Marc Haegeman

Thanks, Mikhail. Let's hope somebody of the Bolshoi management reads the newspapers .

Thank you for reviewing "Bright/Limpid Stream", Inga Let's hope this version of the ballet has a brighter future than the original. Are there many more performances scheduled this season? Thanks, Mikhail for the explanations - as always of great interest! As for Lopukhov's "Dance Symphony" some observers also thought the music he used (Beethoven's 4th Symphony) wasn't suited for the ideas he wanted to visualize.

There is now an English page about the Kirov-Mariinsky tour to Japan in November-December 2003: http://www.japanarts.co.jp/html/Kirov_ball...03/english.html

Leigh, "Ice Maiden" is not completely lost as far as I know. In the 1960s for his company in Novosibirsk Dolgushin staged his own version using fragments from Lopukhov’s ballet. Incidentally, there is a duet from "Ice Maiden" on the video “The Glory of the Kirov”, with Osipenko and Markovsky dating from 1974. Somehow I have the feeling that the "Ice Maiden" is usually mentioned and sometimes considered Lopukhov’s most outstanding ballet simply because it was less controversial (or more politically correct) than the others – but then again this is just based on accounts and I haven’t seen any of these ballets full-length. A work like "Dance Symphony", created in 1923, representing Lopukhov’s ideas about dance and choreography which he already conceived during World War I, might well be of greater importance. Lopukhov himself was probably one of the first showing a way of how to approach ballet in the 20th century, as he pleaded for a preservation of the classical legacy (as director of the Ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre he revived "The Sleeping Beauty" in 1922, restoring parts of Petipa’s choreography which had been dropped in previous years), next to trying out new ways of expression, experimenting with new forms, etc. "Dance Symphony" was a plea for plotless ballet and choreography strictly conceived as the visual expression of music. There was only one performance of "Dance Symphony", apparently greeted with a mixture of applause and hissing. Lopukhov’s ideas may not have been understood, or perhaps he was unable to visualize them convincingly, but in any case not all was lost. Interestingly, among the dancers performing "Dance Symphony" were Leonid Lavrovsky, Piotr Gusev, Danilova, Ivanova and one Balanchivadze.

I guess you’re right, Mel. Yet, I only wish I could say I knew all those ballets of which there are only fragments (or even the complete score) on a CD ;). It’s interesting to read how in Natalia Roslavleva’s “Era of Russian ballet” (published in translation in 1966) "The Limpid Stream" is written off as a misguided experiment to introduce a contemporary theme into ballet. Roslavleva mentions at length how Agrippina Vaganova analysed Lopukhov’s ballet in her article “No Ballet Falsitudes”, mentioned by Mikhail. According to Vaganova the scenario of the ballet was hopeless, yet for her its main vice was Lopukhov’s failure to use classical dancing in a suitable form. She considered the classical dancing in "The Limpid Stream" indifferent to action, subject and period (and thus totally alien to her own dogma that classical dancing “should originate from and be expressive of human emotion and social behaviour”). The divertissements in "The Limpid Stream" could be shown in any ballet. Vaganova moreover thought Lopukhov had failed to create national dances appropriate to the people shown. Finally she considered that there was no connection whatsoever between musical dramaturgy and plot in his ballet. That the ballet at first had considerable public and critical success, as Mikhail mentioned, is of course completely ignored by Roslavleva.

Thank you so much, Mikhail, for this interesting post (and this short but fascinating history lesson ) about a ballet which is indeed completely unknown out here. I hope somebody from Moscow who saw the premiere will tell us how it went.

Yes, Millamant, the Kirov will be in California most of October 2003. These links about the performances in Hollywood, Orange County, and the Bay Area posted by Ari are useful: http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/arti...&month=3&day=26 and http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...15/DD258503.DTL For Washington DC check out: http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/ind...ent&event=BEBSD

Jane, it's the next to last. Editor is A.I. Anisimov, Photography by Georgy Petrusov. Published by the State Publishing House of Fine Arts, [Moscow]1955. It's a strange book which could have been a treasure trove for 1950s ballet photography. Unfortunately, an over-eager editor has been retouching the photos beyond recognition. The company's list for 1951-1952 is interesting though. Some of the Bolshoi legends and lesser gods like Semyonova, Plisetskaya, Ulanova, Lepeshinskaya, Golovkina, Messerer, Koren, Kondratov, Yermolaev are simply listed as part of the crowd. Ballet masters are none less than Vainonen, Zakharov, and Lavrovsky.

On April 14, in St. Petersburg, Nikolai Tsiskaridze and Ilze Liepa received this year's Golden Masks (Russia's top awards for performing arts) for best male and female role in ballet, both for their performances in Roland Petit's adaptation of the "Queen of Spades", as staged for the Bolshoi. Best Ballet Award went to the "Roland Petit Evening" at the Bolshoi, which grouped his "Queen of Spades" and "Passacaglia". The Golden Mask for best choreographer was not awarded. The Chelyabinsk Theatre of modern dance was chosen for best modern dance performance (for "Expectation"). Quite ironical that the award ceremony was held at the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg and that all the prizes went to the Bolshoi and other Russian theatres. http://www.theatre.ru/news/#3517

Thank you, Marga. There are some more photos of Lunkina on http://www.ballet.classical.ru/p_slunkina.html

I'm afraid you're right, Marga. Nothing commercially available. There was however a video of Lunkina's debut in "Giselle" with Tsiskaridze and Alexandrova, but I gather it was only sold at the Bolshoi Theatre.

That sums it up pretty well, I guess. Far from being an expert either, I can add this. There is no problem as long as you stay in your own country, and that goes for TV, VHS-VCR and DVD-player. The cheapest machines can usually only play the color standard which is in use in your country. For a list check out: http://avconvert.com/video/world_televisio..._standards.html In Europe the situation is now slightly more open, in the sense that most new TVs and VCR's play PAL as well as a PAL-version of NTSC. So yes, Colwill you can "play" NTSC videos on your system, but you still cannot "record" NTSC. For that you need a complete, expensive multi-standard machine. Anything can be converted from one standard to the other, but just remember that conversion from NTSC to PAL means a more serious loss of picture quality than the other way around. Some background reading (hope it doesn't refrain anyone from beginning a video or dvd collection, though ): http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Contrib/WorldTV/why.html

Trouble with this site is that there is too much red saturation in the photos, which accounts for the many brownish and reddish hair colours.

The premiere of "Etudes" at the Mariinsky on April 18 will be led by Svetlana Zakharova, Andrian Fadeyev and Leonid Sarafanov. Interesting to note that principal Viktor Baranov is listed as main repetiteur with Nina Ukhova. http://www.mariinsky.ru/ru/afisha/20030418

Most recently, two more DVD's of the POB were released: Nureyev's "Don Quixote" (Dupont/Legris) and the school performance of "Coppelia" (with Lacotte in the role of Coppelius). There also used to be a tape/Laserdisc of Bourmeister's "Swan Lake" with Pietragalla and Dupond, although I haven't seen it on DVD yet. As rg mentioned there are (at least out here in Europe) DVDs of Nureyev's versions of "Romeo and Juliet" (Loudières/Legris), "La Bayadère" (Guérin/Hilaire/Platel), "The Sleeping Beauty" (Dupont/Legris). "The Nutcracker" (Maurin/Hilaire) is yet only on VHS. Haven't seen the "Cinderella" (Guillem) nor the "Paris Dances Diaghilev" and Petit's "Notre-Dame de Paris" in any recent releases. All in all not so bad for a choice

Colwill, it seems the younger forces of the company (graduates from the last three or four years), will be well represented in Manchester. Tatiana Tkachenko and Viktoria Tereshkina are coryphées, new to the role of Gamzatti. Interesting that Tereshkina is also already cast as Odette-Odile. Ekaterina Osmolkina has been a charming, yet dramatically immature Gamzatti in the new-old production of La Bayadère (Tarassova is far preferable). Natalia Sologub has been a rewarding soloist since 1998, especially good in the modern choreographies the Mariinsky is adopting. Swan Lake should be new to her.

For European balletomanes it may be interesting to know that the Kirov Ballet trip to Basel, Switzerland, April 19-21, unfortunately has been cancelled: http://www.musical-highlights.ch/kirov/ The engagement in Frankfurt, Germany (April 24-26) continues as planned, as does the tour to Manchester, UK (April 28-May 3). More on: http://www.riederprom.at/englisch/index.html For anyone willing to take the risk , here is some casting info for Manchester (courtesy Rieder Promotions): Swan Lake April 28: Zakharova/Zelensky April 29: Gumerova/Korsuntsev April 30 (mat): Tereshkina/Fadeyev April 30: Pavlenko/Kolb May 1: Sologub/Korsuntsev La Bayadère May 2: Zakharova/Ruzimatov/Osmolkina May 3 (mat): Pavlenko/Sarafanov/Tereshkina May 3: Gumerova/Zelensky/Tkachenko All subject to change of course.

The roster has now been updated in the Russian version of the Mariinsky website. http://www.mariinsky.ru/ru/ballet/soloist The changes pointed out by Jeannie are now on line. Here are the principals and soloists: Principals: Ayupova, Lopatkina, Makhalina, Nioradze, Vishneva, Zakharova Baranov, Fadeyev, Kolb, Korsuntsev, Kurkov, Ruzimatov, Zelensky 1st soloists: Dumchenko, Gumerova, Ivanova, Kullik, Part, Pavlenko, Sologub, Tarassova, Zhelonkina Batalov, Ivanchenko, Korsakov, Kuznetsov, Merkuriev, Sarafanov, Yakovlev 2nd soloists: Amosova, Golub, Gonchar, Josifidi, Kassenkova, Osmolkina, Ostreikovskaya, Serova, Sheshina Bobovnikov, Ivanov, Khrebtov, Semionov, Shcheglov, Shcherbakov

Ken Russell's "The Music Lovers" as mentioned by Calliope has a brief ballet scene (the Black Swan pas de deux with Georgina Parkinson) - quite anachronistic, but there we go. Ballet forms also the background for the first part in "The Story of Three Loves" from Vincente Minelli. It features Moira Shearer as a ballerina with a fatal heart condition and James Mason as the ballet director who eventually kills her by pushing her to perform in one of his new choreographies. Did anybody happen to see "The Tales of Hoffmann" from Powell/Pressburger, starring Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann, Frederick Ashton and Ludmilla Tcherina among others?

Thanks for posting this, Jeannie! I'm surprised you don't want to hang around for the Dance Marathon

Thanks for highlighting this, Jeannie. ;)

The Royal Ballet of Flanders is looking for a successor for AD Robert Denvers who retires in 2005. The following ad is from the company's website (http://www.flandersballet.be/en/). We cross our fingers for what's going to come next.... Vacancy: Artistic Director Job description: ARTISTIC DIRECTOR with a new approach to programming. The successful candidate will be appointed for a period of 4 to 6 years, subject to renewal after assessment. The Royal Ballet of Flanders was founded in 1969 and is financially supported by the Flemish Government. As Belgium’s only classical ballet company, it maintains an internationally acclaimed classical repertoire and is considered one of the top ballet companies in Western Europe. At present, the Royal Ballet of Flanders consists of 49 dancers and 3 apprentices. The existing repertoire ranges from full-length story ballets to new works of contemporary choreographers. Performances are given on the RBF’s own stage in Antwerp, on tour in Belgium and The Netherlands, and abroad whenever possible.

Colwill, at the Lowry you also have the bonus of seeing the old Soviet production of "La Bayadère", not the recent new-old reconstruction by Vikharev which they bring to London.

Thanks for the info, Naoko. Better start saving up for this summer then, it looks like it's going to be an expensive one .

I've seen this film which was broadcasted as a mini-series on French TV and is now available on DVD. It's quite a colourful, large-scaled international production. Still, as with most attempts to capture the complexities of Napoleon and his age on a few hours of film, it leaves quite a lot to be desired. Morever, I always find it hard to recognize those historical figures of whom we read in books in their screen versions. Anyway, the scenes with Malkovich and Depardieu are pure delight. And in spite of his past as a comedian, Clavier didn't do too badly.