Marc Haegeman

I'm not surprised she conquered the mime--the Mariinsky dancers have excellent training in mime at the Vaganova Academy, and they all mime beautifully when a production calls for it. The Mariinsky Ballet has, in its various incarnations, been performing mime for over a hundred years, after all.

A question: does the Royal Ballet really perform the Petipa/Ivanov choreography? They might use more of it than other companies, but I was under the impression that their production had been altered by Ashton, among others. They also don't seem to have enough dancers to perform it, as it requires a very large corps de ballet.

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.

once again one is much obliged to you, M, for giving BT these 'windows' on what looks, at least visually, like a scrupulous and loving revival of an 'old' ballet.

let's see how long this lasts on the boards.

am i correct in noting that the recent revival of Paquita as a new/old staging is no longer in rep.?

at least the new/old KORSAR is coming to D.C. in June.

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.

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

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

Unfortunately, Don Q isn't part of the 2009 Met season.

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

Which ballets would it be better to see Natalia Osipova in at ABT this Summer: Giselle or Airs/La Sylphide?

Don Q ?

Anyway, I'd take Sylphide.

sorry to be still off topic, but, does anyone know if the upcoming Vikharev COPPELIA is the same one he produced for novisibirsk? or a newer one just for the Bolshoi?

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

it also seems there is some confusion above of THE SLEEPING BEAUTY for SWAN LAKE.

MT's SWAN LAKE is still more or less in the vinogradov version, if mem. serves. there is no new/old SWAN LAKE on the boards there along the lines of Vikharev's SLEEPING BEAUTY and BAYADERE.

there is (was?) talk of trying to get SWAN LAKE back a la the recent BEAUTY and BAYADERE efforts at either the MT or the Bolshoi, but I haven't heard any news of such plans of late.

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!

Mikhail Lobukhin replaces Vladimir Shklyarov in the first cast of The Little Humpbacked Horse.

http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbi...009/3/14/1_1800

Tough. There goes the fairytale book...

Well, isn't K. Sergeyev's SB kind of the standard nowadays...?

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

I only recently noticed how early in Petipa's career he staged Paquita. Whenever I see Paquita, I find myself thinking it looks like so much fun to dance, but very much like classroom exercises... (perhaps teachers just like to incorporate them and the music into class?).. so I'm not surprised that he would have made this while his own performing career was still current or not far gone... it seems like something a dancer would enjoy making... perhaps I'm wrong in this, but I sense that it's is perhaps more fun for less experienced dancers to tackle than say the Sleeping Beauty choreography...

From Wikipedia, it seems that Paquita is the earliest of his work that is still performed... but is it is a re-staging of Mazillier? Or is what we think of as Paquita nothing to do with Mazillier but rather the new version with new music Petipa made in 1881?

I'd like to mentally tie the choreography to Petipa's youth... but I can't, right?

Just wondering...

Which staging of Paquita are you considering, Amy?

I just listened to my newest Giselle adquisition: The Two LP set of the complete Ballet by the London Symphony Orchestra under Anatole Fistoulari, ca.1961. I love it, and I'm on my way to get me Zuraitis/Bolshoi Orchestra, just to listen to the whole Minkus Act I PDD

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.

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.

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.

I noticed the casting for the first night and it looks like they DID chose the dancers that looked a lot like illustrations from the 1964 publication of the poem in book form. Notice from these drawings how much Ivanushka resembles Vladimir Shklyarov and the Tsar Maiden resembles Viktoria Tereshkina?

(For those who don't know, you can see the illustrations here: http://az.lib.ru/e/ershow_p_p/text_0020.shtml )

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.

Just bumping this thread to notify people that Roland John Wiley--the author of the amazingly comprehensive ballet books Tchaikovsky's Ballets, The Ballets of Lev Ivanov and A Century of Russian Ballet, as well as other pieces on Russian music, dance, and history, has a new Tchaikovsky biography out this June. Amazon is already taking pre orders. It's some 700 pages and promises to be a fully detailed biography, interspersed with seperate chapters giving the history and anlalysis of Tchaikovsky's major works (with special emphasis on the operas and ballets). I personally have high expectations for this.

http://www.amazon.com/Tchaikovsky-Master-M...8536&sr=1-6

Thanks! Definitely something to look out for.

Marc, do you know what "switch the accents" means in this context? Is it something very technical? Or is she just saying, in effect, "spend more time working on"?

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

I read an interview with Altynai Asylmuratova in which she said she wanted all the girls at the Vaganova School to have feet as pretty as the girls at the Paris Opera school. I would hate to think that schools such as the POB and Vaganova are rejecting girls simply because of a lack of banana arches, considering how many great dancers have had less than ideal feet.

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."

I read the interview and it makes me wonder is the Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet too tied to the legacy of the late Konstantin Sergeyev and the Bolshoi Ballet too tied to the legacy of Yuri Grigorovich. In my opinion, maybe it's time for "classical" ballet in Russia to start evolving and create a new legacy with younger choreographers?

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?

I guess I'll join the party.

High point of my year was definitely CCBM's Swan Lake, with Adiarys Almeida doing four pirrouettes into four pirrouettes in attitude at the beginning of black swan.

Also, Miguel Angel Blanco and Hayna Gutierrez in Don Q PPD. Amazing, basically.

Low point was definitely ABT's Sleeping Beauty. I felt like I was watching a Disney movie. I love Disney, but not as a ballet.

Hopefully I just had my low point of 2009.

I just saw Royal Ballet of Flander's Swan Lake and Rothbart was pecked to death by the swans at the end. It was very well danced, but very confusing. If that's the worst thing I see this year, I'll be happy.

Here's to an amazing 2009!

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.

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.

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.

Could someone tell me about this (now out of print?) DVD of Cinderella? All I know is it's meant to be the Bolshoi. I'd love to know year it was filmed, length, choreographer and leads... You knwo the basics--and if anyone would recommend it.

Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Cinderella-Bolshoi-B...2245&sr=8-6

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.