Marc Haegeman

...so this is not based on Vainonen's...? And if not, what's the source...?

It's a new choreography by Kirill Simonov, but it are Mikhail Shemyakin's designs which carry the show.

I'm curious to know how Bolshoi followers view Maria Alexandrova. She's very popular in America, and one of the most frequently asked questions about the current company is "why is Alexandrova not a principal?" I think we like her straightforward style and her technical power. I'm quite a fan of hers. I've seen both a Gamzatti and a Kitri that I liked very much -- beautiful turns, but more than that, she can build a role and change its dynamics. Her coldness worked very well as Gamzatti.

I'm curious to know how this dancer is regarded in Russia? And for personal opinions, too, of course.

I thought that Maria Alexandrova was the only true classical ballerina (not a term I use lightly) with real authority in the Bolshoi on their last visit to London. There were others dancers who performed with technical authority who are principals.

Natalia Osipova was a star (not a ballerina) in the making and the only great artist in the company was Yuliana Malkasyants who is a legend in her lifetime.

I do not know why Alexandrova is not a principal, most serious minded ballet goers in London I spoke to think her superior to the exaggerations of Svetlana Zakharova.

But Alexandrova is a principal, acclaimed, awarded and doing fine, Leonid . (Alexei Ratmansky promoted her on stage in June 2004.)

I must say I never concern myself regarding the company status of a Russian dancer, as the politics that exist within the Bolshoi and Kirov have always in my long experience of watching both companies, determined their careers. I should of course realised Alexandrova was a principal but like most of us, I judge a dancers status by my own standards and that is why I consider Yuliana Malkasyants to be more important as a representative of what was once great in the company, above most of the other Bolshoi dancers. As you know Marc I have an independent view on most things to do with classical ballet.

Best regards.

Point taken, Leonid. But this board is being read and it's better not to cause any confusion regarding simple facts. After all, you reacted to a post of 5 years ago and as you know politics can and do change in that time, even in Russia .

I'm curious to know how Bolshoi followers view Maria Alexandrova. She's very popular in America, and one of the most frequently asked questions about the current company is "why is Alexandrova not a principal?" I think we like her straightforward style and her technical power. I'm quite a fan of hers. I've seen both a Gamzatti and a Kitri that I liked very much -- beautiful turns, but more than that, she can build a role and change its dynamics. Her coldness worked very well as Gamzatti.

I'm curious to know how this dancer is regarded in Russia? And for personal opinions, too, of course.

I thought that Maria Alexandrova was the only true classical ballerina (not a term I use lightly) with real authority in the Bolshoi on their last visit to London. There were others dancers who performed with technical authority who are principals.

Natalia Osipova was a star (not a ballerina) in the making and the only great artist in the company was Yuliana Malkasyants who is a legend in her lifetime.

I do not know why Alexandrova is not a principal, most serious minded ballet goers in London I spoke to think her superior to the exaggerations of Svetlana Zakharova.

But Alexandrova is a principal, acclaimed, awarded and doing fine, Leonid . (Alexei Ratmansky promoted her on stage in June 2004.)

The photos are absolutely gorgeous (as always ), Marc. I want to see it!

Thank you, Alexandra. One can only hope they bring it on tour, although after the three opening performances, only four more are scheduled for the rest of the 2008/2009 season.

European fans of Maria Alexandrova took note that she will guest with the Paris Opera Ballet as Raymonda, December 27 and 30.

Ruslan Skvortsov is her Jean de Brienne.

For me, this visibility -- plus the great beauty and clarity of the dancing itself -- renews what somtimes comes across as a predictable old warhorse and restores it to the status of a work of art.

Absolutely, Bart. A staging like this is the perfect antidote against those who still believe classical ballet is per definition dull, old and dusty.

I'm certainly glad to note the uniform jackets and shakos that I see in the men's costuming. Traditionally, there has been no way to identify that Paquita is set during the Peninsular War (1807-14). The shakos are a little late, but it might be impossible to dance in period-correct examples.

The creators of the new Grand Pas - Burlaka, but also designers Zaytseva (costumes) and Pikalova (sets) have been aiming to recreate a definite period atmosphere, which I think they succeeded admirably. It's also the first staging of this work I have seen which pays so much attention to the 19th-century Spanish, Polish and ballroom dancing that Petipa included, but mostly disappeared in the Soviet era for a more uniform style.

I think it's safe to say that these blu-rays considerably improve our watching pleasure, even of mediocre performances. Can't wait for RDM !

Sacto, my copy of the BD Kirov Swan Lake (along with the Bolle Tchaikovsky spectacular and the Acosta Spartacus) should be arriving next week from Amazon, so I hope to post some impressions of it.

--Andre

I hope it does look good, because with a Blu-ray player it demands the best-quality widescreen monitor with HDMI inputs you can afford. Mind you, I'm not sure if I want to see every stubble on conductor Valery Gergiev's face, though.

If only these blu-rays could improve the performance. Maybe next time?

i note in this handsome and welcome selection of photos that the girls in the Polonaise and Mazurka are wearing 'character' shoes and not pointeshoes.

On the 'Essential Ballet' video with Vaganova Academy students, the girls do not wear pointe shoes or character shoes but rather satin slippers (they do not appear to be ballet shoes). Do they normally wear pointe shoes?

Normally they wear satin slippers.

very many thanks, M. for your detailed information and for the link, all of which makes your eye-opening photos even more historic.

having now visited the carefully listed choregraphic sources, etc. i think it's fair to say that what the translator calls THE STREAM is more accurately LA SOURCE.

here's to more such efforts on all fronts!

Correct, Robert, it is of course "La Source", but "ruchei" (as in Svetlii Ruchei = The Bright Stream) was translated into "stream". Quite hard these translations.

i note in this handsome and welcome selection of photos that the girls in the Polonaise and Mazurka are wearing 'character' shoes and not pointeshoes.

if mem. serves Doug has indicated that this number in 'Petipa's choreography' as now considered 'standard' in soviet and post-soviet Russia does not necessarily agree with the dance as notated in the Harvard Sergeyev Notations/collection. can anyone say if the current Bolshoi staging 'agrees' with that long performed by the Kirov/Maryinsky or if it's been 're-visited' for this 'historic' Bolshoi staging? and if so, what the changes consist of?

Many thanks for the reactions.

Robert, the new staging by Burlaka goes back to the Sergeyev notations at Harvard and several other sources preserved in Russia (e.g. the apparently excellent drawings of the Paquita Grand Pas by principal dancer of the Imperial Ballet Pavel Gerdt, preserved at the Bakhrushin Museum in Moscw), but so far never used or even considered for a staging. Therefore the result is very different from the Soviet versions, foremost Oleg Vinogradov's 1978 version for the Kirov (as can be seen on the DVD with Makhalina/Zelensky or in an earlier Russian film with Komleva and Zaklinsky).

In a nutshell, Petipa's choreographic structure appears here denser and richer than we ever saw before, while the dancing itself appears less "spectacular" than in the Soviet version. As with the Jardin animé reconstruction in the Burlaka/Ratmansky Corsaire, for Petipa the emphasis is clearly on the architecture of the Grand Pas, while the virtuosity is reserved for the variations which sometimes appear totally different from the ones we know, although here again it's eventually more about individual character than mere bravura display. I haven't seen all 11 variations (each cast dances 7, incl. one interpolated male variation which Burlaka took from L. Lavrovsky since he didn't want to reduce the cavalier to a mere porteur) but some of the Soviet ones don't seem to appear here (such as the Cherepnin variation.)

The choreographic plan of Burlaka's reconstruction can be found on the Bolshoi website . Hats off also for Burlaka for his efforts to identify all the different composers Petipa used.

I've added photos of the new Paquita Grand Pas at the Bolshoi, in a new staging and choreographic version by future director Yuri Burlaka.

Grand Pas from Paquita

Thanks for visiting!

It's probably lost something in the translation, but is it possible the writer is trying for a distinction of genre or emploi similar to the discussions we've had here?

Well, I've never considered "sportsmenka" (no translation needed, it's very clear...) a ballet genre or emploi, Leigh It's anything but flattering even when used to make a contrast and between " ".

By his writings Clive Barnes learned so many of us to appreciate ballet and he did until the very end. His contribution to ballet cannot be overestimated.

Here we go. The moment that many of us have been dreading. Somova has just been named Principal Ballerina of the Kirov!

http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/

I am sorta hoping that this was done to get her out and off to La Scala as a principal. Not that I wish any evil to La Scala, mind you.

On the positive side, I see that Ayupova is back on the roster. Hopefully, she will get a proper Farewell once she decides to truly retire. In the meantime, it is great to have her back at the Mariinsky, where she belongs.

Later, I'll check the rest of the roster to see who else has been promoted in other categories. I quickly glanced at the choryphees and saw that Selina is still languishing in that category, despite years of dancing featured roles and solos...not even 2nd Soloist for her? Ridiculous.

Thanks for the update, Natalia. These promotions are indeed surreal.... Somova on the same level as Lopatkina, Ayupova, Vishneva, Pavlenko...

I need a recommendation for a CD of Strauss's Dance Of The Seven Veils. Thank you!

There's plenty of choice, but I would go for the classic recordings by either Fritz Reiner with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, or Rudolf Kempe with the Staatskapelle Dresden.

I,ve just been re enjoying my lovely Het National Sleeping Beauty and marvelling at her technique and general sweetness and power. I also am bemused by the fact that she is so lovely to watch and yet has wide shoulders and large calf muscles - so nice to see someone who is not the conventional form dancing so brilliantly ( mind you I havent seen her in the flesh , maybe DVDs distort a little and she is really a typical ballerina shape.)

Anyway, I know she went to America but i wonder where she is now?

She's currently a principal with San Francisco Ballet (Sofiane Sylve)

Can we hope to see Simkin with Osipove... please please please!!!

Oh please.... at least I hope they give her a real partner.

Here's the release:

NATALIA OSIPOVA TO JOIN AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE

AS GUEST ARTIST FOR 2009 SPRING SEASON

Natalia Osipova, a leading soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet, will join American Ballet Theatre as a Guest Artist during the Company’s 2009 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, it was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

Osipova was born in Moscow and trained at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography with Marina Kotova and Marina Leonova. Upon her graduation in 2004, she joined the Bolshoi Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet and was promoted to first soloist in January 2008 and to leading soloist in October 2008.

Osipova’s repertoire with the Bolshoi includes Giselle and the peasant pas de deux in Giselle, the Spanish Doll in The Nutcracker, the role of Mustardseed, which she created, in John Neumeier’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Spanish Bride in Swan Lake, Kitri in Don Quixote, Gamzatti and a Shade in La Bayadère, Aspiccia in The Pharaoh’s Daughter, Medora and an Odalisque in Le Corsaire, the title role in La Sylphide, Jeanne in Alexei Ratmansky’s staging of Flames of Paris, and soloist roles in George Balanchine’s Serenade and Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room.

Osipova won the Grand Prize at the Prix de Luxembourg International Ballet Competition in 2003 and Third Prize at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow in 2005. At the 2007 National Dance Awards in London, she received the Richard Sherrington Award for Best Female Dancer. In 2008 she received the Golden Mask Award from the Theatre Union of Russia for her performance in In the Upper Room.

The 2009 Spring Season will mark Osipova’s first appearance with American Ballet Theatre.

The announcement almost coincided with her promotion to Leading Soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre, October 18.

According to an ABT press release dated today, the Bolshoi's Natalia Osipova will join as a Guest Artist during the Company’s 2009 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House.

Double ace for McKenzie.

Thanks, innopac, for your expression of joy at the Annisimova portion of this DVD and for the Stupnikov quotation. However, I disagree with Stupnikov's assertion that Gensler was "the last" of the great Soviet character dancers. How about Yuliana Malkhasyants of the current Bolshoi troupe? Perhaps Stupnikov was thinking only of Leningrad-St. Petersburg.

Natalia, Stupnikov is just trying to make a point and he's right: character dancing in Russia is a dying art. Of course, Malkhasyants is a tremendous artist. It would be interesting to find out if during her career as dancer (which is now coming to an end) anybody ever created something substantial for her?

Having seen Viktoria Tereshkina on video and on YouTube, I think she is definitely on the fast track to become the #1 Principal ballerina of the Mariinsky troupe after Ulyana Lopatkina leaves the scene. And it appears Tereshkina is developing a wide enough repertoire (and have both excellent dancing and on-stage acting skills!) that (in my humble opinion!) the title of prima ballerina assoluta is hers to take maybe 9-10 years from now.

Surely this "prima ballerina assoluta" title is only valid in household or youtube terms?

Is there a biography on him?

There is a biography in Gennady Smakov's book on Russian dancers.

Online, there's one here: Soloviev

Ratmansky never worked with Zakharova.

Then she must have a body double impersonating her in Le Corsaire

Le Corsaire was the major classical revival of 2006/7 mounted by Ratmansky and Yuri Burlaka. Zakharova danced the premiere simply as prima of the company (who had danced it several times before with the Mariinsky); this didn't imply any special collaboration with Ratmansky.

What makes Ratmansky's directorship of the Bolshoi remarkable is that by trying to blend the various layers of the Bolshoi tradition with the present, he gave his dancers a very challenging repertory, choreographically and musically. Whether it were creations, foreign import or revivals from the Bolshoi's own past, somehow it often brought out the best of them. The result is there: the company looks better, more vibrant and interesting than ever in recent times. I don't see any point in ignoring that simple fact, but of course for that you need to have seen them.