Natalia

Marc et al - What's up with Dmitri Semyonov? I haven't heard of him or seen him in anything for two years. He showed such promise during the London tour, a couple of years ago. Is he injured? Out of favor? Or simply not dancing when I am in the Northern Palmyra?

re. Ondine - yes, I heard that the rehearsals were going rather slowly and I was afraid of this cancellation. Funding sources had a little something to do with it, too...need more rehearsals but WHO to foot the bill? That sort of thing. (Alberto Villars do not grow on trees and even he had a bad year in the stock market, like everyone else...)

Thanks, Alexandra! Julie Kent is a great choice for this exchange. She has the stylized line & 'plastique' that will delight Petersburgers!!! And I remember her Giselle with Malakhov a couple of Mays ago, in NYC. St Petersburg is really in for a treat. And as for Vishnyova's Juliet...well, it simply doesn't get better, IMO!!!

Sorry to disagree but I find the Shemiakin 'Nutcracker' to be a masterpiece...not of ballet but of theatrical art/pantomime. It is visually stunning and greatly enhances the music. Now, suddenly, every note comes to life. I am delighted to read that the same team is working on the 'Princess Pirlipat' premiere. This makes perfect sense, considering the Hoffmanesque theme & link between the two stories. That is not to say that the Vasily Vainonen version of 'Nutcracker' should be permanently replaced by the Shemiakin/Simonov pantomime. One is a ballet; the other is a pantomime. Both spectacular theater, IMO. I bet that, if all of you would sit in the theater -- not living room, looking at a videotape or reading reviews -- and experience the Shemiakin 'Nutcracker' LIVE, you too will shout 'bravo!' as do standing-room-audiences in Peter. I will place bets with all of you (100 rubles with Marc...about three dollars!!!!) ...go with open minds & see it as a pure-pantomime & visual extravaganza...not as a ballet. But it is truly worthy of the glorious setting of the Imperial Mariinsky Theater, amen! p.s. - My review of the Shemiakin 'Nut' is in my 2002 White Nights Festival thread, so I will not delineate here the many reasons why I adore this production.

Thanks, rk...do let me know. We can share reporting duties, along with all of the other DC-based BalletAlertniks who may attend all or part of the competition. I need a trip to DC like a 'hole in the head' right now, with all that's going on in my work in Moscow. However, I bought one all-event ticket (club-level seat...nice...) at not-too-cheap price almost two years ago and I'll be ***** if I let this opportunity pass me by to see a Worlds live. So I am in the ABSURD position of traveling from my new home to my former home to see an event which, I thought, I'd be seeing 'at home'! Life is strange. Go figure. At least the airline fares aren't too bad in March, especially when purchased in Russia...dramatically cheaper than a round-trip fare for a trip commencing in the USA.

Just FYI..the current issue of the Russian ballet magazine ('Balet') notes that the Eifman troupe recently filmed the hit full-evening ballet, 'Red Giselle,' for commercial video. It will be released this spring in Russia & Europe in PAL and SECAM formats. (Perhaps also in the USA on NTSC format??? No mention in the magazine of that but one would think, for this spring's USA tour...) For me, a masterpiece....it's about time...

Hi, Jeanette - (funny - that's my full first name, too ) For some time, this Kirov-Mariinsky tape was being sold through Kultur. Try www.kulturvideo.com It contains the Fyodor Lopukhov/Soviet Era version of the Lilac Fairy variation, not the Nikolai Sergeyev version from the 1921 Diaghilev Ballet, more often danced in the west (see Royal Ballet version for this, also on Kultur video). The true Petipa version (with grand jetes, followed by simple promenade around the stage) is not on commercial tape yet,ie.e., what we see in the Mariinsky's new-old 1890 staging. Maybe next year.

Thanks to ALL of you for your wonderful reports and comments. I am now truly looking forward to my Nationals tapes-fix, courtesy of 'Doctor Mom'! [On the phone this am, she told me that I had lots of funny Dick Button comments to look forward to...as well as Sasha Cohen's 'sour grapes face' (mom's words) backstage, when she learns she dropped to 3rd place..oh, dear...] I am thrilled for both Weiss and Kwan. As much as I love Sasha, I'm all for the right competitor winning gold, on a given night. It sounds as if Sasha did not deserve to win Nationals last Saturday. Now I'm even more curious as to how that Grand Prix finals will turn out. I'll try my best to report on the G-P from St Pete (in between Mariinsky Festival ballets) and the Worlds in DC (I'll be there for last five days or so...maybe some of you will be there too?). Now, how did the European Championships go...

Thank you for this enthusiastic, detailed, candid report, rk! I have been reading the USFSA web and wire reports but those *never* provide the true ambience of being there LIVE. I know how you feel about Sarah Hughes...I bet she was held up...Olympic Champ, after all. If she fails to make the World Team -- and she'll have to really bomb to not be held up by the judges & Jenny Kirk or AP McDonough will have to win the free skate -- then maybe folks will not be so harsh on young Olympic champs who decide, then & there, to turn professional. (Remember how everyone criticized Tara for turning pro at age 15, in '98? Hey - quit with the gold, I say!) Another Kwanfest in the making...at least it sounds like Michele was truly radiant out there. Good for her. And Sasha is hanging on in #2; OK, not bad for her at this stage! I'm delighted to read about Kirk's development. And the artistic Johnny Weir too! yeah!! I love it when the artists score high. But what happened to poor Michael Weiss, the Pride of Washington, DC?? Another clunker of a program? Maybe he'll pull-out another miracle-performance, as when he won Trophee Lalique, earlier this season. I sure hope that my mom takes great care in setting the VCR buttons....she usually does.... No US Nationals on Russian TV.

Marc, I can't speak to the US tour but how about the future stars of the Bolshoi, among the current students? I have been very impressed by two young female dancers among the senior class of the Moscow Choreographic Academy (the feeder school for the Bolshoi) - Polina Semyonova and Natalia Osipova. In particular, I love Osipova, who is shortish, vibrant (bubbly personality) & with a beautiful (glamorous) face and possessing a spectacular grand jete. She has the 'look' of a Jenifer Ringer or Irina Golub - stunning face framed by black hair. She dances one of the two female leads in "The Magic Flute" student performances. Polina Semyonova is on super-star fast-track here...winner of gold medals at Vaganova Prix 2002 and Moscow 2001 (where she shared top jr prize with Japan's Misa Kuranawa). Back then, I was not that impressed with Semyonova's hyper-extension (a-la-Zakharova...maybe even more exaggerated!) but, in recent concert appearances, I've enjoyed her musicality. Besides, she has developed an expressiveness (in face, in use of the long tappering fingers) that I did not really notice in '01. She has seemingly-superhuman LLLLLoooooooggg arms and legs with a small torso, perhaps from the same genetic pool that produced Guillem and Zakharova? Semyonova is to the Bolshoi's school, as is Yelena Vostrotina to the Vaganova Academy - the possible top ballerina of the future. By the way, Marc, what do you think of Vostrotina? Have you seen her or heard about her? She graduates this May and, I bet, will be pushed into principal roles in the main Mariinsky troupe very soon (if not already?), a-la Volochkova/Vishneva/Zakharova when they were students. New Yorkers may remember Vostrotina as a 12-yr-old long-legged wonder during the Feb '98 Brooklyn Academy joint-concert with SAB; she was one of the two girls dancing 'Nutcracker' flutes.

There seems to be a lot of interest in the US Nationals this year, so I'm giving it a thread of its own. Besides, we have at least one BalletAlertnik (rkoretzky) attending, who has promised first-hand observations! Until we hear from rk and others, I've found this link to the U.S. Figure Skating Association's official coverage, for statistics, photos & such: http://www.usfsa.org/uschamp03/index.htm Among the goodies on that site is the following strating-order for the first phase of the top Senior Ladies competitiors...and it's a GREAT draw for Sasha Cohen...OK for Hughes & Kwan...sad for Amber Corwin, who skates first, when judges rarely award the higher scores, no matter how well one skates. The Sr Ladies event begins Friday; ends on Saturday night (prime-time on ABC TV in the US??? it's usually shown live). Ladies Line-Up Top Contenders Amber Corwin-1st Angela Nikodinov-10th Jenny Kirk-11th Ann-PatriceMcDonough-14th Sarah Hughes-15th Michelle Kwan-16th Beatrisa Liang-17th Angela Gardiner-18th Sasha Cohen-20th Ye-Bin Mok-21st

Dear rk - That is fantastic! Wow - we have a BalletAlertnik on-site! Please do provide reports, if you can. I'm going to begin a thread devoted to the US Nationals. Feel free to write your reports/impressions there. Have fun, lucky you!

Thanks, Marc & Glebb! I did not even look in the English; then again, that one is usually a few steps behind the Russian.

Thank you for the North American updates. WOW, I had given up on Sandhu a while back jsut because of his inconsistency. It's so good that he put together two great programs to win. Will both Sandhu and Buttle go to Worlds? Now I am really sad to be missing US Nationals, as there is no hope of picking it up on Russian satellite services. (On the other hand, we do get EuroSport for all of the Euro-based competitions, LIVE and commercial-free...but no Dick Button...bummer...)

I notice that the Kirov-Mariinsky's website has been updated to included the most recently-hired soloists (the Ukraineans Nadezhda Gonchar & Leonid Sarafanov) but some favorites have been deleted??? We already know about Veronika Part's departure, to the ranks of ABT, last fall. However, I was shocked to not see the names of Sofia Gumerova, Alexandra Iosifidi and Natalia Sologub on the soloist (or principals) roster. I know that Gumerova danced last week's 'Swan Lake' so she could not have resigned THAT quickly! Perhaps it is just a mistake of the webmaster? On a similar note: Matvienko seems to be back on the roster??? I thought that he had left a few months ago. Maybe I am hallucinating because of the freezing temperatures here. Back to my hot chocolate & goose-down comforter.

Now that I am in 'Siberia' I hope that some of you skating fans on BalletAlert can provide some iside scoop and interesting comments on these two events! The US Nationals are in Dallas, Texas, next week (Jan 14-18). I believe that the Canadians are going on now, this week. re. the US Nationals, the Ladies event figures to be really exciting. Will Sasha continue the promise of this season and attain her first US title? Will Olympic champ Sarah Hughes (a) show up -- I'm not quite convinced that she will -- and (B) finally win HER first US title? Will it be yet another 'KwanFest'?? Will Angela Nikodinov finally get her emotional-act together and delight her many fans? Will the latest Korean-American Wonder, Ann-Patrice McDonough, build on her current Junior World title? Will the Boston Ballet-trained beauty, Jenny Kirk, overcome this year's growth spurt -- she has curves! -- and be able to land her jumps? There are many others, tiny Bea Liang (age 12? 13?), Andrea Gardiner, Amber Corwin, etc, etc who could make the podium. Will America's 'quad king' Tim Goebel, who has been absent this entire season with injury, make it two in a row wins? Or will the Pride of Washington, DC, Michael Weiss, really have his long sought-after comeback, so that he can compete at Worlds, which are in his hometown, in March? [i've actually gotten to LIKE Weiss this season!! Less reliance on the family-hype and more on his own artistry!] And what about the incredible Canadian men, who've done really well this year, e.g., Jeff Buttle, Sandhu, etc. Predictions? Comments anyone? This is YOUR chance to be a Dick Button.

Yes, Drew, it was Cup of Russia. It was in Moscow and I attended the ladies finals. Viktoria Volchkova had the skate of her life to pull up over Sasha AND the embarrasingly weak Irina Slutskaya (reigning world champion!). I would have given Sasha the free skate, were I a judge...but I'm not a judge and I'm not Russian...and the stadium was bursting with emotion as the Pride of Russia, Volchkova, left the ice. Funny, how Russian female ice skaters are among the LEAST balletic in the field? All of them -- Slutskaya, Volchkova, tripe-axel-gal Ludmilla Nelidina -- are the most 'tomboyish' of skaters in the entire Grand Prix field. Russian skating coaches seem to stir the girls with the lyrical style & balletic bodies into pairs or ice dancing. Had Sasha Cohen grown up in Russia, she would undoubtedly have been pushed into being a pairs skater. By the way, the new Champion of Russia is -- hold onto your hat -- Elena Sokolova, who has been on the second-string team for years. She beat Slutskaya and other notables for the national crown, two weeks ago. HUGE disappointment...the present Olympic silver medalist and world champion lost her national title to an also-ran!!!!! Hmmmm...I wonder if something similar will happen at the U.S. Nationals next week?

Hi, Sylvia, The Grand Prix season is not quite over yet. The finals are in St Petersburg, at the end of February. I'll be attending and, hopefully, will file a report or two here...in between reports on the Mariinsky Int'l Ballet Festival, which runs concurrently with the Grand Prix. YIKES! - I can now see myself shuttling on the Metro between Sennaya Ploschad (near Mariinsky) and Prospekt Bolshevikov (way out in eastern suburbs, where the Ice Palace is located). At least I won't have to change stations; they're on the same line. ;) GO, SASHA, GO!! GO, PLUSHY, GO!!

Calling all interested dancers! I ran across this on the New York Int'l Ballet Competition's website. The seventh edition of this competition will be in June (finals June 28-30 '03). The deadline for applications is January 17. Here is the link to the NY-IBC's website, including the application & rules. http://www.nyibc.org/app.htm This will be one of the top competitions in '03, along with Shanghai and...???

I forgot the snowflake, Marc. ugh! Well, if your 'intel' on the French Diaghilev DVD is correct, then we can call 2003 'the year of the Kirov Diaghilev Triple Bill on video', as the ten-year-old Andris Liepa venture, "The Return of the Firebird," is finally out on commercial film (already in Russia, about to come out in Western Europe and USA on Universal label). There was a big to-do in Moscow a month ago to introduce the commercial release of the film, which features Kirov and Bolshoi stars, ca 1993, in 'Petrouchka,' 'Scheherazade,' and 'Firebird.' Liepa himself hosted the odd event at the Kremlin Palace Theater-- which featured the latter two ballets performed live by Kirov-Mariinsky, while the video played on a gigantic screen beside the stage (yuk!). The surprise hit of the night was Irma Nioradze's Firebird...I nearly fell out of my seat, she was fantastic! I won't report on the rest of the soloists, some of whom just marked their movements, not dancing full-out. It was so embarrasing. Nioradze saved the night.

Thanks, Naoko. And a happy new year to you, too. You're right; there are virtually no commercial videos/DVDs of those three dancers. Incredible, isn't it? Lopatkina's only commercial video appearances are * as one of the two demi-solo sylphs in 'Chopiniana' (in the potpourri video released in the USA as 'Mariinsky Ballet') and * as one of the four 'tall swans' in the 1990 'Swan Lake' that stars Makhalina. And that is all we have of today's perhaps-greatest ballerina. What a joke! Vishneva stars in the Russian made-for-TV movie 'The Shy One.' (Since when has she been shy?) A dramatic role with no significant dancing. The cassette, in PAL format, is available at both the Mariinsky and Bolshoi Theater shops. It's hard to find elsewhere. Zakharova has fared even worse. There's nothing with her. Of course, all three are seen & mentioned on Russian TV often enough but the documentaries and interviews never seem to make it to commercial release. Sad.

From the land where folks eat ice cream on the street, even during blizzards... The winner is Boris Eifman, the true genius of 21st-century ballet. Sorry, I really love his work for its theatricality, musicality, and emotionality (all the '-ties').

Mel, you've just explained something to me! Now I know why the Bolshoi audiences go gah-gah whenever the youngest pupils of the Moscow Ballet Academy enter the stage doing goosesteps, in the classic children's piece 'Suvorovsky Quadrille'. (That is the Bolshoi's answer to the Vaganova Academy's 'Paquita Children's Mazurka'.) THE highlight of every kiddie performance is the Quadrille - the trumpet blares, the kids goosestep onto the stage, the audience stands up & claps in time, moms shed tears...it all has to be experienced to be believed!!! The kids now wear Tsarist-era costumes (girls in frilly pale dresses and boys in tsarist military uniforms). During the Soviet era, they all dressed in Young Pioneers outfits, complete with red kerchiefs. Vaganova Academy performances are tame compared to these.

Compare this travesty with the recently-inaugurated 'new Bolshoi' theater, next door to the old Bolshoi. The new Bolshoi is a delight - a modern building built in old style, echoing the multi-tiered Italianate design of the old Bolshoi, complete with Tsar's box. The stage mechanics are state of the art; lovely acoustics. From the outside, one would think that the pale-yellow building was built in the early 19th-century, rather than early-21st...they fooled me!! It complements the other architecture on Teatralnaya Ploschad. I recently attended the premiere production in the new theater - Rimsky-Korsakov's fantasy-opera 'The Snow Maiden' which was a delight all-around. The morale of the chorus/musicians was very high. The love the new backstage conditions and facilities. I'm sure that the stage will be fine for dancing, although it is a tad less wide & less deep than the 'old Bolshoi'; some of the stagings will have to be reworked.

I believe that Goriacheva is 21. She was a recent-graduate (thus, 18?) in summer 2000 when she took over Svetlana Lunkina's role in 'Symphony in C' (lead, first movement). She has come a long way since then.