Marc Haegeman

The Royal Ballet of Flanders presents the premiere of another Wainrot creation on September 25 in Antwerp -"Journey" set to music by John Adams. "Journey is part of a triple bill with "Circle of Fifths" from Christopher d'Amboise, created for New York City Ballet, and a creation by house choreographer Danny Rosseel called "Unveiled Senses".

Thanks, Colwill. Well, I have no idea who your favorite is but I bet she will end up in pole position, or somewhere near that. It's good to see that a lot of Russian balletomanes have voted as well today (thanks to Mikhail who put up an announcement at the Russian forum http://forum.balet.ru/) .

There were only 10 possible choices and I tried to select those dancers whom most people have seen in principal roles. There will always be somebody who's left out for somebody, Mashinka. Sorry, that's part of the game.

Thank you, Alexandra, the poll has been up since yesterday evening. Depending of the interest, I will keep it open for one month. Admirers of the young star Leonid Sarafanov will rush to his new gallery at: http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/Leonid_th.html

Anyone willing to vote for his or her favorite Kirov ballerina of today is welcome to do so on my site, at the well-known address B) http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/ Please remember only 1 (one) vote is allowed . Thanks for voting!

Silvy, it's funny that you ask this question after you inquired about how Alexei Fadeyechev fared as director of the Bolshoi . The prospect of reviving Grigorovich's production of "Swan Lake" by the new (Iksanov-Rozhdestvensky) management in 2000, was precisely one of the main reasons why Fadeyechev decided to talk to the press. He emphasized quite strongly (also in the interview) that the idea of bringing back a "Swan Lake" dating from 1969 and present it as one of the great novelties for the coming season, was a total aberration. At that moment the Bolshoi was dancing Vasiliev's ill-fated production of the ballet, but Fadeyechev had plans to mount a new version, going back to the traditional Ivanov-Petipa. So yes, the Bolshoi is again dancing this same Grigorovich production of "Swan Lake". I'd be curious to hear what the critics thought about it back in 1969, when Grigorovich was still reigning supreme at the Bolshoi, but I guess their comments weren't much different from ours.

Not sure, Alexandra. When it was cancelled last February, there were different versions about what was going to happen next. Some said the end of the season (which is now past), some said next season, some said never. There were to my mind too many factors speaking against a swift solution, most importantly the fact that the company wasn't ready to cope with Lacotte's choreography. Moreover, rehearsals had focused on Zakharova and she is leaving for the Bolshoi. Of course, you never know with them. As we could see with Etudes, Sacre and Les Noces - ready or not, they still did them anyhow.

Welcome, Eric. Exactly, not much more to add. The Mariinsky was bound to dance Pierre Lacotte's version of "Ondine" at the last Festival in February 2002. The ballet was aborted at the last minute for various reasons (artistic, financial....). So, for the moment "Ondine" has been declared dead at the Mariinsky.

A bit of recent Russian history B). In the Summer of 2000, following the dismissal of Vladimir Vasiliev, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Anatoli Iksanov had been appointed General Artistic Director and General Director of the Theatre respectively. Alexei Fadeyechev remained AD of the ballet company, yet because the new management seemed bent on tearing down what had been built in the last years (scheduled premieres and tours were cancelled, recently acquired ballets were being ditched, etc.), Fadeyechev decided to speak to the press about it. A few days after his press conference in October 2000 Iksanov cancelled Fadeyechev's contract. In any case, like Alexandra said, the differences were too outspoken and hadn't he been fired, Fadeyechev would probably have resigned some time later. It was all a rather dismal episode. Alexei Fadeyechev had been leading the ballet company since 1998 and as we all could appreciate the artistic progress that was made during his tenure was truly significant. As Robert mentioned there was indeed a lot to do about the score of "Fille du Pharaon". Maestro Rozhdestvensky for one didn't think much of it and allegedly decided to dump the ballet because of that. Of course, this one fact is only part of a much more general feeling of discontent from the opera people in the Bolshoi who must have felt sidelined by the ballet-minded Vasiliev.

Viviane, it's quite common for the Mariinsky to drop dances or sections from their productions while on tour. We had this all the time with the old Soviet versions of La Bayadère and Sleeping Beauty (and even with the new-old Beauty). It can be for obvious manpower (or lack thereof) reasons, but have no idea why they don't perform the little dance of the Balineselike girls, as there is really nothing to it (Although as far as I remember the girls who paraded in London weren't even Mariinsky).

Thank you for sharing your impressions about the Mariinsky season, Alymer. La Bayadère was indeed given complete, with the exception of (as said above) the number with the yellow, Balineselike girls, opening the dances in the 2nd Act. For some reason they hardly ever perform this on tours. The girls did take part in the procession, though, but didn’t dance. As for the coda of the Shades Act, they seem to perform it both ways now (even Pavlenko sometimes does the old, standard version). As a general impression I think that in spite of the often good dancing that was on display during this tour, very little came across as of any dramatic consequence within the ballets. Best example is probably Corsaire where all generally danced well, but in fact as you mention without much effect. Quite agree about the sightlines in this theatre. As far as anybody complains, you need to look hard for finding a seat from where you have a comfortable view (having to pay £ 45-50 to see less than half of the stage makes it even harder to accept). That definitely was a huge mistake.

It's legal, no doubt, but it's still a shame that the information provided is inaccurate and nobody checks ;)

The Ballet Encyclopedia did contact the webmaster of Vishneva's site about the above matter. He considered that a link in his links section was a sufficient excuse to place another author's name under the "borrowed" biography. Indeed, Alexandra, the Web seems to be an easy target for "wild-pluckers", while on the other hand nobody ever seems to question the quality or the exactness of the information provided. On another level, the same thing happens more and more in publications. Take the dancer's biographies listed in three different souvenir programs of recent Mariinsky tours: Manchester, Graz and London. All three have clearly used the same source (I suppose, the Mariinsky Theatre?), or have copied from each other, and thus all three give the same inaccurate or incomplete information. Isn't there anybody then of the organizers who takes the time to check these sources?

Kate, sorry it wasn't clear, but it is Kunakova, Tkachenko's teacher, who was a great Lilac Fairy .

No matter how initiatives like the present dancer's site have to be welcomed, it's always sad to find out that much of the material they present is taken from other websites, without crediting these sources properly. The biography on Vishneva's site is clearly "borrowed" from the biography on the Small Ballet Encyclopedia http://www.ballet.classical.ru/b_vishneva.html (compiled by Ludmilla Dukova and myself). The new biography has allegedly been written by another person, while in fact it is just a copy from the Ballet Encyclopedia, with a few changes. That these are done without any knowledge of the facts is proven by the years in the repertoire list. For some of the debuts of which we didn't have the precise date, they just picked the preceding ones in the list, while in fact it could have been any year. Shame.

Thanks for taking the time to post about this, Kate! You are quite right about Elvira Tarassova. She has been extremely reliable in soloist roles for more than ten years now, yet was never much publicized. Her performance of Gamzatti in the final Bayadère was absolutely thrilling and she does have this stage maturity which all these youngsters, no matter how talented, lack. (She does have a "biography" in the program book as far as I can see - nonetheless, these biographies are full of mistakes and omissions, while the silly accompanying photos must date back from their school days... Is this really impossible to get these basic things right?) I heard favorable echoes about Tatiana Tkachenko in her debut as Medora. Incidentally, she is a pupil of Lubov Kunakova (Kirov aficionados will surely remember her as the wonderful Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty video with Kolpakova-Berezhnoi). In typical Mariinsky fashion Tkachenko only had a few days to learn the role of Medora. We will be glad to hear about the future ballet perfomances that you see!

Thanks, Françoise . Needless to say that the interviews are in French, but in order not too lose to many subscribers for Dance View, they have to be translated, which makes it doubly difficult

Larissa Lezhnina is still dancing, Calliope. She is a first soloist with the Dutch National Ballet, in Amsterdam since 1994 (for more details please check out her biography on the site of the Dutch National Ballet: http://www.het-nationale-ballet.nl/new/htm...etail.php?id=47 It has nothing to do with "too modern", Silvy. Of course we can't imagine Kolpakova in Balanchine, because she never had the chance to dance it, yet many observers assume she would have been wonderful in it. But Lezhnina did and does dance Balanchine as well as many other "modern" choreographers. Her current repertoire ranges from Bournonville and Petipa to Balanchine, Robbins, Van Manen, Tharp and Forsythe. What I meant is the difference in plastique, style, approach and manner of the current Mariinsky dancers compared to Lezhnina. That has changed, no matter what repertoire or choreographer they are performing.

Silvy, this is a much to complex matter (and deserves a separate thread) to deal with in a few words, but you have seen Diana Vishneva perform the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, right? Well, just imagine how Larissa Lezhnina would dance this and then you'll understand what has changed in this company .

Silvy, this is a rather complicated question, as you will understand. The Kirov’s management’s policy toward its dancers, even those about whom everybody agrees that they are something special or unique or whatever, is anything but logical. It never has been, I doubt it ever will be. Several talented dancers have left or were kicked out of the company at that point (Kunakova, Mezentseva, Pankova, Melnikov, Lezhnina, Polikarpova, Shapchits, Zavialov etc.) for various reasons. In Lezhnina’s case there was definitely nothing wrong with her, except maybe that the times just weren’t right for her any longer in the Kirov, and eventually this clashed with her own ambitions. Physically, stylistically, as well as mentally Lezhnina belongs to a different era, and this is meant in the most respectable sense (“I left the Kirov, and I have a different style in my memory”, as she says herself). After having been promised heaven for some time, she found herself with nothing to do anymore. As we all know Vinogradov opened the door for another breed of female dancers, and we can observe the result of that today. I hope this answers your question somehow.

Under the self-evident title of "Diana Vishneva Prima Balerina of the Maryinsky Theatre" there is now a website devoted to the beloved Kirov star: http://www.vishneva.ru. It has a biography, photo galleries, a performance calendar, a section with reviews, and a contact section through which you even can participate in an interview. The site is in Russian and in English.

Pavlenko’s dancing strikes me as much more profound and sensitive, as well as more consistent and classically in line than the other ladies you mentioned, Viviane. I wouldn’t say her technique is in any way less impressive, she just doesn’t slap us in the face with it all the time. To my mind, too, she is a much more complete artist than anything I have seen from Zakharova or Vishneva, who rely far too heavily on flashes of technical display to make their point. Pavlenko's Swan Lake on Friday had the same qualities of her earlier performance in Graz, except that it didn’t attain the same emotional level as then. Even though it was also Igor Kolb who was her Siegfried, the magic of that earlier performance wasn’t quite repeated. I guess that night was one out of a million.

Many thanks for this review, Viviane. You were lucky to catch one of the best performances of the whole season in London. Quite right about the collapse of the building at the end: on previous occasions it had been more spectacular, but for some reason in this performance nothing much happened.

The Mariinsky concluded its London tour with two performances of Le Corsaire. The evening performance was a fun night out. (Kate you went to the matinee, I believe?) Sofia Gumerova replaced the scheduled Svetlana Zakharova as Medora and did a much better job than when I saw her earlier in the season. Gumerova looked more relaxed and confident, and actually seemed to enjoy what she was doing. She still lacks the face and the presence, as much as the plastique to carry off the first act (her unveiling on the market square could be mistaken for a bad joke), but the remaining acts were enjoyable. It was also good to have the delightful Irina Zhelonkina as Gulnara, giving a few glimpses of Kirov classicism from a mostly forgotten era: all delicate, feminine charm, swift, and moving without the slightest noise, the last act variation seems tailor-made for her. The men were interesting all: Shishov as Conrad, Fadeyev as Lankedem, Baimuradov as Birbanto. Only Zelensky, over-cautious, pained a bit. His Ali still had his moments, but we remember what he really could do with the part, and that's all gone now. As something of a local star, he nonetheless got the loudest cheers of all. The weakest part of the evening was again the 3 odalisques, looking like alien visitors stranded in a Kirov harem, with Sheshina thundering her way through it and Sukhorukova unappealing as ever (compared with a dancer like Zhelonkina, they really seem to come from a different world). Only Selina brought a few moments of grace. As a gesture of farewell there was a flower throw, even though I felt the company wasn't very concerned about all this. The soloists did several curtain calls, because the public didn't want to let them go. In previous seasons the whole company, or at least the ballet masters used to assemble on the stage for taking a bow. Nothing of that this time. Well, they had an early flight the next morning. Onward to the next engagement. And London will see them back in 2005.

Yes, the webmaster, California based Jack Walker, seems to have found the time to get it going again and he is focusing on the coming US tour of the Mariinsky.