mnacenani

The second half started with "Rapsodiya" (M Gabarayev/C Zakalinsk). Krysanova dancing with an Ossetian folk dance troupe, young boys clad in traditional Caucasian garb. Can't remember the music now but must have been Ossetian "muzika narodnaya". This was followed by the well known PdD from Nutcracker starring Sevenard and Rodkin, candelabra-wielding cast in support. Sevenard not looking bad but can't say more, will have to see if/when she leads in a full classic. Kovalyova was one of the "extras" in this. Then on the numbers presented were Diana & Acteon from Esmeralda (Stashkevich/Lapatin), Aegina- Crassus PdD from Spartak (Marchenkova-Belyakov), Aurora-Desiree PdD from SB (Jiganshina-Skvortsov). Thought Marchenkova looked good, leaving aside any possible "bad arms and hands". Jiganshina I am getting to like more as I see her, cute sweet girl. Skvortsov appeared in place of Chudin who was in the programme, was very good Desiree to my eye. The closing number on programme was the Don Kixot Grand Pas, and I was waiting for the first bars of this music I love so much but got a shock instead when drums began to beat loudly as if the Bayaderka gang had run amok. In rushed the Ossetian folk dance troupe and put on a very impressive show of traditional Caucasian folk dances. We know this well in Istanbul since belly dancers and Caucasian folk dancers have forever been standard features of night clubs and restaurants catering for tourist groups. Finally it is Don Kixot time and "maya lyubimaya artistka" Yekaterina Krysanova will be partnered by none other thaaaaan ...... Ivan Vasiliyev ! Between numbers I was chatting with my companion re Vasiliyev and said everyone discusses his aerobatics but rarely gives him credit for his (imho) excellent character acting. Upon hearing this the lady in the adjacent seat smiled wryly, but I stand by my opinion - I have seen Ivan in excellent characterisation as Albrecht, and not everyone convinces me he is Albrecht. Two years ago I had seen Katya as Kitri in full DK in matinee vs Zaharova in the evening and thought Katya was the better Kitri, though I can't get enough of Svetlana. Katya is a great ARTIST - wouldn't mind one bit if she gets the live cinecast of Coppelia, though I have bet on Hahlova. So this was it "Uvajaimiye Dami i Gaspada" ...... many people don't think much of galas dismissing them as a bunch of unrelated PdDs which they are, but for novichoks like myself it is an opportunity to see artists and repertory one perhaps would not be able to see, especially if one picks and chooses and targets only specific artists and ballets - at the very minimum I got to see what Laurencia would look like ! PS : at the start of the evening and at some point in the first half various dignitaries from Ossetia-Alania came out to bestow Adyrhayeva with assorted medals and titles of their republic.

Next came the Dance with Drum from Bayaderka, the Banu-Ferhad adagio from LoL (Marchenkova-Rodkin) and the Tatiana-Onegin PdD (letter scene) from first act of Onegin (Goryacheva-Skvortsov). First time I saw Marchenkova in a role since she didn't appear as Gamzatti recently - thought she could be good for some roles. I haven't seen Onegin and thought this PdD resembled the choreo of Manon - any comments welcome. Last number before the interval was an excerpt from Laurencia (PdQ), the leads danced by Krysanova and Lantratov, supported by Sevenard, Kruteleva et al. I haven't seen this ballet either live or recorded and have to make a trip to Mixailovskiy sometime next season.

Moscow, Saturday 12 May - from your own (self-styled) Moscow correspondent : tonight the Historic Stage of the Bolshoy hosted the jubilee gala of former Bolshoy dancer, current ballet coach Svetlana Adyrhayeva. As SA has been coaching my fav Krysanova plus Stashkevich and has recently taken on Sevenard I thought we might be in for something interesting. In the event it wasn't something out of this world but not bad. Apart from the ballet what was interesting for me was learning that the emcee of the evening Vaziyev, the honoree Adyrhayeva, of those who danced my beloved Krysanova, Stashkevich, Lapatin and some others are from Ossetia. The gala program was composed of excerpts from ballets SA had danced in her prime. The first piece was a PdD from Esmeralda (not D&A, the one with tambourine) danced by Kruteleva-Mkrtchyan. This was followed by "Trio" (Music Chopin/Choreo Tyuntinov ?) danced by three girls from Vaganova, Adyrhayeva's alma mater. The third piece was "Hunter and Bird" (M Grieg/C Yakabson) danced by Stashkevich-Khromushin. This was new for me and I found the choreo interesting. Followed by that well-known gala standard, PdD from "Flames of Paris" danced by Mishina-Tsvirko. Igor seems hell-bent on proving anything Vasiliev can do he also can ! (TBC)

Watched it ....... I beg forgiveness but "Prince Orlofsky" would probably have said "How booooring !" if he had watched it too

Good to know, balletlover08 - seems now we are a threesome !

С Днём Победы ! Today 9th May is Victory Day in Russia, and tonight Alyona will be dancing Diamonds with Tissi at the Historic Stage, while 1,001 fireworks light up the skies of Moscow outside. The livecast of the parade on Red Square is on now, will be followed by the "Bessmertniy Polk" remembrance march in the afternoon and by the show on Red Square and fireworks in the evening. Those who can get Kanal 1, RTR Planeta or Rossiya 24 on sat or cable can tune in. Weather fine in Moscow today and if it holds the fireworks should be quite spectacular.

Vaziyev seems to enjoy throwing in new talent at the deep end - imho Alyona did not sink but swam both in Swan Lake and Bayaderka. Didn't Vaziyev suddenly cast Shreiner (correct ?) as the lead for Swan Lake on the London tour two years ago ?? PS : Shreiner correct, Swan Lake wrong : she was cast as Kitri in Don Kixot (many thanks to Drew for this correction)

Would appreciate hearing your view on Adiarys Almeida today. Never saw her live, missed seeing her when she danced Kitri at the Kremlin Festival last year when I was there but had already booked something else ..... sigh ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R9fo4cKgNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOWhG1wtJdE

I believe Alyona is being coached by Chenchikova, Vaziev's wife. I saw Alyona's matinee debut in Swan Lake last September, and her Bayaderka debut last week. As much as I wanted to, after SL ended I could not rush out of the Bolshoy shouting "Uraaa - we have a star !" as I wrote in my report above at the time. But I would strongly disagree with any and all that Alyona made a hash of Odette/Odile and/or Nikiya !! Both performances were imho quite acceptable, especially so as debuts, but were not absolutely perfect. Like Buddy I take in the overall impression, whether the dancer IS the character, and don't or can't notice whether her arms and hands are "perfect". So, agree with you that we have tremendous talent in absolutely beautiful form (by the metre ) here ........ if she also has that steely determination required I am sure one day I will make that proclamation to the Teatralnaya crowd !

As you might have detected, I tend to fall for dancers who look supremely self assured (to the point of arrogance to borrow a phrase from Fleurdelis) and rarely if ever put a foot wrong : Zaharova, Vishnova, Alexandrova, Krysanova. Have met the first two and saw the glint of steel in their eyes, haven't met the last two or Lapatkina but am somewhat certain they also would have that glint of steely determination, self-assurance in their eye. Does Kovalyova have what it takes to climb to and stay at the top ?? Don't know, do hope she does - we shall see in due time - I for one am hoping to be able to track her progress over the next couple of seasons if my knees and back can sustain the travel

Dear Buddy : in 2016 I was going to see two casts of Swan Lake by Bolshoy on tour in London. SL was not my fav classic ballet and to get a bit more insight into the characterisation I went through my dvd archive and took out all the SLs I found (8 or 9 by various companies/dancers) and watched them as homework. Lopatkina (a dancer I found rather "cold and aloof") got my top rating for Odile - I have to date not seen a more "convincing" characterisation. Had seen Lopatkina as Odette/Odile when the "Kirov" were on tour in London in the summer of 1997, but ballet was a "filler" for us opera fans at the time and don't remember anything. Zaharova was one of the Big Swans at this performance, can you imagine !

Many thanks to whoever has found this video sequence : will "illustrate" my comments in my report above, which you may agree or disagree with. How about "beautiful form by the metre" ??

rhys ..... you just made my day ! I have a ticket for the Berlin premiere but it hadn't occurred to me that any "reconstruction" might/would include the fourth act, which I cannot stand. Nikiya chasing Gamzatti/Solor around the temple is a farce and totally anticlimatic - Nureyev and Grigarovich had better taste and knew where to stop, seems Makarova didn't (imho). Re London : am not planning to see any ballet in London, not even Osipova, will let my membership expire. I only like classical ballet and get more bang for my bucks in Russia.

Your recollection of the current Bolshoy staging re Solor is correct, and I also buy your argument re the Nikiya/Gamzatti dynamics. Maybe one reason why my default cast for Bayaderka has been Zaharova/Alexandrova since I first saw them 5 years ago (beauty is in the eye of the beholder - before anyone says anything !) Imho it adds another dramatic dimension, suggesting Gamzatti is not complicit in the "elimination" of Nikiya and wasn't hell-bent on destroying her at all cost, adds depth to her character. In the Mariinka version Gamzatti sits still on her throne expressionless if I remember correctly, will look up again. There is a new Ratmansky Bayaderka "reconstruction" coming up at Berlin, to premiere on 4th November. Regrettably Berlin doesn't have the talent Bolshoy has, though Simkin can be a good Solor, depending. Am waiting to see who will dance the female leads ..... Simyonova/Salenko ??

Overnight I had a rethink regarding what I wrote, and would appreciate response from any members who also attach importance to the drama component of ballet. Maybe dramatically it would be more suitable for Gamzatti to be "less beautiful" and "form wise less perfect" than Nikiya ?? When Gamzatti calls in Nikiya and lifts her head to see her face she is "stunned" by her beauty which by implication is part of the reason for her ensuing rage. When all the details, even small ones, fall into place, dance and drama, doesn't classic ballet become a (even the) most potent form of dramatic expression ? This might come round once in a blue moon but when it does ....... A small dramatic detail I especially looked out for at Wednesday's Bayaderka was what I had mentioned in a post some time ago : when Nikiya is bitten by the snake, in more than one performance I saw, Gamzatti/Alexandrova stepped down from her throne in horror and looked at her father in disbelief, after seeing him give instructions to Aya earlier. Imho this is great "theatre" and does/should have considerable effect on those who notice it. Shrayner also stepped down but couldn't replicate Alexandrova's excellent portrayal.

Thank you for this news - was in Moscow yesterday and knew about this press conference but my friends didn't tell me what the subject was.

Current Chess production at ENO London reviews round-up by The Stage. I was there too and whatever any of the British critics says one way or another cannot make me buy the physically and vocally miscast Alexandra Burke as "Svetlana" !! https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2018/chess-at-the-london-coliseum-michael-ball-alexandra-burke-review-round-up/

Back to the topic : I saw Alyona in her Nikiya debut last night and can now say, in reply to the question above as topic headline, yes ! She wasn't perfect, but she graduated from Vaganova just two years ago and is only 19 and I am certain she is destined to become a top Bolshoy star if she doesn't get carried away by fame and fortune. Don't have to take my word for it .... but seems Vaziev also thinks so. Again the evening started with a surprise : Marchenkova who had been cast as Gamzatti was off replaced by Shrayner who had debuted in role (?) on Sunday vs Krysanova. To discover this you had to look at the Russian part of the program where Marchenkova had been crossed out and Shrayner written in. No change made in the English part - the gringos don't know Marchenkova from Shrayner anyway so why bother ! Could not find out the reason, don't think it would be artistic. I thought Shrayner looked a bit miscast as Gamzatti in terms of "looking the part", was somewhat smaller and shorter than Alyona, but I have a tendency to get fixated pairing certain dancers with certain roles and my default Gamzatti is Alexandrova. For the first act I have a question mark against Shrayner, but I had no problem with her in the second and third acts : her variations I found well executed and her fouettee was good. Now Alyona : when she appeared I could not help remembering Vaziev stressing the importance of "form" in classical ballet when he said "Zaharova can just go out on the stage, not move at all and still create incredible beauty". My, Alyona's arabesques ..... beautiful form by the meter ...... one has to be born with it, add talent and training and there it is. Mind you, she isn't perfect, not yet, imho Zaharova (who some of my friends call the "Ice Queen") is a better actress than Alyona at this stage : for me characterisation is very important and when Zaharova meets Solor in the first scene she really lights up from inside, while Alyona "acts" being happy ..... needs some acting coaching and character roles are done so superbly in Russia they surely have the coaches. Her adagio in the second act I found very good, no problem there for me. The third act was a display of beautiful form as expected, technically very good (as far as I can tell) just her stops after her turns at the "dance with veil" with Solor (forgot the proper name of this "kartina") need a bit more rehearsal. In due time Alyona should take over ownership of this role from Zaharova. Tissi as Solor : imho looked miscast regarding type - can tell immediately that this is no "noble Indian warrior" or Russian for that matter, looks too European or American to be Solor - the real or false beard did not help cover it up. Otherwise technically not bad at all, very good elevation in jetes, again tournes-en-l'air in the Solor variation "not bad" but Rodkin is ahead by quite some distance. Got big applause from the audience (at least 50 % tourists), but Rodkin/Lantratov remain my fav Solors. Golden Idol was Lapatin who I saw twice as Frantz the week before - I love this trend at the Bolshoy : someone can dance the lead of a classic ballet one day and a bit part in another the next day - Tsvirko can be an incredible "Fool" in SL one day and Konrad or Solor the next. Yanin the slave trader Lankedem on one day and Coppelius the next, done to perfection. Can't see this in Europe folks ! The Bolshoy CdB again matchless in these white acts : don't laugh but even that 3-4 second change of formation when the Shades complete the descent and take 8 x 4 formation is sheer beauty and perfection - gets well deserved applause every time. Every change of formation, every ensemble looks so perfect but not mechanical. If one can compare it with putting vibrato on a string : just enough to sound richer .... any more vibrato and it would start sounding dissonant or wobbly ! Casting for this evening (if you can decipher Russian go to the Russian version - there usually is much more information there for the "cognoscenti") : https://www.bolshoi.ru/en/performances/1/roles/#20180502190000 PS - Buddy, my dear friend : better start factoring in Bolshoy for your next Russian Season ! One can take the Sapsan and see something at Bolshoy and return to Piter by Sapsan the next day to catch that evening's performance - I have done it the other way around !

Re chemistry : I have high hopes for Salenko & Simkin in Berlin next season, could make up for the rest of the troupe.

Would love to overcome the logistics and see ballet in Perm. Osipova also guests there, danced Juliet twice last season. Will try connecting via Spb next season. Can't visualise my beloved Masha as Avrora but who knows.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder !"

Wow - thanks for the info pherank. Have never seen Masha and glad to know that I will be seeing her at this Polina & Friends gala (wish she would be doing something a bit more lively )

I have been banned from discussing any sort of fouettee by any artist so am keeping my opinion to myself

CHESS Coliseum London Saturday 28 April : saw it last night - hearing the imho gorgeous music live after 30+ years was great, but cannot say I/we really clicked with this production. Have not seen any shows on Broadway, in Europe I think orchestras in London accompanying musicals are the best and are so wonderful - this show had something like a small symphony orchestra sitting on a platform backstage. Don't like amplification, both orchestra and singers were miked but maybe there is no other way to project the sound to the upper reaches of the huge auditorium. We had seen the original London production sung by the unforgettable Elaine Paige, plus Tommy Körberg, Murray Head and Siobhan McCarthy. Can still visualise Paige and Körberg singing the Mountain Duet on the steep slope of the tilting stage. All the singers imho fitted the parts they played ..... something which I cannot say about the current production, but other people may think otherwise. Svetlana being sung with a blues-type voice just didn't sound right for me. And some of the numbers, especially "I know him so well" were rather mechanically sung ..... like following the fixed beat of a metronome ..... "senza anima" !! This production as can be expected was even more high-tech than the original was for its time : two or three mobile cameras filmed the singers throughout the show with the "livecast" shown on big HD screens on either side of the stage. Overall it got big applause after the numbers and at the end - people seemed to have enjoyed the show. Press night is still two night away on May 1st so could not find and reviews on the web. As ı had written in the heads-up I had posted above there were two nights of concert performance of Chess at the Royal Albert Hall in 2008. I had got wind of this in good time but my wife wasn't too enthusiastic and I had never heard of the singers before so I didn't book it. When I found out later that the singers were top Broadway stars (Josh Groban and Idina Menzel) I banged my head on the wall ...... how stupid can one get !! Luckily it was issued a couple of years later on dvd as "Chess in Concert" and I was able to see it after all, though no substitute for being there. I understand this was telecast by PBS in 2009 and for those who missed it I think the dvd is still available on Amazon. A must-see, being a concert performance doesn't diminish its impact one bit, the music and the singing is sooooo good.

Thanks for the heads up, but I'll stick with Bayaderka. Not that I know much, but I subscribe to Joukowsky's view regarding ... err ... someone : "He repudiated the spiritual side of dance - he only left the technique and abstract ideas"