MadameP

Dear Birdsall, Thank God you are still alive. I cried also for you reading this. I am so sad and sorry for you. This was a truly terrifying experience that no-one deserves and you truly ARE lucky to be alive, judging from what that police officer said. This was clearly an experienced thug crime. Just an appalling end to your trip, and I am so glad that you at last did enjoy all those performances before. Thank you for the reviews. There is nothing like the Mariinsky. I try to be careful, and rarely by myself anyway in St Petersburg, but what you said is also brave of you to write this all down for everyone to read and be warned by. I truly hope those physical and mental wounds heal swiftly. God bless you and I send you my best wishes.

Two permanent contracts were awarded today in the external competition for entry into POB. The internal competition, held Friday, included only dancers from the POB school; five contracts were awarded. Joy Womack did not figure in the ranking for the women and was not listed in the top eighteen. I'm not really surprised, her aesthetic does not really fit with the French school. I wonder why she chose to audition there.

I wondered the same - I think she would be better off in an American company.

I've heard so many peoeple describe Guillem as the root of all evil and the mother of ugly hyperextension but in this video she strikes me as almost demure compared to the current generations. I think her balances are quite lovely but she's not an Aurora in my book. She has a certain hardness and strenght (not physical srenght but something from inside, like a really steely determination) that aren't ideal for Aurora in my opinion.

I agree. Of course, technically Guillem "could" dance any role she chose, but whether or not she should have done is another question. Uliana Lopatkina "could" have danced Aurora but never did, having said in an interview that she did not consider herself as the right type or "emploi" for the role. What a tragedy. I think Guillem was far less suited to the role than Lopatkina.

I am also eager for a report! Especially of Lukina . By the way does anyone know whatever happened to Svetlana Strebko? I thought she was supposed to be graduating this year as well.

Strebko did officially graduate this year, but since she still has a leg injury, she did not take part in the graduation performances.

I happen to think Lukina danced beautifully. This was her graduation performance and already she is dancing with the maturity of a seasoned dancer, and she adds her own nuances. I think she is a very promising young dancer. She danced this Rose Adagio with more feeling and grace than I have seen some professionals dance it.

I thought the same. Technically she was excellent, and her final attitude balances in particular were wonderful. She also has a lovely warm, charming presence on stage. I enjoyed her Aurora very much.

Thanks, Natalia! MimsyB, I understand this is a graduation performance, but this is Vaganova Academy which usually graduates fully formed dancers. Smirnova, Shapran, and to a lesser degree Zhiganshina last year, not to mention Vishneva, are the caliber I expect from a top-graduate of Vaganova. Lukina looked better to me last year, in my opinion. Does anyone know if she is Kovelava's student? If she is, that is surprising. She doesn't have the softness I've come to be accustomed to in her students. She is talented, just underwhelming

Yes, Lukina is Kovaleva's student, along with Tskhvitaria. Shakirova and Makarova are Udalenkova's students.

Thanks. Kudos must go not just to Tsiskaridze but also to Zhanna Ayupova, the artistic head of the ARB. Not to leave out the stager of the Balanchine, Darla Hoover.

By the way, does anyone know the names of the pedagogues who led this year's girls and boys graduation classes?

In the "ouch department"...the tall blonde male lead in LAURENCIA (partner of Shakirova) doesn't exactly evoke memories of Chabukiani (or other great Frondosos, such as Nureyev, Vasiliev)!

Udalenkova and Kovaleva are the teachers of the two girls' graduating classes.

The BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition starts very soon, with the first recitals for the Song Prize on 14 June. The BBC will be showing programmes 19th - 21st June on BBC4. There is quite a bit of material on its web site about this, including the biographies of a very eclectic bunch of competitors (from USA, Canada, Korea, Belarus, Democratic Republic of the Congo and various European countries).

Home page for the competition is here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/r2hzp6?lang=en

I don't know how many of the actual broadcasts will be available via I player outside the UK but in the past there have been a number of excerpts available.

Just wanted to say - thank you for the reminder! I am really looking forward to this!

Maria Vinogradova is a lovely ballerina - one of the best of Bolshoi young ballerinas. Congratulations to Vinogradova and Vasiliev.

It is his job and his right, given, to do as he pleases, but...history-(and not only ballet's)-is full of case scenarios where "rightful" decision were-(are)-endlessly questioned when outcomes are just too much to witness or accept. Given, Skorik is dancing right now all she wants under her powerful tutelage, but given also that this is being exposed to the whole world as the decline of the company. It is not a win-win situation. Both Skorik and Fateev are destroying a legendary symbol. And yes...this is all "legal".

In Oksana SKorik's case, Fateyev has well and truly exercised his "right" to cast whoever he pleases in whatever roles he pleases, and seemingly with no thought to her suitability. There are very few principal roles that she does not now dance, and the major omission at the moment is Aurora. Even this role, she is to dance. She was originally on the playbill to dance Aurora long ago (I will try to research the date, but I think it was right at the start of the season, or maybe even last season) but she was replaced. Recently I sat in the loge next to the stage for her Raymonda and did my best to watch objectively. I still see an inexpressive dancer, although she did smile, but that was her only expression apart from here normal still face. I do see a dancer who has gained very much in confidence and also who is technically much improved, and undoubtedly this is because of the sheer amount of stage exposure she has had. However, I still do not see an artiste, and I am very much surprised by those who claim this for her. Yes, she has beautiful lines, but what good are they when they are not used to illuminate a role? Her roles are interchangeable - she does not characterise - and really I feel that watching her, I am watching a student perform exercises. It's difficult to explain it, and many have said they see no "soul" in her dancing. That's what I feel, too. I wish Yuri Fateyev had championed some other dancer. She is not a Mariinsky dancer, in that she does not reveal the soul and heart of her performance through every movement, and that for me is the great VaganovaMariinsky tradition, which she does not exemplify.

The costumes do make everyone's legs so much stumpier though! :-)

Those costumes are really sumptuous!

Probably the greatest Giselle performance I have seen is that of Olesya Novikova. Her act 1 portrayal of Giselle was wonderful - innocently in love and happy in her life and trust, and seemed to be foreshadowing the fate that was to befall her, with a really chilling mad scene, where she literally see her "seeing" and "hearing" the wills, and seeming to turn into one as death approached, and then terrified when she realised it, and shaking herself out of it. Her act 2 was really airy, with beautiful light jumps, exquisite batterie, exceptional speed in the "just out of the grave" section. Also, she was the Giselle I saw who MOST showed the INhuman part of Giselle in act 2. So many ballerinas show Giselle in act 2 as being overly emotional, yet she is not supposed to be human at this point. Olesya showed a Giselle who is only retains some humanity, but is not yet truly a Wili, - with emphasised poses in the section where she first circles Albrecht, slightly fixed arm positions, eerie expression but still retaining SOME humanity, and then the most wonderful contrast I have ever seen at the tolling of the bell where she realises Albrecht is saved and the most beautiful, peaceful but joyful smile came over her face. Really a MAGNIFICENT Giselle. So touching and beautiful. Novikova has everything for the part. If only she were a principal...

The announcement by Japan Arts (the impresario) mentioned that Kondaurova's withdrawal was due to injury, but not in the case of Shrinkina, it said for the Mariinsky Theatre's reasons (no details about that). So at least she is not injured.

Maybe she just does not want to go on tour with her young baby?

Yakobsen's Shurale is my favourite ballet and that of my friend. I was lucky enough to see it twice at Mariinsky this month, with Martynyuk and Evseeva as Syuimbike. I have seen Mariinsky many times in St Petersburg but never been there when Shurale was performed, so these performances were so special! I have also seen many films of it. It makes me cry every time, it is so beautiful! It has the most wonderful score and many beautiful moments for the corps of women birds, great spectacle, and, above all, the magical second act of celebration, where it seems literally the whole village comes out to play and everything is right in the world. It is probably unique in being an example of a folk ballet, although it is fiendishly difficult for the ballerina to perform. I love it very much!!! There are clips on YT. I wish the Mariinsky could tour with it so that more people could see it, as I think it is virtually unknown in the west, but maybe it is one of those ballets that, unfortunately, are really best seen in Russia. It has so much of the folk element, and involves dozens of Vaganova school children, and it would not be possible to take all these children abroad. Quite simply, children from any other dance academy, or dancers from any other training, would not be able to recreate this ballet effectively. Yakobsen choreographed a great production of Spartacus, which is currently in the Mariinsky repertoire also and is an amazing piece of theatre to the great Khachaturian score.

Currently: Lopatkina, Tereshkina, Kondaurova, Skorik, Kolegova. Also, Novikova has danced it, but I cannot remember how recently. (Shirinkina also dances it, but she is on maternity leave.)

I need to add to this list Anastasia Matvienko and Alina Somova, whose debuts in Raymonda I recently saw in St Petersburg. Matvienko's debut was excellent: technically she was very good, and ,in my opinion, better than Kondaurova, Tereshkina and Skorik in the role Alina Somova in my opinion is the best Raymonda. Every variation was superb, and her sequence of entrechats quatre en pointe perfectly executed. The whole dream scene with its beautiful variation was just exquisite and her expressions and general movement quality throughout just .... amazing. Raymonda is a wonderful ballet! :-)

That is horrible that she hasn't been given more opportunity to use that presence. Even on little youtube clips where she is only one of a group, people point her out for special mention. How can a company let that kind of charisma go to waste? And for what? Yet another sad eyed, cookie cutter copy of Mezentseva but without her talent?

If and when Mariinsky comes back to NY, I'll look out for ballets with Lavrinenko in them.

I forgot to mention she also dances Columbine in Carnaval and have added it to my original post above!

I saw her dance one of the stepsister roles last winter in Mariinsky's Cinderella.

She had fantastic stage presence and wonderful form. She impressed me more than Matvienko in the lead. I did a search on the internet and I found small clips of her dancing the Jewels section in Sleeping Beauty and some work in solo roles in Don Quixote and La Bayadere. But really nothing else.

Has anyone seen her in larger roles?

I love Anna Lavrinenko's dancing and have seen her dance many times - but sadly, never in big roles, although she certainly deserves them. At the moment she does not have any in her repertoire. She is a lovely, vivacious dancer, with a particularly expressive face, ideal for roles such as Syuimbike in Shurale, or Masha in Nutcracker, or Juliet or Giselle, but she is most usually seen as Flower Seller, Syuimbike's friend, fairy variation, Neapolitan etc. I remember once seeing her as Masha's brother Franz in Nutcracker, where she was a real scene stealer with her great acting, but this is a real tragedy that she performs this role, when she should be dancing Masha. It is a terrible waste of her talent - she is so noticeable on stage, but although she has been in the company for 10 years now I think, she is still only ranked coryphee, and never given any roles that would use her talent to its fullest.

EDITED to add that I forgot she does dance Columbine in Carnaval, in which she is wonderful, but this is still only a one act ballet and far from the repertoire she is capable of dancing.

My favourite variation for Raymonda is the one she dances in the Dream scene - just beyond beautiful! Incidentally, I have recently returned from St Petersburg, where I saw three performances in a row of Raymonda - Skorik, Matvienko and Somova - and Alina Somova's debut performance as Raymonda was just amazing. I really felt she was the embodiment of Raymonda and technically she was perfect. In the "blue" variation she was the only one of the three to perform the entrechat quatre en pointe sequence and she got huge bravas from the audience and was called back for many curtain calls at the end of the performance. The Dream variation was just so lyrical and expressive with those long legs making beautiful lines and flowing arms. It was just a privilege to see this. It's a gorgeous ballet! :-)

I thought it was AMAZING. I was absolutely spellbound by the superb performance of Mikhail Lobukhin in the leading role. Dark, brooding, sinister, yet tender in his love scenes with Anastasia, his portrayal was complex and completely magnetic. This ballet is so powerful, a great theatrical spectacle and a wonderful dramatic ballet. The sets are so atmospheric, the scene with the female singers and the spirit of the dead Anastasia hauntingly lovely, the final tableau disturbing - there are just so many wonderful images. Grigorovich is a choreographer of genius. I just LOVED it.

Choreographic Game 3 x 3 and Inside the Lines have both been performed several times as part of the Mariinsky repertoire, outside the Young Choreographers' Workshop. Bambi and In the Jungle were chosen to open the Mariinsky Festival recently. Both the latter ballets in particular clearly utilise the ballet vocabulary and were well received by the audiences. What a shame though that the promised Bronze Horseman never materialised and Stone Flower also. Either of those two ballets would have been greatly preferable.

Novikova's emploi seems to be not favored by the Mariinsky and thus she's stuck in the soloist ranks. The last soubrette/ingenue type to get promoted to principal was Diana Vishneva and that was nearly 20 years ago.

Novikova can do any role. The fact that she is not a principal is really a disgrace. I have seen her Mariinsky performances in so many roles and think she is far from being a soubrette. (I also saw her in the Duato Romeo and Juliet at Mikhailovsky, where she was one of the best Juliets I have seen.) She was a touching and finely nuanced Maria in Fountain of Bakhchisarai, a witty Rubies, literally the best Giselle interpretation I ever saw, also an exquisite Sylph in La Sylphide, in my opinion the BEST Aurora at Mariinsky today with that wonderful crystalline technique. I will not enumerate all the roles I have seen her dance in that she excels in - but hers is not the repertoire of a mere soubrette ...

Saw her dance SL with RB this evening. Let's just say I now understand why the Bolshoi would prefer her not to dance it.

I have to agree. I love Obraztsova in so many roles, but Odette/Odile is just not her role.

Oh no... I am so sad to read this. I used to love reading her reviews in Dancing Times.

It just shows that beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. I watched the whole of this livestream event and honestly could not wait for it to finish. I wanted to watch to see the dancers, who all gave every piece their all. I found most of the works derivative and quite honestly, incomprehensible and often ugly. Personally I detest the trend for "dancing' to no music, electronic sounds, rainfall etc. I just don't like it. I found many of the costumes ugly also. Yes - of course it is good to encourage new choreographers, but watching this succession of horrible pieces made me realise that Pimonov really is their outstanding up and coming choreographer, although I like Smekalov's Parting (I think this shorter piece is much better than the bizarre Orpheus.) I wish instead of this evening, we could have been treated to an evening of rarely danced extracts that have been lost from the repertoire. They are still there in the memories of the coaches and older generation of dancers. The Vaganova students put on many of these in their concerts at the Hermitage, and if it were not for these concerts, often for young students, this repertoire would be totally in oblivion. Why can't the company show off this part of their repertoire, which is wholly neglected at the moment, and which has been part of its tradition instead of veering off at a tangent with all this modern choreography? I actually really enjoyed Pimonov's Bambi, but I do think it was wholly inappropriate as the opening ballet of the Mariinsky Festival, and the promised Stone Flower and Bronze Horseman would have been much preferable. I do fear that all these modern works are going to infiltrate the repertoire more and more as Gergiev is known to love modern music and productions. I respect everyone's right to have their opinions on this modern evening, but I personally HATED it!