MadameP

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!

Vladimir Shklyarov has just announced on Instagram that his wife, Maria Shirinkina, has just been promoted to First Soloist!!! I am so happy for this lovely, lyrical, expressive ballerina!

Personally, I like Smekalov's choreography for both Bronze Horseman and Paquita and think it's great that MT gives him these opportunities to choreograph! OK, can't resist posting this, which is one of my favourites of his. "Parting"

Iliushkina is also fabulous in this variation.

I read the above reviews with interest, having seen Paquita several times in St Petersburg, with varying casts. I enjoyed it very much! Of course, it has Spanish and gypsy flavoured choreography, being set in Spain! I don't think the opening cast was the best though, Askerov not being renowned for his acting, so maybe that is why sparks did not fly and I like Batoeva best of the Paquitas! Of course, it's personal, and, personally, I think the choreography by Smekalov IS a success; I like the choreography for the friends, and loved the dramatic role of Carducha, as danced by Shakirova and Bulanova, both fabulous actresses and dancers. Maria Shirinkina is a lovely Christine. I also like the pd3 placed in Act 2, as someone mentioned above. The whole of the grand pas IS spectacular with the opportunity to see many soloists in some rarely seen variations. I do agree though, that the prison scene does not work - the first time I saw it, it took me a while to realise that the centre of the stage marked a dividing line and I was wondering why the dancers apparently couldn't see each other! LOL! Maybe I can tolerate the dancing horse more, being British where we have the tradition of the pantomime cow, but the St Petersburg audiences certainly love that horse also!

Both Somova and Novikova are wonderful Auroras (I've seen both at Mariinsky) so I don't think you can go wrong. Both ballerinas are fine actresses and I think Somova has wonderful arms. Personally I still give the edge to Novikova as Aurora, since her interpretation is unique every time, but I love both. The VIkharev production is a beauty - retaining the whole of the gorgeous Panorama as well as the important scene with the spindle girls. Askerov is a better partner than Parish, although, as you say, not as handsome.

I agree - I think she deserved second soloist! And what about Maria Bulanova? With all her roles and talent, where is her promotion?

Maria Ilyushkina was promoted to Coryphee today.

Maria Ilyushkina was promoted to coryphee today.

Her SIegfried was Emakov - a debut for him also.

This has finally made it to the Bolshoi website where the roster has been updated with these dancers in their new ranks!

Alyona is promoted to Leading Soloist according to the Bolshoi website. Numerous other promotions are also listed.

Selina has long been a second soloist.