Laurent
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Posts posted by Laurent
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5 minutes ago, Dreamer said:
SFB and ABT seasons do not overlap, so having a bi-coastal engagement seemed to work just fine for her.
This was the only reason why it was even theoretically feasible.
QuoteThe commute between NYC and SF is actually not that bad,
Tell this to Kochetkova.
QuoteHer more exhausting travels would have been to Europe and Japan.
One thing is to go to a gala performance, another is to commute for regular work. Why no other ABT dancers are interested in being principals at SFB if the New York San Francisco commute is not a problem, as you claim, and the performing seasons don't overlap? Thomasson is very much pressed by the need to bring the world class dancers to his company. Otherwise the company faces a serious erosion of quality problem. During my recent visits to San Francisco this was already very much in evidence.
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In normal circumstances such announcements are usually made weeks or months after the decisions are made and the contracts are signed. When Kochetkova was going to ABT a few years ago, she made the decision by February, around April 1 everything was already done, the announcements from ABT and SFB came only in June (if I remember correctly). It was clear to me back then, that Kochetkova leaving SFB permanently was imminent. Commuting form New York to SFB was insane, it could work only as a short term solution, while the format of the SFB season (not even three and half months every year), plus their limited repertoire, was not giving a dancer with big aspirations and capabilities an opportunity to fully realize her potential.
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1 hour ago, Ashton Fan said:
Please correct me if I am wrong but I thought that the POB entered the twentieth century with very little to show in the way of active historic repertory apart from Coppelia. Giselle was staged for it in the 1920' s nearly fifty years after the company had last danced it and Lifar staged act 2 Swan Lake for it. As so much of the nineteenth century repertory which is danced today originated in Russia I am left wondering whether the POB would have acquired such an extensive Petipa based repertory if Nureyev had never been its director.
I appreciate your thoughtful, informed comments on this and other subjects. Allow me to make just two remarks. At the turn of the 20th century, the ballet troupe of the Opéra was still big, they were dancing frequently, even though separate ballets were performed less frequently, and there were few new ballets, compared to the pre-1867 period. Coppélia, La Korrigane, La Maladetta*, L’Etoile*, Danses de jadis et de naguère*, Bacchus*, Le Lac des aulnes*, La Ronde de Saisons*, Namouna (in new redaction by Léo Staats), Javotte* (with absolutely wonderful music by Saint-Saëns), La fête chez Thérèse* were the ballets performed (I marked with asterisk those that were premiered between 1893 and 1910). Of these, the first three were practically all the time on the affiche. In Javotte Olga Preobrazhenskaïa was performing twice as a guest artiste. It is very unfortunate that La Korrigane, La Maladetta, Javotte, all disappeared. Thanks to Lefèvre and Dupont, unfortunately, the brilliant original Coppélia met the same fate now.
My second comment: Marius Petipa's three great classical works, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, were all in the repertoire of l'Opéra before Noureev, so he cannot take credit for them. Noureev replaced those productions with his own.
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Mna, Masha was really looking at you
She was rather listening to Valeria Iosifovna Uralskaya.
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One has every right not to be taken seriously, and I think that person is just exercising this right (I'll take a note for the future, by the way, wasn't it the same person who has been complaining about people with "an agenda" ?)
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I had a hard time recently convincing a talented young French ballerina to consider Stuttgart, the best among German companies. They wanted her, she didn't, "too little classics", was her answer. I hear this all the time from ambitious young dancers, in Paris and abroad, the ones who resign themselves to the tedium of modern and contemporary are the ones who know that their training is deficient and their physique is not right for classics (even though in the West there is a lot more tolerance in this respect).
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@Jayne
I can answer on behalf of a number of dancers: the repertoire at the majority of western companies is so hideous, we'll not see many Russian dancers going abroad, mostly some of those whose professional carriers are hopelessly stuck, and those who are not hired by the top Russian companies. There will be even more movement in reverse, from the West to Russian companies. Again, the reason is the disastrous repertoire policy in the West. Considering Grigorovich's production of "Swan Lake". for which you seem to have nothing but contempt, I cannot name, really, better versions among the ones currently danced in the West. The plus-side of Grigorovich's version is its integrity and logic, unlike, for example, the excentric and controversial Noureev's version in Paris, which uses all the music.
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Scans of the programme:
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A novice with lots of self-confidence can certainly believe so...
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I wonder how people who are novices in areas that demand years of study to be "knowledgeable" can say that somebody is "knowledgeable" or isn't. It is possible in all such areas to talk nonsense and still sound to a novice as "knowledgeable". Lots of so called dance critics today cannot even be certain whether a given performance is really good or bad. To be a dance critic became easier than ever, internet made it happen.
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It would be a loss if Guérineau had ANYTHING to dance at l'Opéra. In current circumstances, she hasn't. We are all losers in Paris right now with the catastrophic repertoire policies. I am afraid, in Zurich, Guérineau may not fare any better. Apart from, perhaps, London, ballet is dying in Western Europe. Some French young dancers who really love ballet are contemplating going to Russia and dancing in the Urals or in Siberia, if necessary, just to be able to dance classics, which is what they made those great sacrifices for, in childhood and in adolescence.
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On 3/11/2018 at 4:06 PM, Dreamer said:
And lastly, the wedding is not a wedding when it doesn’t have the fish dives.
The fish dives, a circus trick of dubious taste, is a late interpolation added on a whim by Pierre Vladimirov. No connection to Petipa.
QuoteDear Buddy imho with her pdd performance in MN Dream last night Aksana Skorik put the naysayers on and off this forum to shame
... First time I saw Xander Parish live .... damn good dancer imho, technique as good as the other Marii male leads
If anything, on the gala night, Oksana Skoryk demonstrated that classical dance must be a toilsome labour, while Parish -- that tours en l'air is one of those things he is still unable to make any progress.
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This is not just a question of tastes, this is a question of difference in class. Vorontsova is a dancer of a different class. She was the best dancer to emerge from Moscow ballet school in many years. Her Mireille de Poitiers remains an unsurpassed model.
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Yana Salenko "good solid"? Salenko is absolutely exquisite, she is currently a dream model for professors of dance of the strictest academic standards, her dancing is studied by many ambitious young dancers around the world as an example to follow.
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6 hours ago, mnacenani said:
Who needs a description of Osipova ?? A gift of God to the art of ballet : technique, characterisation, and that extra edge of "quality" : I mean, there are balances and then there are "Osipova balances" - rock solid whatever the duration, freezing time and motion.
Osipova is certainly unique. On the other hand, regarding her "characterization" -- this is more doubtful, she overacts and overdramatizes, likes to dance to her own tune, and what she did recently with the "Legend of Love" made me lose interest in chasing her performances in the future -- that was an atrocious failure and a great disappointment for me. Concerning "Osipova balances" -- the secret is she is small, compact, and look at her pointes! Her feet look as if she is dug several centimeters into the ground. Compare this with, for example, balances of Yana Salenko, they are not just remarkably solid but also exhibit beautiful, exquisite lines which is more important than the duration the dancer can stand still.
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The fan bases are notorious everywhere, Helene, and I try to avoid any contact with them. The loud protestations in the internet are not an indicator of what cultured ballet going public thinks or feels in Moscow. Most of those cultured ballet goers, and I meet quite many, avoid getting into the argument with those who start internet flames, they mostly ignore them. The dancers themselves are professionals and the fact that so many of them got green light, compared to the previous administration, translates into much better atmosphere within the troupe. I don't buy into the nonsense about "demotion", with the lists of those "demoted" arbitrarily made up. I have been connected to Bolshoi from the time Maximova, Bessmertnova, and, believe it or not, Plissetskaya, were still actively dancing, when Semenyaka was their principal prima ballerina, and Ananiashvili just turned 20. The grievances and strain within the company during 1980-ies were enormous but only those connected to the troupe knew about it, it erupted in a palace revolution in the 1990-ies. Later, it wasn't better, probably worse, when various very suspect, not connected to ballet directly, shadow personalities were involved in the affairs of Bolshoi. The quality of dancing was during those almost 40 years very uneven, with one or two great artistes and quite a lot of craftsmen I wouldn't like to see today. Several of the current "legends" had shaky beginnings, which is conveniently overlooked by those who like to trash all the young ones (representing both Moscow and Petersburg schools), while extolling beyond limits the supposed "legends". The troupe absolutely needed fresh blood, there is no question about it, no young talent (excluding Smirnova) was developed for a number of years, the corps and the soloists badly needed refinement and improvement, and from what I see, this is now taking place. I saw Zhiganshina's debut as Gulnare in the Fall, she was fresh, charming, sophisticated danseuse displaying beautiful cantilena and par terre; she was rivalling and, in le Jardin animé, even surpassing my memories of Kaptsova's wonderful Gulnare several years ago. Her debut as Aurore was absolutely timely and merited. Being nervous on such a big occasion is absolutely understandable.
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It's a wonder only if you believe what's being written here, like "Shipoulina the legend", "Zakharova's Aurora as an abomination" and so on. It's so off I will not even attempt refuting it.
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The New stage is 24 by 24 m, the Historical stage is 40 by 23 metres.
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Those who have keen interest in the fates of ballet in Paris may want to be informed about a petition Pour la défense du répertoire et de la tradition à l'Opéra de Paris,
https://www.mesopinions.com/petition/art-culture/defense-repertoire-tradition-opera-paris/38922
I am posting this exclusively for information, I am not one of the initiators of the petition, even though I endorse its goals, I would even express them more strongly, to save ballet in Paris from destruction.
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On 2/1/2018 at 11:53 AM, Helene said:
chaines generally happen at the end of an arduous variation.
In "Études" the chaînés happen at the very beginning. The soloist enters from the wings at the far back of the stage and begins with a diagonale of accelerating chaînés that end in the middle of the stage, far from the proscenium, then proceeds in reverse. The Bolshoi stage is huge, taking into account the separation of the front rows by the orchestra pit, even if the artiste just emerged from a pool, she would not be able to splatter anybody in the audience. Leaving this aside, the artiste begins the chaînes after being absent from the stage for 7 full minutes. If we are to trust the witness that the artiste appeared on the stage swimming in sweat, I suppose the artiste must have decided to spend those 7 precious minutes taking a relaxing sauna. What a nice personal touch...
It goes without saying that I wasn't able to observe a single drop of sweat during those chaînés. The remaining revelations of the same trusted witness ("arduous and joyless affair") everybody can verify himself, there is a HD video that contains a big portion of the "Études" debut. If anything, the October reprise was only better. Expressions like "arduous and joyless" arise in my mind when I think of performances of Smirnova.
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On 1/27/2018 at 3:40 PM, Helene said:
I've never seen her live as Odette or Aurora, but I have seen her Nikiya and Medira, and I thought she was gorgeous to behold in Bayadere Act III and Jardin anime, even if my favorite Alexandrova moment was in Petite Corsaire.
Your "favorite Alexandrova moment" performed on the 24 April 2016
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12 hours ago, Quinten said:
I wasn't there to be sweated on, unfortunately, so it would be nice to have your confirmation that at least one of the current Bolshoi ballerinas can do chaine turns [nearly] as fast as Ananiashvili. Thanks!
I can answer your question: the chaînés were done with rapid acceleration, precisely with the music, and while the dancer was doing them not a drop of sweat could be seen on her face or body, the dancer just a moment before emerged from the wings, and each time a soloist returns to the wings, any sweat is wiped out with a towel, this is a common practice.
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On 1/30/2018 at 9:53 AM, volcanohunter said:
I think Nikulina has gotten very far on the length of her extremities. It's difficult to understand why else the company would have given a gawky 19-year-old Odette-Odile to dance if not for the fact that the Bolshoi likes its Swan Queens as elongated as possible. The tragedy is that 14 years later she's still gawky. Etudes, Diamonds, Carmen, Kitri, the Sylph?! With that footwork? All this has been under Vaziev. And she was cast in Etudes before that dreadful broadcast, so it couldn't have been the leverage used against Vaziev.
According to what I know, Nikulina was picked by Grigorovich for his drame-ballets, like "Ivan the Terrible", and for many years those ballets remained her specialty. Occasional classical parts were a bonus, I think, and, at least initially, the desire of the management to see her potential in classics. Later, she was dancing classics more by default or by inertia, than by anything else. Elongated lines for Odette and Odile, by the way, seem to be preference everywhere, and for obvious reasons. Maximova and Kolpakova, with one exception or two, didn't dance "Swan Lake", while Bessmertnova, who did, didn't shine in it.
QuoteCould it be that she has been placed with Chenchikova and given more opportunities to mollify the Grigorovich faction? Or did Vaziev/Chenchikova spot something in her that prompted them to give her another chance? Whatever the reason, I doubt it has anything to do with the length of her extremities.
To switch the pedagogues was Nikulina's own decision. It helps her to improve her classical technique that never was her forte, and simultaneously to be more in spotlight. I, for once, saw a marked improvement since she switched to Tchentchikova, but I rarely have an opportunity to see her performing. I was utterly unimpressed with her Giselle two years ago and I am not keen on attending her performances.
QuoteVaziev's spectacular failure with the Etudes broadcast , which weakened him.
You know, Vaziev in the trade is considered to be a top notch professional. . With "Etudes", I think, he intended to make a point. And he did. It didn't weaken him. It actually strengthened his case versus the local opposition, self-satisfied with themselves and steeped in 'we are the best in the world' attitude. To them he amply demonstrated that the corps de ballet and the soloists of the Bolshoi were in urgent need of improvement and refinement. In less than two years, I noticed a very marked improvement occurred. Two years ago I could not even watch Bolshoi's "Les Émeraudes", last October I was surprised that I liked them perhaps better than how they are danced in Paris, there was across aboard so much refinement compared to what was less than two years ago. A great amount of attention and work accomplished was evident.
Concerning his forces, when he arrived, there were no more "many beautiful dancers" at Bolshoi that waited to be developed. During Serguei Filine's tenure, only a few dancers were seeing green light. His energies were focused on promoting Olga Smirnova as the next big thing, as a result the theatre invested so many assets into Smirnova that it is understandable it cannot now simply back down. To my knowledge, and I have been a long time observer, refined young dancers like Okouneva who, ten-seven years ago, were showing promise, under Filine were not given an opportunity to grow. In the ballet world, if you don't grow, you wilt. I saw less than two years ago, for example, Tchinara Alizade, dancing Nikiya, this was after she left Bolshoi, what I saw told me that whatever talent she had before it was already essentially extinguished. I am glad she has at least a career of a principal in a decent company. Anna Tikhomirova is a case apart. In several big roles, and some smaller ones, she was literally unable to complete her performance. This was shortly before Vaziev's arrival. One of the first things Vaziev did was to give Tikhomirova another chance, against the advise of those who witnessed the previous cases of her meltdown, he gave Tikhomirova a debut in "Giselle", one of the easiest and least strenuous full length roles, and this happened again. Tikhomirova may forever remain a specialist of small forms. I have been keenly observing Turazashvili and Karpova and, in all honesty, I have little desire seeing either one dancing big parts.
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7 hours ago, canbelto said:
The Froustey interview about the POB training really makes me wince. She's not the first dancer to talk about how relentlessly harsh the training is. I hope things have changed.
Yes, it changed. The level dropped dramatically, children may be more happy though.
Incidentally, I read the report on the "Sleeping Beauty" (the link provided above), and was surprised to find that the author discovered herself what seems to be a tabu for journalists writing on dance, namely that Modern kills Classics. My impression of the San Francisco Ballet has been that they are good in Modern and mostly incompetent in Classics (I exclude from this assessment Maria Kochetkova, who is wise to control her artistic destinies herself rather than to follow general trends). This is what happens if you deprive ballet artists of their daily contact with academically classical dance: they become incompetent in classical repertoire. We are seeing this degeneration of standards accelerating in Paris.
Maria Kochetkova leaving San Francisco Ballet
in Ballet News & Issues
Posted
I don't know what this sentence is supposed to mean, I am talking about "quality". Are we talking about the top companies, or companies of regional importance? When two years ago I was seeing NYCB in Paris every night for almost two weeks, I was very, very impressed with the company, Scheller was the only one of their principals who didn't impress me then. SFB in comparison, seemed to be far below, with the notable exception of Kochetkova.