MadameP

I think in the "old days", before the advent of GMs, if a dancer had weak feet/ankles, then she just was not cast in repertoire that required particularly strong pointework, but now with the technological advance in the making of pointe shoes, we see many dancers doing repertoire they should not be dancing, and actually too reliant on the strength of the SHOE, rather than the strength of the foot. It's a "cheat", if you like, and in steps such as hops en pointe, this cheat is exposed.

The Fairy's Five Tangoes Impressing the Tsar

LOVE IT!!!

S

I wonder what she looks like in person, because most Mariinsky dancers look even skinnier in person when you are next to them. For example, Kolegova looks average weight and "full" on stage, but when next to her she is very thin. Somova looks thin on stage and is even thinner in person but not unhealthy, in my opinion. Ilya Kuznetsov always looked beefy on stage to me, but he looked thin in person.

So if Shapran looks very thin on stage she must really be extremely thin in person.

Shapran is EXTREMELY thin in real life. Even thinner than Oxana Skorik, and certainly vastly thinner than Somova. I do wonder if she lacks stamina generally because of her very low weight, because she IS one of the thinnest of the ballerinas I have seen, with very little muscle.

Her pirouettes on the left went only en dedands, and the sautes on pointe section looked like it had been carefully changed and re choreographed to suit her weakness. That's not a role for her. There are many adagio-based/Juliet type for that type of dancers. Leave the technical roles for the capable technical ballerinas.

Yes. Completely agree. That's what I said earlier - she didn't do the doubles properly both ways. And agree also that ballonne section was not only abysmally executed, but actually devised to cover up technical inadequacies.

I have seen Shapran dance live at the Mariinsky Theatre on many occasions, and she is one of those dancers who I never feel at ease watching. She does not have strong pointe technique, and, for example, made numerous mistakes in the Lilac Fairy performance of hers I saw most recently. including the relatively straightforward technically end of Act 1, when the court is going to sleep. As Medora at Mikhailovsky she showed similarly weak pointework and Ido not think she has improved since then. I do think she has been given too many roles before her technique is adequate for it. Watching her dance, I am always nervous she is going to fall off pointe, and especially in turns. At this level, technique should be taken for granted. I do think she needs a lot more stamina and strength generally in her work before being entrusted with great roles such as Giselle.

Not sure what's so "shocking". Kristina Shapran was great in the toughest parts of the variation, such as the pirouettes en attitude, then then double-pirouettes in both directions. It appears that the support in the left pointe shoe broke but it affected only the diagonal of hops (done in demi pointe...but obviously planned...she didn't begin in full pointe and stumble down into demi). The circle of piques after the diagonal went well.

This clip is hardly "shock" worthy. People see in it what they want. Shapran is a moving actress, too; quite touching and into the character. She looks great! Everything bodes well for a grand O/O debut next week. Just change the pointe shoe.

Shapran did not do the double pirouettes perfectly in both directions. To the right, yes, she did do double en dedans followed by double en dehors, but to the left, she only did the double en dedans. The ballonnes truly were terrible as she never really got en pointe at all. However, I do agree that she is a touching actress.

Spending most of my life in New York City, NYC Ballet was my introduction to ballet. I discovered different music, different ways of moving - my former impression of ballet was the ABT style, costumes, sets, story ballets. But Balanchine taught me his way.

Circumstances led me to move to a mid-sized US city without a quality ballet company. I turned to YouTube and discovered - the Royal Ballet! How different it was from the Balanchine company. How much softer, the beauty of movement, not just the emphasis on technique as in NYCBallet. At NYCB, mime was hardly a factor in Balanchine, except in Midsummer Night's Dream. At the Royal, mime was an essential part of the dance. And acting! The dancers are actually actor-dancers. I have purchased DVDs of Alice, Nutcracker, and La Fille - what a delight they all are!

I have become an afficionado of Steven McRae and even Audrey Bluebell, his inimitable baby. I notice that in his list of accomplishments, right after listing Principal of Royal Ballet, he writes "Father". I love his dancing. He works extraordinarily hard to achieve extensions that male dancers usually can't hope for. And he has such conviction and emotional awareness in every move. I've also noticed that in the Prince's solo in Sleeping Beauty, he keeps his face and body in profile, whereas Polunin in the same solo has his back to the audience. McRae is truly a creature of the stage.

Balanchine was a genius, but he sacrificed delicacy and beauty for strength, speed, and choreographic innovation. Ashton was also a genius, but a traditionalist. And a grand tradition it is, too. How I loved seeing Monica Mason teaching Kristen McNally the role of Carabosse. Every movement had import, was exact. Every rehearsal recording teaches me something new about the Ashton and Macmillan style.

I loved reading this! Thank you for your appreciation of our Great British Royal Ballet Company and style!

Indeed. I should have also noted the Bolshoi pair...both fine but the gent, Igor Tsvirko, so much more the 'finished' professional at this stage of his career than is Ms Khokhlova. Finally, I loved the MacMillan WINTER DREAMS number by the Perm Ballet couple. A great preview of the upcoming winter-themed triple bill that will grace the Mariinsky Festival in April!

Agree also with this. Tsvirko was the better half of his partnership and Khoklova appeared muted in contrast. Tsvirko has great presence on stage and also excellent technique. Regarding Winter Dreams - well, I love this ballet very much and actually more than any other MacMillan ballet, and I know it is unfair to judge this very young couple against great professionals, but I saw Mukhamedov and Bussell dance this on stage, and Mukhamedov just took the breath away with his passion and ardour. It is a wonderful pas de deux, at the heart of this beautiful ballet, and this young Perm couple gave of all their all (and yes, I assume they will dance it in the Perm triple bill as part of the Mariinsky Festival) but they were young and sweet, where I wanted to see PASSION!

After watching all of Episode 1, I am absolutely in love with the Mariinsky's Batoeva & Latypov...miles above other, IMO. Millepied's WITHOUT may be copycat Robbins but that matters not, as it was performed with such sensitive beauty and exquisite lines by the young Mariinsky team. The Mikhailovsky team performed the showy Black Swan and both are so young & adorable when talking..but I was somewhat underwhelmed by Lebedev's un-pointed lower foot in jumps and rather droopy port-de-bras in the coda. He must have been tired; not his usual. As for the Kim/Shakirova team...she is NOT my cup of tea at all but she has the tech goods...Kim fantastic! I hope that the can pull up.

I loved Batoeva and Latypov also. Such grace and poetry and yes, exquisite lines! Actually, whether or not it is reminiscent of Robbins choreography, I like the ballet Without anyway, and I thought they did a great job. The lifts were beautiful and Nadia Batoeva is the best female dancer in the competition. I do love Lebedev also - he does just ooze charm and elegance and that cruising, easy quality and refinement. I enjoyed watching all the excerpts very much.

Medora, Gamzatti, Raymonda, Aurora are different characters by nature and nurture. And we will have as Abderakham's, Smekalov and Zverev. This link is to the full Segerstrom cast so we should have some wonderful dancers in variations: http://www.scfta.org/scfta/media/General/PDFs/Program_MariinskyBallet_Raymonda.pdf

I'm happy with all the casts.

Both these Abderakhams are excellent, in particular Zverev, who really can steal the scene away from any of the current JdBs! He has such presence on stage! But he should be given JdB. He is a wonderful dancer!

I haven't seen a live full-length Raymonda in some years, but I should think that--like Aurora--Raymonda should be subtly different in each act. Fresh and youthful in her entrance certainly, though still a blue-blood and, by the end, radiating aristocratic grandeur. (At least "ballet" aristocratic -- which is as absurd in its way as "ballet" peasant. Though very beautiful.)

And any good ballerinas will mold the role a bit towards her particular strengths--the role has its requirements, but if the ballet didn't allow for some interpretive range it could be danced by holographs.

Despite the damsel in distress aspects, the choreography endows Raymonda with more agency and character than the story does. I like that about Petipa.

Yes, although she's in a spot of bother (!) Raymonda is an aristocrat, not just any girl, and so the quality of aristocratic refinement should be present in each variation, although, as you say, each variation should be "subtly different"!

To me Lebedev is amazing. I hope he gets the attention he deserves from this show. He should be guesting everywhere!

Agree - I love watching him. He just has such charm on stage and that easy, cruising, smooth quality with beautiful arms. Phenomenal controlled and centred turns, exquisite line - he does deserve to be a major international star.

Thanks for your thoughts on the guys, Birdsall. ROTFL on the "5 espressos" for Ivanchenko! He can be a 'sleeper' then, the next minute, astounds us. For example, he was one of the 3 Mariinsky Principals honored in last summer's "Knights of Dance" program at the MT. At first I thought, "They have to be kidding." Then he broke into the sexiest, most passionate tango during the final modern piece....and we all went "WHOAH!" He must have had those espressos just before the tango

I saw Ivanchenko's JdB in Alina Somova's Raymonda debut, and have also seen Korsuntsev, Askerov and Ermakov in the same role at the Mariinsky and all the current JdBs either on stage or on video. I think Ivanchenko actually is the most princely in bearing and appearance of the three who will be appearing at the KC, and a wonderful partner. Technically he has the edge on Korsuntsev, although ERmakov is superior to them both. Askerov unfortunately cannot act. But ... for a medieval image of a courtly knight with perfect manners and partnering, Ivanchenko does fit the bill and is still technically able to execute the role, although he is not exciting ... agree with Birdsall ... massive doses of espresso first!

Skorik dancing Raymonda, let alone first cast of a major tour, is an insult to this great company. Her dancing is completely without soul. There is nothing of artistic value in her. She is forced and robotically unnatural. Just appalling.

I have to say, I sat right next to the Mariinsky stage for her Raymonda with Ermakov JdB and I could see that she had actually improved technically. The problem is that everything looks careful and rehearsed: it is like the performance of someone learning the role, and even her acting LOOKS rehearsed, and not natural. She is a very inexpressive dancer.

Yes, Latypov was promoted 11 months ago.

I've always admired Styopin's feet. This is an overdue promotion.

I also see that Ernest Latypov has been promoted from the corps to Choryphee. This may have happened earlier but I just noticed it today.

Yes, Latypov was promoted some months ago.

According to the Mariinsky's website Philipp Stepin has been promoted to First Soloist!!!! Great dancer!!!

I am so delighted to read this. I thought when Ermakov and Zverev were promoted to First Soloist that Fiipp Stepin should have been promoted also so this is GREAT news. I think he should be a principal. He has the cleanest technique in the company, with always perfectly placed 5ths on landing, particularly beautiful arms and use of the head, and is a fine actor. He also partners extremely well. Of course, he is very good looking as well, with good physique - and that certainly helps! He danced one of the best Nutcracker princes I ever saw with Olesya Novikova, amazing James with his brilliant footwork, and great comedic Basilio, beautiful lyrical first movement of In the Night, quirky Rubies ... there are so many roles he excels in that it is impossible to mention them all, but suffice it to say he is a true classical dancer and product of the Vaganova school. LOVE him! GREAT NEWS!!!

Huum...all that dragging across the floor...

Huum...all that dragging across the floor...

Yes, dragging, rolling, rocking ... please just DANCE. I am fed up with the current Mariinsky management's obsession with all things "modern" at the expense of the preservation of its heritage of great classical ballet.

I'm currently overseas and away from my films, sorry. I wish I had more details or remember how they were titled on YouTube. I have only the Russian versions of both. I'm pretty sure that #1 (the ca-'50 b&w) was simply titled the name of the ballet, so "Medny Vsadnik" in Russian. As you may know, the USSR produced many abridged versions of popular ballets to serve as featurettes in movie theaters. It was a way to take ballet to the masses before TV became the norm.

The second one - Tribute to Pushkin, ca 1979/80 - you may know because portions were shown in an English-narrated edition by Makarova. I have not seen the English version and haven't a clue as to the title....Makarova and Pushkin???? Was it for US or UK audiences???

As for the wide-angle silent movie, it is literally in a can, but I suspect that "grandpa" got it because he was a principal in that production and/or he staged it somewhere...worked throughout USSR after retiring as dancer. My mother-in-law said that the films were made by the theater from a parterre box, so not really pirated per se but not intended for public viewing. I've no doubt that Smekalov et al have access to a copy because these types of silent records were theirs (the theater's). You can see many of these sorts of 'shaky' silent films taken from a side-parterre box, in documentaries of the post-war 40s/50s/60s. I bet that the theater has transferred them from 'cans' to VHS and maybe even DVDs but only for internal use.

Thank you for trying to remember the titles and details. Perhaps if anyone else remembers or has any more information, they could post the link here? I would love to see these old films!

W

The black & white film (early 1950s, it appears) shows almost all of the Dudinskaya & Sergeyev segments, as well as the AI dance of Columbine/Harlequin. A bit of one of the PDD's appears in the Dudinskaya docum "Dialog on the Stage."

The color film is part of a "Tribute to Pushkin" (ca 1979) featuring several ballets. The BH section includes the lovely "circle dance" of Parasha and her friends, solo for Parasha, the 2nd love adagio, waltz another pdd), and a studio recreation of the flood scene with lots of wind on Berezhnoi's face.

Both of the above were on YouTube at one time but no longer seem to be there, at least not in English titles...maybe still via Cyrillic titles? I have the films from Russian sources but don't know how to upload, sorry.

I know that there also exists an audience-shot silent film of the premiere, which I saw via my husband's family, as Peter I was danced in one of the 1949 casts by Bakanov, my husband's maternal grandad...da! (Poor grandpa's claim to fame was dancing Von Rothbart in the famous 'Masters of Soviet Ballet' film...and being thrown off the high rock by Konstantin Sergeyev.) Bits of that wide-shot audience film are in one of the documentary videos (pre-DVD) that came out in the mid-90s...Story of the Kirov or Glory of the Kirov...forget title of film in which the tiny clip appears.

Wow! That 50s film would be worth seeing! Do you have any information at all about it - the exact title or date or anything else? It might be possible to trace it somewhere if there is some more information. I would love to see it!

Smekalov may have assisted NT and, at any rate, had been involved in such restagings in the past. What matters is that BH will be staged primarily following the classic Zakharov original, large parts of which were filmed on at least two occasions...thus, no excuse to not get it right.

BH was, after all, *the* most performed ballet on the Kirov stage in the late 50s/early 60s, even topping Swan Lake in certain years, as per the research by Christina Ezrahi (Swans of the Kremlin, 2012).

Do you know which parts of The Bronze Horseman were filmed and Is it possible to see these two filmings anywhere?

No - that was Tsiskaridze who was involved in Vaganova's Laurencia. The programme mentions the choreography by Chabukiani and that the person who arranged everything was Tsiskaridze. He bascially took parts of Act 2 of Laurencia and, like Fairy of Dolls, it is called a Suite.

Thanks, Naomikage! Between what you reveal and what I've just posted above (findings on the mobile site), this sounds like a winner! Now...who may be a perfect Parasha, the quintessential Russian country-girl sweetheart? Who will be the hero, Yevgeny? I know who I'd like to see but he's not yet a principal...almost! Not-so-subtle clue:

http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/first_soloists/dancers2/yermakov/

I don't see Ermakov in this role. Actually I think both Zverev and Stepin are far better dancers and far more deserving of principal status. The 2005 Vaganova graduation review by Catherine Pawlick is interesting:

http://www.ballet-dance.com/200507/articles/Vaganova20050606.html

Clearly Zverev was considered higher level since he was given Katya Osmolkina to partner in Bayadere. He has such elegance and panache on stage. Filipp Stepin also has some of the best technique in the company and in his graduation, he danced Markitenka and the pas d'esclave from Corsaire. Ermakov danced a modern number rather than Desire or Bluebird. I think both Zverev and Stepin would be better choices for The Bronze Horseman, with Shklyarov third choice.

As for the choice of Smekalov to reinvent The Bronze Horseman, I do think it was strange to entrust this production to him, since he has no great full length ballets to recommend him as a choice, and actually the only piece he choreographed that I even liked was Parting - only a few minutes long. Why did Mariinsky not use Vikharev, who has made several good reconstructions? Zakharov was a great choreographer and the production of his Bronze Horseman is being entrusted to someone relatively inexperienced. I just think it is awful and I hope Smekalov does not "modernise" it too much.

The schedule of ballets for Mariinsky Festival 2016 has now been put up on the Mariinsky website, and opening the Festival on 31st March is Yuri Smekalov's new production of The Bronze Horseman, followed by two further performances of the ballet on 2nd and 3rd April. There is no casting yet. I am SO disappointed. I have only seen extracts of the original staging and I was looking forward to seeing the reconstruction of this ballet: now we will get an entirely new version. Why would the Mariinsky management do this? There are so many great, historic ballets in its repertoire that need to be seen, and so many reconstructions that would really benefit the repertoire as a whole and the dancers. Why a modern adaptation of The Bronze Horseman? Doesn't the Mariinsky management care about its great heritage of ballets?

I understand that it is illegal to put those videos up on youtube (and I would certainly never illegally tape any performance) but I sure am thankful they exist. Those videos have allowed me to learn about companies and artists I would have never knew existed. Because of those videos, I've traveled and bought tickets to companies I wouldn't have otherwise known about (so you could say the pirated videos actually end up helping the company--dancers gain exposure to new audiences, increased ticket sales, and increased guesting opportunities).

Not to mention how awesome it is to learn about the historical greats that I'm too young to have seen live (Maya Plisetskaya!, Margot Fonteyn!)

I agree! These videos are the passport for many people to seeing and enjoying ballet that they might NEVER have a chance to see otherwise - and actually they are unofficial PR for all the ballet companies involved, as you say. I just think people who report these unofficial filmings and get them deleted should turn a blind eye and leave monitoring of their ballets to the official sources. As Natalia said ' Bah Humbugs!"