MadameP

I have seen Evseeva in many roles at Mariinsky Theatre - among them Masha, Syuimbike, Gamzatti, Kitri and the Sylph, and I am so pleased for her! She is a fine actress, an excellent technician with speed, vivacity and flair, and if there are some roles that some people feel she may not be quite as suited for as others, well, all I can say is it is a very rare ballerina who can dance every ballerina role in the repertoire equally effectively, and there are SEVERAL principals who certainly are not suitable for some of the roles they dance! Good for Evseeva!

Honestly, I think sleeping through it was your best option. This ballet is DIRE - and I love Anna Karenina as a novel, but this ballet is a total waste of ballet scheduling space. And as for the "music" - DREADFUL... I think you were extremely kind in your review!

Ah ... OK! I understand, and I love many of the same dancers as you - but not all, LOL!

I do not think my taste is downgraded when I am watching Lopatkina, Somova, Novikova, Osmolkina, for example, and MANY others from the higher soloist ranks, dancing. THEY are still dancing at Mariinsky and are true Mariinsky ballerinas. There are many great ballerinas within the company still at corps level. That is what is so frustrating. I used to think the best course of action for those of us who dislike Skorik is simply to avoid her performances. That is what I try to do myself. It's not always possible though, especially when one has travelled to St Petersburg and has limited time there. Often I have said to myself, OK, I will just have to make the best of it, and maybe it will be OK. It never was. I sat very close to the stage for her second Raymonda, and could CLEARLY see the frozen smile and deer in headlights expression spoken about above. Anyone watching can see the careful coaching she has been given, and the general air she has of always thinking of the steps. She is not an artiste, and no, she should not be a Mariinsky soloist, no matter how beautiful her lines in isolated poses might be. However, Skorik cannot dance every night of the week, and although the number of first nights abroad and especially, number of Odette-Odiles, is disgraceful, it IS still possible to see and enjoy this great company. We keep going to watch them because Skorik alone is not the Mariinsky and there are all the other dancers who do deserve our attention and support. I know for myself that what I find most frustrating is the sheer number of chances Skorik got in different roles when she was clearly unready for them. The infamous Skorik movie that was on YouTube that documented these mistakes in merciless detail, was in fact correct, and despite all her mishaps on stage, Skorik continued to get new roles and to be given chances in the roles she was so bad in. Of course, no-one expects a debutante in a role to be perfect, and there will be some technical inaccuracies, but never in Mariinsky history was there a dancer such as Skorik who displayed so many and STILL KEPT getting cast. Any other dancer would just not have been given another chance. Of course, many will say .... yes, company politics, and every company in the world has directors who have their favourites, but that does not make it right, and we do not all just have to sit and say nothing. Apart from anything else, ALL those performances were evenings when the audience was denied seeing Mariinsky tradition, and ALSO DENIED the chance to see other ballerinas, Vaganova graduates, who are STILL sitting in the corps waiting for their chances to dance these roles. So, for anyone wondering WHY the controversy about Skorik continues ... this is just part of the reason.

Can only say I agree completely with all you say, and as for WHY this has been allowed to happen. Two words only suffice: Yuri Fateyev.

THANK you so much for showing the way to this! I found the link as you said, and hope this will work!

Completely agree.

That is very kind, Buddy. I feel the same, but I also am praying for her. You can pray for her too ... PLEASE pray for Karina.

When I think of the number of ballerinas at Mariinsky Theatre who could and should dance this role, this just makes me very sad. Oksana Skorik's Aurora debut was a long time coming, since she was scheduled to dance Aurora on at least two occasions before, and did not. Mariinsky Theatre gave her the highly experienced Ivanchenko as her partner, a dancer who, although he is in my opinion well past his technical prime, is probably the best partner in the company. She also had a wonderful Lilac Fairy in Kolegova. Technically, I think Skorik has improved a great deal - I have seen her on stage many times myself - but this great role is about more than technique. I never saw any femininity or flow of movement, or expression/artistry that would fit her for this role, which is, I believe, THE pinnacle of classicism for a ballerina. I think the audience might have seen technical COMPETENCE, up to a point, but did they see a true Mariinsky ballerina? Did they see artistry? I was not there, but I highly doubt it.

Buddy, I just heard that Karina is undergoing another round of very severe chemotherapy at the moment, and is very weak, because (excuse non technical terminology, but I am not a medical expert) this chemotherapy kills off "good" blood cells as well as the bad ones. All Her blood level readings are extremely low. She is in need of bone marrow transplant, but I do not know if she has a donor, or is able to get this operation. I HOPE SO.

Eleanora graduates next year.

Those are beautiful photos - thank you for showing them!

To the above review, I would like to add that Filipp Stepin and Renata Shakirova also gave lovely performances in this ballet. Shakirova is very young and also has a particularly sweet, expressive face and I think she was ideally cast as Parasha. I think her partnership with Filipp Stepin is promising and their interaction was very touching, especially in their act 2 pas de deux. I liked her very much and technically she is very able, with good turns, and soft jump. The principal male role in this ballet clearly can only be danced by an outstanding dancer of dramatic as well as technical ability - and certainly Filipp Stepin was well cast. He is a fine actor, greatly underrated internationally in my opinion since in Mariinsky company today, he is probably the cleanest academic dancer, with particularly beautiful lines and flow of movement. The first cast Shklyarov now is leaving the company, so I very much hope Stepin will be promoted to principal.

Clearly Vaziev has more vision and ability to cast dancers than Fateyev does.

I do agree with you. I think it is wonderful that Vaziev is giving Yulia the roles and opportunities that were woefully lacking at the Mariinsky. The comments by the British press (and I am British myself) were quite frankly bewildering, and particularly since all the press posters displayed throughout London showed Yulia as the face of the Mariinsky in her Firebird costume. I was present at both Yulia's Odette/Odile in London (and Firebird) and her Odette/Odile debut at the Mariinsky in St Petersburg. I can confirm that she certainly was not hesitant, shy, giving the appearance of inexperience, or anything of the sort in either of those performances. She gave a beautiful performance both times, technically excellent as well as artistically superb, and she was extremely well received by the British audience. It is true, however, that many of the UK press were under the impression that she was inexperienced, because that is was Yuri Fateyev told them in a press conference, despite the fact that she had many principal and soloist performances "under her belt" already, although still only at coryphee level in the Mariinsky. I have to say that I saw many of Yulia's debuts myself on the Mariinsky stage, including Lilac Fairy, Sylvia, Gamzatti, Myrtha, Odette-Odile, and more recently her debuts at Bolshoi Theatre, as well as having seen her in class and rehearsal both at the Mariinsky and at the Bolshoi. I have never seen her look hesitant or shy onstage. She has no need to. She has a fabulous technique and extraordinary beautiful arms and flow of movement. Any natural nerves that any dancer will have certainly do NOT appear on stage, where she communicates well with both audience and other dancers on the stage and consistently dances to high technical and artistic standards.

No, Smirnova does not dance Giselle - Myrtha only. I agree Yulia would be a wonderful Giselle!

Both Smirnova and Krysanova are also cast as Diamonds in this mini run of Jewels. Obraztsova is pregnant so not available to dance in Diamonds at the moment, and Zakharova has not danced the role for several years. That left only Smirnova and Krysanova who have Diamonds in their repertoire regularly. I agree - who better than Yulia Stepanova to dance this role?!

Yes, the lead in Diamonds is the role that most shows off a ballerina in the pure, classical style - a great role for Yulia Stepanova.

Most of us want to see Vaganova grads dancing roles at Mariinsky and certainly it is bad that some of the best Vaganova graduates recently have gone elsewhere. However, not all have. There ARE some recent grads getting roles - Renata Shakirova has had several principal roles (whether or not these were as a result of sponsorship) - Masha, Juliet, Kitri etc, and Anastasia Lukina recently danced Florine and the title role in La Sylphide, a role which she was scheduled to dance at least on two occasions before, but had to withdraw due to injury. Also Vitaly Amelishko among the boys, has numerous principal roles now in his repertoire - Solor most recently. There ARE some recent Vaganova graduates getting roles, but I agree casting could be a lot better, and certain principals and soloists are greatly overused.

Yulia is a woman in her mid twenties, not a young girl, and I think she is capable of saying whatever she wishes, or does not wish to say, in an interview, regardless of the fears and hopes of various unspecified people "behind the scenes" who do not actually wish to give their names, or positions, on this forum.

Vaziev's first set of promotions should prove interesting.

One man's meat ...

PLEASE no more Ratmansky ANYWHERE. Just look at Mariinsky Theatre. Aren't Little Humpbacked Horse, Anna Karenina and Cinderella enough afflictions on Russian ballet??? Bolshoi does NOT need Ratmansky. NO-ONE needs Ratmansky ballets.

Obraztsova, Vinogradova and SHipulina are all pregnant.

I will be only too pleased if he takes Skorik!