MadameP

What's the betting the prices will be extortionate for the 200 Years of Marius Petipa ballets?  

At one end of the spectrum we have claques, whose "purpose" is to applaud or stir up acclaim for certain dancers, and at the other end, we have trolls, whose business it is to cause unnecessary dissent and mischief.  Trolls, of course, ARE more prevalent on the internet than in the theatre itself, but it's hard to say which activity is the more offensive...  Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between the two behaviours.  I remember once sitting next to a Mr Bravo at MT (during a performance of Paquita) and not only did he bellow "Bravo" after the variations of his favourites, but he also muttered under his breath and gesticulated while those he did not favour were dancing.  He also sat forward in his seat and applauded thunderously, continuing to applaud the variation of his favourite over the entrance of the next ballerina who he did not favour and rolling his eyes during the applause for those he did not like.   Extremely bad manners and disrespectful , both to the ballerina in question and to those sitting near him, who were deafened.  By the end of the performance, I felt like throttling him!  So, in the theatre, as well as online of course, there can be a thin line between claques and trolls...

25 minutes ago, Fleurdelis said:

Before slamming Russia, let's consider a possibility that Zhiganshina actually wanted to dance Aurora that night because this is what her dad would have wanted her to do. He was very excited about her ballet career.

Yes, I think you are right that she would have wanted to dance her debut because that is what her father would have wanted, but that did not make it any easier for her. 

3 hours ago, Fleurdelis said:

Zhiganshina's dad passed away just a tad over a week ago, which must have been a devastating blow for the poor girl, so her ability to gather herself and make this debut happen in the first place is downright heroic. If I was in the audience, and, lamentably, I was not, I would have applauded her too, and done so on my own free will, not claquieishly.

Saying which dancer gets claqueish and which dancer gets genuine shouts and applause is as much of a conjecture and speculation as there can be. Basically, a way of saying that "if audiences applaud an artist that I like, they do it genuinely, and if they applaud an artist I dislike, it must be because of the claque that got paid".

Thank you for writing this - I was just reading this thread and wanting to write exactly this.  For Zhiganshina to have performed at all under her very sad circumstances is praiseworthy.  Anyone seeing her Gulnare, Gamzatti and other roles would see she is entirely ready, having very strong technique and acting skills.  Yes, she's young, but in my opinion, she WAS ready for this debut.  Of course, dancers all are professionals and  used to "the show must go on" but for a young girl, with this most important debut, maybe THE most quintessential pure classical ballerina role, to dance under such circumstances was SO hard.  Of COURSE she was not perfect.  God bless her, I say.

Maria Shirinkina has some of the most beautiful arms and hands in the company.  If you can ever see her Sylphide, you should do so - her arms are beautiful in this also.  She's a lovely Syuimbike, Giselle and many other roles that show of her lyrical and expressive talents without asking for virtuoso technique: that's not her forte.   I love watching her, and especially in Shurale.  She is an excellent Giselle also, and I remember her very touching mad scene which was never over the top, as some ballerinas act it.  But anyway ... Shurale ... I love it.  It makes me feel happy every time I see it.  The scene where Syuimbike greets her fellow bird maiden friends is just SO touching and also the scene where Ali Batyr is looking for her in the second act and she is eventually revealed - actually brings tears.  Such a beautiful ballet!  It gives me SO much pleasure to see it!  

One fouette more or less, one chainee more or less, one double or triple more or less ... honestly i prefer to look at the whole picture of a performance. 

Not at Bolshoi, but Mariinsky's Olesya Novikova has some of the fastest chaine turns I have seen!  

Lopatin is a fabulous dancer - he has maybe the best technique of all the males.    He is not tall though, so needs a short ballerina.  

3 hours ago, mnacenani said:

That'll be the day ...... currently I can only tell the difference between a perfect "32 fouettées" and a rather imperfect one .....

It's easy enough to count, and I have seen Alexandrova, Smirnova, and Stepanova ALL executive them, although not recently in Alexandrova's case.  However, correct academic technique, epaulement, arms, musicality, phrasing, presence, ability to inhabit a role  ... so many factors make up a true ballerina.  There is no such thing as a ballerina who never makes a technical mistake, but that is only part of the whole picture of what makes up a true artiste.  

I LOVE Shurale - Shurale and Bayadere are my favourite ballets.  Shirinkina was a gorgeous Syuimbike last time she danced it so I hope today was just as good.  Syuimbike should also be a fab role for Shakirova.  Beautiful music, joyful, uplifting ballet with Russian folkloric elements, poignant pd2 and scenes for the female corps  - everything is right with the world when I see SHurale!  I hope you enjoyed both performances! 

Maybe I should have added "for today's standards."  Of course, Petipa was working with the ballerinas he had available, who for the most part, had vastly different physiques from the ballerinas of today.   

That photo of Alexandrova clearly cleverly uses light and shade to thin down Alexandrova's muscular legs- and it is her muscularity that makes her look stocky.  She certainly is not an elegant dancer, but one with a bold, passionate presence on stage, and I do like her in some roles, but for me she will never be a Petipa ballerina.  

I also saw Alexandrova's Legend of Love (and Kitri) -  I generally do not like her as a dancer as she is too aggressive and lacking in refinement for me - but I did  enjoy  her performance as Mekhmene Banu.  Her execution IS crude and honestly she has horrible lines - she is very muscular and short limbed - but she has undeniable presence and command of the stage,.    I would like to see her dancing more of the roles appropriate to her, but honestly within the last two years, her Sylphide and Aurora were both just miscasting in my opinion.  

Very busy at the moment and I wish I could join in this conversation - when I have more time, maybe.  But ... I just wanted to say in Alina Somova's defence, that her days of employing extremely high extensions have long since gone, and although she has been offstage actually for some time recently with pregnancy and injury, she has always used appropriate extensions recently when I saw her.  I think she was badly advised and coached to overuse her flexibility as a very young ballerina and now she does not.  She is a wonderful ballerina.   And neither Smirnova nor Stepanova overuse their extensions, despite their natural flexibility. 

10 hours ago, altongrimes said:

Perusing the internet for ballet images as I so often do, I encountered a fascinating image whose inscription reads: "Maya Plisetskaya giving Alina (Somova, of course) her diamond earrings after a performance of The Little Humpbacked Horse". How I remain riveted to this photo ! What a thrill it must have been for this young artist to have received such a gift from the hands of a master ! It's one of those off-stage moments that is, for me, a thing of pure inspiration. I wonder if anyone out there on Ballet Alert can recall a similar ballet moment that they also treasure as I do this timeless encounter between these two wonderful ladies?

 

What a wonderful photograph and Alina Somova IS a wonderful Tsar Maiden and rightfully won the Golden Mask for her role in this ballet.  With her beauty and long lines and expressive acting she is a perfect princess and Tsar Maiden.   Evidently Maya also thought so - amazing gesture from her.   Not the same, but  also relating to the great Maya Plisetskaya, I remember being in the audience in 2013 when Maya Plisetskaya and Rodion Shchedrin were in the Tsar's Loge in Mariinsky 2 for the performance of Uliana Lopatkina as the Tsar Maiden.  Gergiev was conducting.  I think many thought this would not entirely be Uliana's role - but she was charm and vivacity personified and truly looked like a young girl on stage - she looked so happy.  There were many bouquets and Uliana tried to give some of hers to Shklyarov, but he insisted she have his.  Anyway, at the end Maya stood and applauded and where at the end of the ballet the dancers often wave from the stage, they were all smiling and waving and clapping back at Maya, and she was waving back.    Great memory!

5 hours ago, mnacenani said:

When I introduced the unknown Kovalyova to the forum last March my teaser was that she resembled a current Bolshoy prima at the time of her Vaganova graduation and asked for suggestions as to who that might be, and Buddy came up immediately with Zaharova ..... spot on !

Some of us HAD already seen her, and noted her immense talent since Vaganova days, where she was being featured in Vaganova performances long before her actual graduation year!  

Basically, so many operas/ballets/plays written before the last what? 50 years? less? can now  considered by SOME as sexist/racist/politically incorrect in some way.   We are all entitled to an opinion, so I will only say that personally, I think this is just getting ridiculous. 

6 hours ago, Laurent said:

In terms of choreographic excelence, "Le jardin animé", was the high point, in terms of Stepanova's own dansing, the danse de caractère of the second tableau in the first act, and the classical variation in third, were the highest points of the whole spectacle, that was dansing of sublime quality, very rarely seen, none of them included in the video, unfortunately. Last year I saw it matched only by Ludmila Pagliero in her first "La sylphide" in July, in one word it was like seeing Marie Taglioni incarnate (that "La sylphide" for me was the spectacle of the year, by the way).

I did not see Pagliero's La Sylphide, so cannot comment on that, but it sounds truly magical!  However, I HAVE been fortunate to see Yulia Stepanova dance numerous times over the years -  in class, in rehearsal, live on stage, in all her roles, including those  shown in the video.  I can only agree with you.  Overall, her Medora was a stupendous ballerina performance, showing as it did, not just those wonderful arms and flow of movement, but musicality, acting skills and also the purest of unflashy technical prowess.  Few so-called "ballerinas"actually deserve that title; but If ever there was a test of a ballerina's right to be called a ballerina  - then with that Medora, Yulia Stepanova passed  with the highest honours.   The only tragedy is that we could not see her as a principal dancing these roles years ago...

Gnossie - I was interested to read your opinion, and this is just MY opinion, but honestly, I saw A Hero of our Time and HATED it - Demutsky, Possokhov and Serebrennikov to me spells triple disaster rubbish, horrible music and worse choreography  - so I have no desire whatsoever to see this triple horror's attempt at Nureyev and am not at all surprised by your review.  When I think of what could be occupying the space on the playbill, those two seem to me to be an utter waste of space.  Ditch them now.   I can't wait to see Coppelia again - at least that deserves its playbill space. 

It seems that ALyona Kovalyova has caused some dissent on this thread and I can't understand it.  In the end, she is a young girl who is not to be blamed for taking the chances she was given.  Was she supposed to refuse her opportunities and risk not being given them again?  She seems to me, from what I have seen of her on stage, and various interviews and comments she has made on her instagrams and those of others, to be a very sweet natured girl as well as having an extraordinary talent.   Her career will develop over time and I hope she retains that sweetness, which is more than can be said for some already primas at Bolshoi.   Of course there are bound to be dancers who will be jealous of her and will try to undermine her, and also various groups of fans and balletomanes who will do the same.  I do know that she was devastated at not being given at Mariinsky contract by FAteev and never thought she would have such a quick rise to prominence at Bolshoi.  She is a modest girl.  As I said earlier, she is considered highly enough by many to have been given the honour of closing the gala to celebrate the 80th birthday of Vinogradov in St Petersburg last month.  She danced in Vinogradov's own Adagio set to Barber's Adagio.   I was there and saw it myself, and she was much applauded for her mesmerising performance.  Here is link to the performance:

16 hours ago, Gnossie said:

Well, we will Just have to agree to disagree, everyone has different conceptions about "talent", I am a die hard classicist and can not stand to see hyper-extended teenagers taking over what once was a respectable company, I go to the Bolshoi on a weakly  basis, I have worked in it and all I can say is that the current situation at the Bolshoi is far from ideal, at least to ME.

 

NO, Vaziev doesn't "have" to promote the "young talent", Vaziev SHOULD develop the correct dancers at a normal pace, he shouldn't trow hyper-extended teenagers onstage to destroy the classics. Also what Mr. Vaziev considers talent, I personally consider an outrage, sorry I just don't like hyper-extended teenagers whoses limbs have a life of their own, limbs so long they don't even know where to place them, horrible horrible placement, clumsy heads, weird hands and absolutely no acting skills, but that's just my opinion, I don't like Zakharova and I can't even see Smirnova, other people love them and that's alright, to each his own, this isn't a new move by Vaziev either, he's doing the same mistakes at the Bolshoi he did at the Mariinsky, exactly the same, putting older dancers to sleep and promoting hyper-extended teenagers, it's the same script, what's disturbing is that by doing this he's making a very generous contribution to the death of the Bolshoi style .....but who cares!

 

Finally, Madame Kaptsova and Alexandrova aren't on the twilight of their careers, Kaptsova is in the peak of her career and Maria Alexandrova -a dancer I have always disliked- is still performing technically (and artistically) stronger than most 20 year olds in the company. What he has done to them is unforgivable, but even if they were on the twilight of their careers, that's not the way of treating an artist, you can not (or should not) put a PRIMA BALLERINA to sleep Just so you can promote a kid, that for the simple fact of being a kid isn't capable of putting on stage what older, mature, ravishing and still in their prime dancers can do.

 

First and last time I write in anything related to Kovalyova, arrivederci!

When you say you go to the Bolshoi on a weekly basis, do you mean you go to performances weekly, or do you go to classes and rehearsals inside the theatre?   And which years were you working there?  

We all have different tastes on this forum.  Vaziev does indeed have a hard task pleasing everyone -  giving the "old guard" ballerinas roles while encouraging young talent.   Let us not forget that, as well as giving leading roles to Kovalyova, he has also given them to Margarita Shrayner (Kitri, Sylphide, Jeanne, Masha among them),  Ksenia Zhiganshina (Gulnare, Masha, Gamzatti, Ballerina), Diana Kosyreva (Jeanne, Ondine) and many others.  Of course they have not been promoted young as Kovalyova has been, but nevertheless, Vaziev gives many debuts.  Allash, Kaptsova and Alexandrova might have been pushed sideways on the roster to the "performing under contract" category, but all ARE still being given roles - maybe not as many as formerly, but they are still performing  Kaptsova was Zina in The Bright Stream in October, is Masha during December and also rehearsing for the role of Margot in the upcoming Nureyev.  Alexandrova and Allash both performed Aegina last month and Alexandrova is rehearsing for Nureyev also.   If we are to talk about the physiques of dancers, then everyone has their own taste, and yes, I think Kovalyova is tall, but she is a very talented girl, her long limbs do make the most beautiful lines, and to me far more beautiful than those of Maria Alexandrova, who honestly to me resembles a mini weight lifter on stage.  Finally, I would ike to say that at the recent Vinogradov 80th birthday gala in St Petersburg, which I attended, Kovalyova was given the honour of closing the gala with her partner, dancing Vinogradov's own Adagio set to Barber's Adagio, and judging from the applause, not just Vinogradov, but all the audience very much admired her.  

24 minutes ago, Quinten said:

And just to nudge this thread back to the topic....

Beautiful!  Well, for sure Yulia will not dance that variation again now she is a principal!  Dryad Queen, yes, but I can't wait to see her Kitri  

 

ALyona Kovalyova will debut as Mireille de Poitiers in Flames of Paris on 14th December.  Her partner will be Jacopo Tissi.