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coda

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Everything posted by coda

  1. "... setting the ballet on Sergei Filin and Svetlana Lunkina -- who, by the way, are wonderful!: True that the ballerina rehearsing with Filin in the studio was Svetlana Lunkina. However, the blond ballerina dancing with him at the performance shown in the middle of the programme was Inna Petrova.
  2. coda

    Natalia Osipova

    Quote: “Osipova is still quite young. Artistic development generally comes with maturity.” Having seen Osipova in all her roles, except Giselle, on stage in the course of several years I was very impressed with the pace of her artistic development. The Vision scene from Don Q. was especially indicative of that. There was a one year gap between her performances of Don Q. which I saw, and her Dulcinea (which does not come so naturally to her as Kitri) acquired greater gentleness, her arms improved, and there was a general impression that she will be able to ‘tackle’ great classical roles quite soon. Last week I had a chance to see a (non-commercial) DVD of her Moscow “Giselle” and, although it is better not to base judgement on recordings, I was astonished with her fine and profound rendering of this role, her breathtaking weightlessness (as opposed to her earthborn Kitri) and the haunting feeling she left me with by her performance. Quote: “…Last staging of the Lavrovsky’s "Romeo" dates from 1995 and it was last performed somewhere in 2000. In late 2003 the Bolshoi got the lovely Radu Poklitaru "Romeo and Juliet", which isn't exactly the best version…” There was between those two a Grigorovich’s production of “Romeo” in 1979 with Bessmertnova and later N.Pavlova and Ananiashvili as Juliet. Although I personally prefer the Lavrovsky’s ballet it seems to me that the Macmillan’s version will suit Osipova best.
  3. "... it leaves ALL others looking small somehow. Thank you, Paul Parish. I have this adagio on a tape/disk but never watched it so close, on a PC screen. Had again the same feeling about her as you had. I wrote my previous posting yesterday without looking at my watch and I see now that it appeared as today's posting. To put the facts right: Galina Sergeevna Ulanova was born on the 8 January 1910 (26 December 1909 by the Julian calendar).
  4. It is good to remember her today, on her birthday. One of the best sculptures of her can be seen here: http://www.antiq.info/news/auction_news/9077.html Click on the figurine.
  5. coda

    Nikolai Tsiskaridze

    Yes, Ostrich, it is all in Russian but the text constitutes about 2%: some captions and Nikolai's tributes to his teachers. The photos are absolutely remarkable.
  6. coda

    Nikolai Tsiskaridze

    Dear Ostrich, I tried to look for any link to distributors of the book but the only one I found was an e-mail address of the Information desk at the "Moskva" bookstore at Tverskaya Street in Moscow where the book is available at the moment: spravka@moscowbooks.ru Considering the price of the book, 3433 Roubles (approx. £69), and its heavy weight, the expense will be quite significant. There is the Grant & Cutler bookstore in London specializing in Russian books but I found that their addition to prices are quite high. Grant & Cutler www.grantandcutler.com 55-57 Great Marlborough St London, W1F 7AY, UK +44 20 77342012 Having said all that I found that this book is worth of its high price. The selection of photographs, and their number and quality are outstanding.
  7. coda

    Ivan Vasiliev

    There is a good interview with Ivan Vasiliev in the Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml...t/btivan114.xml Ismene Brown can not pent up her admiration for his technique. Apart from that his personality is also so engaging. Don't miss to click on the blue line: Video: Exclusive footage of Ivan Vasiliev dancing
  8. You see, Mashinka, I knowingly omitted the names of Nioradze, Makhalina and Aupova because they seem not dancing Kitri any more.
  9. I am not sure it is right to say that they IMPORTED Osipova. This was a usual guest star appearance in the Mariinsky’s annual festival. A young starlet in this case. Similar to the appearance of Cojocaru/Kobborg in “R & J†and Ganio in “Giselleâ€. Tsiskaridze has been appearing at their festivals every year for the last, I think, six years. Apart from Novikova the Mariinsky has other Kitris – Osmolkina, Golub, Tereshkina, Sheshina and Vishneva. In my humble opinion none of them, even Vishneva, can at the moment match Osipova’s zest, technical skills and amazing self-abandonment in this role. By the way, on the 4th of July Somova will be dancing Don Q. with Lobukhin. I hope Sarafanov is OK.
  10. No, Ostrich, whatever the 'descendant' said about her life Ulanova never had children. In the last year of her life she visited St.Petersburg and was interviewed for the popilar TV programme The Tsar's Box by it long standing presenter Galina Mshanskaya. Talking about her loneliness Galina Sergeyevna said: "If I only had a child! But by parents implored me: "Galya, on no account you should have children. It must be either theatre or family." I have a recording of this programme and I think she could be trusted. By the way, I once travelled by train in Russia and spoke to a man who mentioned that he was Ulanova's brother. I knew he was an impostor. She was the only child of Sergei Ulanov and Maria Romanova.
  11. There are 7 photographs here from that performance: http://community.livejournal.com/tsiskarid...312.html#cutid1 I went to Denmark in October to see Bolshoi's two performances of "Giselle" with Tsiskaridze and Lunkina. You are right, Ostrich, their personalities compliment each other very well. I am looking forward now to the 28th of January when they will be dancing Act 2 from "The Nutcracker" at Grigorovich's gala at Covent Garden.
  12. " ... they still perform at home while a group is on the road." More than that. Sometimes they perform the same production simultaneously as it happened this month. While Svetlana Lunkina & Nikolai Tsiskaridze danced "Giselle" in Danish towns of Holstebro and Vejle on 6 and 9 of October, the same ballet was performed by the Bolshoi in Moscow on 4 October (Vishneva-Volchkov) and 8 October (Ryzhkina-Filin) .
  13. Yes, it is l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres. However, it is not a rare thing to see it awarded to foreigners. Other Russians who received it were Galina Ulanova, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Mstislav Rostropovich, Boris Eifman, Galina Vishnevskaya, Yuri Lyubimov, Maya Plissetskaya and … Serge Lifar (who was not a foreigner in France by that time). What a great company for Nikolai Tsiskaridze to join in! Congratulations! It seems to me that Laurence Olivier had a higher title than just Sir. He became Sir Laurence in 1947 but in 1970 he became Lord Olivier.
  14. Nellie Kobakhidze will replace Svetlana Lunkina as Lisa in The Queen of Spades tonight. Lunkina will also be dancing tonight - in "Go for Broke" (as last night) and Part 2 of Symphony in C.
  15. "The Queen of Spades" with Nikolai Tsiskaridze is now avalable on DVD: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...9320734-4733555
  16. Are you missing the premiere of "The Queen of Spades" in the West, Chiapuris?
  17. The Royal Opera House has the casting for the Bolshoi's tour in July-August 2006 on its website: http://info.royaloperahouse.org/Performing...ccs=977&cs=2587
  18. Quote: “The first solo, Narcissus, by K. Goleizovsky (1960) with music by N. Cherepnin seemed like a bland piece for Tsiskaridze.” For me “Narcissus” was the highlight of that evening although I have seen it many times performed by Nikolai live as well as in various recordings. There is no OPENLY “displayed pyrotechnic virtuosity” in it but technical difficulties are subtly woven into the 'text' of this dance, I would say well hidden, thanks to Goleisovsky’s harmonious choreography and Tsiskaridze’s perfect presentation. It will be enough to mention the unusual jumps, the final grand pirouette and a sequence of fuettes and pirouettes with the intricate pattern of his lithe arms movement, all done so brilliantly that one doesn’t notice how complicated they are. To do them with such an ease requires first-class technique. All this was beautifully done by the first Narcissus, Vladimir Vassilyev, for whom the choreographer created this piece; however, IMHO, Vassilyev was more a sort of a faun than a son of water spirits ready to turn into a flower. The exceptional plasticity of Tsiskaridze’s body and flowing movements possess a special languorous and androgenic quality which suits this piece perfectly. His acting when he is circling the patches of sunlight, listening to the sounds, playing the imagined pipe, admiring the spray of water trickling down from his fingers (as Ulanova taught him) and the most graceful death when the right arm desperately tries to reach to the sky and then lifelessly unfolds and ‘dies’ so much in tune with the music - well, it supersedes most of “Dying Swans”. Lyrical and elegant classical ballets and concert pieces – this is where Tsiskaridze’s own inimitable style manifests itself at its best. Therefore, I would have preferred for him to choose for his gala evening either “Les Sylphides” or The Shades from “La Bayadere” or even Act 2 from “Giselle” with very dancable music but instead had to listen in Part 3 to boom!-bang!-boom! As an artist Tsiskaridze is obviously interested in the choreography which is new for him and he has full right to do so.
  19. Quote: "The Dying Swan performance featuring Irma Nioradze was incredible as was the Don Quixote pas de deux with Galina Stepanenko and Andei Uvarov." The was no Don Q. pdd in this gala. Uvarov was unwell in Moscow, so Stepanenko has stayed there too. The Part 1 of the concert ended with Tarantella by Balanchine.
  20. "Somewhere I read that an American dancer (I won't name her) will appear in Apollo in the Zelensky gala on the 23rd. Any information on guest artists?" Mariinsky Theatre Trust in London officially provided SOME casting for the Festival quite a while ago: 18 March - Mathieu Ganio will dance in Don Q. with Olesya Novikova. 19 March - Alina Cojocaru will dance "The Sleeping Beauty" with Andrian Fadeyev. 22 March - Nikolai Tsiskaridze gala evening. All his partners will be Mariinsky's dancers. 23 March - Igor Zelensky's gala evening. Apollo will be danced with Maria Kowrosky and Diamonds - with Svetlana Zakharova. 24 March - Farukh Ruzimatov's gala evening. The Moor's Pavane will be danced with Charles Jude. 25 March - Lopatkina's partner in Swan Lake will be Jose Martinez. I have not seen any casting for the International Stars gala evening on the 26 March.
  21. The Mariinsky website announced that Yulia Bolshakova will make her debut as Giselle on the 19th of February: http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/afisha/20060219-2
  22. “Make-up on Anna's legs is a possible explanation (even if I never saw that before).” It is the obvious explanation for “big dark-red marks”. Spartacus’ body must be bronze-colored, so it is made-up with the stuff, which they call “morilka” at the Bolshoi. Unfortunately it stains and soils light fabric. I remember well that Semenyaka and Nadezhda Pavlova had “dark-red marks” not only on their cream tights but also on their light-lilac tunics. “I still wonder why on earth he didn't choose another role for his debut, one he feels really at ease with.” It was not his debut at the Bolshoi. I saw him dancing Solor on the 23rd of October 2005, again with Antonicheva. It was a very good performance. I am sure he has a scope to grow as an artist. Technically he was excellent, especially I find his pirouettes outstanding. The Bolshoi is very lucky to have this new dancer.
  23. “… if things were made a bit more decent for tourists. As it is now, nothing short of a catastrophe. ” “… things are no easier for businessmen & potential investors. If anything, even greater barriers are placed for investors than for tourists!” The saddest thing is that they can not make ‘a bit more decent’ for themselves. A lot of effort has to be applied in order to achieve most simple things. I just came back after a whole ballet week in Moscow. To get through security checks into theatre buildings is an ordeal now – it can not be compared to the security check at Covent Garden. A friend of mine was queueing for about an hour (!) to get into the Kremlin Palace to see “Le Dieu blue”. The start of the performance was also delayed by almost one hour. It was wet and windy, and my friend spent a week afterwards in bed with sore throat and cold.
  24. This casting was at the Met. When “La fille du pharaoh” was first shown at the Bolshoi in 2000, two main casts were Ananiashvili-Filin and Gracheva-Tsiskaridze with Alexandrova dancing Ramzei.
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