défilé boring - I suppose you are either moved by this type of thing, or you are not. Although some find it necessary to explain that this dance depicts Solor's opium dream, I don't think the context particularly matters. The choreography either grabs the attention of the viewer, and transports them to a 'spiritual' place, or it doesn't, and for me it works in a big way as a standalone ensemble dance.

This does conflict a bit with the notion that Lopatkina 'respects the classics' when she dances only the later versions of ballets, the ones re-staged by Sergeyev, rather than reconstructions that try to emulate the originals (obviously perfect reproductions would be impossible, but they restore scenes/choreography that haven't been danced in a century). She demonstrates great loyalty to her teacher, but hasn't shown an interest in exploring older choreography. In her interviews she often mentions her interest in modern ballets (as long as they display a humanist quality), so I think that is her real focus at this point of her life.

I get the opposite feeling: that Lopatkina has so much clout she can 'opt-out' of a foreign tour as she wishes. I think she would rather be close to home, anyway. Compared to Vishneva, who actively seeks out opportunities outside of Russia, Lopatkina has been happy to stick with what she has, and seems quite unconcerned with becoming an international performer. She always struck me as being fairly humble, and not intensely ambitious regarding her career. She has certainly done well for herself in Russia. Perhaps that is enough.

Thank you for this information. Again, no Serenade on DVD. I can't say this surprises me the way things have been going with Balanchine's works. But why another La Sylphide, instead? (A rhetorical question.)

I would love to hear reports on the Balanchine performances happening at this time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the POB is filming "Serenade" (and perhaps the entire program). It would be about time(!) to have a performance of "Serenade" available on DVD.

I stumbled onto this Giselle thread: http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/3312-videos-of-giselle/ So that should help me out.

Yes, Japanese actors are masters of the language of eyes. This thread caught my "eye", primarily because I haven't been able to forget how well Ekaterina Kondaurova used her eyes in dancing Odette-Odile with the Mariinsky this past week in Costa Mesa, CA. As Odette, her eyes were barely noticeable with lids drawn part way down - creating an 'interior' character whose mind is difficult to fathom, but we are touched by her gestures of grief and remonstrance. But when Kondaurova danced Odile, besides the technical fireworks, her eyes were wide open and she gazed full face at the audience, and the Rothbart character, and it is a powerful effect. Mesmerizing really. So Swan Lake provides a nice example of the importance of using the eyes and face to enhance/change character.

I spent some time in the distant past trying to learn how her name *should* be pronounced, and of course happened on to some Chinese language video interviews with her, but I was never able to distinguish her name in what was said. (I've had the same problem trying to learn the pronunciation of various Hong Kong film stars' names this way.) Try to listen for the names of "Yuan Yuan Tan", "Helgi Tomasson", or "San Francisco" in this clip: Was that some form of "Rubies" at the beginning? Anyway, LOL, I can only distinguish the term "ballet" which is pronounce "bally" by the voiceover artist.

Yuan Yuan further confuses things with her own pronunciation of her name - but she's obviously trying to make it more understandable to the English-speaking audience as she has inverted her first and last names from the usual Chinese order: The San Francisco balletomanes often refer to her with the nickname "Y Y", and to quote from elsewhere, "YY, as Tan is known around SFB, began her historic ascent through the repertory. Her name, Yuan Yuan, translates as “round, round”; she was born during a full moon, a sign of good luck, and where creating new ballets is concerned, fortune has smiled on her."

Hello everyone: I could use some recommendations for Giselle productions available on DVD (sorry, no VHS). Let me know what your favorites are.

Thank you very much for these videos links. Maria just radiates FUN. A wonderful personality, and a technical marvel.

It just occurred to me that "The Proud Tower" begins in an odd way - it's boring. The opening chapter, named "The Patricians", is all about the world of "Downton Abbey" and England's landed aristocracy. A world in which 'everything is in its right place'. The English Empire was arguably at its highest point, but the falloff was terrifyingly rapid (well, for the aristocrats - it didn't come soon enough for the those on the bottom of society). I realized later, that Tuchmann very purposefully begins things on a dull note to show contrast, but also to make what comes later even more intense, chaotic and 'climactic'. She could have started with any aspect of European society (Austro-Hungarian Europe would have been a logical choice), but she chose to begin with the English Aristocracy and I think it demonstrates her literary skills to have done so.

It's kind of like "Ivan's Childhood" on steroids - same general theme, but specifically concerning the Russian partisans fighting German SS units exterminating entire villages in Eastern Russian, Ukraine, etc. So, not an MGM musical. But the cinematic style is very interesting - almost a David Lynch nightmare/dream-scape at times. Thanks Kathleen - free is always good. ;) I should add, however, that some of these films really deserve to be seen on a large, high-resolution TV screen. "The Cranes Are Flying" and "I Am Cuba" have tremendous black and white cinematography in the Russian Constructivist style, and every shot in "Color of Pomegranates" is a mesmerizing collage of colors and textures with so many little details, that it would be a shame for any of it to be lost. Some of the Eisenstein films may look OK in low res since the transfers are often not very good. But this is an old argument in the world of film. I can say to anyone who has only watched Hitchcock's "Rear Window" on their computer, that they have not seen "Rear Window". Having gone to the theater to the see the restored re-release in the 1980s, I can tell you that the film was created specifically to be shown at a particular size: when shown on a large theater screen, the images of the apartment building look absolutely life-sized as if the viewer is sitting in the apartment with Jimmy Stewart looking across the courtyard at his neighbor's windows. It is an absolutely startling effect. Anyways...Some images surely help: Color of Pomegranates http://someofthethin...film-color.html The Cranes are Flying http://stefansargent.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/12dv-pole-1bg1.jpg http://classicfilmhe...age/13697104307 http://classicfilmhe...age/13696358292 http://25.media.tumb...zz302o1_500.gif Ivan's Childhood http://24.media.tumb...h0vbo1_1280.jpg http://s3.amazonaws.....jpg?1333382260 http://hopeliesat24f...schildhood1.jpg Battleship Potemkin http://4.bp.blogspot...mkin-2-copy.jpg http://chaplinsmoust...-potemkin-1.jpg http://24.media.tumb...i7tyo1_1280.png Dersu Uzala http://rstvideo.com/...ersu-uzala2.jpg http://cf2.imgobject...13f59mVpKL1.jpg

My first thought on seeing these videos is that it's pretty great the Russians film seemingly every performance and show them to the world straight away. The US companies are made to worry so much about copyright legality that their performances are rarely seen by the 'outside world'. And so the Russians 'win', in effect - Russian ballet is easily accessed all around the world, even if you can't go to the live performances. I will say that I LOVE the Bolshoi's decision to show the older ending with the dancers mounting Mount Parnassus. Very good choice. I don't get the sense that the audience was thrilled by the performance. But I don't know if they felt it wasn't a great performance of Apollo, or they just didn't understand Apollo. I'm not certain of their level of familiarity with this Balanchine piece.

I'm shocked by how many different versions of the Niçoise Salad there seem to be in the world (maybe I shouldn't be). I used to make this dish quite often for dinners with friends. The most essential ingredients that I knew of were, niçoise olives (naturally), flaked tuna, sliced hard or soft boiled egg, green beans, and small fingerling potatoes (but this could just be diced potato). (Anchovy fillets are also used a lot, but are not my cup-of-tea.) All over a bed of spring greens and baby leaf spinach, and crumbled goat cheese on top. Cherry or diced tomatoes, and julienne carrot are a nice addition. Oh and the traditional dressing is a mustard dressing, but I used to make a really 'powerful' garlic, shallot, mustard and honey dressing that people seemed to like. Now I'm wondering where I wrote down that recipe...

An interesting point and one I never thought of. I'll have to test the hypothesis ... maybe with (what?) (Proud Tower?) Hmmm, yes, "Proud Tower" might be a good example, but even "The Zimmerman Telegram" has that kind of clever pacing in which the book actually has a kind of climax and denouement - it isn't just setup in linear time - "first this happened, then the next day this happened, and here's what happened the following week..." (there's too much of THAT in historical writing). I personally find The Zimmerman Telegram has a certain excitement to it, even though, and this is the funny part - we know what eventually happened. And yet it's the details that make a tremendous story, and Tuchmann certainly realized that. Thinking back on these books I realize that possibly Tuchmann's favorite theme is that of repetition in history. We humans love to repeat the same miserable things over and again. And that's a major theme of "100 Years of Solitude" as well. "Master and Margarita" is one I need to tackle myself. I started it once, and was more confused than attracted, got interrupted, and never went back. Definitely, if you are drawn to more abstract ballet, say, Balanchine's 4 T's, then what you say about magic realism makes sense. I love Balanchine, but I also love "The Firebird" and other folktale-based works. I tend to like a strong concept that has some psychological aspect. That's just me. Carry on readers!

Thanks, Bart. Llosa, Borges, Fuentes - all good. ;) I'm a little surprised that someone who loves ballets isn't crazy about "magic realism", but we all have different takes on these things. It seems to me that Tuchmann was the first historian to figure out how to use fictional writing techniques, especially those used in character-driven novels, and apply these same devices to historical writing. In the last 30 years, every historian seems to have jumped on the bandwagon, but with differing degrees of success. Laura Hillenbrand has the gift as well - I wonder if I could get her take on the subject of Lee Miller...

Yes, you are quite welcome. I forgot to place an asterisk beside "Come and See" as it is one of the most TERRIFYING and shocking films you are likely to ever see. It is not for everyone, and definitely not recommended for kids/adolescents. Period. But it is a cinematic work of art in many ways. For a short list sampler to start things off, I would recommend: The Cranes Are Flying, The Color of Pomegranates, Dersu Uzala, Battleship Potemkin and maybe Ivan's Childhood from Tarkovsky. I generally agree with your recommendations above. I do find "Solaris" to be boring, personally, so it doesn't go on my top list. Perhaps I should just say, "See all the Eisenstein films you can if you've an interest in classic cinema" ;) I see that I typo'd his name above, so I'll fix that...

I agree that the female roles often leave a lot to be desired. That's one reason why I love "Hidden Fortress" - the princess gets to be a strong and forceful personality (yikes!) Samurai Trilogy is a tough one for me. Some of it is simply great, and some of it is really annoying. I am a huge Mifune fan, which you can probably gather from my list, so I should probably include Samurai Trilogy just for his participation. Deciding which Yasujirō Ozu films to mention is tough as he was remarkably consistent. But I like to hear what others prefer... "In the 2012 version of the widely-respected decennial "Greatest Films of All Time" Sight & Sound poll, published by the British Film Institute (BFI), Late Spring appears as the 15th greatest film of all time."

You are welcome - I too love his 'painterly', Degas quality, and the 'moodiness' of some of the shots. I can tell that he alters some of the photos in various ways, but it looks to be more of the old-fashioned by-hand manipulation than the Photoshop variety. One thing that becomes obvious in this photo (http://www.photodom.com/photo/2109538) is the tremendous amount of work put into the design and creation of the tutus - much of which is simply lost on audience members sitting in the middle of an auditorium. The art of costume-making is still alive.

In the Lopotkina/Korsuntsev version out on DVD, Siegfried whips Rothbart a few times with his own wing, which is equally goofy. But Korsuntsev is able to express a bit better the fact that there is a physical struggle between the two characters. Thanks for the great write-up, Ksk04. I'm just plain envious now - I was wavering between traveling to Costa Mesa and traveling to Berkeley, but I chose Costa Mesa and I'll be forever stuck with Ivanchenko (in memory, of course). Me thinks the Mariinsky staff reads Ballet Alert forum. ;)

This video vaguely(!) relates to the thread - a comparison of 3 dancers as The Firebird: Vishneva, Kondaurova and Stepanova... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD9CYXnl1KM This isn't a side-by-side sort of comparison, which can be very interesting, but I think it preserves the integrity of the performance and provides better context to show one dancer at a time.

And here are my recommendations for must-see Russian films (and I'm sure I'm leaving some things out) - The Color of Pomegranates, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, The Legend of the Surami Fortress (Sergei Paradjanov) The Cranes Are Flying, I am Cuba (Mikhail Kalatozov) Ballad of a Soldier, The Forty-First (Grigori Chukhrai) http://dvd.netflix.c...25?trkid=496751 Come and See (Elem Klimov) The Ascent, Wings (Larisa Shepitko) Ivan's Childhood (or "My Name is Ivan"), Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky) The Dawns Here Are Quiet (Stanislav Rostotsky) Dersu Uzala (Kurosawa with all Russian cast and locals) Battleship Potemkin, Strike, Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein) Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov) Man With A Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov) Arsenal (Alexander Dovzhenko) >> I haven't seen "Stalker" yet (many people like that film)