MadameP

Some really great news today - Maria Bulanova has been promoted to Second Soloist, bypassing the Coryphee rank! She is a wonderful, dramatic ballerina with real presence on stage and acting ability! I am so pleased for her, and hope to see her in many more roles now! Congratulations!

Can you post a link to the ballet/piece?

He was a wonderful Hooligan when I saw him in the role - technically brilliant, and truly rough around the edges in character, instead of being a bit too much like an Oliver Twist type as some are. Truly poignant in his acting. A very talented boy.

More superbly landed double tours here also... not to mention the ease, poise and control and beautiful lines in arabesque, and the series of entrechats 6 ... quality...

Agree he is wonderful. I have seen him in many roles at Mikhailovsky. It is a tragedy really that with his amazing talent, he is not a Mariinsky principal instead of Mikhailovsky. He has beautiful lines, that cruising ease of movement, high jump, spectacular turns - EVERYthing. He also has great charm and presence on stage. I don't want to say he is wasted at the Mikhailovsky, because that would be to imply Mikhailovsky is not a good company, which it certainly is, but from Lebedev's own point of view, he has missed out on the worldwide exposure and opportunities that being a principal at Mariinsky would have brought him. As it is, I can only say, yes, he's stunning.

I have to say - I realised that some of it at least was not live - moving directly from Eleonora Sevenard's interview to the middle of her rehearsal with Rodkin, for example. I did not realise that the whole Bolshoi segment is taped in advance. It's a great pity.

I do not have this book, so could you explain what exactly Valery Lagunov meant? I remember a few years back watching several classes taken by Boris Akimov, and he was equally courteous to all dancers and spectators, and full of the most incredible vigour and enthusiasm for his work.

I love this production of Raymonda. I think some of the effects for the corps, such as when we first see them grouped together, are particularly beautiful! Belyakov was absolutely spectacular and I also thought Tsvirko was well cast. I do like Olga Smirnova very much as a dancer, but she did seem extra cool to me in this video - it's a minor point, but I think a softer stage make up would make her look less severe.

Olga Smirnova also said she is to be dancing, although she was not rehearsing because of having a light day before Raymonda...

So many people lining the route. Yes, very touching.

Buddy, are you saying you went to sleep while Kondaurova was dancing? Surely she was not that boring?! 😄

So wonderful to hear how much Svetlana Ivanova is still appreciated! I completely agree! She is a wonderful ballerina, and I have many times seen her leading out the 32 shades. She absolutely deserves this honour and responsibility. Her adagio work is exquisite.

I looked through my 2017 Paquita programme, which was lavishly illustrated and had many interviews, and there was an interview with Yuri Burlaka about his staging of the grand pas. He was specifically asked about the male variation, as follows: Petipa didn't include a male variation in his Grand pas, will you? I will, using the music by Drigo, once written for the ballet The Vestal Virgin featuring Enrico Cecchetti. This particular variation was staged by Vladimir Ponomarev and shown to me by my teacher Pyotr Pestov who, in turn, learnt it from his teacher Nikolai Tarasov. I already used this variation in one of Esmeralda productions, because extant male variations are quite scarce in the end. The variation I used for the Bolshoi version of the Grand pas was created by Leonid Lavrovsky.

With regard to the variation danced by Andres in Act 3, I went to the premiere of this production (Tereshkina/Askerov/Evseeva) in St Petersburg in March 2017 and have just checked my programme. It states that the male variation has "Music by Riccardo Drigo for the variation performed by Enrico Cecchetti in the ballet The Vestal Virgin."

Vladimir Shklyarov has just announced on instagram the promotion of his wife, Maria Shirinkina, to First Soloist! FINALLY!!! She is one of my favourites!