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Fleurdelis

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Everything posted by Fleurdelis

  1. The reviews are written in an excellent language and a clear, informative manner, with wisely selected quotes. What a joy it is that Misty is not only a ballerina with accomplished physical and artistic abilities, but also possesses a high intellect. I will buy the Jacobs book on the strength of Misty's review. Thank you very much for posting the links to the reviews.
  2. Few more impressions from the Petipa Gala. I always treat the Bolshoi's in-house ballet star galas with suspicion, since they are often poorly produced and lack a coherent concept, basically offering a hastily thrown together hodge-podge of dance pieces. For this reason, in the last several years I had tried to avoid them, but this year I let my curiosity get the better of me and I was seduced by the star pull of the names promised, ignoring the obvious signs that the lack of concept problem would still be there, even more so, because for an event supposedly dedicated to Petipa, the program had little to do with Petipa. I should have trusted my instincts and judgment. This event would be best described by the Russian word khaltura (халтура). Its English equivalents slapdash or hack-work do not adequalty communicate its connotation. Rather than just poorly done work, khaltura means work that could have been done well, but was not not for lack of ability, but simply because no one cared. I feel very sorry about having squandered away the steep price of a Bolshoi ticket, because even talented international stars were powerless to rescue such a poor production. The few bright spots that came mainly from the local ballet artists were not enough to compensate for the producers' overall poverty of thought. Impressions one by one. Kovaleva/Tissi in Balanchine's Diamonds: A performance worthy of a high-school talent show. It was a shame to see such good looking dancers having such a subpar outing. This time Kovaleva did not show her trademark confidence, and Tissi looked more confused than usual. I especially noted, to my dismay, how bad Alena's arms were becoming. They looked neither like Balanchine arms, nor Vaganova arms, I would call them Chenchikova arms: listless and flaccid, with uneven, disinterested and unfinished movements, lacking expression. She is not blessed with the most exquisite hands, they are too large even for her proportions, and the way she so carelessly places them as if they were brooms emphasizes this flaw, whereas she and her tutor must figure something out to extenuate it. The girl has a lot of promise, but I fear she encountered the wrong tutor in Chenchikova. Hope she realizes this soon enough and is saved the fate of a Somova by working with someone who can help her develop more gracefulness and expressiveness, someone like Adyrkhaeva or Semenyaka. Khokhlova/Belyakov in the Bluebird pdd: technically Khokhlova did everything well, but showed litte character, while Belaykov was too tentative in a part that would otherwise be a showstopper in the right set of hands (or, better said, legs). Overall impression: okay, but unremarkable Kretova/Ovcharenko in the Margot/Rudolf duet from Possokhov's Nureyev: The duet does not really resonate as a standalone piece, and in my view the dancers did not invest enough psychologically into it to make it memorable. I wonder how Lantratov and Alexandrova perform this work, they probably add more substance to it. Kondaurova/Smekalov in the duet Preljocaj's Le Park: Solidly executed, but offered nothing new to a piece that is so often performed that I have become numbed to it. Stashkevich/Lopatin in the pdd from Talisman: Now this is where things started getting alive and exciting. The pair were true to their nature as engaging, impactful and charismatic dancers with superb technical skills, distinctive bodily plastics and feathery jumps. One of the high notes of the evening. Smirnova/Vogel in the bedroom scene from Cranko's Onegin: Now, I understand that Vogel is an international star, brought, I'm sure, at no small expense, to impress and educate the Russian masses on how the Onegin part should be danced in the enlightened and progressive West. I may be uncouth and unwashed, but breaking up the strong, well-established and well-rehearsed connection between Smirnova and Lantratov in this work was a major mistake, since Vogel showed nothing to justify the trouble and the expense of bringing him in over the legitimate home-grown superstar that is Lantratov. Smirnova probably knows no equals as the most authentic embodiment of Pushkin's Tatiana, but without an authentic Onegin it was pointless. Lacarra/Dino in white pdd from Swan Lake: Whimsical to the point of bizarre. Instead of showing swan wings, Lacarra intensely twisted her wrists in the best flamenco traditions and did small steps en pointe with such violent tapping against the floor, that left no doubt that her Odette escaped from some town in Andalucia. Dino was an effective partner-holder, but not much else Osipova/Kittelberger in Cherkaoui's Qutb: Other than that Osipova does not look good in rolled up jeans and there was little grace in this ultra-modern opus, I really cannot say much, best to withhold judgment. I understand that this is an excerpt from a larger work, which might leave a very different impression if seen complete. Guerin/Legris in Petit's Le Rendez-Vous: Manuel's passion and movement are incredible, but otherwise the work did not engage, looked monotonous and boring, the most anti-climactic on-stage murder I can recall. Pagliero/Heymann in Nureyev's Don Quixote pdd: Placing Kitri and Basilio on the set from Marco Spada was plain goofy. While a town piazza somewhere outside Rome could pass for a Spanish landscape with some imagination, seeing a pair in such an energetic pdd on a deserted sun-flooded town square set the wrong mood. They looked as if they were a couple of village idiots dancing away on their own while the rest of the town was taking a happy siesta nap. The dancers from Paris looked markedly weaker than their Russian counterparts, though from seeing them before I believe that they are capable of a much better showing. In my view, their biggest handicap was Nureyev's choreography, which is as unsightly as it is complicated, so as to leave the dancers' effort and skill unappreciated by anyone except experienced ballet professionals. Tereshkina/Shklyarov in Balanchine's Tchaikovsky pdd: Dynamite! Tereshkina showed her usual steely technique, while Shklyarov was the most loveable ballet rascal in what was probably a very un-Balanchine demonstration of bold and irreverent virtuoso jumps and turns. Lacarra/Dino in Twisted Spiral: Back in their own element, they were mesmerizing. I find the continuous movement of Lacarra's delicate weightless body and limbs captivating, and the contrast with Dino's manly powerful build striking. Beauty in motion. Ferri/Gomes in After the Rain: I found it somewhat similar to the preceding work, except without the same aesthetic quality. Ferri's physical shape is very commendable for her age, but she is no Lacarra. If there was any meaning in this work, it completely escaped me. Felt like the audience was dozing off to this long and boring piece. It would have lost nothing if danced by lesser talents, so the expense of bringing such renowned names to dance something like this feels like money ill-spent. Shrayner/Tsvirko in pdd from Flames of Paris: A welcome pick up from the previous work. Both artists danced very well, but showed no fiery revolutionary drive and devil-may-care attitude, without which this pdd turns into just an assembly of neat tricks. Novikova/Sarafanov in pdd from Sleeping Beauty: Performed as brilliantly as one could ever perform it. But also felt that these two had mastered this pdd so thoroughly, that hey were dancing it almost in auto-pilot mode, without putting much feeling into it. Still, one of the best showings that night. During applause someone from the audience shouted out "Khaltura!", but I am sure they were not referring to these two dancers. Sae Eun Park/Ovcharenko in Grand Pas Classique: Was looking forward to Ms. Park giving a master class in how to dance GPC as a worthy heiress to the French greats of the past. Turned out okay, but lacked the brilliance and sparkle that I expected. She had some trouble in the first part, tipping off balance a bit and not landing on one knee synchronously with Ovcharenko. Her solo bit was decent, but I wanted to see more of a grand dame there. I would have probably preferred Hannah O'Neill in this piece because of her more marked stage presence. Ovcharenko did admirably as well, though I wish he were a bit less restrained. Legris/Guerin in the de Bana's Farwell Waltz: I found it similar to the Petit work that the pair danced earlier, except Guerin traded high heels for pointe shoes, while Legris might have stayed in the same white shirt. I enjoyed this work more than Petit's, because there was more beauty and passion, but it also felt somewhat overlong, probably the late hour and the excessive length of the gala started getting to me at that moment. Zakharova/Lobukhin in Tristan and Isolde: I could never get tired of admiring Zakharova's long chiseled legs and her slender willowed body being framed by the sexy masculine Mikhail Lobukhin in Tristan and Isolde. Set against a screen with a blue sky with white clouds, this duet looked heavenly. For a moment I forgot that I was on earth, it was like flying through the stratosphere! Smirnova/Chudin in the grand pas from Raymonda: What's to say, this was classical ballet in its finest and purest form! Gorgeous, aristocratic and noble Olga and Semyon set the standard on how to dance in Raymonda. Shrayner's showing in a solo variation was clean, sharp and eye-catching. Her Coppelia yesterday would have benefited if she had a similar sharpness and sparkle. One drawback: the piece was set to a background from Marco Spada, with its Italian neo-classical arches and columns not being even remotely related to the chivalrous era of Raymonda. But other than showing a crisis with basic cultural knowledge at the Bolshoi, this anachronism did not detract too much from the performance.
  3. Not as disgraceful or ridiculous as a non-Vaganova dancer heading the Vaganova Academy. Otherwise, I watched a couple of clips from Nagahisa, and I find her quite interesting, she has a lot of charm and her technique is sound. I will enjoy watching Bolshoi Ballet with participants like that. I think the importance of the link between Vaganova and the Mariinsky has been overblown. The Mariinsky is a company with an international renown, and really made a splash as innovators when they became the first Russian company to dabble in the works of American choreographers, so some crossover in style and talent is good for them. But, of course, I would also like it to continue being the bearer and keeper of the St. Petersburg style, so a core group of style-keepers within the company is essential. I just wonder who they are these days, now that Lopatkina has retired, and Diana Vishneva spends more time on her own international projects than dancing at the theater.
  4. I suppose the point was that they would not have qualified to compete for the best Impressionist title because they rejected Impressionism (as some say). But I still cannot understand what's the issue with Kovaleva and Tissi competing in a televised ballet show.
  5. Looked up on Google and found the following: Post-Impressionism is a term used to describe the reaction in the 1880s against Impressionism. It was led by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Georges Seurat. The Post-Impressionists rejected Impressionism’s concern with the spontaneous and naturalistic rendering of light and color. Instead they favored an emphasis on more symbolic content, formal order and structure. You must excuse my ignorance, but I fail to see the parallels. In what way do Kovaleva and Tissi reject the ballet art form?
  6. Wow, like, literally, all of them?
  7. Kuznetsova is probably the world's most knowledgeable and professional ballet critic. I may not always share her tastes, but have utmost respect for her opinions and admire her biting wit. Her Thorns and Roses of the Bolshoi Ballet book is the most authentic and truthful depiction of what has been going on at the company, unlike the recent cinematic duds.
  8. That's because Kitri and Basilio lived on the outskirts of Rome, not Barcelona. And the crusaders from Raymonda actually inhabited XVIII-century neoclassical palaces. At least according to the leadership of such storied cultural institution as the Bolshoi.
  9. Great news, and a good opportunity for them. Dancing is better than talking.
  10. I think she is closer to 20, but even so this interview sounds too much like kindergarten chatter. If you are too young to have something substantive to tell the world, why do these interviews? The same goes for the interviewer who is asking ridiculously banal questions.
  11. Yes, terrified about being lost forever in the corridors of the Bolshoi. Riveting stuff!
  12. Some interview. All the insightfullness of saying that Volga flows into the Caspian sea.
  13. Vaziev is very devoted to classical ballet, also to 20th century choreographers like Lander, Cage or Forsythe. Not a poor or unusual choice of repetoire. Often he has to defer to the director's wife who is in charge of repetoire planning. She likes Dutch masters and all other sorts of forward thinkers, yet still it is not like the Bolshoi's repetoire is replete with modern gibberish, I'd venture to guess that it still dances more classics than any ballet company other than the Mariinsky. Looking at their season brochure, in 2017/18 45% of performances are classics (e.g., Petipa ballets), 21% were Western "neoclassics" (Neumeier, Cranko, Balanchine, Lander, Alonso, Robbins), 7% are original Grigorovich ballets, 16% are Ratmansky ballets, and only 11% of what you could more or less modern (Killian, Possokhov and Maillot, although you could say the latter two also belong to the "neoclassics" category and staged their works while Filin still nominally headed the ballet company). I am not even counting touring performances, which are mostly classics. If anything, the programming today is about too much Ratmansky. La Belle was not a Bolshoi production, it was a visiting performance by the Monte-Carlo Ballet. May not be to everyone's liking, but still beats classics like Le Corsaire that the Bulgaria Ballet showed at the Bolshoi the other day.
  14. I like Pagliero better out of the Argentines
  15. It comes from the original Prokofiev score for the movie Ivan the Terrible. You can find it in the recordings of the oratorio, it is a piece called "The Oath of the Oprichniks" sang by a choir.
  16. Applause and ovations can be easily manipulated. Even without a claque, the house can extend or shorten the length of curtain calls by timing when the full lights go up in the theater after a performance, which is the signal that most audiences wait for to definitively head for the exits. I also wish dancers would do encores again.
  17. I hope they are not related. Patrice Bart's takes on the classical full-length ballets are worse than Nureyev's.
  18. Of fly Aeroflot instead. Russians won't spill the nasty stuff on their national carrier.
  19. The translation of the original Russian text is imprecise. A more precise translation would be: "It has been four years that I haven't danced La Sylphide, it's just the way it happened, and now, unexpectedly for myself she is in the playbill, well, let's bring back the memories of how wonderful it is to perform the child of the air on the 18th of May on the New stage of the Bolshoy theater". Doesn't look like she is complaining about not having been cast before by the management. But otherwise it is a valid point: she is arguably the best Sylph of our times and one of the best in history, in the various incarnations of this ballet. Lacotte certainly knows a talent when he sees one, and Bournonville would have undoubtedly seen it too.
  20. I remember very well how the Smirnova hype started already in school, before Filin ever got close to her. In fact, the hype was in equal measure about Smirnova and her classmate Christina Shapran, who was considered as the more talented of the two by many at the time. But if Smirnova's natural dancing talent, acting ability, hard dedicated work and detailed thoughtful approach to her work have made he more than live up to that hype, Christina's career sadly and inexplicably stumbled. I don't know if I should take the reference to Russian expatriates as a subtle dig at me, but I think I gave a very broad view of dancers from various parts of the world to deflect any notion of being a victim to Russian provincialism mentality. Whether one likes it or not, Russian/Soviet ballet has been a key influence on the art on a global scale over the last 100+ year, and Russian dancers have made up a very large part of international ballet stars over the same period, especially in the post-Guillem era.
  21. I agree with the notion that Smirnova right now is one of the best, if not the best ballerina in the world today. To me the last 15 years were clearly the era of Vishneva/Lopatkina/Zakharova, and Smirnova is their heir apparent as they have finished or are close to finishing their careers. I also see Cojocaru in a class of her own, incredible combination of technique and acting ability, plus some magical inner glow that adds a special beauty to her dancing. But not enough of a diva quality to truly rule the ballet world. Osipova - I recognize her absolute uniqueness and impact, but she comes short on gracefulness and finesse that a ballerina should have. Her physique is both a blessing and a curse, her technique and jumps are unorthodox and unequalled in the history of dance, but she does not have the fine form and lines, which is what for me defines a ballerina, as opposed to a broader concept of a dancer. Lacarra - I find her absolutely breathtaking, unless she dances the classics, where her style is very, hmmmm, peculiar. Yuan Yuan Tan - also in a class of her own, but I saw too little of her and do not know how she dances classical roles. Krysanova - among the best ever in terms of classical technique and excellent in allegro roles, but does not have the adagio dimension and that ravishing bigger-than-life quality to be considered a generational ballerina. Semionova - for a long time I viewed her as potentially THE BALLERINA of her generation, but her career sort of fizzled after her departure from Berlin, I think it was a major mistake that distracted her and threw her off her path. Obraztsova - does not have the long limbs and the dramatic acting ability to be compelling in half the classical roles: Swan, Giselle, Bayadere. French ballerinas do not travel much, so I can't tell if there has been anyone there approaching anything of Sylvie Guillem's stature. There may be some great ballerinas in Japan, but once again I can't tell, because they do not travel much. I 1am hoping that Alena Kovaleva will redefine the art and prove that very tall ballerinas can too rule the ballet world, though I am beginning to get a bit worried about the trajectory of her development. I am very curious to hear about any other 18-22 year olds who may be destined for greatness these days. As for the men, to me it has all been about Hallberg and Ivan Vasilyev, two antipodes who have reached the pinnacles of their respective emplois. But I keep hoping that that Baryshnikov and Vladimir Vasilyev somehow chance upon a fountain of youth, they would be just as magnificent by today's standards as they were during their dancing times. Polunin? Take away his bad boy image and the rock star hype surrounding him, and you are left with an example of good English schooling and often sloppy partnership. Not nearly enough for me, though almost all my friends completely lose their minds over him. Based on hype alone, then Osipova, Polunin and Vasilyev are ahead of the rest. Sorry if I failed to mention anyone else I should have.
  22. Most probably she could no longer afford the Bay Area rents.
  23. When I enter Vera Borisenkova in Russian into Bing translate, it still translates as Vera Borisenkova, so people at Microsoft know better than to translate proper names. Consider saving yourself the trouble and reading the cast in English https://www.bolshoi.ru/en/performances/3333/roles/#all
  24. I agree that he did them well and that they were clean and controlled. But not so extraordinary as to be shriek-inspiring.
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