Marc Haegeman

I'm afraid this is slightly too rose-coloured, Hans. The Russians dropped almost all the mime in the great classics in the Soviet era and we cannot properly speak of a tradition of mime anymore, as for instance the Danish School/Ballet has. We could see how awkward they all looked when they were asked to mime in Vikharev's productions of Petipa's "Sleeping Beauty" and "La Bayadère". The Royal Ballet production of Swan Lake is one of their 5 ballets based on the notes from Nikolay Sergeyev, so the text is supposedly quite pure; but it's also clear that he had to adapt his Imperial Russian Ballet productions to suit the new English location - scale, numbers, means.

Thanks, Robert. There are no more performances of the Paquita Grand Pas for this season, but that doesn't mean (at least I hope not) that it is no longer in the rep.

Great photos! I love the one of Osipova doing a diagonal split in a very elegant looking red and white costume. The Bolshoi in general seems to be a very interesting and active ballet company these days, maybe more than any other. Is this Ratmansky's doing? Kudos to him. Thanks! It was Ratmansky who scheduled this revival of Coppelia, although as we know he himself is now no longer around at the Bolshoi. As has become a sad habit in the last years this new production isn't particularly appreciated by the locals - "too classical, too boring" is now the key-phrase. When he brought something contemporary it was considered "too modern"; now it's "too classical". I hadn't heard that complaint before, but there we go. Next up, if all goes well in these hard times, for December is a reconstruction of Pugni's "Esmeralda" by current director Burlaka.

The Bolshoi premiered its new/old Coppelia on March 12. Choreography by Marius Petipa and Enrico Cecchetti. Revival and new choreographic version by Sergei Vikharev. Sets by Boris Kaminsky (based on sketches by Pyotr Lambin and Henrich Levogt), costumes by Tatiana Noginova (based on sketches by Adolph Charlemagne, Pyotr Grigoriev, Yevgeny Ponomaryov). Some photos of the two first casts featuring Maria Alexandrova and Ruslan Skvortsov; Natalia Osipova and Vyacheslav Lopatin. Click here: Bolshoi's Coppelia

Not to worry, both her Sylph and her Giselle were quite special, even if most people don't take it for granted.

Don Q ? Anyway, I'd take Sylphide.

It's the same, the Petipa/Cecchetti 1894 staging for St. Petersburg.

Confusion.... the Mariinsky Swan Lake is still by Konstantin Sergeyev, just like their Sleeping Beauty and Raymonda. More recently Sergei Vikharev revived versions of Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadère closer to Petipa, but these productions are now in the fridge. Interestingly, it's now Vikharev's reconstruction of Coppelia that the Bolshoi will revive this week (premiere on March 12). And now back to Paquita!

Tough. There goes the fairytale book...

The choreographic plan of the Grand Pas from Paquita as it was reconstructed recently by Yuri Burlaka at the Bolshoi is still online at the Bolshoi website. As Burlaka pointed out, in the course of time certain choices are being made and in some cases the choices intentionally differ from the model, simply because the model is no longer compatible with contemporary tastes and conceptions. For example in Russia there are several sources available, such as drawings from Pavel Gerdt, preserved at the Moscow Bakhrushin Museum since the 1910's (!) of the adagio from the GP which help to understand Petipa's intentions, yet they were never ever used (that is until 2008) because considered off kilter with current tastes. choreographic plan Introduction Edouard Deldevez - Riccardo Drigo Child Polononaise and Mazurka Ludwig Minkus 1st entree Ludwig Minkus Grand adagio Ludwig Minkus 2nd entree Ludwig Minkus Pas de Trois * 1st entree Edouard Deldevez * 2nd entree Ludwig Minkus * 1st female variation Edouard Deldevez * 2nd female variation Entree - Ludwig Minkus, variation - Edouard Deldevez * Male variation Adolphe Adam, from La Diable a quatre * Coda Ludwig Minkus Variations (according to dancers’ choice 7 of 11 female variations are performed) 1. Andante-Allegro moderato. Riccardo Drigo for King Candaule by Pugni 2. Allegro. Alexei Barmin (known as Amour variation from Don Quixote by Minkus) 3. Moderato. Riccardo Drigo for La Sylphide by Schneitzhoffer 4. Tempo di valse. Ludwig Minkus for The Naiad and the Fisherman by Pugni 5. Moderato. Riccardo Drigo for La Camargo by Minkus 6. Allegro. Alexei Barmin 7. Allegro moderato. Ludwig Minkus or Alexei Barmin (violin solo) 8. Allegro. Riccardo Drigo for La Source by Minkus and Delibes 9. Allegro. Yuli Gerber, from Trilbi 10. Allegro. Ludwig Minkus for Armida by Pugni 11. Tempo di valse moderato. Riccardo Drigo for King Candaule by Pugni 12. Male variation. Choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky. Riccardo Drigo for La Source by Minkus and Delibes

Which staging of Paquita are you considering, Amy?

Fistoulari's Giselle is one of the best I've heard on disc. It also appeared on a Mercury double CD a while ago. Try to find his Swan Lake with the LSO. It's well worth the investment as well.

I would agree with you but that 1964 book edition of the original poem Konyok-Gorbunok is very well-known in Russia, and I'm sure many older Russians know the color drawings from that edition. As such, my view that Ratmansky chose Vladimir Shklyarov to play the role of Ivanushka and Viktoria Tereshkina to play the role of the Tsar Maiden actually makes sense. It doesn't make sense at all. Once again: they weren't chosen because of alleged resemblances to drawings in a fairytale book.

You can believe what you want, but a choreographer like Ratmansky doesn't choose his dancers because of their resemblance with some drawings in a fairytale book.

Many thanks for sharing your impressions, chocolatemilklover! The omission of the pas de trois was most likely determined by the size of the company - just over 50 dancers.

Thanks! Definitely something to look out for.

Bart, it means that they need to take better/more care of certain things than they used to.

canbelto, for the record (supposing you are thinking of the Asylmuratova interview here), what Altynai Asylmuratova admires about the Paris Opera dancers is how they use their feet, their attention to the footwork - not that they all have allegedly ideal arches (which they don't). She's basically just comparing schools and their respective qualities/shortcomings. To avoid further misunderstandings - AA: "Graduates from the Paris Opera Ballet School are perfect in this respect. Their feet are a true delight. Even though our School has always been famous for arms and upper body, I think it should be possible to enhance our feet. It's not even a question of changing the methods of teaching, we just need to switch the accents."

That's exactly what Ratmansky has been trying to achieve in the last five years. But these young choreographers are an extremely rare kind, and with five years of good intentions you cannot simply erase decades of state supported, powerful presence, influential achievements and identity shaping. In an imaginary scenario the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky could stop performing these old productions of the great classics. But who is going to bring in a valuable replacement? On another level, one could see the situation in these theatres as a reflection of the whole country, still struggling with its 70 or so years of Soviet legacy. A similar situation developed at the Paris Opera Ballet with the Nureyev classics. There's a lot to be said against these productions, especially now that the direct link with Nureyev no longer exists. Yet again, provided they want to keep productions of the great classics, who will replace them?

chocolatemilklover, I'd like to hear what you thought was "confusing" about the RB of Flanders Swan Lake. Perhaps best to continue about this on this separate thread. Thanks.

On January 24 the RB of Flanders premiered its new Swan Lake, staged by Marcia Haydée. At least one person on this board seems to have seen it and I know there are several others posting here who know and saw the company before. So what were your thoughts?

I had posted this on the Bolshoi Ballet forum, not knowing it was already done so here (thanks, Bart). Our colleagues from the Russian forum "Balletfriends" were so kind to put a scan of the text online. For anybody who might have missed this interview, here's the link.

An extensive interview with Alexei Ratmansky was published in the final issue of the now gone Dance Now magazine. Our colleagues from the Russian forum "Balletfriends" were so kind to put a scan of the text online. For anybody who might have missed this interview, here's the link.

I agree! I saw the Bolshoi's new production in 2007 with Svetlana Zakharova and (now retired) Sergey Filin and thought it was marvelous -- despite some weak choreography and Zakharova's more spunky than vulnerable Cinderella. Since then I have been hoping this version will someday be filmed. It is a funny version. Ekaterina Krysanova (with Dmitry Gudanov) and especially Ekaterina Shipulina (with Dmitry Belogolovtsev) were very enjoyable Cinderellas.

I somehow have the idea that this is the studio film of the Kirov's Sergeyev production, filmed in Moscow somewhere around the late 70s and subsequently mislabeled. If so the dancers are Gabriela Komleva, Marat Daukaev and Margarita Kulik. Cheesy special effects, good choreography and excellent dancing all around. I can't for the life of me remember where I base the idea that this is mislabeled, so I hope someone else can post and shed some light... It is indeed all the same Kirov version with Komleva and Daukaev. Several obscure labels have been releasing this film always under "Bolshoi" - probably one of those Soviet films that has been sold through the back door to the West during the collapse of the USSR, and mislabeled. After that, nobody in the production chain cares. It's Russian ballet, and even Cinderella, that's correct. Since there is no other choice for Russian Cinderella's on commercial DVD, we'll have to live with it. The Bolshoi acquired Yuri Posokhov's version of Cinderella a couple of years ago. It would be great to have that one on film as well.