Marc Haegeman

They shouted in Russian - "na abordage". Somebody at Ballet.co asked already what did this mean.

They did, all three of them. As was expected nobody in the audience had any clue what they were saying. I could hear people around me gasping and whispering "Huh??? What did she say??" In the interval I overheard several discussing the thing, with one person even suggesting (very seriously) that they should introduce surtitles to ballet performances... Anyway, it's not that vital and even if it would have been in English still many wouldn't have understood, as like Mikhail mentioned, it's totally unexpected.

Comments in the theatre were generally mild, but hardly ever enthusiastic. "Nice, but too long". Many disliked the costumes and wanted more dancing.

Medora will shout in Russian.

Didn't we know that from the start? Why did you ever make us try, Mikhail ?

I doubt that you will find anything "life enhancing" tomorrow, Leonid, but you may enjoy it nonetheless... Hopefully the principals will have "polished" their variations for the London show!

"Bottoms up!"... pirates allegedly were notorious drinkers.

Eh, Marc, the history of different variations and their music is so complicated… For example, please listen to this music well known as Esmeralda’s variation which was usually attributed to Drigo. Yuri Burlaka found that this is a variation of Sieba from the ballet “Sieba or La Spada di Wodan” (1877, Teatro Regio) by Romualdo Marenko (1841-1907). Nice, isn’t it?

By the way, this variation with tambourine was interpolated by Grigorovich in his version of Le Corsaire (Bolshoi, 1994) as Medora’s variation in the first act, when she danced at the Market Place in front of Conrad. Not a good idea, I guess, to use so famous dance.

It is indeed a deep musical (and choreographic) swamp. I guess Grigorovich was only doing what his predecessors from the 19th century did all the time. At least some light in the darkness is being shed with all these more authentic approaches.

Thanks again, Mikhail!

Thanks for the correction, Mikhail. Took note of that!

Thank you very much, Mikhail!

According to Ratmansky the Medora variation in his "Grand pas des éventails" comes from Petipa's ballet "Pygmalion" or "La Statue de Chypre" (music by Prince Trubetskoi).

Mel, "à l'abordage" is actually shouted when the pirate ship hooks or hitches its opponent so that the attackers can jump aboard. Now you tell us what the English/US naval term for that action is.

So is this a reconstruction of Petipa's 1899 revival? It certainly looks like it is straight out of a performance for the Tsar! Such Imperial splendor!

No, it is not a reconstruction. It's a new ballet. All the available parts of Petipa's choreography were revived with the Stepanov notations (about one hour). Yet some 20 more minutes were choreographed anew by Ratmansky. Most of the costumes are based on sketches from the 1899 production, but the sets are only inspired by 19th-century models and are no reconstructions. Moreover, Ratmansky and Burlaka cut a lot from the surviving mimed parts in order not to make a 5-hour marathon. One could say, the new Corsaire evokes the spirit of a late 19th century production (as far as anybody in 2007 can judge...) within a contemporary theatrical presentation.

It sure is a stunning production. Loved every second of it.

I have a small gallery up at For Ballet Lovers Only.

Just found on the Net, the new official website of NYCB principal Sofiane Sylve.

It's not the only professional footage of her, MakarovaFan. There is a short piece by Yakobson "Eternal Idol" as well, although I don't think it features on any of these compilations. Otherwise the "Classic Kirov" can be recommended for various bits, especially Asylmuratova's "Esmeralda" and Komleva's "Ruslan and Ludmilla" :blush:

Propyleae Art in Saint-Petersburg published a ravishing photo book about Alla Shelest in 2004. It has some 90 pages of black and white photos of her (mostly full-page, to make one's mouth water). I suspect hard to find outside of Russia. The sense of style and character that speaks from many of these studio-posed photos is quite astonishing.

Thanks, Robert for posting these photos. The coloured one is indeed Jacinta.

I have a review up at danceviewtimes.com (or directly).

The wonders of Google: Ruzimatov

Try this Dance International. Scroll down to the second half of the page.

Thanks for the review, Natalia. Great that you had a chance to see Maya Dumchenko in the role again. When I saw her back in 1997 she was already a stunningly good Juliet and had more to say in it than many others. At that point she was for my money one of the most interesting newcomers in the company, also remembering her ravishing performances as Giselle and Aurora. Shame, and odd indeed, she got sidelined so early.

She danced the role first with Andris Liepa (not Fadeyev) and it's those pieces of film you saw, when Galina Ulanova was around to assist them. To say that she was Dumchenko's coach for the role would be pushing it a bit, since she rehearsed it with her regular teacher Olga Chenchikova. But of course the mere presence of Ulanova was a very special moment for the budding dancer.

The Bolshoi season is a month away & we already see significant cast changes, according to the KennCen website. GOOD NEWS - A 2nd DonQ by Osipova has been added...with none other than Ivan Vasiliev, the 17- (or 18?)-yr-old "boy wonder" as Basil. Vasiliev was originally not slated to be on this tour. Compared by many to the young Baryshnikov, this lad is not to be missed, IMO!!!!

Thanks for the update, Natalia.

I'd second that: forget the hype, but don't miss Osipova / Vasiliev.

From the Kennedy Center website, quite a few changes to principal casting. Good news: Dumchenko definitely 'in' - not once but twice! Not-so-good: Golub is now out. Fadeev now dancing only the opening night with Obraztsova, whose 2nd performance (now with Kolb) shifts to the Sunday matinee, rather than Saturday night. My heart goes out to Novikova & Dumchenko, each of whom will now be dancing the taxing role of Juliet on back-to-back nights (Novikova on Wed/Thurs; Dumchenko on Fri/Sat)! At least Obraztsova gets four nights of rest between her two performances.

REVISED PRINCIPAL CASTING (subject to change):

Tue., Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m. – JULIET: Evgenia Obraztsova; ROMEO: Andrian Fadayev

Wed., Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. – JULIET: Olesya Novikova; ROMEO: Igor Kolb

Thu., Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. – JULIET: Olesya Novikova; ROMEO: Anton Korsakov

Fri., Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m. – JULIET: Maya Dumchenko; ROMEO: Mikhail Lobukhin

Sat., Jan. 20 at 1:30 p.m. – JULIET: Olesya Novikova; ROMEO: Vladimir Shklyarov

Sat., Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. – JULIET: Maya Dumchenko; ROMEO: Anton Korsakov

Sun., Jan. 21 at 1:30 p.m. – JULIET: Evgenia Obratzsova; ROMEO: Igor Kolb

Wow! What a feast - provided it happens of course . Obraztsova and Dumchenko are definitely the Juliets to see. (Is it now a crime to dance with the same partner twice at the Mariinsky?)

Svetlana Zakharova and Denis Matvienko

What a wierd combination.

In an recent interview with Zakharova that volcanohunter translated on this thread, the dancer mentions that "Among her classmates, only Denis Matvienko, with whom she has danced when he has appeared as a guest with the Bolshoi, stuck with a ballet career." It sounds like they have an established partnership, if it is not either's main one.

Can't really speak about an "established partnership" (que? ), yet the few times I saw them together (in Don Quixote) it worked OK. Why do you think it's "weird" Ostrich?

I must admit I was taken aback by this sentence. Surely, dancing the princely roles is one of the most important responsibilities a male étoile has. I suppose it hadn't occurred to me that a dancer could love the classical vocabulary and care deeply about the style, but not be especially interested in dancing the big classics himself.

No need to. If there is a male dancer in the Paris Opera who genuinely loves the classics and classical dance then it must be Jean-Guillaume Bart. He made that clear enough in his interviews and in his choreographies. What he means here is that he grew tired of the roles in which he has been cast without exception. The princely characters are often shallow and moreover in Nureyev's versions terrifying academic exercises without much consequence. Like J.G. added he dreamed of dancing other, dramatically more rewarding roles, more demi-caractère like Rothbart, Frollo, Abderakhman etc., just as much as abstract neoclassical work. But they didn't let him. It's not a refusal of the classics, only of his natural emploi.

Nothing to do with Allegra Kent, I'm afraid.

By the way, he isn't mentioned often on this board, so if some people would like to talk about him either as a dancer or as a choreographer, this topic is open !

Unfortunately I haven't had many opportunities to see him on stage in recent years (and he dances fewer long roles now) but a few months ago I had the luck to see him in the Mazurka of Lifar's "Mirages", and it was a wonderful lesson in style and class.

In fact I had been wondering why he doesn't seem to dance the major classical roles anymore. He's younger than Manuel Legris, and yet Legris is still doing full-length Giselles and Bart is not. Do you know why?

volcanohunter, when I interviewed Jean-Guillaume Bart for 'Dance Now' earlier this year he mentioned he was slowing down his career as a dancer because of health problems, hoping to focus more on teaching and choreographing - provided he is given the chance. Dancing these long runs of the Nureyev ballets proves extremely demanding, even when you are in good shape. At the same time he also didn't make a secret of it that he is quite fed up with some of the roles he has been dancing for years, especially the prince characters which were never his choice in the first place.

Dave, did you finally go to see "The Return of Ulysses"? If so how did you find it?

I can be brief here, a review is up at : Danceviewtimes.

Dave - from what has been written on the website my guess is it will be modern in outlook - the commentary in English mentions the choroegrapher wanting to add the music of Nono into the Purcell and the conductor vetoing it.

The company is doing a rather daring mix of repertory during the season; it will be interesting to see whether the coaching, training and dancers are strong enough to do justice to all of it. (Often if a company emphasizes contemporary work, the classical ballets suffer in comparison and vice versa.) One ballet they're doing that I love is Divertimento No. 15 - it will be quite a contrast to Forsythe's "The New Sleep".

Whatever you go to, please report. I've been to Antwerp; I know the bus station is very close to Opera House - I'm trying to recall if the train station is as well. The logical thing to do would be to see the matinee on either the 25th or 26th - I'm sure there's a train to Brussels afterwards.

It's not at the Opera House, but at another venue downtown, the Stadsschouwburg, about twenty minutes walk from the train station. Check out the train schedules on www.nmbs.be. I'm sure there is still a train back to Brussels, late after the performance, unless this Ulysses takes too many hours to return, of course.

Phaedra392, please bear in mind that some of the advice given here is based on purely subjective matters, meaning it may be valid to one person but not to another. If the camera work is below par or the video is poorly transferred to DVD then these are facts that will concern most of us, but if someone finds ballerina A or dancer B wonderful (or appalling) in this or that role, then that’s still largely a personal experience and taste which isn’t necessarily shared by others. To completely rule out the Kirov Giselle because one considers the ballerina in the title role "miscast" for instance would be a shame, because there is so much else which still makes this a performance of Giselle worth seeing on DVD. Even in the preceding posts there are already differences of opinion. Bart was mesmerized by the older Bessmertnova, while Herman shudders to think what she must have looked like (but probably never saw it… )

Anyway, there is no such thing as the “best” ballet DVD, unfortunately. There’s always a better performance, a favourite dancer who isn’t filmed, a camera angle which doesn’t show you what you want, yet we still have to do with what is released and eventually the choice is still yours. There are plenty of Giselles around, so go ahead and discover for yourself. The one turned down by the connoisseurs might still turn out to be your favourite .

I have seen Pavlenko’s Swan Lake & it is the most moving I’ve seen since Makarova’s. Her interpretation is very traditional. She is small, with classical proportions and a very fluid quality of movement. If you like the sad, hopeless variety of Odette you will love her. I’m a little nervous about seeing her partnered by Sarafanov, but her performance with Zelensky is not open to the public. If for some reason you are able to get tickets to that one - GO.

Interesting observations, but is 1,70 m small?

Question: does the Bolshoi have a distinct touring for this kind of venture? Is another group performing at home while this one is in Denmark?

As always, yes, they still perform at home while a group is on the road.