Marc Haegeman

I think we should at least give the guy a chance to prove himself. Although I, too, have my doubts about his gifts as a choreographer (his best moments seem to be small-scaled, in other words fitting awkwardly within the Bolshoi frame), that doesn’t say anything about his possible merits as a leader of a company (be it a hornet’s nest like the Bolshoi), nor what his artistic vision and influence will be. And as Mikhail mentions, nobody is perfect. We all admire Alexei Fadeyechev, especially for his profoundly human approach, while the company was undergoing a splendid transformation. Yet it was also under his tenure that the glories of Eifman were brought to the Bolshoi, while he was flirting with choreographers like Stanton Welch and, yes, Ratmansky. There is always a way. Let's wait and see.

Thanks, Mikhail. I gather R&D stands for "Romeo ad Juliet"? In any case it sounds very challenging. Good to know that "Pharaoh's Daughter" will finally be filmed and I hope commercially released on video/DVD.

Thank you, Mikhail, for this news, which sounds very hopeful indeed. A choreographer as artistic director is not such a bad start. I assume there were other candidates for the post as well? Could you possibly tell us something about the recent press conference which took place at the Bolshoi, presenting the new season of the theatre. Thanks!

The site of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden already posted a somewhat different, second version of the casting list for the Kirov tour in London. http://www.royalopera.org/PerformingSpaces...aoca=24&aocr=27 Nothing to surprise us, but still a slightly bizarre line-up. Absent from this tour seem to be Zhanna Ayupova, Irma Nioradze, Yulia Makhalina, and of course Uliana Lopatkina and Maya Dumchenko. Diana Vishneva is now listed for one performance only, "Le Corsaire" in the beginning of the season. For the remainder the performances are more or less "divided" among Svetlana Zakharova, Daria Pavlenko, and Sofia Gumerova. While Xenia Ostreikovskaya, Natalia Sologub, and the new faces for London Ekaterina Kondaurova, Viktoria Tereshkina, and Daria Sukhorukova dance some principal roles as well. There will be a strong contingent of men with Farukh Ruzimatov, Igor Zelensky, Danila Korsuntsev, Igor Kolb, Andrian Fadeyev, Ilya Kuznetsov, Anton Korsakov, while Leonid Sarafanov and Vladimir Shishov also seem to get more prominence. The company will present its three recently acquired ballets: "Rite of Spring", "Les noces", and "Etudes". Any comments?

That's the old Nureyev spirit for you: dance, even when you are sick or feeling unwell. Why don't you post your impressions now, su-lian, regardless of whether you'll be seeing Guillem-Hilaire or not?

Empty technical brilliance, mistaking mannerisms for acting, a total lack of spontaneity, a tendency to cheapen the character, and one huge ego trip of a performance, curtain calls included… if that’s your American Manon, you are welcome to her, Leigh, but I doubt it really is . It may well have been that you saw exemplary performances. I saw some pretty good ones myself of her years ago, at the very beginning, but nothing recent was in this league and surely not this Manon. To make no mistake: she danced it well enough, even if alone, but dramatically it was a complete non event. And so a lot about the performance has been said....

The Paris Opera Ballet is finishing a run of "L'histoire de Manon" at the Opera Garnier. Company dancing overall was excellent and the POB really warms for MacMillan's ballet. It was especially good to see Aurélie Dupont back, finally returning after a long period of injury. Even if her Manon didn’t carry me totally away, it was a well-danced, finely detailed and sensitive reading of MacMillan’s heroine. Jean-Guillaume Bart’s Des Grieux was an attractive, good-hearted, and touching character. Kader Belarbi’s portrayal of Lescaut is however in a class of its own. Stéphanie Romberg was a fine Mistress, but Jean-Marie Didière as a menacing M. de G.M. is a must. The least said about Diana Vishneva’s appearance as Manon the better – except that I fail to see why a company like the POB needs to invite someone who has absolutely nothing to say about the role. Her partner Manuel Legris (a fabulous Des Grieux as we remember him from earlier seasons) danced mostly on his own and (not in his best form) was unable to save the day. With a less than ideal Lescaut (Yann Saïz), it was a disappointing evening.

Casting for the Kirov in London is now available on the site of the Royal Opera House. http://www.roh.org.uk/PerformingSpaces/Ind...aoca=24&aocr=27 Click on each ballet and you will find the casts below.

We had a smaller Russian company visiting once and according to the programme the leading ballerina was one of the finest interpreters of "Swan Lake" and "Belvedere". This is also a true story. A German company was doing a performance on some island in Scandinavia (can't remember Sweden or Denmark) and they needed special passes to access the island. So to whole troupe got passes, but there were two left: the pass for Mr. Petipa and for Mr. Tchaikovsky. These guys never showed up .

For anyone willing to believe it, here's the casting for the Kirov-Mariinsky in Graz, next July 2-14 (Courtesy Rieder Promotions). 2 July, Romeo and Juliet: Zakharova – Fadeyev 3 July, Romeo and Juliet: Vishneva – Baranov 4 July, Jewels: Ayupova – Baranov/Vishneva – Fadeyev/Pavlenko – Zelensky 5 July, Swan Lake: Zakharova – Korsuntsev 6 July, Swan Lake: Gumerova – Kolb 8 July, Don Quixote: Vishneva – Sarafanov 9 July, Don Quixote: Novikova – Fadeyev 10 July, Jewels: Ostreikovskaya – Baranov/Nioradze – Scherbakov/Zakharova – Korsuntsev 11 July, Romeo and Juliet: Ayupova – Sarafanov 12 July, Don Quixote: Osmolkina – Korsakov 13 July, Jewels: Ayupova – Baranov/Nioradze – Scherbakov/Gumerova – Kolb 14 July, Swan Lake: Pavlenko – Korsuntsev

Thanks, Dale, a very brave move indeed . Outside of this tour the Kirov will also perform in Las Vegas, September 6-7, Alladin Theatre for the Perfoming Arts. Program is a mixed bill with Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Flower Festival of Genzano, Spectre de la rose, Corsaire Pas de deux etc. Tickets up to $ 250. http://www.a2zlasvegas.com/events/production.html

Hi Koshka, when ready the 2003-2004 schedule of the Maryinsky will appear on the theatre's website: http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill. For further info also check out the links in this forum: http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...=&threadid=9474

Mashinka, it might be that the casts will only be revealed on the day of the performance - which sounds like a very wise decision ;). Of the dancers announced (see: http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...&threadid=10638 ) at least one (Maya Dumchenko) won't show up in London as she is on maternity leave. There is also some speculation as to how much time Diana Vishneva will have left to spend in London because of several engagements in Japan (Nureyev Festival, World Ballet Festival). Everything is possible of course.

Like Alexandra said, Andrew (or Andreas) II, King of Hungary, is a historical person, early 13th century, one of the leaders (Alexandra, I wouldn't exactly use the word "heroes" in the context of the Crusades, though ) of the Vth Crusade. His brother-in-arms Jean de Brienne seems also to have been a real person. The story of Raymonda is located in the Provence, in southern France, which provides a link with the troubadour figures Bernard and Béranger, the two friends of Raymonda. The last Act takes place in the Provence as well, but is an homage to the Hungarian guest, King Andrew (whom in reality was beaten during the Crusades and made a far less glorious return home). Interesting to know that Petipa initially wanted to locate the 2nd Act in Cordoba or Granada, in the Arabian conquered part of Spain, where he could place all the oriental dances.

London audiences had Igor Zelensky last month in the Royal Albert Hall gig, in exactly the same pas de deux as here. Although the lifts were left out there as well, his performances in London were far more dynamic than in the Mariinsky gala, where he took it a bit too easy come, easy go. What bothered me most about this whole thing is that most of these big names seemed to bash through what they had to do, without the least bit of subtlety or effort to create the proper image.

Thanks Jane. I thought it started out well with the opera fragments attempting to illustrate important scenes from the history of St. Petersburg, but the ballet snippets seemed like they were thrown into the lot to prevent people from thinking that this is solely an opera company. And then which ballet scenes? Why open with the scarf duet of Nikiya and Solor if you could have had the whole Kingdom of the Shades and show the corps de ballet as bit more than mere garniture? I thought the level of dancing was sadly distressing for an event of this magnitude. Except for the riveting Polovtsian Dances and Leonid Sarafanov, whose youthful ardour provided a moment of hope, none of the established superstars did any effort to show they enjoyed being there. And can somebody please explain to Maestro Gergiev when is the correct time to begin a variation?

Since we are talking about the same thing on two different forums, I am closing this one. Please continue on the one which was opened first: http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...&threadid=11535

Yesterday and today several European TV channels broadcasted parts or whole of the opera and ballet gala at the Mariinsky Theatre, as part of the large-scaled 300th Anniversary celebrations of St. Petersburg. Anybody who saw this? Any impressions about the ballet sections?

With thanks to Dale for forwarding this, here is the complete schedule for the USA Fall 2003 Tour of the Kirov-Mariinsky (www.ardani.com). + Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, October 7-12: 3 performances of the Fokine program, 4 performances of Jewels. + Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles, October 14-19: 7 performances of La Bayadère. + Orange County Performing Arts Center, Costa Mesa, October 21-26: 3 performances of the Fokine program, 4 performances of Jewels. + Opera House, Detroit, October 29-November 2: 6 performances of La Bayadère. + State Theatre, Cleveland, 6-9 November: 4 performances of La Bayadère. + The Wang Center for the Performing Arts, Boston, November 13-16: 4 performances of the Fokine program. The company directly flies from Boston to Tokyo, where the 2003 ballet odyssey continues November 23. By December 23 they will be back in Washington DC at the Kennedy Center.

The Royal Ballet of Flanders announced its 2003-2004 season. As usual there are three different programs. A new work for the company will be Petipa's "La Bayadère" (in the version by A-M. Holmes), to be premiered in Antwerp in February 2004. There will be a revival of Prokovsky's production of "The Nutcracker", and a triple bill with "Circle of Fifths" from Christopher d'Amboise, and creations by house choreographer Danny Rosseel and by Mauricio Wainrot. http://www.koninklijkballetvanvlaanderen.b...llet/index.html

Grace, it is definitely the same Marc Bogaerts who worked among others at the Australian Conservatory of Ballet, teaching his system, which is allegedly based on a combination of Vaganova and Limon. Bogaerts is said to be convinced that modern dance technique dangerously stagnated since the disappearance of Limon and Graham, and therefore devised his own to save it all. Shame it didn't save him. Thanks, Beckster, that's about the "Romeo and Juliet" cast we had last December. What did you think of Sunal as Juliet? Anybody else who saw them?

Thank you, Viviane and Baletoman, for sharing your impressions about the Galas with St. Petersburg dancers (any reference to “Kirov” or “Mariinsky” was carefully avoided). I agree that the evenings were a good night out, even if the dancing wasn’t always topnotch. Best moments to my mind were Nioradze in “Legend of Love” and “Sheherazade”, and Ruzimatov in everything he did. I don’t think that Simonov’s choreographic manner can stand repeated viewing, though (How long can you keep dancers jogging around on a stage? ) Yes, Zelensky avoided some of the lifts in the adage of "Le Corsaire". Good point you make there, Viviane, about cast changes which are only set right orally – not everybody is bound to have heard them and especially Russian names can cause problems. The Bolshoi Ballet brought Grigorovich’s version of "Raymonda" full length to London, last in 1999.

Thank you very much, Colwill, no need to fear you're going on for too long with such an enthousiastic report; I'm sure other balletalerters will agree that it was a pleasure to read it . Daria Pavlenko danced sort of a personal marathon in this short season, as she danced "Swan Lake" and two "Bayadères" in four days. Incidentally, she had never danced this version of "La Bayadère" before and was rather glad it had 'only' three acts.

Welcome Balletoman, thanks for posting. I hope others will share their impressions about the Mariinsky performances in Manchester as well.

Sorry (and thank you for the link and reply) Mikhail, I didn't see the post earlier. Just in a few words. What I didn’t like about Makarova’s production (setting aside the question whether this was the right "Sleeping Beauty" for the Royal Ballet or not) was that it’s so short on drama, theatricality, and magic. The key dramatic scenes of the ballet are all without exception weakly staged: the entrance and the curse of Carabosse at the end of the prologue, the opening and final scene of Act I, as well as the awakening of Aurora at the end of Act II, are perfunctory and superficial to the point that any claim at credibility is denied. Too many bars of music are cut and too many dramatic details overlooked. However, taken as a lesson of classical style, Makarova’s "Beauty" does have something to offer, and in this respect the Royal Ballet dancers, especially the ballerinas, take the greatest honour.