coda

Yes, Nysusan, Tsiskaridze performed in "Le Jeune Homme et la Mort" at a Roland Petit Festival in Japan over two years ago. The NY Center website shows now that this ballet will cast Vishneva with one of “Four Kings”, my guess - with someone else.

Regarding the Ostrich’s question: “Do many ballet companies allow their dancers this much freedom with regard to which roles they want to dance and which they don't? Certainly I know no dancers in our local companies who would dare do that!”

In theory, if an artist can not grasp some particular role, it would be only honest of him to turn it down. In real life, many dancers will be happy to dance anything regardless of their suitability for those roles. I think this subject has been discussed in the past (may be here or may be on another forum) with respect to Lopatkina explaining in her interview why she will not dance Aurora and some other roles.

I agree with her because, in my opinion, freedom of artistic choice is very important. I personally dislike short-necked Odettes and similar miscasts.

Tsiskaridze, with his very special, striking appearance, is also very selective. For example, he loved the role of Mercutio and danced it in two productions of “ R & J”, by Lavrovsky and by Grigorovich. However, the role of Romeo never appealed to him.

Dear Ostrich, I promised to write about “Le Dieu blue” somewhere else.

You are right, Ostrich, Tsiskaridze never danced leads in "Don Q." or "Spartacus" - not because “they didn't give him a chance” but because he never felt any affinity with the role of Basil as he explained in his interviews. When he was still a young soloist, he danced the comic giga (or gigue) in Don Q. and was so hilarious there.

The role of a rebellious slave Spartacus would hardly suit him. He said more than once that he would have loved to dance Crassus but did not want to compete with the role created by the late Maris Liepa. He even asked Grigorovich to change the role slightly to suite his own personality. May be we will be lucky to see it one day.

You are so right in saying that “The Queen of Spades” is ‘his ballet’. I can not regret more that this outstanding, in my opinion, production created in October 2001, exactly four years ago, has not been seen in the West until now. It was scheduled for the Bolshoi’s season at Opera de Paris in January 2004 and was cancelled due to Tsiskaridze’s severe injury 3 months earlier. The same reason did not allow to include this ballet in the Bolshoi’s repertoire at Covent Garden in summer 2004. Then we saw that impresarios in the USA did not invite it; the same will happen this summer when the Bolshoi tours four English cities for almost four weeks. When talking to some impresarios I learned that they are not prepared to show new ballets and feel safer with such titles as “Swan Lake” or “Nutcracker”.

I came back home from Moscow yesterday after a most amazing ballet week at the Bolshoi (“Le Dieu blue” with Tsiskaridze and Liepa and the Kremlin Ballet was another bonus) and saw “The Q. of Spades” on the 26 of October. Nikolai and Ilse in this production remain as powerful as ever. Moreover, Nikolai’s portrayal of Hermann matured and deepened. The audience watched this ballet with bated breath and the applause was absolutely unanimous and overwhelming (which is not very typical of Russian audiences where certain types of spectators don’t bother to clap at all).

No, as far as I know it is absolutely new. There was of course a Fokine's production but nothing is left from it apart from several photographs of Nijinsky. Therefore, the Eagling's choreography has to start from scratch.

Hans, let me just correct the data in your posting.

The other Nutcracker in the Mariinsky’s repertoire is not by Ratmansky. The choreographer there is Kyrill Simonov and design, which prevails over everything including the choreography, is by Mikhail Shemyakin.

Lavrovsky did not choreograph “Cinderella” for Mariinsky. The choreographer of the Mariinsky’s lovely “Cinderella” was Konstantin Sergeyev; and Oleg Vinogradov also had a go in 1977, I think.

Andris Liepa is acting here as the producer but the choreography will be by a former Royal Ballet’s Principal and the new Artistic Director of the English National Ballet Wayne Eagling.

Eagling said: “It will be modern choreography based on classical steps. And a lot of Indian influence.”

“Anyone know anything about her career? Her main roles?”

After graduating from Vaganova’s class in 1950 Osipenko joined the Mariinsky and worked there until 1971. The list of her roles is very long. Here are the main ones:

Odette-Odile, Raymonda, Street Dancer and Queen of Driads (Don Q.), Lilac Fairy, Phryghia (Jacobsson’s Spartacus), Masha-Clara (Nutcracker), Desdemona, Mehmene-Banu (Legend of Love), Nikiya and Gamzatti, Queen of the Ball (The Bronze Horseman), Siren (Prodigal Son), Cleopatra, Polish Lady (Taras Bulba), Waltz and Mazurka (Chopiniana). Osipenko was the first and perhaps the best Queen of the Copper Mountain in Grigirovich’s “Stone Flower”.

Longing for more artistic freedom she left Mariinsky for the Jacobsson’s company where she created a number of masterpieces in his one-act ballets and so called ‘choreographic miniatures’, which she danced with her then husband John Markovsky. Some of these pieces are included in “The Glory of the Kirov”.

Thanks, Jorgen and Estelle, for your answers.

I just noticed Helene’s posting on the previous page and agree with the point she made (about some dancers dancing outside a required style) but having watched the above mentioned dancers – Gracheva, Stepanenko and Uvarov - in the course of many years, in “Swan Lake” in particular, I know for sure that neither their technique no artistic manner conflict with the style of this ballet. This is of course my own opinion. Perhaps it is also confirmed by the fact that the Bolshoi Ballet has been casting them in these roles for amost 15 years.

Thank you, Estelle, for explaining about the programme.

As ballerinas Gracheva and Stepanenko are very different: while Nadezhda Gracheva is more expressive in dramatic roles Galina Stepanenko excels in her virtuosity. So, which one, in fact, was dancing Black Swan with Uvarov?

The debate of course could be interesting, however, for the time being I am very interested to know Mary’s opinion why this particular performance made an impression of an outdated one? It is of a genuine interest for me and it is within the scope of this topic.

My attention was drawn to the phrase written by Mary:

“Nadeja Gracheva and Andrei Ouvarov danced black swan pdd. The only comment i have is: was i dreaming or were we back in the 40ies. I had no clue people stil dances like that. They were both really good and strong, but on the whole it was sooo outdated.”

SO, WAS IT GOOD OR BAD? Considering that Mary wrote the word “but” it was not good.

I have not attended that gala but I have seen this Bolshoi’s couple dancing many times: Gracheva has beautifully fluid, swan-like movements and Uvarov has very impressive jumps and partnering skills. So, if “they were both really good and strong”, what, in your opinion, Mary, was outdated in their rendition of the Black Swan pas de deux?

Some dancers, as we know, ‘embroider’ the classics now with 6 o’clock extensions, or triple fuettes (regardless of the fluency of their execution), or some tricks which force conductors to ‘rape’ the score, and so on. Is THIS an up-to-date presentation of the classics? Or you mean something else?

Another ballet forum has an interesting ongoing debate at the moment on this issue triggered by the ‘novelty’ seen at the Mariinsky’s “La Bayadere’ in Covent Garden a month ago: the entrance of the Shades saw them raising their leg in penche significantly higher than they were ever doing it before. In my opinion, it distorts the line, leads to more wobbles and ruins the serenity of the scene. Therefore, I am certainly, in favour of the Shades to be danced in the same manner as it was done in 1940-1990s.

Probably, it might become a good topic for an important debate: dancing the classics. Should the presentation of the classics change? every 20 years? or every decade? Should it be modernized? If so, then HOW?

What about repainting Rembrandt and Raphael? Did anyone think of this?

Dear MinkusPugni, if you are asking about the original Pas de Quatre, then there was no Fanny Elssler there. The original Pas de Quatre by Perrot premiered in London in 1845 featured Maria Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, Fanny Cerrito and Lucile Grahn. There is a beautiful print by Smith showing them in this dance.

You can find some information in the Oxford Dictionary of Dance.

Aurora - Antonicheva, Desire - Tsiskaridze, Lilac Fairy - Allash.

The Russian version on www.bolshoi.ru has the full cast.

Dear RG, thank you for the link.

It was mentioned there that no films with Bregvadze exist. I also haven't heard of any full film ballets featuring him, however, you can see a recording of him dancing in "THE GLORY OF THE KIROV" videofilm (1995):

Viennese Waltz by Yakobson: Kurgapkina, Bregvadze (1960)

Quote: "i have no idea how to undelete".

I personally don't even know how to delete. But this is how it should be.

In my previous posting I attempted to answer Alexandra's question: Why Koloman?

In one of the books about Ulanova we read:

"Aiming to present a correct interpretation of the Middle Ages the authors of libretto V.Vainonen and Y.Slonimsky swapped the likable and unpleasant characters of the story... The noble and sublime music written by Glazunov for Jean de Brienne was accompanying now the movements of the perfidious Koloman turned into a bad guy; on the contrary, the spontaneously violent tunes written for Abderrakhman were called now for portraying the beautiful soul and moral strength of "the captive arab" turned into a good guy."

A curious example of Political Correctness. This is the U.S.S.R. of the 1930s!

Where the photograph of Coralli is concerned it is definitely not "Chopiniana".

Balzac's "Lost Illusion" predated that ballet. More probably it is Sylphide since Maria Taglioni was the prototype for Coralli.

Thank you so much for showing us your treasures, rg.

Two Kirov ballerinas Inna Zubkovskaya and Tatiana Legat were ravishingly beautiful.

However, Karsavina reigns unsurpassed.

I agree with rg: neither Struchkova nor Maximova danced Raymonda.

In the 1945 production by Lavrovsky - Semyonova and Golovkina danced Raymonda, then Plissetskaya;

In 1960 (by Lavrovsky again) - Yelena Ryabinkina.

From 1984 (by Grigorovich) - Bessmertnova and Semenyaka.

From the "Russian Ballet" Encyclopaedia:

Malakhov was born on the 7th of January 1968.

For me - Nikolai Tsiskaridze and Laurent Hilaire. This is the kind of a discussion where people can never agree completely: beauty is in the beholder's eye.

An extract from the “Newstime” newspaper, 17.06.04

"Last Sunday Nikolai Tsiskaridze awakened the Sleeping Beauty"

Not as Prince Desire though. For his return after an injury the dancer chose the role of Carabosse…

This role in ballet as other comic roles of old women has long since been played by men. However, Tsiskaridze’s Carabosse was not a comic old woman at all.

She possessed natural imperiousness – her finger pointed at the place where the man she addressed should be, and the man followed there although he had a foreboding that nothing good for him will come out of it (this happened to Catalabutte whose head of hair – a wig, of course, - was dramatically torn out by Carabosse). Carabosse kept stooping and leaning on her crutch but at the moments of wrath and triumph she would draw herself up and Tsiskaridze’s bearing, his long rapacious back would be revealed. Carabosse appeared to be akin to the Evil Genius in “Swan Lake”; it was becoming clear that her infirmity, designated old age and shaky hands are no more than an act of the great witch who has no equal in this porcelain toy-kingdom. In fact, it wasn’t the story of Princess Aurora (danced by the Bolshoi’s tidy ingenue Nina Kaptsova) which dominated the performance but the story of Carabosse, the story of her first and last defeat.

The first defeat was when the death predicted by her was replaced by a prolonged sleep. The damnation scene was a master’s work: at the christening party Tsiskaridze’s hands “pronounced” everything: the way Aurora will grow up, the kind of a beauty she will become and the way she will die…

At Aurora’s coming of age ball, Carabosse appeared in black, almost monastic clothes and handed the fatal

spindle to the girl… After the girl fell asleep Carabosse made her round of the Princess’ broken-hearted relatives peering at their faces with an eager, impetuous and gloomy stare. She jumped down the stairs skipping several steps; she was rejoicing as she would have never allowed herself before. This mounting indecent gaiety was acted by Tsiskaridze very precisely; there was no joy in it whatsoever; there was no real triumph but something petty that devours the greatness in human beings.

In Act 2, when a hundred years later Prince Desire was heading towards Aurora’s castle, Carabosse was dozing while keeping her watch by the enchanted kingdom’s gates. She was looking at the mirror and then raised a hand to her forehead in a senile gesture as if protecting herself from that mirror (all other Carabosses of the Bolshoi just sleep and have no mirrors). She was caressing the hair of her little monstrous servants (they never saw that sort of kindness before). Her life which she herself tied up for a century to this kingdom was ebbing; the last strength was just enough to rush towards Desire and to try to stop him – but her last defeat was predetermined, he was to kiss the girl anyway. And Carabosse collapsed into the arms of her little monsters.

The house erupted with applause… The story of jealousy, defeat and departure was acted by the dancer who discovered during this season that there is nobody whom he could be jealous of in the theatre. Who has not been defeated in any role in his entire life: his triumphs stretched from the Cherry Prince in the children’s ballet “Cipollina” to Solor in “La Bayadere” which he claimed as his own. And who, before his departure from the classical repertoire, will leap and jump – touch wood! - for years to come .

By Anna Gordeeva in Moscow

Congratulations and the very best wishes to Svetlana Zakharova on her 25th birthday!

A synopsis of the article “Forever Juliet: Only great personalities can make history”

by a Russian ballet critic Violetta Mainiece published in the Russian language “Culture” magazine in Moscow on 20.05.04

http://www.kultura-portal.ru/tree/cultpape...9&rubric_id=204

The gala concert “Tribute to Galina Ulanova” organised by the Galina Ulanova Fund (Director Vladimir Vassilyev) has taken place at the Bolshoi Theatre on the 16th of May. 2004. This concert commemorated two memorable events: on the 16th of May 1928 the young Galina Ulanova graduated in St.Petersburg, and in 1944, exactly 60 years ago, she moved from the Mariinsky to the Bolshoi Theatre. Two foremost Russian theatres provided their stage for this dancer who long ago became a ballet legend of the 20th century.

The gala concert was completely sold out although it was a Sunday evening in May. Numerous VIPs and distinguished guests filled the stalls. [John Noimayer rushed from Hamburg for one evening only.] The audience in boxes and tiers was not only sitting but standing and even hanging.

The programme of this concert was exceptionally well thought out. Luckily, there were no pas de deux from “Le Corsaire” or “Don Q”, which by now set people’s teeth on edge. Only two pieces from Ulanova’s repertoire were performed on that night: adagio with the Suitors from “The Sleeping Beauty” and the last act of “Swan Lake”. The rest of the programme consisted of Balanchine’s “Symphony in C”, adagio from “Diamonds” with the long awaited Ulyana Lopatkina, and the latest novelties from Mariinsky which were shown in Moscow for the first time: Lander’s “Etudes” and Forsythe’s “The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude". It wasn't the repertoire that provided a link to Ulanova but the lyrical, romantic and refined atmosphere of that evening. It started with Prokofiev’s overture for “Romeo & Juliet” and concluded with “Ave Eve” by A.Petrov. Throughout the evening photographs and excerpts were shown on three screens, compiled from well-known and absolutely unknown images of the great ballerina. The unhurried, elegiac introduction was filled with reading of letters to Ulanova from ordinary people, celebrities’ views of her art as well as some music – Casta Diva from “Norma” and The Prayer from “Cavaleria Rusticana”. Of course, Ulanova made history as romantic Maria, Juliet, Giselle and Swan but there were other streaks in her art and her character devoid of any sentimentality.

Ulyana Lopatkina appeared in this concert as a real Royal Diamond. Some may adore Lopatkina, others may just respect her but one thing is clear – she is a personality, a ballerina with her own bearing, who is intelligent and understands exactly how to present in the best light herself and all Balanchine’s steps. Her imperial dancing crowned the choreographic part of that evening underscoring the simple truth that only great personalities can make history. The art of Galina Ulanova has proved that.

76 years to this day, on the 16th of May 1928, Galina Ulanova graduated from the Mariinsky ballet school in St. Petersburg. Her teacher Agrippina Vaganova called her "out of this world creature".

A concert in commemoration of Ulanova's graduation will take place at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow tonight. See the website:

http://galinaulanova.com/1/fund/index.php?partsId=312

I travel to Paris sometimes to see ballets there but unfortunately I wasn’t lucky enough to see Thibault in leading roles. As a soloist he is amazing, just perfect. After I saw him dance I tried to know more about his repertoire but apparently he dances leading roles on very rare occasions.

A friend translated for me from French a recent article about him. Here are some extracts:

(Article in Danse Light, May 2004

by Bérengère Alfort)

EMMANUEL THIBAULT

“That rare pearl of art”

“… Why restate a manifest truth, one all balletomanes are aware of: whether it be technique, jump, petite batterie, ballon, impeccable cleanly finish – all that, and more, is Emmanuel Thibault. Above all, a potent and complex presence, that recalls what was said of Nureyev – neither man, nor woman, nor yet a divinity – although a divinity, perhaps. Emmanuel Thibault need only go down onto the stage, and it is transfigured. The painted backdrop becomes a fair landscape, the ladies walk on air, and music becomes unthinkable without the dance…”

“…His excellence is unanimously acknowledged…”

“ …And so, one gathers that Emmanuel Thibault is that rare pearl of art, on account of the intelligence of the considerations he devotes to the dance. Although he was given the role of Puck in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the year 2001, or the apparition in the “Spectre de la Rose” in 1997, he is bent on serving every role with all his might…”

Dear Francoise, why do you think he is still ranked as a “sujet” since 1992?

I am so disappointed that I can not travel to see him on the 23rd of May. Will somebody be kind enough to write here about that performance? Please.

Dear Nysusan, I read everything that was written last week by major Russian critics about the Benois de la danse results as well as all reports on Russian ballet forums and can only repeat that the winners of "Benois de la danse-2004" are:

Alina Cojocaru as the best ballerina,

Lloyd Riggins and Laurent Hilaire as best male dancers,

and Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon (Ballet of Netherlands) as best choreographers.

Where the article by Raymond Stults in "The Moscow Times" is concerned, well, what can I say. His articles there about ballet, which I read from time to time, demonstrate clearly that he is a reporter and not a ballet critic. It is even more disappointing that a reporter can not report the facts accurately.

Now about Irina Kolesnikova. Participants of the Russian ballet forums who are very well steeped in their favourite subject kept asking recently who Irina Kolesnikova was. She is more known abroad where Tachkin's ballet is touring than in Russia. I think she was nominated for Benois by her coach Alla Osipenko but has not got the prize although danced a piece at the gala concert. Alina and Hilaire could not come to Moscow.

Oh, my God! I haven't even noticed when I copied Cyrillic straight from a Russian ballet forum. :rolleyes: