Saveta

We'll try our best Leigh;)

Well, at least my clumsy "portrayal" of G. Hodgkinson's Firebrd will make any actual performance that you experience look better ;) , and she definitely wasn't least bit "spastic" then, only somehow predictable. I think it will be great for you to see both performances and both casts.

Leigh, I think you'll have interesting time. I didn't see A Delicate Battle before, but I'm very curious. Critics (as well as many ballet lovers) mostly praised it here. Mrozewsky is definitely establishing himself as one of leading young Canadian choreographers, and that was his choreographic début for NBoC. For Kingdom of The Shades, I think Xiao Nan Yu is growing into a strong classical dancer and should be good Nikia-shade. Solor, (R. Borne ) is not one of the strongest classical technicians (Imo) but he has potential. (I didn't see him recently, maybe he's technique is much improved.) Jenifer Fournier you probably know from before, and her Firebird will probably be interesting to see. Nehemiah Kish (Prince Ivan) is one of youngest dancers in the company (I think it's his second season in the corps if I'm not mistaken). He'll be very interesting to see (although I'm curious what you'll think of choreography for his role, or of the entire Firebird for that matter) It might be worth considering to see also a cast of Nov 16 (if you possibly can, of course). The casts are so different, and being a mixed bill, It would really give you a good idea about the company. (Even though I know you get to see it often ) It might be worth considering to see also a cast of Nov 16 (if you possibly can, of course). The casts are so different, and being a mixed bill, It would really give you a goog idea about the company. (Even though I know you get to see it often:) )

Hi tigger, regarding Firebird, I personally am very curious to see C.H. Goh's interpretation of the role. Last time around (two years ago) I saw Greta Hodginson and Evelyn Hart (both my favorite dancers) in the role of Firebird. I personally don't think that it was one of Greta's best roles. Otherwise, I think that she is very versatile dancer (I loved her in very different roles like Giselle,Odette/Odile, Kitri, Polyhimnia in Balanchine's Apollo to name just a few) but her approach to Firebird to me was resembling "a quirky Odette" if you can imagine what I'm trying to say (bit like a swan in faster motion with some funkier arm movements occasionaly). ( Hart on the other end was completely different kind of bird, with shorter movements, less academic; also she was this strange, fragile creature even when she was in comand of the situation; she showed emotions, but you could always feel she's an animal, not human trapped inside like Odette i.e.) Therefore, I have a feeling that Kudelka is somewhat leaving a freedom of different stylistic approaches to his dancers and I'm curious about Goh's. Of course I think it will be interesting to see Greta again in Firebird, but her I'm really looking forward to see in La Fille Mal Gardeé (and Antonijevic). I personally will also try to see Sonia Rodrigez in Fille as well. (I haven't seen NBoC do that ballet before, so I'm just going with my instincts

For anyone interested, at this link you can see NBoC principal casting for upcoming performances in November (La Fille Mal Gardeé and triple bill: Kingdom of The Shades/ Firebird (Kudelka)/A Delicate Battle (M. Mrozewski): http://www.national.ballet.ca/productions/...s/casting.shtml I think the casting is again very interesting, as I again see several young dancers from corps in prominent roles. Other thing that I'm noticing is that Van der Wyst is not casted this time in any of ballets (injury maybe?).

My nomination is great Canadian ballerina Evelyn Hart. She has the most musical body that I have seen, so with her careful approach and knowing what is fast, or slow, or how to use space,pose or silence in between steps, she completely changed some ballets for the better for me (i.e.. Spring in Kudelka's Four Seasons). She is still dancing, although her retirement is probably not very very far. Sigh. I hope I'll get to see her dancing again in Toronto.

Sorry that this is off topic, but just to clarify - Hallberg did compete for Bruhn's prize, and danced beautifully, but didn't win. Wiles did, but in male category the prize went to Friedemann Vogel from Stuttgard Ballet. (Of course, not that winning any prize matters that much anyway in arts, and thanks for that wonderful revue Calliope -it felt like I was in the audience:cool: )

Here is a link for today's press release from National Ballet of Canada (it informs about some dancers that are invited to join the company for the season and some taking leave): http://www.national.ballet.ca/news/release...18_ransom.shtml

Unfortunately, I can't be a big help, even though I saw Kirov's reconstruction of La Bayadere. I'm afraid I'm not sure about most of these differences, but I remember that in this Kirov's version III Shade variation was definitely danced faster, but not too fast . I'm also sure that there were developees in the beginning, but I'm not sure about the ending. Sorry I can't help more, but I don't know well enough the previous Kirov version to be able to compare the two.

Dear Estelle, thanks for more info. I thought I remember names of Colau and Jourdain from reports on various competitions last year. It will be very exciting to see them here in Toronto. Also, I was very happy to read that young dancer Yuri Hiraoka joined company in the status of apprentice. I saw her this year in Spring Showcase of National Ballet School of Canada. She has beautiful classical line, very refined already and definitely looked ready to join professional company.

Paquita, I completely agree with your opinion on all these dancers. I would just add that I'm truly admiring Sonia Rodriges the more I see her, as well. She danced with Aleksandar Antonijevic in Romeo and Juliet this season, and they were just both splendid (in title roles), I don't know if you saw that. (In fact, the whole cast was excellent that night, it was such a theatrical experience, sorry I digress) Leigh, I also saw C.H. Goh in Don Q with Antonijevic. I love both dancers very much, but I thought they were miscasted as Kitri and Basilio. (Maybe better choice of role for Goh would be Queen of Dryads?) I hope you get to see Greta Hodgkinson as Kitri one day! I agree with Paquita, it's her role (but she is perfect to me as Giselle too, she's such a versatile dancer) (And me too, I'm big fan of both New York and Toronto)

Interesting changes in NBoC roster for next season can be seen here : http://www.national.ballet.ca/news/release...203roster.shtml

Leigh, I think you'd also love sublime Chan Hon Goh in Mozartiana (and Apollo for that matter). As for Greta, she is wonderful to me in so many roles. I think I'll always remember her Giselle, she was spectacular in both acts. But for my favorite NBoC ballerina, I honestly can't decide between two of them.

Thanks Estelle, It's also very hard to see documentaries in cinemas in Toronto(and dance documentaries is impossible to even imagine to see in theatres). You know, commercial laws rule.

Thanks rg, I was very surprised to read about it's release (I don't think I ever saw a ballet documentary being announced for release like this). It's even listed on separate calendar of movie releases in the same issue (that's where I saw date Nov /8):confused:

(I'm not quite sure where to post this, so moderators please if you think it would fit better in other forum feel free to move this post were you feel it should be) Anyway, in Entertainment Weekly dedicated to Fall Movie Preview I found this tiny blurb in section that talks about releases of documentary films in the month of November: "Etoiles Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet takes a look at the renowned dance troupe;" (The release date apparently is Nov/8) Does anyone know what distribution is expected for this or is it going to be released on DVD and VHS right away? I mean not many documentaries are even released in theatres (In Toronto there are occasional opportunities to see documentaries mainly in smaller theatres, but usually those films have some subject matter that is more main stream or at least more marketable than ballet seems to be nowadays)

I just started reading Salman Rushdie's novel "Fury". Like some other of his books (Moor's Last Sigh etc), the style of writing is so captivating from the very first few sentences. Also, I'm currently reading "Balanchine's Tchaikovsky" by S. Volkov. Since I recently finished reading Tchaikovsky's(I guess partly controversial ) biography by Anthony Holden, it's interesting to see how Balanchine's views of the composer are much more kind and romantic, compared to ones by Holden, who sometimes appears to be judgmental and harsh (or at least very direct) in his interpretations of Tchaikovsky's traits of character. (I hope my English makes sense:eek: )

I have visited exhibition and I have to say that it's not very big. However, it's definitely worth visiting- there are some beautiful photographs from archives of NBoC (also some costumes, little corner of the set of Sleeping Beauty, etc). You can also see an interactive station that plays little bits of old TV shows featuring some of famous dancers of the company explaining different basic ballet steps. The most interesting part of exhibition are documentary films of different NBoC ballets from CBC archives and sometimes documentaries about the company ( there is schedule of these documentaries for the entire month at the exhibition and I'm not sure if it is also posted on the website). Although exhibition is small, you'll definitely have fun visiting it

I'm not sure what is the answer for casting of Nikia? As Alexandra noted, different acts of La Bayadere are almost like separate ideas, and not unison in style. Being so different, they are definitely requiring different skills from it's dancers. According to the "laws" of emploi, where would Nikia belong? (Kirov i.e.. had both Vishneva and Zacharova in the role. They are not similar dancers and usually they are not casted in same roles, as far as I can tell?)

Dale said: "For me, it falls into the categories so well spelt out in Croce's essay about ballets that are beloved, but flawed, vs. masterpieces that we admire and enjoy, but don't love. La Bayadere falls into the second category, for me for a few reasons" I didn't see your post when I was writing mine, Dale, and it looks like we did have similar thread of thought. Intresting to me is (as you can see from my post above) that La Bayadere would be in first Croce's category, according to how I feel.

Oh, I don't know, I just really love La Bayadere. But, I can certainly see how and why someone might not like it at all. In arts I think almost everything is subjective;) Even though I'm yet to see a perfect cast to my taste, It's probably one of dearest older ballets to me (along with Giselle). Yes it's very old fashioned, and it's plot can come across as corny story from soap opera. Also, of course, in many respects it's not as perfected as let's say Sleeping beauty or Swan Lake, (music is simplistic, storyline is maybe less coherent , there is lack of stylistic unison), but all these ballets are not quite representing the same period in art history. To me some imperfections generally can be very interesting and add quality actually. That's not only because in contrast with them all brilliant details shine even more. (I'll give an example from visual arts, even though I know it is not possible to compare painting of early and high renaissance. To me, paintings of i.e.. Masaccio and De la Francesca, at the same time naive in some respects (perspective, realism) and ingenious and very modern in others (composition, coloring and atmosphere) were always dearer and more refreshing than perfection of ones by i.e.. Raphael or Michelangelo. Of course- that's just my personal taste ). To me, besides beautiful dancing, there is also heart in La Bayadere. There are lot's of nuances to characters (High Brahmin, Gamzatti and even Solor could be very interesting - if acted and danced well we can feel sympathetic to them, or at least understand their actions, like some characters from Henry James's novels). I enjoy all versions that I saw so far (old Kirov and Macarova's only on tape), and despite all flaws, any version of La Bayadere will at least have one member of the audience

If I'm not mistaken, I believe that it is von Aroldingen who is dancing the walking on points sequence (or "The Step Duet") on Dance in America video (selection from Jewels).

Hi Manhattnik, I'm not sure if you saw this already but acording to Lincoln Centre website the casting for Don Q. is as follows: July 17 at 2:00, I. Golub, A. Korsakov; July 17 at 8:00, S. Zakharova, I. Zelensky.

I traveled to NYC to see Kirov. It was my first time to actually see it perform alive and for me seeing this company was high number on my 'life's to do list' (as it was said in one of those Master Card commercials). So, I definitely wanted to love everything and to like every dancer. (And I did love many of things I have seen.) The performances I saw were La Bayadére on Friday night and S. Lake on Sat. evening. In particular I wanted to see Vishneva (she seemed interesting on photographs to me) or Aypova (whom I adore since I saw her on tape of Swan Lake- doing Pas de Trois). Due to some change in casting, I got to see one of them, Visneva in La Bayadere. To me she is very charismatic and has wonderful presence on stage. But, I couldn't get over extreme arching of her back and expressing almost every emotion with sticking her ribcage so far out. Of course, her infamous leg extensions were distracting to me, especially in developées a la seconde, which were every time ruining her placement. However, my other impressions are that she turns heavenly and jumps very beautifully. I can see that she must be wonderful as Kitri or in Rubies. Fadeyev as Solor had shown beautiful technique (imo.) but I wished to see more depth to his character. Of all main characters, Tarasova to me was probably the most nuanced in her characterization of Gamzatti. She truly showed all emotions that are involved, and showed that Gamzatti was more complex then some stereotypical "bad girl". As many mentioned already, her dancing was of very high standard. The production itself I thought was very lovely, but I kind of new what to expect (funky looking animals, etc- before I left, I read some reviews here and they helped me imagine the production ). I am agreeing with most things said already about details of it. Of course, whatever you may read or hear, nothing can prepare you for the beauty of Kingdom of the Shades in this production. The set design, costumes and design of light are just magical. In other productions that I'm familiar with, Kingdom of the Shades seemed in colder colors, snow-white tutus and sets with lot of dark blue, similar to second act of S.Lake (I never saw Paris Opera production, which I'm sure also looks stunning) Well, this Kirov production was just unbelievable, with dark grey hills/caves and mauve sky in a background, and shades appearing behind those caves in those wonderful off-white, almost eggshell color tutus. It seemed like each one of them (Shades) was individually lit by some wonderful, warm light. Now, imagine all of those elements together with dancing of the Kirov corps, and you could feel like you were dreaming yourself. The other night was equally interesting. Production of Swan L. that Kirov does, I already know from video tapes. I like it, the ending is silly, ok, but the rest of the production is I think beautiful. I also saw Gumerova, but I have mixed feelings about her. I really wish she works on softening of her upper body and port de bras and I hope that she'll get better in time with her characterization. I had feeling that she was most relaxed and enjoying herself in IV act, as if she maybe was too nervous about her fouetées earlier. Overall, I did love her sense of pull-up and musicality, beautiful subtle frazing, especially (as Juliet already mentioned) in use of her wonderful legs. I also loved how she was taking her time, not rushing anything. Igor Kolb was very good, but somehow not stellar that evening. I'm sure that it wasn't his best night. On both evenings, I was very impressed with Irina Golub. She was dancing in pas de trois in S.Lake and first Shade variation in La Bayadere. I'm looking forward to seeing how she'll develop in the future. Overall, I enjoyed myself immensely, even though I felt that some things could be improved (as I'm sure many of them eventually will). And every time I thought of something that I maybe didn't like, it always popped in my head: who cares, I'm actually watching Kirov! ;)

Thank you Leigh and rg I also could only find little information in Balanchine's biography by B.Taper. It just mentions that music is (obviously) by M.Glinka, but doesn't state which piece specifically.