mnacenani

Мы увидим ! (we shall see !) 😉😉

Just reminded me of Saturday's Coppelia matinee with Hahlova and hubby Belyakov - never witnessed anything like it before : was sitting in 4th row on the left aisle of the New Stage and just behing the proscenium at the right side of the stage, coaches or repetiteurs were running in and out from backstage and jumping up and down directing the CdB and/or the soloists !! At one time someone was frantically beckoning to Hahlova to come closer to Belyakov, and this action continued on and off till the end of the performance. Could it be due to Coppelia being out of repertory for almost a decade, and Hahlova and maybe some others too being debutantes ? Or is ballet normally directed like this behind the curtains and one normally doesn't see it ?? Was really akin to a football coach directing his team in a hotly contested match.

Vishnyova got me hooked but Krysanova, Alexandrova, Kaptsova and now the young generation Vaziev is nurturing plus the current crop of Bolshoy male leads for whom (imho) Mariinka has no match will keep me firmly attached to the Bolshoy in this lifetime. There seems to be a different, higher energy level at Bolshoy ...... and they have a lift going up to the top floor cafe-bar .... "Gesamtkunstwerk !"

It was done in Legend of Love livestream earlier this year, again in honour of someone. May be a practical way of different dancers paying their respects, without management getting into the hassle of staging a gala evening !

ROMEO&JULIET LIVESTREAM FRI 20 APRIL - dear Buddy did you see this ? Could not determine whether anyone had posted a heads-up or the link. Once again leads danced by different dancers in each act : Juliet is Teryoshkina/Matvienko/Novikova, Romeo is Ivanchenko/Yermakov/Kolb. Seems to be a Mariinka "novelty" but actually not bad in terms of getting to know different dancers : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBlFH-07plA

You are right - thanks for the correction.

Yes indeed ..... Hahlova was really as sweet as halvah ..... С фисташками !

50 years younger ..... what's wrong with 30 years younger ?? Satan ... where are you ?? I accept your offer !!

Buddy ..... my dear friend ..... just LOOK at the photo I scanned from the back cover of the Petipa Gala programme at Stasik past Tuesday eve .... oh my ..... oh my .... OH MY !!! https://flic.kr/p/26xf6Qk (would love to post full photo here, but it's from an ad and may contravene forum policy)

Please see my report which is now under the "The Bolshoi under Vaziev" thread.

So my one-liner for Koppeliya (Coppelia) is : "Habemus Koppeliyam ...... Dariya Hahlova" or in Russki : "У нас есть адна Коппелия ...... Даша Хохлова" PS : am going to scan and post the cast sheets tomorrow just in case any members might be interested

Bolshoy Vikharev Coppelia continued : of the three Swanildas I saw I chose Hahlova as the best in terms of characterisation (incl "looking the part") with Katya K very close behind. Re execution (as far as I can judge) I thought Hahlova tied with KK or maybe was just a whisker behind. Stashkevich wasn't bad at all but one does get affected when you have seen two great performances to start with. Frantz : Chudin was supposed to partner Krysanova but dropped out for some reason and was replaced by Lapatin, who I saw twice as he also danced his casting with Stashkevich. I warmed to Belyakov more as Frantz, thought he had a slight edge both in cha and exe, but this is a very subjective opinion. Coppelius : saw Loparevich, Ostrovsky and Yanin in that order. All were excellent, but for this role I thought Yuriy Ostrovsky who I didn't know at all had the edge (I was so mesmerised by Hahlova as Coppelia that it might have rubbed on Ostrovsky too). Now Loparevich I have seen multiple times as the Rajah in Bayaderka .... and as the Pasha in Korsar ..... hard to believe it's the same person doing Coppelius, have to pinch yourself. And Yanin ..... that incomparable Lankedem in Korsar (Corsaire) ...... can it be him doing this portrayal of Coppelius ??? My wife (who takes a dim view of my love of Russian classical ballet) says "don't blow it up - they are character actors after all aren't they ?? Yes sure but they are ACTORS in capitals !! Now the music : do excuse me but this wins hands down compared with Sylvia .... again my vulgar tastes could be in effect. NOBODY can make me believe Chaikovskiy said he would not have composed SL if he had heard Sylvia first ...... if he did say it he must have been drunk or deeply depressed at the time. This composition imho is wonderful, instantly memorable lovable tunes, melody, harmony, even the tuba bass line ..... I love it. I am certain the music only must have been issued many times on CD. I don't have a bad ear, studied piano for years in my teens and after, but all I can call up from Slyvia at this moment is the "Pizzicato".

Am having some problems with ... err ... my account so wanted to transfer my Bolshoy Vikharev Coppelia report here since a discussion had already started under this thread. I saw the first three casts of "Koppeliya" on 20-21 March : saw Krysanova-Lapatin (repl. Chudin) on Fri eve and Hahlova-Belyakov and Stashkevich-Lapatin on Sat mat and eve respectively. Returned to my hotel rather late Friday with the intention of posting "AMAZING KATYA ..... once again !" but dozed off without being able to ..... maybe an act of God preventing me from having to backtrack later. Katya was amazing for sure - what an ARTIST she is : came to see her Juliet with questions in my mind re whether she was too old to look the part and whether she could become Juliet and she amazed me with her performance. Again I flew in on Friday with exactly the same issues in mind and lo and behold : Katya is Coppelia too ! She has become the character in every role I have seen her in so far, excellent actress-cum-dancer at highest level. Please don't write back saying her PdB is not this and that, and she has hard hands etc - don't care one bit. For me ballet is danced drama and I care about the total effect, characterisation first and foremost. Come Saturday matinee comes a bigger amazement : sweet cute Dasha Hahlova who I have seen in secondary roles and galas so far writes herself into the cast sheet for the June 10th live cinecast !! Wish someone else from our forum was also at this performance to corroborate or contest my take. Dasha and her husband Belyakov, in that order, put on an amazing show. No use trying to describe what I have seen, one has to be there as you all know. Saturday evening was danced by Stash and Lapatin. Good enough but I had still not recovered from the shock of the matinee. Could not stay for Shrainer and Soares on Sunday, friends who saw it said Shreiner was sick but performed anyway and made a couple of mistakes here and there. The storyline of this staging is no different from what we all know as Coppelia - to make sure I watched the RB (de Valois-Dowell 2000) and POB (Lacotte-Bessy 2001) stagings from dvd upon my return to base. I had previously seen the Arte telecast of above mentioned POB staging, and also seen it live in Paris in 2006 (MOB-Paquette). The POB staging is two acts while the RB staging in three acts matches the Vikharev reconstruction closely. The Vikharev reconstruction premiered (as discussed above) in Novosibirsk in 2001 and upon winning a Golden Mask was acquired by the Bolshoy where it premiered in 2009 and the current revival is the first since then (recapping for the benefit of any further novichoks besides myself). I know I will draw flak again for saying this but once one has seen this Vikharev/Bolshoy staging there will be no going back for anything else anywhere : the sets, the costumes, the perfection (to my amateur eye) of the CdB, the pas-de-huit by Swanilda's friends in the first act, the full complement of all 24 "hours" on stage in the third act ..... the dancers really "looking their parts" (imho Benjamin-Acosta looks strange after seeing this), the automatons and their dances so rich in detail ....... really no going back, for me at least. Anyway, the June 10th live cinecast is coming up and I really urge any and all members who can see it to go see it ...... curse the novichok if it doesn't turn out to be as I led you to believe. And if Hahlova appears in the cinecast I will give myself a big pat in the back - I know nobody else will ! (mind you - regrettably a great part of the detail will be lost since the cinecast crew will zoom in all the time leaving out of the frame much of the stage. I have come to believe that classic ballet loses much of the detail including critical characterisation detail when seen on tv one way or another). TBC

Yes please dear Moderators - pls give it the caption in bold lettering. Dear Drew will continue with my report once at the airport.

"HABEMUS KOPPELIAM !" - After Seeing Three Casts of Coppelia : I moved my report to "The Bolshoi under Vaziev" thread since a Coppelia discussion had already started there.

Link leads to a PDF file - could not think of any more practical way for posting : http://tracking.wordfly.com/click?sid=ODBfMzQ5NDhfMzE4NTk4XzcxMzM&l=1748b596-1843-e811-bcb0-e61f134a8c87&utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018_apr_friends_enews&utm_content=version_A&emailsource=38224

Crise au ballet de l’Opéra national de Paris - this report seems to have the names of the participants of the now-famous survey : https://www.sceneweb.fr/crise-au-ballet-de-lopera-national-de-paris/

The annual Light&Sound Festival "KRUG SVETA" will be held this year from Friday 21st to Wednesday 26th September I am told, again at five different locations including Teatralnaya Square in front of BOLSHOY THEATRE. Incredible video projection technology on display on the facades of historic buildings BOLSHOY included, well worth a view on its own but can be combined with ballet at the Bolshoy to double the wow factor. I had posted some videos last September under this section but again will post some links below for your perusal : http://www.lightfest.ru/en/ 2017 OPENING CEREMONY AT OSTANKINO :

Dear Volcano : let's not forget that Millepied invited Kimin Kim to dance Solor when he staged Bayadere during his first (and only ?) season. When you get used to Rodkin and Lantratov and Chudin and Kim and at least a dozen other names in Russia the male leads in Paris and London really don't cut it (unless they are expat or guesting Russians !)

I respect your personal likes. I am only interested in Russian classical repertory, Petipa, Lavrovsky, Yakabson, Burmeister, Grigarovich. I like seeing the very best of what I like and am not interested in seeing anything different or new (same thing for food : whether in Istanbul or in Moscow I always go to the same restaurant/s and usually order the same dish/es )

Regrettably Google Translate has difficulty sorting out personal pronouns and mixes up he/she/it ! Re Bolle please see post above. "with the girls who were stars ....." should obviously be a separate sentence referring to some other issue.

At the time it was written that Aurélie was scheduled to dance her farewell Manon with one of the French étoiles but he got injured and Bolle was brought in as a last-minute replacement.

Sure thing ! As I said before, I'm not going to endure a 4-hour flight and the unbearable 1+ hour queue at Heathrow for anyone else. I wish Natasha would come to her senses and go back to Russia - she'll get real competition there, would really keep her on her toes !

Suggest you always wear gloves and don't eat or drink anything while on board, as some of the seats might be contaminated with "полоний-210" or "новичок" !!

Had to sit through this at Mariinka last year - there was no interval and many people just walked out mid-performance. However, if it had been his "New York Pieces" which Mezzo livecast from Montpellier Festival last June I would probably have left "feet first" !