Marc Haegeman

Thank you, Jeannie. The Bolshoi dancers didn’t seem to have made much of an impression I have heard a lot and seen a few things with Polina Semionova (who is a pupil of Sofia Golovkina). At first glance I thought she makes Svetlana Zakharova look like a model of pure classicism. Semionova was offered to join the Bolshoi Ballet as a soloist, although she preferred Berlin and Malakhov. I can understand what the fuss is all about, but to me it looks all quite unhealthy and extremely clinical to say the least. BTW, have you seen Anastasia Meskova, Jeannie, who is another worrying recent graduate of the Bolshoi School and considered by some a future star? And where are the new boys in Moscow? I have seen Yelena Vostrotina a few times in 1996/97 when she was dancing young Masha with the Kirov Ballet in the first act of Vainonen’s good old "Nutcracker", but haven’t seen her recently. I gather we will hear from her soon.

[unofficially] It seems that the premiere of "Ondine" at the Mariinsky on Febr. 21 has been cancelled. Some say it is postponed till May or June, others till next year, though nothing is definite yet. More details hopefully later.

That's right. Thank you, Saveta! Apparently the coryphées can only be accessed through the first page of the roster, if you use the "dalee" ("further") link, you jump over them.

No trace of Osmolkina either. I wouldn't take that list too literal, Jeannie, it's full of oddities. Besides, nothing to worry, in the English version all our favourites are still there, even Part

Next summer may turn out to be highly rewarding for Kirov aficionados in Europe as the company will also perform at the Opera House in Graz, Austria, July 2 through 14. Graz is Cultural Capital of Europe this year and the return of the Mariinsky (having been there for three weeks in July 1998) is just one of the multiple events in and around the city. The programme consists of "Romeo and Juliet" (July 2, 3, 11), "Jewels" (July 4, 10, 13), "Don Quixote" (July 8, 9, 12) and "Swan Lake" (July 5, 6, 14).

The Bolshoi Ballet recently completed a major tour across the USA. Although the proposed regime of Swan Lakes, Bayadères and Nutcrackers undoubtedly showed only a limited part of the company's strength, I was wondering which dancers caught your attention during this tour? Who were the big (and lesser) stars, male and female, of this tour and whom would you definitely want to see again?

Well, Jeannie, let's hope we won't have to wait ten years until this one is released (And the Return of the Firebird has been out here in Europe since December.)

To my mind Svetlana Zakharova showed indeed another side of herself when she danced with the Paris Opera. Her performances at the Bastille (her “Bayadère” especially, her “Swan Lake” in a somewhat lesser degree) looked quite different from what we’re used of her when she’s dancing with the Mariinsky. Within a classical context it’s still (too) extreme, but at least we were spared of those cold and often arrogant exhibitionist displays that sadly seem to have become her Kirov trademark. Personally I really warmed for her Nikiya, even if she never even came close to the greatest interpreters of this role, mainly because her Shade remained just too sweetly decorative. Her Odette-Odile was generally fine as well, but not outstanding and it still has me wondering where all the international attention and acclaim comes from. For both roles Zakharova had a good partner in Jean-Guilllaume Bart. Interesting to note that the Paris Opera initially wanted to invite Uliana Lopatkina - if ever there was a different ballerina . Diana Vishneva on the other hand remained her usual self when she danced Kitri in Paris. It all went down as a flashy, unsubtle technical number, while her mechanical delivery of the steps and lack of grandeur in the Vision Scene only emphasized her limitations as a stylist. Laëtitia Pujol was for my money much, much preferable.

Quite so, Jeannie. You could add Uliana Lopatkina's appearance as one of the Snow Flakes in "The Nutcracker" video with Larissa Lezhnina and Viktor Baranov, but that's no big deal either... It's really frustrating, especially when one realizes that nowadays almost everything is filmed. At least there may be Vishneva's "Firebird" and Zakharova's "Scheherazade" from Paris commercially available some time soon (?), even if neither role is in any way representative.

And to make the confusion complete , Cygneblanc, did you by any chance catch Mariinsky star Svetlana Zakharova while she guested with the POB in their "Swan Lake"? I know many French balletomanes who were quite enthusiastic about Zakharova's second run with POB.

The Mariinsky troupes (ballet as well as opera and orchestra) have been frequent guests in Baden-Baden over the last years. The little sleepy southern German town really became an important ballet centre this way, attracting people from all over the region and even from neighbouring France. And since the Mariinsky didn't guest in any other German city this year, the last 5-day season in December really became a hit. Some 12.000 people attended. The next Mariinsky Ballet visit is scheduled for 2004.

Dear Coda, as far as the situation now is, it's only Salford, April 28 - May 3, 2003 (Dublin and Edinburgh have been cancelled.) Here's a link: http://www.thelowry.com/theatre/whatson/de...t.aspx?Genre=50 London is supposed to happen in the period when the Royal Ballet is in St. Petersburg, 2nd half of July. Programme still to be determined... and of course everything is liable to change.

Dale, Pavlenko made her own version of the Dying Swan, like most of them do. She watched several performances live and on tape (ranging from Pavlova over Plisetskaya and Makarova to the recent ones) and with the help of her teacher she tried to find the best combination for herself. In any case, it was a thrilling performance and it doesn't look at all like a patchwork. Yes, the Fokine programme which was filmed in Paris last October has been broadcasted on BBC TV before Christmas and had Zakharova/Ruzimatov in "Scheherazade" and Vishneva/Yakovlev in "The Firebird". No surprise of course that these casts were chosen for commercial release. I gather that the whole programme will be available on DVD in the near future (there was also "Petrushka", "Spectre", and "Polovtsian Dances" in this Fokine marathon). It shall be the first Mariinsky ballet release in at least ten years! As for the galas in May in London, indeed alluring names all, but needless to add that it's really not decided yet who is actually going to be there - except perhaps Nioradze ;)

The Mariinsky’s short season in Baden-Baden, Germany was generally agreeable and thanks to the absence of Diana Vishneva and Svetlana Zakharova there was even more to enjoy than we’ve come to expect in the last years. The programme in these ballet-loaded week consisted of "Swan Lake", the new-old "La Bayadère", "Chopiniana", "Spectre de la Rose", "Polovtsian Dances", "Scheherazade", "Serenade" and a gala of pas de deux and solos. Highlights for me were Irma Nioradze, surprisingly good in "Scheherazade" (and making us all wonder why they recently filmed Zakharova in the role, proving to be the miscast of the year), Daria Pavlenko, excellent in "La Bayadère", but absolutely stunning in "Dying Swan", and Igor Kolb in "Spectre" and as the Poet in "Chopiniana". It was moreover great to see this new soubrette-type dancer Evgenia Obraztsova, petite, sparkling and with loads of charm in the "Harlequinade" pas de deux. Quite remarkable was also Leonid Sarafanov in the "Don Q" pas de deux, extremely young and inexperienced, but a dancer of real promise. The corps did wonderfully well in both full-length ballets and in "Chopiniana". Unless it changes again the company is returning to Graz, Austria in the first half of July and then to London.

Thank you, Sonja, for the review. Cranko's "Swan Lake" was indeed in its time quite influential on western stagings of this ballet. The idea of the Prince as a real human being was, as we know, particularly attractive to Nureyev who danced in Cranko's version in 1963, and used and took it further in his own productions for Vienna and Paris. Of course, almost forty years later, it takes the "genius" of a Jan Fabre to throw all this overboard and present the Prince as a complete numbskull not allowed to show any emotions whatsoever... if you talk about "dumbing down" Swan Lake

I won't in any way interfere in your assessments of Grigorovich's art - please continue Just to mention that Goriacheva indeed danced the 1st movement of Symphony in C the first time at short notice in New York, in July 2000. More can be found on http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/Goriacheva.html and (for those who master the language of Pushkin): http://www.ballet.classical.ru/b_goriacheva.html

Solor, you will find all what you are looking for in Doug Fullington's article on the reconstruction of Petipa's Beauty. It's available on: http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/Specials.html

The late Viktor Fedotov, one of the most distinguished ballet conductors from the Maryinsky, used to describe Lanchbery's treatment of the Minkus scores for La Bayadère and Don Quixote as "criminal".

These are two different arrangements. Nureyev didn't want Lanchbery to have his way with the score and make his own version as had happened for Makarova's production. That's all.

The number with the snake charmer-fakir is in the new-old version at the same place where it was in the old production. The music for the golden idol is the Persian March from Le Papillon by Minkus.

No, there are no bayadères carrying lights. The fakir performs a short dance with lamps in his hands before the Shades scene (where it always was in the Kirov production). Besides, Alymer, the bayadères with lights in Nureyev's version are of the male species as far as I remember

The Bolshoi Ballet is on tour in the US at this very moment. The tour took off in your state, Solor, and right now the company should be somewhere between Chicago and Detroit. You can find the complete schedule on: http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/Burning3.html

The choreography of the two variations of the 4 bayadères is basically the same (there might be slight differences in floor pattern). The girls are in tutu. The main difference is the faster tempo. The coda of the Pas d'action in the last Act is one of the marvels of this production. It's a lively enchainement involving four bayadères, Gamzatti, Solor and Nikiya. The music is completely "new". First thing you need to do, Solor, is to get yourself a ticket for the next performance of the Kirov's Bayadère. I think you will enjoy it.

Thanks, Viviane, for the link. The illustrations speak for themselves.

The manou dance already existed in the 1877 production (the soloist is even named in the cast list, Vera Zhukova). How much it changed in the course of time, is another matter. The two variations of the four bayadères in the 2nd Act are indeed the ones previously seen before and after the Grand Pas. They are now performed one after the other, while the second is introduced by the same music we use to hear before the solo of the Bronze Idol (at least in the old Russian versions).