Jasper

Blame me, I have not seen that recording yet, but assume this is exactly what Mariinsky performed in Munich. Thanks for your help!

In recent Munich performance of Mariinsky's "Giselle" I saw their "pas de deux classique" for the first time. The girl's first variation was danced to music I have never heard before - is this originally Adam, or was this added later? And... is there any recording of that piece?

Any information would be most welcome as the music sounded so strange and different from the rest of the score to me!

I had seen Olesia Novikova - Leonid Sarafanov's Gizelle last June in DC - they were wonderful. THey had great chemistry and great care&tenderness for each other. And I personally adore Fadeyev (I haven't seen Ekaterina Osmolkina in Gizelle, however Fadeyev is a GREAT PARTNER (and a great soloist). Saw him in Gizelle too.

Wish I could go again. Best greatest performances to you.

Thanks!! Really looking forward - and also to the gala which is as we now learned from the press release a "joined venture" between Munich and St Petersburg...:

"Das Bayerische Staatsballett zeigt:

„Sylvia Pas de deux“: Natalia Kalinitchenko und Tigran Mikayelyan

„Pas des Odalisques”: Séverine Ferrolier, Ivy Amista, Roberta Fernandes

“Zakouski”: Lisa-Maree Cullum und Alen Bottaini

“Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan”: Sherelle Charge

“Schwanensee Pas de deux“, 2. Akt: Lucia Lacarra und Cyril Pierre

„La Bayadère“, Schattenakt: Ensemble des Bayerischen Staatsballetts gemeinsam mit Solisten des Mariinsky -Balletts

Die St. Petersburger tanzen:

“Le Spectre de la Rose”: Ksenia Ostreikovskaya und Igor Kolb

„Talisman”: Tatyana Tkachenko und Mikhail Lobukhin

„Markitanka“ (La Viviandière): Ekaterina Osmolkina und Anton Korsakov

„Grand pas classique“: Viktoria Tereshkina und Vladimir Shklyarov

“Der Sterbende Schwan“: Uljana Lopatkina

„Tschaikowsky Pas de deux“: Alina Somova und Andrian Fadeyev

„Don Quixote Pas de deux“, 3. Akt: Olesya Novikova und Leonid Sarafanov"

Sounds like a true gala programme to me!!

A DVD would be WONDERFUL! I hope it's true and comes out soon!

-Carmen

YEP - PLEASE keep us updated if anyone happens to learn any news about a DVD...!!!!

End of March, finally Mariinsky will be back in Munich - for three performances of "Giselle" and for one Gala night. The gala is sold out already - but without any hint of what they will perform!

Assume the "classics" like Don Q pdd, Corsaire pdd,....???

Any hints / news?

PS: Giselle principal casting as per Bayerisches Staatsballett website today (for what it's worth...):

28.3.07: Olesia Novikova - Leonid Sarafanov

29.3.07: Jekaterina Osmolkina - Andrian Fadejew

30.3.07: Uljana Lopatkina - Igor Kolb

Long time no hear, I admit... and still not really sure what to write about this reconstruction as my personal view differs from that of most of my friends... Trying to be objective:

It's been an enormous task for a company not nearly the size of Maryinski or Paris Opera Ballet - and it's stretching the company to its limits, given only the fact that you need five male principal dancers (while we only have four of them listed with this title - as long as noone is injured...)

But trying to start from scratch:

What has mainly been "reconstructed" using the Harvard documents are girls' variations plus the jardin animé. And there are little precious parts - my personal favourite is "The little corsaire" danced by Medora in act 2 - not sure if I have seen this in any other versions. [NB: I have only seen ABT's and Kirov's old version on video, some time ago.] A lot of the male variations have been done by Ivan Liska, as well as many ensemble scenes. The programme lists exactly which music is used for which part and whose choreogrephy it is - and that's fantastic! [Don't have it at hand now, sorry.]

Sets and costumes are very colourful - some people find them too much, I like them - well, the jardin animé I believe has to be in pink, and there's quite a lot of pink in it, and we're no more used to such crowded stages, but somehow it's fascinating as it looks at least in my imagination like old Russian ballet may have looked.

A note on the dancers: Lucia Lacarra was first cast Medora but has been injured - therefore Lisa-Maree Cullum stepped in. 5 (!) performances (including the fully danced dress rehearsal) in 9 days - good stamina to her and her partner Lukas Slavicky! Alen Bottaini is a brilliant, ever stage-present Birbanto, and Tigran Mikayelyan a very impressive Ali. Natalia Kalinitchenko as Gulnara has lovely variations, and the three Odalisques are my personal favourite in the last act - Petipa's ladies' variations at its best.

So... I LOVE the production, it's fun and great dancing, plus a lot to watch and look at (many details); but I'm also addict of Minkus and his ballets, so that may be a reason why.

I'm also wondering if anybody from our forum attended the two-day "Petipa Reconstructions" symposium last week in Munich?

Sorry, did not attend - maybe someone else with a deeper understanding and more insight?

Hi Doug and all the others,

there are two nice reviews on www.tanznetz.de (only in German, that's the pity...)!

Went to see one performance on 29 September - t flat out with work at this stage, so just a few notes:

Lovely production - based on the Petipa version, but Marcia Haydée adds a lot to Carabosse (portrayed by a male dancer) and thus very nicely tells a story. Sets and costumes by Jürgen Rose help a lot - trees grow, fashion changes, it's easy to follow the story even without having read the programme.

Cast on 29 September included:

Maria Eichwald (Aurora) - delicate, elegant, very young and fresh - I particularly like the way she really looks at her partners (as a contrast to some dancers, she notices them!).

Friedemann Vogel (Desiré) - very fine elegant classical dancer, good partner. Only wish he'd sometimes look at his partner a bit more - he's best when dancing alone...

Douglas Lee (Carabosse) - was his second performance only. I was impressed, but who would not be so, the costume, make-up and the whole role are impressive. Regular ballet-goers told me there was so much more in this role if performed really well as in this ballet, Carabosse stands for the evil that's always present - he/she has a lot to do with props, so hopefully Douglas Lee will remember his acting strength once used to all that stuff!

Anna Osadczenko/Jason Reilly (Bluebird pdd) - she's one of the young girls standing out from the crowd, nice stage presence, good technique. And he's brilliant - even in this small but important role!

By the way, Douglas Lee is English, Jason Reilly is Canadian. Not sure about other nationalities....

And Doug, Liz looked absolutely lovely as one of the fairies in the prologue. Wish I had seen her Florine, though

Heard that Alen Bottaini will be guesting in Japan in the next weeks... Has anyone any more details when and where and which roles he will be dancing?

Wonderful news to have her (hopefully!) back on stage!

"Apartment" was only played live for the first few performances. This one was with taped music which surely adds to the noisy impression. Remark: The band on the back of the stage is replaced by an animal (not alive, of course) at which the dancers shout!

"A sort of" is to music by Henryk Mikolaj Górecki. It's two pdd plus eleven dancers; starts with a guy lying on the floor, awakening, scratching, stretching - realizing that his partner (girlfriend? wife?) sits in the first row of the audience. They prepare for a journey, and the first "part" ends with the girl being put into a suitcase, the guy getting an airline ticket, turning off the light and leaving for the trip. Then there are ensemble scenes, starting with colourful balloons looking over a wall which are then "pierced" (?); there is a second pdd which can be very romantic (depending a lot of the cast) where a boy meets a girl - it's all very colourful and what I consider to be typically Mats Ek, one second you laugh about something, the next you almost feel ashamed of doing so. There are some "shocking" moments, though not as "bad" as in his "Sleeping Beauty".

Orchestra is on stage, and for the curtain calls, dancers take musicians front stage.

Sorry, bit difficult to describe as there is no real story behind it, but maybe at least a little impression?

Silly me to forget this...!!

It was "A SORT OF" and "APARTMENT", the latter created for Paris Opera Ballet, if I am not wrong??

A short note on last nights Mats Ek programme - still not my favourite, but interesting as some new faces I had not seen dance Mats Ek before.

But mostly interesting of course was Maria's debut - if I am correct, then this was the first time she tackled his choreography - according to a press release of the company, it was Mats Ek's wish to have her cast in the last pdd.

And she seemed to enjoy it! Threw herself into the style as into everything she does, without any classical manierism - well, there is one particular port de bras in a lift which looked a bit like Swan Lake, but this is a port de bras that tempts every dancer, and I believe one would have to be totally ignorant of ballet to do it in a non-balletic way...

She was partnered by Juan Eymar (former Zurich Ballet, if I am right) - wish he had shown a bit more stage presence, a bit less respect - or maybe just that he had had more rehearsal time? (Listed until yesterday was Guan Deng as her partner...) But they looked good together in this beautiful pdd.

Not too many fans seemed to be in the audience (which surprised me) - well, at least there was no big shouting for her, but some nice flowers at the end.

Alen Bottaini danced the "stove" pdd with Valentina Divina - a nicely different approach to the one of Roman Lazik, the latter being more lyrical, while Alen put a lot of energy and emotion into it.

A lot of subscribers (?) in the audience, interval talks generally spoke of "great dancing" but apart from that obviously seemed not to enjoy it very much, especially found the music too loud (and boy, it's even louder after the interval!). So some seats remained empty, applause was not that frantic - but still friendly for a performance that must have been VERY modern for Munich subscribers...

A short note on last Friday's performance, particularly for those who know Lucia Laccara and Cyril Pierre (and of course for all fans of Alen Bottaini!):

It was a big success with lots of applause - especially for the three dancers in the leads.

Lucia Laccara looked very young and fragile (she is extremely thin which adds to this impression) and got into the role completely. Still, sometimes for my personal taste she tends to exaggerate - but I assume that's the freedom of Cranko's choreography which does not dictate every single port de bras like others do, so this is her personal style. She touched me and the audience in her interpretation, especially when rejected from her parents - but this scene never fails to move me anyway...

Cyril Pierre was a good partner and seemed to enjoy the role (more than the pure bravoura ones) - though at times I wished he would be more expressive... He seems to be used to take himself back to let his wife shine, but this is not what I am after in "Romeo" - this is no "Sleeping Beauty"!

Alen Bottaini was Mercutio - had not seen him in this role for quite a while, and as always and in whatever role he dances, he made it his own completely. In the street dance he was the only one who looked totally comfortable with the double tours en l'air (Benvolio was Erkan Kurt - not much to say about him yet), and his death was very tragic - who would have expected anything else?

The corps de ballet seemed well rehearsed - for a lot of the dancers this was new, although the ballet is so well known - and again, I was thrilled to discover new details (like I always do in Cranko ballets).

Next interesting cast will be 18 October with Lisa-Maree Cullum as Juliet and Alen Bottaini and Cyril Pierre swapping roles as Romeo and Mercutio.

There is a recording on 2 CDs:

Release date: 24. September 2002

Label: Decca (Universal)

ASIN: B000068QRV

Composer: Jules Massenet

Conductor: Richard/Roho Bonynge

Format: Audio CD

(Number of CDs: 2)

Not sure of the quality as have no comparison, but was very happy to see this has been released again (had been searching the music myself for some years!)

Hi Doug,

cast for Lulu is (finally) on Stuttgart website - so there seems to be someone updating it!

http://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/deutsch/index.html

Regarding Balanchine, you're probably right - it's so complex, there are not many choices... my main interest is in Apollo anyway for this ballet (in my opinion) depends quite a lot on the cast, whether it looks a bit old fashioned or timeless... Will see (and will also try to spot dd in the performances!)...

Sorry to see there is NO cast information on Stuttgart website yet, neither for Lulu nor for Balanchine... Anyone has any information for the performances on 8/9 October? (YESS, I did get tickets!!)

Cast including (as per current website):

Lucia Laccara (Juliet)

Cyril Pierre (Romeo)

Alen Bottaini (Mercutio)

Has anyone more details yet?

Herman,

thanks for your reply! Well, since there (finally) is the German speaking forum www.tanznetz.de, there is a special section published by Horst Koegler in which he writes his thoughts and comments. Since he lives in Stuttgart (or nearby), I think he visits almost every performance.

For Stuttgart Ballet, there are indeed often reviews of several performances, especially of different casts which I think is great - very often, only first cast gets a review...

Doug,

thanks for the "inside information" regarding the very short rehearsal time - hope dd did enjoy the performances nevertheless - and that she gets a well deserved break!

I do hope to go to Stuttgart for the "double" performance on 9 October - although I am a bit unsure if six times Balanchine a day won't be a bit too much (especially since good tickets are not that cheap...). Anyway, I hope to see Douglas Lee as Apollo!!

Maybe I'll combine it with Lulu on 8 October - very unsure about that ballet, though...

Hi Doug,

sorry, was not able (yet) to go and see the programme.

German reviews (among others in www.tanznetz.de) were friendly - stating that this is quite a demanding triple bill without any "blockbusters", but more like a "gourmet menu". I do know the ballets (and so do you, I bet) and could not agree more.

Audience reception was described as very friendly, but not as enthusiastically as with the full length story telling ballets.

Praise was especially given to Douglas Lee's performance as Apollo.

Horst Koegler noted after the premiere that some polishing of the lines was still necessary - in his second review, about 10 days (don't know how many performances) later he found that already improved.

Sorry, not an awful lot of information

Sonja

Treefrog, many thanks! Will try this - it's not urgent as I've been searching for quite a while already, so it will be worth trying!

Dear Jane,

thanks for this information - you're right, that way it might be quite impossible to find out the details... A pity, though, as it would be quite interesting...

Sonja

Wherever I check, I can only find that Kurt-Heinz Stolze arranged music from Scarlatti - but no more details.

Any hint which music he used would be most welcome!

Hi mohnurka,

no, Elena Pankova is no more in Munich - well, at least she is no more member of the Bavaria State Ballet. Her husband Kirill Melnikov is still there and also teaching at Heinz Bosl Stiftung (the local Ballet school).

Last December they danced in a production called "The enchanted swan" at Deutsches Theater which they also produced on their own if I am well informed - I did not see it but heard there was not too much classical dancing in it.

Apart from that, no idea what she is doing now...

Sylphide, thank you so much for your review!

I am glad you enjoyed the performance - I think Lucia Laccara and Roman Lazik have a lovely rapport on stage which adds to the quality of their dancing.

Sorry to hear about the corps de ballet - but I was worried about that before they left Germany as they were flat out already then! There are lots and lots of injuries, so I do not know how many of the girls had to step in with very short rehearsal time... They used to be better, especially when they first performed La Bayadere a few years ago - but maybe also too much Mats Ek has taken some of the etheral quality out of their dancing?

Lucky you to have seen Erkan Kurt earlier than anyone here in Munich - I only learnt from a press realease that he had been given a contract, and now we are waiting to see him here on stage!

Thanks again - and I do hope you will get some classical ballet sometimes, too!

Bavarian State Ballet currently performs Raymonda in Montréal and Ottawa. News on their website are very enthusiastic, speaking of standing ovations and great success - but has anyone seen them perform? What do you think???