mnacenani

On Sat 22nd and Sun 23rd October two "Bolshoy Ballet Artists' Gala"s coming up. Great cast imho, suspected it could be so and got tickets blind from internet advance sale in July. Programmes (in Russki !) :

Sat 22 Oct : http://www.bolshoi.ru/performances/1014/

Sun 23 Oct : http://www.bolshoi.ru/performances/1114/

Will try to post a translation shortly, would appreciate if seasoned membership could comment on the pieces and artists.

Thanks very much for the posting tip Drew - I still have to find my way around on this forum and any tips and suggestions from seasoned members is most welcome. Will just post here the program for the a.m. galas I managed to translate at snail's pace (am on Russian beginner's course)

22 OCTOBER SATURDAY

Talisman pdd : Hahlova-Lapatin

Spring Water (Messerer) : Tixomirova-Ovcharenko

Flammes de Paris pdd : Kosyreva-Tsvirko

Sylphide pdd : Osipova-Belyakov

Raymonda Grand Pas : Krysanova-Gudanov (vari. Shreiner)

Spectre de la Rose :  Vinogradova-Gudanov

Valse (Moshkovskiy) : Ryzhkina-Savin

Fille Mal Gardee adagio : Osipova-Lapatin

Esmeralda-Diana&Acteon pdd : Krysanova-Tsvirko

La Mort de Cygne : Nikulina

Grand Pas Classique (Auber) : Smirnova-Chudin


23 OCTOBER SUNDAY

Spring Water (Messerer) : Tixomirova-Ovcharenko

Flammes de Paris pdd : Kosyreva-Vasiliev

Corsaire pdd : Stepanova-Rodkin

Sylphide pdd : Osipova-Belyakov

Esmeralda-Diana&Acteon pdd : Krysanova-Tsvirko

Spectre de la Rose :  Vinogradova-Gudanov

Valse (Moshkovskiy) : Ryzhkina-Savin

Fille Mal Gardee adagio : Osipova-Lapatin

Talisman pdd : Hahlova-Vasiliev

La Mort de Cygne : Nikulina

Grand Pas Classique (Auber) : Smirnova-Chudin

Two incredible galas coming up at the Balshoy next weekend October 22-23 : "Gala-Concert of Balshoy Ballet Artists". Almost all of the Balshoy primas and first soloists are on PLUS Osipova and Vasiliev !! Am patting myself on the back because I suspected it could be what it turned out to be and got tix for both nights from internet advance sale. Tix were available some days ago but I suspect it has or will be sold out. Regrettably Balshoy has not bothered to post the program in English on their website but the Russki version is on the links below. Any Russki speaking members please make a resumé for the benefit of the rest.

22 OKT : http://bolshoi.ru/performances/1014/

23 OKT : http://bolshoi.ru/performances/1114/

Wonder if any members are following British ballet critic Ismene Brown's blog on Russian affairs. I am posting below her two latest posts. I suggest members look up Ismene's CV under "About" !

http://ismeneb.com/blogs-list/160819-vaziev-full-steam-ahead-after-london-tour.html

I saw two casts of Swan Lake and two casts of Corsaire on this tour. I was at long last able to see my "Zvezda" Svetlana Zakarova as Odette/Odile. I identified Anna Tixomirova as destined for stardom (her dancing and characterisation as Gulnare was mind blowing !) and texted my ballet friends immed after performance. So you can perhaps imagine this Ballet 101 student's elation when none other than Vaziev voiced the same opinion (see article) - I jumped up and down with joy !!

http://ismeneb.com/blogs-list/161012-bolshois-uvarov-succeeds-zelensky-at-stasik.html

I have yet to see something at Stasik, hopefully this season. I seem to remember Zelensky from the Nineties when we used to see opera and ballet at the ROH , am I wrong ? Anyway he came to my atttention when he took over the Munich Staatsballett from Ivan Liska this summer and abruptly Lacarra, Dinu and some others left Munich. I queried my ballet advisor Vita in Moscow and she replied "Well when Zelensky came to Stasik two dozen dancers immediately left" !  Zelensky was a star dancer but it is said he has a brash and "not very polite" management style - in fact I have been told today by another contact that shouting at and scolding dancers is established coaching style in Russia !  Any comments anyone ??

A footnote : saw Lacarra live first time at the Malakhov & Friends Gala in Berlin beginning of September, on two consecutive nights. My my ...... to my layman's eye this is per-fec-tion !  What grace, what beauty of movement, the "celestial" PdB !!  Lucia and Marlon

I regret having to say upstaged Vishnova (my other Zvezda) and Malakhov and stole the show ... on both nights !

"the best Russian ballet ...... can be a really profound vision of a certain kind of beauty or ...... on ...... an intensity and, indeed, drama that is unforgettable in its spirit"

Dear Drew :  ballet could be the most "contentious" art form there is ..... or one thereof. For me ballet is or should be high drama told by mime and movement, and with music to match and whip up emotions it can really be "gesamtkunstwerk" ! For me ballet is Romeo & Juliet, Bayadere, Giselle ..... universal and timeless stories told via mime, movement and music, to which anyone of any culture or race can instantly relate to. In opera Tosca and Butterfly also tell universal and timeless stories of human behaviour but the first time viewer cannot make out anything without reading the synopsis. Would a primary school kid anywhere need to read the synopsis to be able to understand what is going on in R&J or Bayadere or Gisellle ? I think not, one can make out what the story is and be affected by it even the first time round. Who am I to postulate or pontificate but I will stick my neck out and say ballet is not just movement synced to music, that can be called dance. Ballet for me is something much more, something that will touch my heart, and in this respect for me at least Russian classical ballet is matchless. No dancer born and bred in England or France can have this "spirit" and do such characterisation, it simply is not in their blood, in their genes. It may be due to my Central Asian (Uzbek) ancestry but I can feel it, it beckons me. I have been fortunate enough to see a number of ballets at both Balshoy and Mariinsky over the last 21 months, those in the know say that Mariinsky has more refined and elegant, more "pure classical" style but I have identi- fied with the Balshoy - there is something here I find more "spiritual" for lack of a better word. Again this must be something very personal and subjective .......

On the other hand, ballet can be excellent and exhilarating comedy too ...... my favourite is Don Kixot. Again a schoolkid imho probably would not have to read the synopsis to figure out the story and enjoy the show. Anything staged should, must have a story which viewers can relate to, this is my firm belief. I hope what I have written on this post will make some sense to some members.

"Perhaps, if you have time, you could talk about one or two performances you found especially memorable?"

Dear Drew sorry for late reply - I thought I would be notified of any replies to my post. The two most memorable performances of Russian classical ballet I have seen are the R&J I saw at the ROH London with Vishnova and Shklyarov (which got me instantly addicted) and the first performance ever I saw in Russia, namely Lebedinoye Ozero (S.L.) at the Balshoy with Nikulina-Chudin-Belyakov. I had been flying out from Istanbul from 1988 onwards to see opera which was my main interest, and only casually saw classical ballet if and when I could book something which fit in. Thus I and my wife saw ballet mainly at the ROH London in the Nineties, and even though we were not seasoned ballet goers were disenchanted with the ragged sync and symmetry of the RB at the time. We did some fact finding and learned that the place for ballet was Paris not really London so we defected to Paris at the turn of the century. Thus I was not really aware of what Russian classical ballet was until I saw a live telecast of R&J from the Mariinsky with Vishnova-Shklyarov in 2013. I sat watching open-mouthed :  the precision and beauty of movement, the characterisation was incomparable with anything I had seen previously in London or Paris. So when I discovered in 2014 that Mariinsky would be touring in London and the opening performance was R&J with the same cast and by sheer luck was able to find two good seats at an agency we flew over and saw it live, and that was it for me. I have read above that some members don't like Vishnova and I respect their opinion as this is a very personal and subjective thing, but for me Vishnova is the Juliet for all time. I was introduced to her backstage after a performance of Bayaderka at Mariinsky this summer which will be one of the high points of my "ballet education" trips. Vishnova's characterisation of Juliet imho cannot be superseded, I cannot imagine anyone doing it "better" or more realistic.

Now my first ever trip to Russia to see "Swan Lake" (not exact translation of real name Lebedinoye Ozero) at the Balshoy :  I had seen quite a few S.L. live and telecast and on dvd, but the current Grigarovich staging really opened my eyes to what it could be ! No winged feathered and caped sorcerers I had been accustomed to in this one ..... but a "Zloy Geniy" (Evil Genius) the first act choreo for whom vs Siegfried mind-blowing imho. The character parts, eg "Shut" (Fool) acted and danced to perfection .... athletic and artistic level up there, never have seen anything comparable in London or Paris. The CdB :  obviously and visibly the result of meticulous and continuous selection and training, the look, sync and symmetry of which is still not matched in London. The enthusiasm and response of the watching public ....... a really seismic experience for me. It was an overnight trip and I flew back to Istanbul lamenting not discovering Russian classical ballet much earlier in my life, and time wasted in London and Paris. Once again, have read above that some members do not like this staging, and again it's a case of "chacun a son gout" but this staging was a most memorable experience for me.

Dear Members : sorry for not being able to live up to my promises after posting my impressions on "Legenda o Lyubvi" at the Balshoy in December last year, which is somewhere below in this section. However, in the meantime I have been to Russia a few times and have seen classical ballet mainly at the Balshoy but also at Mariinskiy and Mikhailovskiy in "Piter". I have made up a pdf file of what I have seen so far from July 2014 onwards, being addicted to Russian classical ballet after seeing Vishnova and Shklyarov live at the ROH London. I will shortly send this file (my CV, if you will) to our admin and ask them to kindly attach it to this post for your perusal. If any members are interested in discussing anything related I will try to oblige amap. But please note : I see classical ballet only and take a dim view of "contemporary", and after discovering in Russia what ballet can be at my ripe old age, a dim view of "ballet" in Western Europe !

If I may venture an opinion : the current Grigarovich staging at the Balshoy in Maskva ! The first act choreo for Siegfried/Rothbart (Zloy Geniy=Evil Genius in Russki) is mind-blowing imho. Saw it at Balshoy in Jan 2015 on my first trip to Russia (Nikulina/Chudin/Belyakov) and recently twice at the ROH London in August this year (Smirnova/Chudin/Kryuchkov)+(Zakharova/Rodkin/Belyakov). The Jesters are something to see too ... no one in the West can do this sort of characterization. The current Legris staging at Vienna is very good too but you have to pick your cast,  Konovalova and Yakovleva are good dancers.

Drew glad to hear that you found my post somewhat interesting. Will try to post my Mariinsky visits notes asap with link to Shakirova's clip on Youtube. I am a ballet "student" not an expert but I believe it would not take anyone with some "sensitivity" for it more than 15 seconds to spot great talent. I firmly believe Shakirova will hit big time quite soon.

Hi Mashinka. To my mind the stranger's demand that Banu trade her beauty for her sister's recovery is a fundamental element of the plot as it introduces a psychological reason for the ensuing behaviour of Banu : she has saved her sister only for her to capture the heart of Banu's beloved Farkhad who otherwise might have fallen for Banu. Hell hath no fury like a woman who has been upstaged by her younger sister ...... and no man could be as cruel towards another man as a woman can be towards another woman (!)

Hi there seasoned membership - would like to share my experience with you. After discovering that I have been shortchanged in London in Paris for the last 30+ years I took it upon myself with a vengeance to see proper classical ballet in Russia and this was my 5th trip to Russia this year, the third to the Bolshoi the other two being to the Mariinsky. As some of you may know relations between Turkey and RF soured last month due to an incident at the Syrian border. The RF government revoked the visa exemption for Turkish citizens effective 1st January but in the meantime has been refusing entry to many Turks going to Russia as tourists. So it was against this backdrop that I took off without a visa on the early morning flight from Istanbul last Sunday on a mission to see Svetlana Zakharova as Queen Banu in Legenda o Lyubvi which I understand is generally regarded as Grigorovich's supreme creation, shortly after his arrival at the Bolshoi in the early Sixties.

I have been attending a Russian language course in my hometown Istanbul for some months now so I memorised what I should say to the passport officer in Russian to explain myself upon arrival. I had prepared and printed out everything including a copy of my ticket mailed from my hotel. The young lady officer was very polite and told me to sit down and wait and took my passport to the back office and within 10 minutes was back with good news. I must say on all of my trips to Russia so far I have been treated nicely and warmly by anyone and everyone I have met. So after checking in at the hotel and a quick nap and dressing up in a black evening suit I was at the Bolshoi half an hour before curtain up to enjoy a drink at their spacious café-bar on the top floor.

Opening the program I discover to my horror that once again Sveta has jilted me (!) and is off having been replaced by Masha Allash (an eminent Myrtha !) as Banu. The cast sheet was overwritten by hand so must have been a very late casting change, and there was also an announcement before curtain up. I had never seen Legenda as it is not on the repertory of Western European companies as far as I know. Once the initial shock of the absence of Sveta wore off the performance was enjoyable. Shirin was Anna Nikulina and I finally clicked with her on this third time seeing her live (previously as Odette/odile and Giselle) and really appreciated her characterisation and technique. The CdB was excellent as always, but the story was barely discernible from the choreo. if at all - I totally believe any performing arts work must have a story to tell which in ballet the audience hopefully can discern and relate to without having to read the synopsis every now and then. I did not read the synopsis on purpose but like most people living in the Near East I know the basic story of "Farkhad-wa-Shirin" which the great Turkish writer Nazim Hikmet made into a play and later worked with Grigorovich for the libretto of Legenda. My standard test question is : would anyone seeing this ballet be able to make out and relate to the story (as imho in Giselle or Bayadere) without reading or being told what it is all about ? For this ballet my answer would be a firm "Nyet" !

The choreo. and general spectacle quite impressive if you are not bent on searching for the story ..... especially considering what passes for "ballet" these days. I thought the ensemble scenes bore a striking resemblance to "Spartak" which I had seen before so that must be Grigorovich's work too which turned out to be a correct guess upon looking up later - I presume this would be called his "style". The music of Arif Melikov not on par with Prokofiev's R&J but again enjoyable and at times quite evocative for Orientals like myself ! The combined artistic + athletic performance of the soloists and the CdB was once again something which can only be found in Russia - nothing I have seen in London and Paris over the past 30+ years comes close let alone match it. I will try to post what I have seen on the previous four visits under a separate heading, but let me just say for now write down this name : Renata Shakirova ! Saw her as Kitri at Mariinsky last month, incredible talent imho, graduated this year from Vaganova and had her debut as Kitri I think only in October which is on Youtube.

I would have liked to attach the synopsis and castsheet of Legenda as pdf file but could not work out how to do it. Maybe the moderators can give me a hand ??

Note from Helene: Here it is -- thank you so much! (Click to enlarge):

(Click to download .pdf)

Bolshoi Legenda o Lyubi 13DEC2015.pdf

A belated enthusiasm for classical ballet (only!) and the urge to catch up asap makes me sign up. After seeing ballet in London and Paris for the last 30 years (yes ..... I am awol from Jurassic Park !) I finally discovered a couple of years ago where I should have invested my time and money : at the Bolshoi and Mariinsky. I cannot comment on American ballet at all but would love to post my views on what I have seen in Russia so far. Hope the current state of affairs will be reconciled amicably so that I can return to Russia and the Champions League of classical ballet. Best wishes for Xmas and the new year to all you "old timers" !