Hans

The Asylmuratova tape may only be available on VHS. I would love to get my hands on the 1968 Kolpakova Beauty! The case of the Lezhnina SB DVD says it is so it is a little over 2 hours.

Is the 1989 DVD the one with Asylmuratova or Lezhnina? As far as I know, the Lezhnina is the one that was filmed in Montréal. I don't remember it being dark at all, nor do I recall it being edited, but maybe I need to watch it again. The video with Asylmuratova is very dark.

Well, if it's the choreography that violates the copyright, then it sounds as if the video would still have to be removed.

What terrible news. He is my favorite male principal at the Mariinsky. I hope he is able to recover fully.

Re: the puppet show--that is not performed on tour because there are no Vaganova Academy students to perform it. I miss seeing it, though. It sounds as if Fadeyev inserted a rivoltade or two into his variation? He did that when I saw him in Giselle--he performs that step beautifully. Thank you for the Obraztsova report--I had wanted to see her today but ended up being unable to.

Not to mention Fonteyn. :blush: She and Sizova are my favorites, along with Kolpakova, Platel, Lezhnina, and Ayupova. I'm told that Terekhova was an excellent Aurora as well, but I do not know if there is any video footage of her in the role. Speaking of good versions of SB--is there a complete Sleeping Beauty with the Royal Ballet and Fonteyn?

My goodness, that clip is so beautiful! Not that I wasn't expecting it, but the grace of her port de bras and incredible line are so striking after watching today's dancers, even very good ones.

My answer to whether to acquire the 1989 SB with Larissa Lezhnina and the 1964 with Sizova and Soloviev is an unqualified yes. Sizova is THE Aurora, along with Kolpakova, and Lezhnina is a worthy successor. Along with Lezhnina, you also get Yulia Makhalina as the Lilac Fairy and Tatiana Terekhova as Princess Florina. The Sizova tape also has a very young Natalia Makarova as Princess Florina and, I believe, Valery Panov as the Bluebird. Natalia Dudinskaya is the Carabosse on pointe with Sizova--not a great artistic decision, but Dudinskaya pulls it off well.

I don't think it's really possible to know that sort of thing beyond the shadow of a doubt; however, if I saw, for example, someone toss a wrapper onto the floor in what seemed to be an intentional manner, I would simply say to them, in a polite tone, "Excuse me, I believe you dropped this," and pick it up and hand it to them.

"...less than cataclysmic subject"--yes. However, kfw is also right; littering ought to be discouraged. Once the ladies returned, before the lights dimmed, I think the polite thing to do would be to kindly assist them in picking up the wrappers, under the assumption that they were unable to see that they had fallen to the floor in the darkened theater.

I wonder if the dancers were in fact students, as I can't imagine a NYCB dancer littering his/her own theater. (SAB students receive free tickets to NYCB performances.) I agree with papeetepatrick, to an extent. Ballet dancers are not required to be good people, as nice as it would be if they all were, but at the same time, an artist must be aware of the impression s/he makes on the public even when not onstage. An especially appropriate time for polite behavior is when sitting in the audience of a ballet performance, even if one does not dance with the company.

Doesn't ABT have the Jackie O. School now? Not that it can really be compared with RBS, &c., yet.

I might try to see if I can get a student ticket to see Obraztsova on Saturday--can't afford full-price, but I really want to see her. Maybe I could even sit a little closer than the very last row of the theater. I'm glad you'll be at each performance, Natalia; it is so nice to read your reviews as you know the company so well.

That is interesting information--I had been told that the other variation (the one Terekhova does) was the original Kitri variation, so it is nice to know the truth! I cannot really imagine Somova dancing that solo, with its numerous jumps (not her specialty) and final diagonal of double piqué turns, but we must wait and see. I really look forward to reading reports from tonight and the rest of the week.

To answer Memo's question, from what I can gather from the NYCB website it appears that approximately 13 of NYCB's 101 dancers either began their training at SAB or enrolled there before age 13, without attending the summer program. Ages are not always given on the site, but if a dancer started training at SAB in, say, 2003 and was made an apprentice in 2004, it is a pretty safe bet that s/he was not eleven years old at the time.

There is one thing I forgot to mention: in the grand pas de deux, Vishneva did the 'easier' interpolated variation--the one that starts with the harp solo--instead of the longer variation performed by Terekhova on the 1988 tape. I'd be interested in hearing whether other Kitris do the same.

I noticed the changes in the men's and women's villager costumes as well--they look very nice, more in keeping with the period. Loved the sets. I appreciate the desire to revive the older costumes, but they are out of scale with the rest of the production. Also, with tutus that wide, are they supposed to be so stiff? I think it would look better if they were allowed to hang down more, thus reducing the 'Victorian flying saucer' effect. Maybe the Mariinsky has caught on to the Steampunk aesthetic.

Viola Davis plays Donald's mother in the film.

Generally, a very good performance. Vishneva is an excellent Kitri, able to pull out all the technical stops but also funny, charming, and spirited, with a big smile that reads right up to the last row of the second tier (where I was sitting). Ivanchenko is not the Basilio 'type', but he has a long, strong, beautiful line, and he complemented Vishneva well. The real highlights of this ballet (Dream Sequence and classical principals aside) are the character dances, and those were all performed excellently. Some of the classical dancing felt a bit perfunctory, for example the Flower Sellers and Street dancer in Act I, and unfortunately, the audience around me did not seem to respond to Vishneva or to the comedy and silliness of this beautifully detailed production. Admittedly, it seems a good 3/4 of the mime has been removed, so the dancers are left only with rather vague gestures at times, which to their credit they perform beautifully. It was unfortunate that the gypsy camp scene had to be cut short because there were no children--it would have been nice if the synopsis had been edited so that the audience did not expect a play and a giant spider, &c. Instead, Don Quixote just runs to the windmill and attaches a hilariously fake-looking mannequin to it. In the Dream Sequence, the corps looked pretty rough by Mariinsky standards. Their famous precision was just not there at all, but individually, they all looked beautiful. Amor was light and fleet-footed, although with a very loose quality in the legs and ankles, and Kondaurova as Dryad Queen was lovely and grand, but her plié was extremely brittle, which meant that each jump in her variation landed with a thud. Still, I'm glad to see someone at the Mariinsky can still do entrechat-six de volé; I really miss the beats when Dryad Queen just does assemblé simple. Vishneva grinned out at us at the beginning of this scene, but her variation was delicate and ethereal, with very smooth ballonnés on pointe across the stage (not ronds de jambe for some reason), a light jump, and some lovely balances. However, her grands jetés in the coda were upstaged by those of Kondaurova, who just floated into the air effortlessly (I guess she took a moment to go and get her plié out of her dance bag ). The entrée to the grand pas de deux was performed by dancers wearing incredibly huge tutus in clashing colors--it was like nothing else in the production, but it was well danced. Nikitina, in the bridesmaid solo, has nice port de bras and was not overly stretched in this performance, but unfortunately she does not have secure placement, and this caused problems with her pirouettes. In the pas de deux itself, everything was there. 'Spanish' fire to spare, along with all the expected lifts, jumps, and pirouettes. Vishneva, as Natalia wrote, overcame a slight stumble during her fouettés, and did the last sixteen with her open fan raised over her head--a triumphant finish.

He mentions the possibility of an American tour in the future--yes, please! And bring Bournonville.

It's official--I'll be attending Tuesday night.

There is a live performance of the Esmeralda pas de six with Asylmuratova from 1986 online. I recommend watching it. Part I Part II I have the tape rg mentions, and Yevteyeva's performance is outstanding.

So did I. That would have been perfect.

I'm forever asking my students, "Who knows what ballet this music/combination is from?" And if they don't know, I tell them about the entire ballet, including the choreographer, dances, any trivia I know, &c. I'm also fortunate in that I teach a variations class, so I can show them videos of ballets, teach them the plots, various dances, and encourage them to see that ballet at the Kennedy Center, where a company just so happens to be performing it.

Kirov Academy of Ballet. However, if Joffrey Ballet School teaches history, that is good news! SAB does indeed offer music classes, but my experience was that many students did not pay much attention to them, viewing them as an inconvenience and a chore, and consequently not learning much, if anything. Music was not offered at the advanced levels when I was there.