Marc Haegeman

Many thanks for your review, Mikhail. Interesting that you mention this about the poses, a detail maybe, but crucial if you want to dance "Giselle" and not "Chopiniana" or "Swan Lake". I know that Zakharova's previous Kirov teacher Olga Moiseyeva used to pay attention to this in rehearsals. Not everything seems to be remembered, though.

Thank you, Akimova, for giving some impressions from the Russian balletomanes. Mashinka, I don't think it is so much a case of a dancer not travelling well, it is rather what you expect to see in a classical ballet performance. When taken out of its context, as many people seem to do here, her performance may strike as extremely impressive, but when considered as part of an ensemble, a whole ballet, with a certain style, theatricality, rules of emploi etc, (which is Ina's approach), it may seem less so.

Thank you, Ina, for this review (I have never seen much of a jump or ballon with Zakharova, but OK). How was Zakharova received by the Bolshoi balletomanes?

Did any of our Moscow ballet alerters see Svetlana Zakharova's debut with the Bolshoi Ballet earlier this week? Mikhail, Ina, Inga, ... anybody? Please report

Yes, that's the situation for the moment - Vishneva is also bound to dance opening night's Firebird. We hope you will let us know what and who you saw, Millamant! ;)

Thank you, Alexandra. Oh yes, by all means, it is Irma Nioradze - and everybody seems to be wild about the shot, too.

I know, thank you Hans!

This topic has been discussed here quite often in the past, but now is your chance to give your opinion about it in the new For Ballet Lovers Only poll: How do you like your great classics: authentic or updated? Or more specifically: How do you like the Mariinsky's reconstructions of Petipa's Sleeping Beauty (1890) and La Bayadère (1900) by S. Vikharev? http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/ Thank you for participating!

Thanks, Jane. Sounds promising. And a great opportunity for Pavlenko. To reassure the American Pavlenko fans , she will still take part in the Mariinsky's US tour beginning in October.

We decided to close the poll because of the open dispute between one of the candidates, Anastasia Volochkova, and the Bolshoi Theatre management. This affair has been magnified in the media worldwide and we fear that this will influence the outcome of the poll, in any way. The results have been annulled. Apologies and many thanks to those of you who participated. The poll will be organised again when things have settled down at the Bolshoi and a new poll will be up soon.

Treefrog, Nina Ananiashvili has been a member of the Bolshoi Ballet since 1981. After attending the State Choreographic School of Tbilisi, she studied at the Moscow Choreographic School (the "Bolshoi School"). Her teachers include Bolshoi legends like Struchkova, Karelskaya, Semyonova etc. As Alexandra mentioned she has been guesting with various companies worldwide (among others London's Royal Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, ABT, National Ballet of Finland, even the Kirov Ballet, etc.), but is still very much with her home company in Moscow, in style, in spirit, if not always by physical presence. I think it's quite safe to say she is a Bolshoi ballerina, 'in spite' of all her guest appearances . Thank you for those of you who already voted.

The poll has been closed today. 322 people participated. The final results have Diana Vishneva shattering all competition with almost 22 % of the votes. (Still online at http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/) Second comes Yulia Makhalina with 15.8 %, followed by Svetlana Zakharova (14.6%) and Zhanna Ayupova (13.98%). Uliana Lopatkina obtains 12.7 %. Daria Pavlenko, Maya Dumchenko, Natalia Sologub circle around 5 % each, while Sofia Gumerova and Irma Nioradze stay below 3.5 %. Thank you once again for all people who voted . As announced elsewhere you can now vote for your favorite Bolshoi ballerina.

You can now vote for your favorite Bolshoi ballerina of today in the second poll on For Ballet Lovers Only. The address is well known: B) http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/ Thank you in advance for participating!

Thank you, Inga, for this report. Great news!

Thanks rg. Always fascinating to see. I have a similar photo of Geltser (#1) with the snake and mine is dated 1917, when Gorsky staged it for the Bolshoi in Moscow.

Sorry friends, but it's time to close this topic. It doesn't go anywhere. As was suggested by some posters Anastasia Volochkova's problem has nothing to do with her bodily features and there is no reason to go on about this. I regret that this seems to be the only way the Bolshoi Ballet can get in the news today.

Thank you, Ina, I was on the verge of begging someone from the informed Moscow balletomanes to post something which puts the record about this ridiculous farce straight

Hi, Mikhail, thank you for the mathematician's interpretation!

Well, Alexandra, I guess this is partly related to her age as much as her former "prima ballerina" status. People who don't follow the Kirov regularly today, but who saw the company in the early nineties are bound to have memories of Makhalina (the same goes a bit for Ayupova, who scores quite well too), as much as Lezhnina and others of that period. I often heard remarks about Makhalina in the sense of "I had no idea she is out of favour; she was so wonderful when the Kirov came in 1992" or something along those lines.

Now that the “Your favourite Kirov-Mariinsky ballerina” poll has been up for more than ten days (http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/), it’s good to have a look at the present results (260 people have been voting since August 31 – Many thanks to all who participated! ) Absolute winner is Diana Vishneva whom almost 22% of the voters consider their favourite Mariinsky ballerina. Second (and perhaps more surprisingly) comes Yulia Makhalina with 16.15%, followed closely by Svetlana Zakharova (15%) and Zhanna Ayupova (14.23%). Uliana Lopatkina who was in the first days the poll was up top favourite, now only ends 5th with almost 12%. There is quite a big gap between these 5 ladies and the remaining 5. Natalia Sologub, Maya Dumchenko and Daria Pavlenko each gather 5 to 6 % of the votes, while not many balletomanes seem to fancy Sofia Gumerova and Irma Nioradze (under 2%). I’ll keep the poll open until the 15th of this month.

Paul, the Mariinsky is a big enough company (over 200 dancers) to perform at home and on tour at the same time. They do it all the time; this situation is quite normal for them. Usually they bring their best forces on the tours.

It was a disappointingly meagre ballet program that the Valery Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam finally came up with. This prestigious annual Festival (the greatest of its kind in The Netherlands and this year in its 8th edition already), usually proposes ten or so days of symphonic concerts conducted by the ubiquitous Gergiev, mainly with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, but also chamber music, recitals and lectures focused on a theme or, as in this case, a composer, Sergei Prokofiev (appropriately so, as he died 50 years ago), characterized as the “Prodigal Son”. Balanchine’s ballet of the same name couldn’t be overlooked and became the centrepiece of the only ballet program of the Festival this year. For the occasion Gergiev conducted the Mariinsky Orchestra from the pit in the smallish “Schouwburg” of Rotterdam. As an opener were scheduled 'scenes' from "Cinderella" and "Romeo and Juliet". Yet, these scenes turned out to be two duets of less than 10 minutes each, the Waltz from the second act from "Cinderella" and the Balcony scene from "Romeo", performed before a pitch black backcloth. The whole evening lasted exactly 1 hour 22 minutes, curtain calls included. The opening waltz was solidly danced by Natalia Sologub and Vladimir Shishov, even if Ratmansky’s choreography which has Cinderella continually pointing towards her wrist (perversely enough quite apt for the general atmosphere surrounding this ballet evening) was hardly worth the effort. The other duet was danced by young and charming Evgenia Obraztsova partnered by old and labouring Viktor Baranov. It was over and forgotten before we realized it Things improved with "Prodigal Son", which at least had everything, sets included. Moreover, both leading roles were excellently done by Yulia Makhalina and the promising newcomer Mikhail Lobukhin. There was a fine supporting cast, with notably an impressive Vladimir Ponomarev as the father. I note with much displeasure that the organizers, or the Mariinsky, were once again unable to provide accurate casting lists. Announced names were incorrect and the dancers mentioned in the program book were inaccurate as well, with the exception of Makhalina as the Siren. In short, nobody was supposed to know who danced what in Rotterdam. For a newcomer like Lobukhin this is especially important (according to the program it was Yakovlev who danced) and for a Festival which focuses so much on names, or at least one name in particular, it is surprising that no more effort is done to duly credit artists on stage. The previous day Valery Gergiev conducted the Rotterdam Philharmonic in a concert performance of Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet”. Again, not the complete thing, but a Gergiev selection, highlighting if you ask me the loudest passages. It’s not the first time that local critics voice their concern about the decibels which Gergiev is so keen on producing during his recent concerts. In a not so distant past Gergiev released a justly acclaimed full length recording of the ballet. What we were served here seemed to come from a different world though. His main concern is seemingly to play as loud and as fast as possible. He constantly pushes his orchestra towards, and, frequently, over the edge. Pianissimi seem absent in this score and there is hardly time for lyricism. After the overture Gergiev immediately opened full throttle with the Street Fight, omitting Prokofiev’s careful buildup, while the “Dance of the Knights” came close to resembling Star Wars. We all know this is not a ballet performance (and thank heavens it wasn’t) but “Juliet Alone” (or Ulanova’s famous run towards friar Lorenzo) was handled so awkwardly it wouldn’t get anybody moving. Maestro Gergiev now conducts with a toothpick (or a “satéprikker” as the Dutch say), so that the musicians should scrutinize him even more closely. His histrionics and hissing on the rostrum became close to caricature – “Leaping Lennie” would have laughed at it, but at least he knew where he was going.

Errr, yeah sure.... Anyway, here's some more about the drama from Novosti: 'VALERY GERGIEV: I SEE NO GROUNDS TO SPEAK ABOUT RUSSIAN CULTURAL CRISIS' http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?msg_id=3435148

According to Izvestia (http://www.izvestia.ru/emergency/article38101) the damages are now estimated to amount to 7 million rubles. The sets of Chemyakin's Nutcracker were probably stored in the warehouse, just as (most likely) the sets for the coming tour to Japan, namely of La Bayadere, Don Quixote, Swan Lake and Evgeni Onegin. However, of every production there seem to be one or two copy-versions preserved in the theatre. So there is no reason to panic and the tours won't be affected, according to Valentina Gannibalova, former ballerina of the Kirov. Let's hope this is true.

Reports about the real damage are still unclear. The Mariinsky press service itself for example declared that no sets were destroyed. Anyway, more to come later.