Swanilda8

The Bolshoi usually posts tickets about two months in advance so the tickets for September should go on sale all in one batch at the beginning of July - check back every day around the end of June/beginning of July and you should see a bunch. August tends to mess up that schedule a bit, so October tickets might appear in July as well. The casting, on the other hand, won't appear until late August or September. And even after that it can change, so you just have to cross your fingers and hope you get someone good. Often if you wait for the casts, you can still get seats, but they're the most expensive ones - around $200-400. I have a guide to first-time attendees at the Bolshoi on my website that I think you might find helpful (http://itinerantballetomane.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-guide-to-bolshoi-for-first-time.html) Good luck with the tickets!

I agree with you that Ulanova probably did a lot of the work on Giselle on her own, but I actually don't think many other Soviet/Russian ballerinas use her interpretation. Ulanova's Giselle is pretty fiery, and a lot of the other Russian dancers, particularly since the 1970s, seem to have a very delicate, frail Giselle. I was most interested that you thought Osipova's Giselle was a genuinely different interpretation. I also saw that production (in the live broadcast, sadly not live) and was floored by Osipova's performance. I haven't really seen enough Giselles, particularly not enough Western Giselles, to judge, but I agree that there's something unique about her - especially the way she floats in the second act. She has huge physical power being channeled into making Giselle seem unearthly, almost inhuman.

The videos are tv news segments on the 100-year anniversary of Yekaterinburg Ballet and the gala ballet performance they're putting on for the celebration, including Kochetkova and Carbone (and someone from Mariinsky but I didn't catch who). In the first one, she mentions that she is performing in this because she doesn't get a lot of opportunities to perform in Russia and she wants a chance to be in front of a new audience. She seems to be dancing the pas de deux with Andrei Sorokin, the Ekaterinburg entrant for Big Ballet ( or Bolshoi Ballet - the tv program, not the company - that's a hard distinction to make in English).

Thank you for the cast posting! I've just purchased a ticket for the Don Quixote on July 23 evening, partially so that I can see Smirnova as Queen of the Dryads. I can't make it down to New York for Swan Lake, and plus I really don't like the Grigorovich production, so this is my chance to see her. I'm happy to see Shipulina as Kitri, too - she's one of my favorite dancers at the Bolshoi. I was a little sad to see I'm getting the B cast for Spartacus, but maybe Rodkin will turn out to be great. I can't wait for July!

There's no where in the world I've been as beautiful as St. Petersburg, but don't knock Moscow (or the Bolshoi) until you've tried it! It's a very exciting city. There are lots of crowds, but there are beautiful and wonderful things as well. I recommend a boat trip along the Moskva and/or a look at the Kremlin churches (though if you don't like crowds that'll be difficult). And the Bolshoi is really an incredibly good company to see.

Has anyone else read Shipstead's new novel about ballet dancers in the 1970s and 80s? The story centers around Joan, a corps dancer who helps a major Soviet ballet star defect, only to be deserted by him a few years later. It follows her and her old colleague, Elaine, as Joan retires from ballet for a different life. I'm only about a third of the way through thus far. The writing is lovely, and the descriptions of characters in Joan's later life are spot-on. However, the parts about the ballet company and Elaine's ongoing life as a performer are just so transparently taken from real NYCB stories (Mr. K = Mr. B, the company=NYCB, Arlsan Rusakov is taken largely from Baryshnikov, with a little Nureyev thrown in). Those sections almost seem like satire to me, but I'm not sure a general readership would read it that way. I'd be interested to hear what other balletAlert posters think about the book.

I caught the program on Wednesday night. It was a lot of fun, particularly Suite en Blanc and Hummingbird. I'm not as familiar with this company as some other posters, since I have a hard time making it out to the west coast, but I loved the ensemble in both those pieces. Yuan Yuan Tan was particularly effective in Hummingbird, although Frances Chung was also quite compelling. I seem to be more of a Liam Scarlett fan than many others on this forum, and this was one of my favorites thus far of his works (that I've seen - haven't seen any of the Royal Ballet works yet). I thought whip-fast partnering, the sweeping gestures, the balance between movement and stillness really brought out the rhapsodic, emotional qualities in the music. I also really liked the costumes; I thought the starkness of the women's dresses combined wonderfully with the harsh setting overall - which made a great counterpoint to the emotive qualities of the music and choreography. Loved Suite en Blanc as well. I felt very blessed to catch Maria Kochetkova, whose work I've followed as well as possible on Youtube. Her brief solo in the end of the piece was beautiful, delicate, expressive, and very musical. She used the off-balance movement in the choreography to great effect. More thoughts here: http://itinerantballetomane.blogspot.com/2014/05/a-night-in-san-francisco.html

Hurray! Back when we made our new year's wishes, it was mine to see Boston Ballet's Swan Lake. I'm so excited about this! The other programs sound excellent as well. Chroma again - huzzah. The Helen Pickett should be an exciting addition for the company, and I'm looking forward to seeing Jeffrey Cirio's work reach the main stage.

Thank you for the review! It's the next best thing to seeing it myself. I love the novel Krabat and I also enjoyed the movie with Daniel Brühl when I saw it some years ago. It sounds like a perfect topic for a ballet - slightly creepy, magical, and the books is heavy on symbols and atmosphere rather than detailed plot twists. The score sounds interesting as well. Hopefully I'll be in Stuttgart when they put it on again!

I'm not too proud to admit that I enjoyed that part ... That was hands down my favorite part. I thought it was hilarious.

Sadly missed the ceremony and thus didn't get to see any of the ballet. Is the music for Vasiliev's clip right? He looks great, but the choreography seems spectacularly ill-matched to what's playing.

I thought Precious Adams's contemporary solo was amazing, already professional level and something I would be happy to pay money to see. She had a real sense of character, of purpose in the movement. I liked her Sleeping Beauty, but I didn't think it was as unique.

I'm going to disagree with everyone, apparently. I was at the ballet on Friday and Saturday night. I enjoyed the contemporary pieces. Spectral Evidence was much better than I remembered, and danced with great conviction. I thought Acheron was a very good piece - I love Scarlett's use of masses onstage, and I think it produces an excitingly different counterpoint from the Balanchine type we see so often. The designs were unfortunate, and also it unfortunately was the third ballet of the evening done in half lighting, which tired my eyes and made for a singular lack of contrast. Dances at a Gathering was AMAZING. Beautiful performances. I've been waiting to see this work for a few years now and it was well worth it. Union Jack sadly should burned. Not the flag - the ballet. It was so dull, the score was plodding and nonsensical and desperately annoying. The performances were virtuosic, but there's not much you can do with that material. The only good thing about it was the pony. Thank you pony. Full review: http://itinerantballetomane.blogspot.com/2014/02/mixed-bags.html

I understand your feelings, Drew. I too think they have a very wide-ranging and interesting repertory that they are not bringing over. I'd love to see Marco Spado or Lost Illusions. And I saw Flames of Paris last summer and thought it was great (though they've been touring with that recently - have they brought it to the US already?). But I'm so excited about Spartacus! I'm writing a chapter on it right now, so seeing it in person this summer will be delightful.

I saw Jewels last night with an almost identical cast (different Rubies lead). It was an excellent performance. Mearns is really something incredible - her movement is so fluid, but she does this thing where she changes how fast she's moving in the middle of the movement, which is just wonderful. She's also very very musical. I didn't really like Catazaro that much - I thought he was benefiting from a good partner and good music (has anyone ever not gotten applause from the turns in second at the retransition of the 3rd movement of Diamonds? I wanted to applaud and yell Bravo, Tchaikovsky!). I really liked Tiler Peck in Emeralds - again has some of the same qualities as Mearns in this performance. Very delicate, quiet, light, expressive performance - perfect for Emeralds. Bouder was really good in Rubies, but right now, for me, she's suffering from a severe case of not being Natalia Osipova. There were some great touches to her performance, but it seemed very low energy in comparison to the Royal Ballet performance I saw a few weeks a go. The corps is looking great. Anyhow, full review here: http://itinerantballetomane.blogspot.com/2014/01/defying-laws-of-physics.html

Thank you for all the reports on the performances! It's good to hear that Somova is having a great run. I've been charmed by her ever since seeing the videos of her in the Little Humpbacked Horse on youtube.

This is my first time trying to buy tickets to an event like this. I really, really want to see Spartacus, and I would be delighted to see Don Quixote as well. I'd also like to catch Olga Smirnova, and I know the only major part she does in these ballets is in Swan Lake (also that another lyric in 'How do you solve a problem like Maria?' might have been 'How do you figure out the Bolshoi casting in advance?'). Anyways, in light of finances, I would settle for just seeing Spartacus. BUT, does waiting for the single tickets to go on sale mean that they're likely to sell out? I would go to some extreme lengths to get to see the Bolshoi perform Spartacus live. I realize there are no guarantees, but would it be reasonable for me to wait until March?

Thank you!

In reading some 1960s Russian documents today, I came across the word 'выворотный' (or rather its opposite невыворотный). I've done some internet searching for the adjective and it seems to mean 'turned out' and 'not turned out.' Are there any Russian speakers on the forum who could confirm this?

I'm also excited about this - already have my tickets! And finally there seems to be a movie theater in the area of Boston covered by mass transit broadcasting ballet - first time I've found a theater I could go to. I also want to point out that this production has been getting rave reviews in the London papers: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/10582445/Giselle-Royal-Ballet-Covent-Garden-review.html http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/jan/19/royal-ballet-giselle-review

Thanks! I heard him talk about it in another interview about Much Ado this summer, but I didn't get that much detail. That he talked about it in two interviews fairly recently gives me more hope that he's actually going to make it. Fingers crossed!

That's interesting - I knew Summer Glau but I didn't realize how many other Whedon actors are from ballet. I heard an interview with Whedon last summer (on BBC radio's Wittertainment) in which he said that he'd like his next project to be a ballet. It wasn't clear if he meant filming a ballet or staging one, but either way, I'd be very interested. I think he'd do a great Coppelia or Giselle. Coppelia especially seems to coincide with lots of his interests (uncanny dolls, magic, strong female central character, etc).

For my last production in London, I saw English National Ballet's new version of Le Corsaire, starring Alina Cojocaru, Vadim Muntagirov, and Junor Souza. I loved it! It's beautiful and funny and exciting. Most importantly (for this forum) all three leads were in perfect form. Muntagirov was especially great - he almost has the same seemingly-effortless technique as Polunin but with more elegance. Souza was amazing as Ali - his torso is very flexible and he has great jumps. I'd love to see him get the lead in this production some time. Full review: http://itinerantballetomane.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/pirates-vs-ballerinas-epic-dancing.html I'm so sad to leave England! What a privilege to visit a city with this much excellent dancing.

Yep, Russia does not follow day light savings time! So it's 9 hours ahead in the winter and 8 in the summer. Somehow, this information is not widely disseminated in the US. When I arrived in Moscow last February, I didn't realize that it was 9 hours ahead of EST in the winter and so I almost missed meeting my local contact. I'm glad to know other people and institutions make the same mistake.

This is wandering off topic a bit, but I was recently booking seats at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and online they show you the view from each seat (as well as a picture of the seat itself). It's so nice! You can tell if the view is obstructed by a pole or a railing or is too far to the side. I hope more theaters move towards having these pictures online, since it can be very nerve-wracking to get seats in an unfamiliar theater.