Dreamer

Congratulations to Madison, Esteban and Conley! Though I am, too, surprised over Esteban being promoted ahead of Benjamin Fremantle. SFB male principal rank is getting scarce of tall, princely, danceurs nobles. I would like to see Henry Sidford getting there sooner rather then later.

When I saw Lauren in what is now known as her last performance I thought how lucky SFB was to have this ballerina on its roster, and was full of hope we would get to see her more often, if not this season then next year. I am so sad to learn it will not be the case. She will be missed.

Ok, the casting mystery for Odalisques has been solved. In tonight’s (April 10) performance, Shamala Guseinova replaced Valeria Martynyuk, whose name was printed in the playbill. There was a sheet of paper about the substitution inserted in the program. I take it that Martynyuk will not appear at the KC. Too bad, as she is one of Mariinsky’s underused ballerinas who I really like and am always excited to see.

The cast of April 9 performance: Conrad: Timur Askerov Medora: Maria Khoreva Ali: Kimin Kim Gulnara: Nadezhda Batoeva Lankedem: Alexei Timofeyev Birbanto: Yuri Smekalov Said Pasha: Soslan Kulaev Odalisques: Daria Ionova/ Anastasia Nuikina/ Maria Bulanova I will have to look at the playbill to post the names of character dancers as I don’t remember them.

Thank you! I am not familiar with younger Mariinsky dancers and would not have recognized her. At the open dress rehearsal that part was danced by Shamala Guseinova but, according to the playbill, she is not scheduled for any performance.

Can anyone who attended the opening night performance help me figure out who was the third Odalisque replacing May Nagahisa? I’ll post my thoughts later after I have seen a couple of more performances. The dancing from all main characters was excellent tonight but I can’t say that I liked Peter Gusev’s version of the ballet. The libretto was different as well as the music. I am so used to the comical, light headed and silly treatment of the story that I wasn’t prepared to this more somber interpretation, with somewhat sensible portrayal of women slavery. I thought that dropping of Bribanto’s character out of the storyline after Act 2 was a shortcoming as there was no further development of the confrontation between him and Conrad once Medora recognizes him as the betrayer. And I found the set design gaudy.

I look forward to seeing Possokhov’s new piece and excited about Sofiane Sylve. I also do not recall her ever being cast in his ballets (The Queen of Dryads in Don Q probably doesn’t count). Yuri does like working with Shipulina at the Bolshoi who bears some remote physical similarities to Sylve. I am actually surprised that Sylve and Possokhov never did anything together before. Maybe different worldviews and personalities?

First intermission of the evening performance: Yasmine Naghdi’s Rose Adagio was beyond any words. I never heard the San Francisco Opera House get so loud!

You're right. The website now lists Margarita Shrainer as Kitri.

Unfortunately not with the Bolshoi. But she will be dancing in “Don Quixote” opposite Isaac Hernandez next month at the Teatro Colon. She also performed with Queensland Ballet two years ago.

Having a good memory is not nearly as impressive as having psychic abilities. That question of yours about three pregnancies was prophetic 😎.

Last year Walsh got injured and didn’t dance in the Sleeping Baeuty. Kochetkova’s partner was DiLano. It was a quite awkward pairing as she was way too short for him. Kochetkova was scheduled for the opening night but got moved and had only one performance.

There is a thread on this forum discussing the issue around RB broadcasts in the US. Last time I saw the same day broadcast (it was never live on the West Coast) was Osipova/Acosta “Giselle”. Then we completely missed a couple of seasons until the broadcasts resumed in select theaters. https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/44149-20182019-royal-ballet-cinema-in-usa/

Thanks for the heads-up, sf_herminator! 😍

Unfortunately for US viewers, the broadcast of RB performances has been a continuing problem--there are very few theaters in the country that may screen it with a delay of several weeks.

Over the years, SFB invited a few guest artists. Those that I can remember are: Cory Stearns (ABT) as Onegin in “Onegin” Lloyd Riggins (Hamburg Ballet) as Poet in “Little Mermaid” Sarah Lane (ABT) as grown-up Clara in “Nutcracker” Denis Matvienko (National Ballet of Ukraine) as Solor in “La Bayadere” (Kingdom of the Shades) Joaquín De Luz (NYCB) in “Other Dances” Johan Kobborg (retired) in PdD from “Manon” at a Opening Night Gala So technically,, there was a brief guest appearance by a former RB principal. But not really.

In the second fish dive, she stumbled after the pirouette but Walsh was able to sort of lift her and pulled into the dive position. The way I saw it only the second fish dive went awry, the first and the third one looked fine. I also want to add that Naghdi was the only ballerina that I ever saw who didn’t keep her gaze fixed on a single spot during the balances in the Rose Adagio but she actually noded to her cavaliers and kept her upper body totally relaxed. This was really something! The audience gave her a very warm welcome and supported through the entire performance. ETA: For those who want to see Naghdi, her next performance is on Saturday evening, not Friday.

Resist!

Cavan Conley has been quite busy this season. He danced multiple roles in the Nutcracker, Espada in DonQ and the petit allegro sequence of Etudes. This is from what I can remember, maybe he did more than that.

My guess is the situation with two principal dancers (Chung and Scheller) not performing Aurora this year did not provide enough time for a company soloist to learn this role. Park probably started to rehearse it early in the season when Helgi had to find a replacement for departed Kochetkova.

I am beyond excited over the news of guest appearance of Yasmine Naghdi. And with none other than Joe Walsh as her Prince.

The closing night of Giselle was the best performance the company gave. None of the main characters (Crystal Costa as Giselle, Aitor Arrieta as Albrecht, Erik Woolhouse as Hilarion and Isabelle Brouwers as Myrtha) were of the principal rank but the level of artistry, passion and interpersonal chemistry surpassed that seen in other performances. It looked like all pieces of the puzzle suddenly fell into place and the ballet unfolded in its full glory. In the matinee performance, Hernandez dancing opposite Tamara Rojo looked somewhat more engaged but I still found him lacking intensity and emotional connection to the role. He had quite an impressive support group that kept shouting “Bravo, Isaac” at the curtain call.

Nicolai Gorodiskii danced the Russian and Spanish in Nutcracker and Gypsy Leader in Don Q. Kozlov is recovering from injury, so, sadly, it’s unclear how soon we will see him perform. It would so exciting if new dancers debut as Aurora this year. I doubt the company could complete the run will only three existing Auroras. I am keen on seeing Sasha De Sola, hopefully Ana Sophia Scheller and whoever the new face might be.

I had mixed feelings after the opening night performance. First, I found it to be very VERY darkly lit, a problem that becomes more and more prevalent in newly created ballets. I understand that the story calls for the stage to be dark but, come on, I want to see dancers emotions and not just their silhouettes. Alina Cojocaru conveys the physiological state of her heroine with every part of her body, her tensions, pain and agony ripple through her body and reveberate in every step she makes and in her eyes searching for answers. She was like a little delicate butterfly agonizing in the last moment of its life. Cojocaru is a tiny dancer yet her dancing is so intense, unrestrained, and magnetic that she commands full and undivided attention of the audience when on stage. Hernandez, in contrast, was exceptionally devoid of any emotions. His body was so stiff and the face so inexpressive that I didn’t think anyone could feel anything for his character, maybe just annoyance. The last scene with Albrecht mourning by the wall with his back to the audience was such an anticlimax to this otherwise heart wrenching story. Hernandez might be a great classical dancer and perform an impressive, full of tricks Basilio’s variation at some gala but he is not an actor dancer. I am sad to conclude that the years he spent dancing as a principal dancer since leaving his soloist position with San Francisco Ballet did little for development of his acting skills. He remains a boring and unmoving dancer in story ballets. Jeffrey Cirio was so much more effective in creating a powerful dramatic presence and being a part of this dark tragic narrative. Cirio’s pliable body and the ability to execute quick and precise moves were a perfect tool for this choreography infused with traditional Indian dance. And Brava to Stina Quagebeur (Myrtha) — this role requires feet of steel because the dancer performs long and grueling sequences of pointe steps, with the especially impressive one when Myrtha is bourreeing across the stage while dragging a lifeless body of Giselle behind her. This is definitely a captivating ballet and I look forward to the repeat viewing so I could absorb more details.