MadameP

The third Paquita had Anastasia Kolegova and Xander Parish in the leading roles, Kolegova replacing at 10 days notice the injured Oksana Skorik. She is a beautiful woman and played Paquita with much vivacity and sweetness. Her feet especially are exquisite and she is technically strong. Her series of fouettes in the grand pas was amazing, single single double five times and then singles to the final double. She also danced a beautiful "gypsy" variation in the grand pas. She captured the stylised gypsy arms very well throughout and all in all, I thought she was a lovely Paquita. Xander Parish acted well, particularly in the comedy scene and also in the scene where he accidentally kills one of the officers. His best attribute is probably his beautiful lines, which were shown off in his sissones and arabesques, and also in his grand jetes. He also performed a nice sequence of entrechat6 in the pd3 and had easy command of the stage. I thought tonight's group of friends was by far the best. Maria Iliushkina, who danced the first variation, was outstanding. She has the most exquisite long lines and was faultless - beautiful, lyrical, musical variation. What a talented girl. Anastasia Nikitina is woefully underused, yet she was bright, charming and with clearly articulated footwork in the second variation. Really fabulous! Shamara Guseinova had excellent presence and jumping in the third variation, although not quite matching the superb Ivannikova from the performance before. Viktoria Krasnokutskaya is another ballerina who is under-utilised, yet she was SO charming and vivacious and had the most gorgeous expressions - so moving to see! - and lovely arms - she was my favourite of the three ballerinas dancing the fourth variation. Ekaterina Chebykina danced well mostly, and with good expression but could not compete with Nadia Batoeva as Cristina, although she is certainly a good turner. And Tatiana Tkachenko's acting was excellent as Carducha, although I do find her a little "hard", but that is just personal taste. The Vaganova children really brought the house down again in the children's mazurka, and it is SUCH a joy to see them. The little girl who comes on first must surely be a star of the future. She had neat footwork and lovely epaulement and expressions already at her young age - maybe 10 or 11? But all the Vaganova children were fabulous! I think this Paquita is a big success and a great company vehicle, and look forward to seeing other casts in it, although it is a big ask for the two leading roles in particular - as it has a great deal of complex (and tiring!) choreography. Congratulations to all the company and in particular to Yuri Smekalov! After the performance all the ladies were handed a red rose on the way out, which I thought was such a charming touch! I so much enjoyed this run of Paquitas!

Perm ballet performed Swan Lake to enthusiastic applause and deservedly so. The two leads, Inna Bilash and Nikita Chetverikov, were prize winners in the Russian "Big Ballet" televised competition programme recently, and both danced with style and lyricism. Chetverikov is a WONDERFUL partner, who made all the high lifts look easy, partnered completely unobtrusively, always making his ballerina look good, and in particular, Bilash's partnered pirouettes in his hands were outstanding - amazingly fast! In addition, he had high, easy jumps and lovely adagio work, although for my taste, his line in arabesque and attitude was on the old-fashioned low side! Inna Bilash was secure in all her variations, with also great speed in her diagonals of pirouettes, nice expressions and lines - lovely girl! The Perm version contains some nice dancing for Benno, the Prince's friend, and Krill Makurin landed some beautiful double tours, as well as the diagonale and the whole of his variation was excellent - he is a very good boy. One of the two prince's girl-friends was absolutely outstanding in her variation. I NEVER saw such a diagonale of entrechat six de vole - for height, precision of the beats and flexibility of her back - she was incredible. Unfortunately, I don't know which one of the two named in the programme she was! She was EITHER Albina Rangulova or Olga Zagorodnyaya. I wish I knew which! I thought the Evil Genius, Sergey Mershin, also had very powerful presence on stage, and thrilling entrelaces. In this version, he mirrors the prince's movements for some of the time, a little like in the Grigorovich version, which personally I don't like, but there were other sections that I did find very effective, such as where at the end of the first "white" act, he appeared on a balcony at the back of the stage, and literally compelled Odette to leave and then projected his power forward to Siegfried - very effective. In the black swan act, I thought it was SO effective to have all the national dancers come on as part of Rothbart's retinue, and they even turned on Siegfried at the end of the act, preventing him from going after Odette in a very malicious manner! The black swan pas de deux was extremely well done, and BIlash produced a fast sequence of pirouettes - all singles, if I remember right, but VERY fast and accurate. But one of the highlights of the act for me was the gorgeous Russian dance, performed by Albina Rungulova and Ivan Puroshin, to the music commonly danced as a female Russian solo "Russkaya" - just so stylish and ... RUSSIAN - LOL. It was exquisite. I never saw this version of the Russian dance before and I loved it! There was some particularly beautiful choreography in the final act, which in this version, ends with the death of Siegfried, although his and Odette's spirits are seen flying off in the background to an afterlife. The black swans were used literally as the Evil Genius's tools and were truly malevolent. I have to say, I was very impressed with the corps de ballet, who danced with wonderful precision and uniformity of style. They were really outstanding. I assume many or most are graduates of the Perm school, but whether or not this is the case, they were technically and artistically excellent, and a credit to their coaches. It was really a beautiful Swan Lake.

Buddy, did you see they were giving all the ladies one red rose individually wrapped with a little Paquita card on the way out? I have a red rose and it is even scented! Such a nice touch and I never had that happen before after a ballet! I completely forgot to write about the Perm Swan Lake, so will do that next, but in particular I LOVED the four friends tonight, and Anastasia Kolegova looked, as always, just SO beautiful!

MT2 has already got a lot of built in security that the historic MT theatre does not have to nearly the same degree, if at all - it has hidden security cameras everywhere inside the actual auditorium, and the historic theatre does not. We shall see. And yes, thank you to everyone for their good wishes.

I think there will be heightened security at the Mariinsky tonight. Have to say - I am a bit apprehensive. As I understand it, most of the metro is now open again, but I won't be going anywhere near it.

LOL! Yes, I wrote that before I saw the actual performance, and when I saw her, Nadia was even better than I had predicted. I did review it somewhere back, and she was WONDERFUL! She was

With regard to the modern choreographic evening, I want to mention only one person: ANDREI ARSENIEV. This young boy partnered Nelli Smirnova in the third piece, Wordiness, choreographed by Olga Vasilieva. When I saw he was cast, I was so happy for him, but at the same time I felt very angry on his behalf at what he does NOT get cast in. This HUGELY talented boy is an example of what is wrong at Mariiinsky Theatre, where some immensely talented dancers who should be stars, are completely overlooked. He graduated in 2013, and I saw him then at his graduation performance, dance the Faun, and it was one of the most mesmerising pieces I have ever seen. He is a shortish boy, maybe 5'6" or 7", very young looking, with fair (light) hair, but his range of expressions is amazing. He also possesses what I can only describe as COMPLETE flexibility and fluidity throughout his whole body, to a degree that is rarely seen, and he has complete control over this flexibility and fluidity. Allied with extreme musicality and great acting skills, and you have a true ARTIST who is capable of portraying every nuance of choreography and interpreting every nuance of music, in such a way that you see every role he performs as fresh and new, and you totally believe in his characters. This young boy is still only in the corps, yet I never saw such great acting and artistry for a male dancer at Mariinsky. He does have excellent technique apart from his incredible artistry, but the technique is used solely to serve the choreography. When I watch him dance I don't really think about technique, although it is fabulous, because I only see whatever ROLE he is portraying. I think this boy should be a star, and can only think it is his height that holds him back, as well as the complete ineptitude of the management in not casting him. It seems the choreographers within the company recognise his talent, since he was also cast in Pimonov's Inside the Lines, but apart from that date, to date his most important role has been Mercutio, which I have not seen him, but I HAVE seen him in many other roles. In Romeo and Juliet, Benvolio, in which role his acting was outstanding, and he was truly a sympathetic friend to Romeo. Also, as the King in Little Humpbacked Horse, which he has performed many times. This is an acting role, and really his comedic talent and timing are those of a dancer with decades of experience - he just has naturally what it takes many dancers a lifetime to achieve, and most never do. He dances the Etruscans pd3 in Spartacus, which is a tiny role, but even in this, the way he uses his body, with every gesture emphasising every nuance of the music is superior to everyone else I ever saw in this role. I always look out for him and he was one of the funny goats pd2 in Sylvia (PLEASE ... a GOAT for this amazing boy?), the hare in Bambi, which was another Pimonov ballet.... you get the picture, tiny roles, but NOTHING big. In the wonderful Smirnova/Chudin Bayadere a few days ago, Arseniev was Magdayeva, the chief fakir, and you could see his quality in this role - I saw this character made into a real person for the first time, through every gesture and all the acting directed towards both Solor and the Brahmin. and if you want to hear about technique, some great jumps and overall speed and lightness. But. as I said, it seems that unless you are favoured by management, or are their perfect physical shape, you will not be cast. I am just pleased that at least Arseniev was seen and HUGELY applauded by the audience in this festival, and to the choreographer Olga Vasilieva, thank you for this. You could not have chosen a better dancer for your choreography. It showed off his mime, acting, expressive face, speed, range of movement. He deserved all the applause, together with Nelli Smirnova, his partner. If I were the management, I would give him the role of Petrushka, in which I honestly believe he would be the greatest ever in this role. I wish he could dance the FAUN that he danced at his graduation in a Mariinsky gala, so that everyone could see it. He is a truly unique artist, who deserves to have MANY roles and yet he just is not seen.... But at least in this modern choreographic evening, he WAS seen, and applauded.... but it is not enough...

Buddy - I don't know about doing justice! I thought it was a WONDERFUL Bayadere though. Just A-MA-ZING!!!

La Bayadere had two important guest principals from the Bolshoi - Olga Smirnova and Semyon Chudin. Ekaterina Osmolkina replaced the originally scheduled Olesya Novikova as Gamzatti. Many dancers and coaches were present to watch this Bayadere. In the coaches' box I saw Lyudmila Kovalyova, Tatiana Terekhova, Galina Kekisheva, Ekaterina Kondaurova Viktoria Tereshkina and Nadezhda Gonchar among others. Olga Smirnova gave a virtually faultless performance. She had wonderful back flexibility, and her balances in arabesque in the kingdom of the shades were impeccable. She has amazing speed and lightness. Her meeting scene with Solor was very touching. I saw her uncertainty and disappointment at not seeing Solor and then her joy and happiness when he arrived. Her basket dance so well acted, ending with great speed in the chaines to the front and real panic when she found she had been bitten by the snake. Her speed actually is amazing, especially in the last diagonale of the ballet,where she finished right in the corner, and I never saw a ballerina cover so much of the stage in her series of backward hops in arabesque. She was for my taste a superb Nikiya with a real spiritual quality to her performance. . Chudin was equally impressive. How elegant he is with those stretched leg extensions and beautiful lines. In his kingdom of the shades variation his series of double assembles en tournamt was impeccable. ALL his jumps were beautiful - he is such an amazing dancer and partner for Smirnova. Osmolkina was an excellent Gamzatti. She was both proud princess and vengeful cold woman. Her fight scene with Nikiya was one of the most convincing I have seen. In the grand pas her variation was faultless and she also pulled off an impressive sequence of Italians and fouettés. The whole Bayadere was well cast. Vasily Tkachenko , recently and well deservedly promoted to second soloist, showed the audience strong dynamic dancing with great oriental arms, precisely landed double tour and high jumps. Petushkova set the auditorium on fire with her wild and abandoned Indian dance - she too has amazing back flexibility in the back bends and kick to head jumps! This really is HER role! Tamara Gimadieva was very charming as Manu. The whole act was superb actually!In the kingdom of the shades, tiny Valeria MArtynyuk had good footwork in the first variation, Yana Selina pleasing musicality in the second and Anastasia Lukina good control in the a la secondes and pirouettes in the difficult third variation The corps were as usual exemplary and a big part of what makes the Mariinsky the great company it is. Every time I see them, I think the same thing - To watch them with their unity of movement on the Mariinsky stage Is truly moving. This was a GREAT BAyadere - truly great.

Yes. Thank you Natalia. Buddy - glad you're OK. I was at Tsarkoei Selo when I got texted with the news, and I OFTEN go in that metro station since I am staying nearby. So scary. So awful. Sennaya Plosched was very busy when I came through it by bus just a few hours ago. How can people do these things??? So awful. Prayers to all those suffering and and affected, and to their families.

Romeo and Juliet was one of the best I have ever seen, with in particular a truly outstanding acting (and dancing) performance from Nadezhda Batoeva. She truly brought out every emotion in her Juliet, and not just through her acting, in every nuance, but in her dancing - from her wild, impassioned grand jetes of love, to the lifeless bourrees of hopelessness. THe moment when Romeo lifts her high and she realises her love for him was absolutely heart stopping in its beauty and realism of all the ecstasy of newly discovered love. And the scene where Juliet takes the poison and falls on her her bed but reaches out in arabesque towards the window where she last saw Romeo was terrifying in its loneliness and so poignant. What a great performance. Filipp Stepin physically is very compatible with her and they make a beautiful pair, and his dancing also was magnificent. He is a very elegant dancer with always correct placing, and he produced some beautiful entrelaces. The ardour and vigour of his manege of grand jetes and whirlwind flurry of chaines to finish was fabulous. I will be in danger of repeating myself, but this was an outstanding Romeo and Juliet. I feel the leading performances were so great that everything else was overshadowed for me, but must mention Alexander Sergeev's witty Mercuto and Alexander Romanchikov's spoilt dangerous brat Tybalt - both fine performances in themselves. I do like the scenery and costumes in this production very much, and the final tableau of mourners in procession coming to lay Juliet to rest on her stone podium is both beautiful and harrowing, and the final death scene was even more so. They received many bravos and much applause and deservedly so - truly a magnificent performance. I was expecting after such an outstanding performance to see Yuri Fateev come on stage to announce Nadia Batoeva's promotion to principal, but unfortunately in the Mariinsky, these things only happen in dreams .... but she certainly deserves it, and Filipp Stepin should also have been principal long ago.

Not EXACTLY the same, since there are some different variations used and others that were in the Bolshoi version are not in this one. There are a few differences in the choreography but I think that's inevitable with any new production.

Mariinsky is my favourite company, Buddy, and the reason I am permanently broke! I love seeing new productions. I think this Paquita, on these two viewings, is a real success. As a performance, in many ways I preferred Kondaurova's Paquita, but maybe that it is because I am not a particular Tereshkina fan. I do find her always rather hard and sharp, but I think this is a matter of taste. Kondaurova is queenly, but she has a warm feminine quality also, and I thought the adagio section of the grand pas was especially beautiful, with lovely legato (and fabulous double pirouettes!) She does not have Tereshkina 's clarity of footwork though. I actually thought Andrei Ermakov's partnering was not as assured as it is usually in the grand pas, where he did not have Askerov's beautiful lines or regality. His double tours (en l'air) were not actually double revolutions in the air, although he landed them in 5th and his working leg in the grande pirouette was very low, but at the end of this taxing ballet, it could have been a stamina issue. Certainly he acted well in the comedic section and also in the section where he is in prison. Also, he relates well to the other dancers on stage, and is popular with the audience. I loved Batoeva's Cristina - her acting is superb, and she nailed every variation. There was a serious discrepancy in height evident in the pd3 though, since she was so much shorter than both Kondaurova and Ermakov. Sofya Ivanova Skoblikova produced an excellent acting performance as Carducha - I really believed she was angry and vengefull, and this carried over through her variation also. Overall I thought tonight's soloists in the grand pas were better. The Vaganova children brought the house down again! It is SUCH a pleasure to see them! Martynyuk fared much better with the delicate footwork of her variation than Gonchar the night before. Petushkova, rarely seen in classical variations, showed some good elevation in the variation performed by Ivannikova the night before, and Lukina repeated her lovely flow of movement in the first. I did think Kondaurova performed her gypsy style variation, to my taste, better than Tereshkina, but she could not compare with Tereshkina's fouettes, as she did merely singles - although well placed and accurate! Overall, I actually preferred tonight's performance, except I thought Askerov was better in his dancing (not acting.) I just wanted to mention also about Bazhenova - I totally agree, and I have never seen her give a bad performance. She is one of the unsung heroines of the company. She excels in all character acting and dancing roles. The RANGE of her acting is amazing. She's a very great artist, and so too is Ponomarev. How lucky Mariinsky is to have them!

I too went to the opening night of Paquita, which, as Buddy says, was very well received by the audience. It is a long evening ballet - over 3 hours with 2 intermissions, and the sets and costumes are indeed very beautiful. Last night's opening cast was Viktoria Tereshkina as Paquita and Timur Askerov as Andres. There are good roles for Paquita's friend, Cristina, danced by Elena Yevseyeva on the opening night, and also Carducha (Renata Shakirova) who dances in the second act., in what is more of a dramatic role with solo. There is also much dancing for corps and coryphees, both male and female, so this is a good whole company vehicle. To cut a long story line short, Paquita is abducted by gypsies as a tiny child, raised by them, falls in love with Andres, who gets thrown into prison, and then is rediscovered as the long lost daughter of nobility ! The famous grand pas is the final act of the ballet, the wedding celebrations of Paquita and Andres. There are also four good roles for Paquita's friends, last night Zlata Yalanich, Yekaterina Ivannikova, Anastasia Lukina and Nadezhda Gonchar. In my opinion, Viktoria Tereshkina danced well, but to me she seemed a little muted in her interpretation. There is much gypsy flavoured dancing, with distinctive hand positioning and she didn't do anything actually wrong, and technically she was irreproachable, but to me the more effervescent Yevseyeva as her friend, drew the eye more. I did think Timur Askerov was miscast. He is a well proportioned dancer with actually beautiful lines, but his personality does not project. In the first act, Andres is "taught" the tricks of the trade by gypsies, in what is supposed to be a comedic section of the ballet - how to steal a goblet, how to a lasso a (pantomime!) horse and he was completely lost in this comedic part. HOWEVER, in the pas de trios with Tereshkina and Evseeva, he showed off those beautiful lines and stretched knees in some lovely sissones and accurately landed entrechats and also good partnering. This pas de trios is commonly seen as part of the grand pas, but here it is in Burlaka's staging in the second act. The orchestration is different, and the dancers are not in classical tutus. Both Tereshkina and Evseeva were outstanding in this. The grand pas was magnificent! The children's mazurka is always a scene stealer, but there were many delights in this section. It was a pleasure of see Viktoria Krasnokutskaya and Anastasia Nikitina among the grand pas dancers - they are two lovely corpyhees who are rarely cast. The variations are danced by Paquita herself, Evseeva as Cristina, the four friends and Andres, and the programme gave the source of each variation. For anyone familiar with the more frequently danced variations in the grand pas, the only one seen REGULARLY in this was the first one - the "melancholy" one! - danced by Anna Pavlova in the ballet Kind Candaules, and here danced with lovely flow of movement by the very pretty Anastasia Lukina. Outstanding among the variations were Ivannikova and Evseeva, with Zlata Yalinich also producing some good arm work in her variation. The variation for Paquita herself has much gypsy stylised arms and hands and this seems entirely apt as Paquita recalls her gypsy upbringing. Timur Askerov also danced well, both in his variation and all the partnered sections. He really is suitable only for prince type roles, in my opinion, and variations where he can show off his high, easy jump. The grand pas picks up tempo towards the end, with the Vaganova children returning and the climax of this section the series of fouettes performed by Paquita. Tereshkina did single, single double three times with hands on hips for the doubles, and then singles to the end. These were fast and accurate. Brava to her! At the end of the ballet a whole sea of flowers suspended on strings descend from above - very difficult to describe but so pretty! There were numerous bows and as well as the conductor, Yuri Smekalov came on stage to receive his well deserved applause, kissing each female soloist in turn, with also a number of other staff who assisted in the staging and coaching. All in all, I loved the grand pas, but there were some other sections of the ballet, that I thought did not work as well, but this is inevitable, and I think Yuri Smekalov is much to be congratulated on this addition to the Mariinsky repertoire. I wonder what Kondaurova/Ermakov and Kolegova/Parish will make of it!

Nadia Batoeva and Filipp Stepin will be wonderful in Romeo and Juliet - Filipp Stepin is a great Romeo as I have seen - both have great acting skills, and wonderful techniques. Filipp Stepin has arguably the best technique at Mariinsky Theatre, with beautiful clean footwork and lovely arms and head. He does not get the international recognition he deserves. I have seen him and Batoeva in so many roles and this exposure in the Mariinsky Festival is well deserved, but I can't help wondering why he was not cast in Paquita. He would have been an excellent choice. Some of the Paquita casting is very strange to my eyes. We shall see ... I hope for some nice solos in the Grand Pas at least. The Bayadere casting of SMirnova/Chudin is fabulous of course, and not least because their Gamzatti is the magnificent Olesya Novikova. I also think Renata Shakirova is a lovely Kitri. She does have that infectious vivacity and naturally happy personality, expressive face, good jump that make her ideal for this role. I loved her Katerina in the Stone Flower. I think it is an interesting Festival, but the casting is very uneven.

The Grand Pas is being retained - and that is gorgeous!

Indeed! I hope Eleanora does not turn out to be another should-have-been Mariinsky ballerina. Vaziev must be rubbing his hands with glee at the prospect of trying to snap her up if Fateev does not offer her a contract. After all, he now has so many Vaganova graduates - she will feel quite at home at Bolshoi. How depressing...

Some casting appeared today! Amongst other dancers now listed on the playbill, Olesya Novikova dances Gamzatti in the Smirnova/Chudin Bayadere! She is a WONDERFUL ballerina! This promises to be an outstanding Bayadere! And Nadia Batoeva will be partnered by Filipp Stepin in Romeo and Juliet - this is a great dancing AND acting cast!

"Once is chance, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern." Or, as Goldfinger said, "Once is an accident, twice is coincidence, three times is an enemy action."

Yes - that is the sad truth. That's why I said he cannot spot talent.

Easy answer to that one - Fateyev does not have an eye for talent.

Thank you!

Agree she is exquisite! I love her, too! She has been cast in a number of coryphee type roles within the company already, and one of the dream variations in Raymonda. Vaziev has a good eye for talent!

It's a shame you did not see Stepanova execute the fouettes well. I have seen her Odette-Odile several times, and she was flawless in them - especially in the UK, where she threw in many doubles. I agree with you about Shakirova! She's not an adagio ballerina, but she is fast, generally turns well and has a good jump - she just has one of those very expressive faces, so she does become the character! I like her very much!

Zakharova still dances most (all?) of her leading roles. In Alexandrova's case, she has been given her performances for the rest of the season, and it is notable that, although she was cast in Bright Stream, Legend of Love and others, she was not cast in either Corsaire or Don Quixote, so maybe she will not in direct competition with the rising young ballerinas in those and other more technically demanding roles.