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Laurent

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Everything posted by Laurent

  1. You make several excellent points, especially about the current repertoire of the Opéra being "actively hostile to classical technique". And not just "technique", also to the very understanding what that technique is supposed to convey. This has been very much in evidence in the bloc of Sylphides at the end of the last season. For many younger dancers "Sylphide" was a foreign territory, they didn't feel it and had difficulty dancing. Since I know quite a number of company dancers, from the bottom ranks to the very top, I know how they feel. I saw all 11 spectacles and consider Lacotte's "La Sylphide" to be an absolute masterpiece. It, as well as the original "Coppélia", should be always in the repertoire, they aren't. After 140 years, we lost marvelous "Coppélia" due to Mme Lefèvre. Thanks to her, we very rarely see "La Sylphide". I had a sense that Pierre Lacotte, present with Ghislaine Thesmar (what a fabulous artist she was) at every single performance, was thinking this was the last time in his life that he was seeing "La Sylphide" on the stage of Palais Garnier. With Mlle Dupont making chaotic decisions about casting, with her reprehensible repertoire choices, I am afraid he will not live to see another "La Sylphide". Pierre Lacotte is the only living choreographer with a profound knowledge and understanding of the classical idiom. Having somebody like him around, and not using him for the advantage of the troupe is truly lamentable.
  2. In terms of choreographic excelence, "Le jardin animé", was the high point, in terms of Stepanova's own dansing, the danse de caractère of the second tableau in the first act, and the classical variation in third, were the highest points of the whole spectacle, that was dansing of sublime quality, very rarely seen, none of them included in the video, unfortunately. Last year I saw it matched only by Ludmila Pagliero in her first "La sylphide" in July, in one word it was like seeing Marie Taglioni incarnate (that "La sylphide" for me was the spectacle of the year, by the way).
  3. Thank you for this video !! I had a privilege to witness some of these performances and I am deeply moved by watching them again. I feel too emotional to write something coherent, I will only say that I see around 100 performances a year, the majority from the top companies, I know their principals, soloists, the most promising young dancers, many really good ones, and I know nobody at the moment who would be more interesting, more profound, more moving, those graceful, singing lines that are so pure, those incredible hands, the ability to fill with meaning every single movement, make her for me the very essence of a Romantic ballerina, with an enormous potential to grow, I can't wait to see her in Paris, but if one does really love ballet, she is worth of traveling to Moscow, Japan, wherever you can see her performing.
  4. I like it too, as an example of assuming a posture of moral superiority when reporting about affairs of some primitive natives. Why not just to limit oneself to reporting the facts? Unfortunately, the actual facts in the article are thin, no more than what any one of us could find in the internet. The article contains no indication that its author saw the premiere, this was however obfuscated by a catchy title that misled the OP into believing the article to be a review of "Nureev", but it isn't. In light of this, the following phrase "I don’t think we can compare Serebrennikov with, say, Wayne McGregor – Javier de Frutos, perhaps". that appears in the text suddenly and without a proper context, sounds rather puzzling. What is the intention of the author? To indicate that Serebrennikov, unlike McGregor, hasn'got much talent? Why should we even think of comparing Serebrennikov to McGregor? Or even to Javier de Frutos? If I am not mistaken, Serebrennikov is not a former dancer, is not a choreographer and, unlike McGregor, twisting limbs of dancers in the most deviant way never formed a part his job description.
  5. La Sylphide Dupont Don Quichotte Dupont La belle au bois dormant Dupont Joyaux Dupont Sylvia Dupont Manon Dupont .... Dupont Opéra national de Paris issued more DVD than other companies, still not enough, and not the ones that should have been filmed or issued. Of all the recordings made of La Sylphide, only the one is available, the least satisfactory at that, if one had a chance to watch Thesmar, Pontois, Maurin or, recently, Pagliero.
  6. How many recordings of, to stay with San Francisco Ballet, did see "the light of the day", how many of any other similarly sized company? How many recordings did the Paris Opéra release in 20 years? Looking at those recordings one could think the company had for nearly 20 years just one (and a half) female principal (the "half" is for Letestu). Laetitia Pujol appearing on the Giselle DVD was a replacement for injured Aurélie Dupont. You wrote: "I hope Noureev is being filmed for posterity, as Swimmer was not." I responded to this by saying that Swimmer was filmed. For "posterity" and for the use by authorized individuals now. The technical recordings are not necessarily "video captures", not infrequently they are better than the recordings done by people having not a clue how to record dance. Lots of great performances available on Blue-ray and DVD were ruined by those people. Nureev has been filmed too, large portions of the recordings of two general rehearsals were made available to a select body of press critics already in July. Judging from the lack of enthusiasm of the NYT critic who saw the premiere previous night and, I am sure, wanted to be able to heap lots of praise on the work, the prospects of Nureev being a masterpiece don't seem to be very high.
  7. The Swimmer was filmed. In many companies every production is filmed, often with multiple casts. Such recordings are not released though, on the other hand the (well connected) professionals have access to them. Otherwise, your observation is spot on. The first time you see it, the Swimmer makes an impression if one is not familiar with this kind of multi-media stage productions. It is not a ballet in the proper sense, it isn't dance theater in the way we know it either. The novelty wears out, however, rather quickly on repeated viewings, especially if the dancers themselves lose their initial enthusiasm, therefore I don't expect great longevity for such works.
  8. It is. I think Alu's career is done as long as Dupont is in charge. Yes, the French "Ivan Vasiliev" would be a fantastic Basilio, nobody comes close in Paris to what he can do on stage. Even as Rothbart he literally knocked out Ganio with his variation in the acte noir of one of the Swan Lakes last December, poor Ganio. The roof of Bastile almost collapsed from the explosion of cheering. Taking into account both Quitterie and Basilio, Pagliero/Heymann is the top cast. Pagliero/Legasa would be the second choice (again, mostly because of Pagliero, Legasa is promising but inexperienced in classics of which he had few opportunities to dance, his debut in the pas d'ecossaises in "La Sylphide" was raw, a disappointment), Boylston/Marchand seems interesting, Karl Paquette is paired very oddly, this is however the last chance to see him. From Baulac/Louvet don't expect either polish or technical tours de force, lots of youthful charm instead.
  9. At a gala performance all sorts of liberties are allowed that would be a no-no in a formal performance. Asylmuratova, of course, lost stability here, probably a result of insufficient concentration before entering the stage, this is why she "finishes" her fouettés in the wings. it is notoriously difficult to concentrate in the coulisses during many gala performances, the weariness due to travel, the unfamiliar stage, off-season timing, lack of space and time for proper preparation before going on stage, etc, are all the contributing factors. Some "international ballerinas" like Yana Salenko or Maria Kochetkova know how to cope with that, gala performances around the World are a part of their job, after all, others, without a similar experience, don't.
  10. Not true. Neither hesitant nor unsure. I saw that performance too. Mark Chino, a boy straight out of school, this was his first month at Bolshoi, and a last minute replacement at that, after a single rehearsal with her partner with his hands literally trembling when touching her. The situation was saved by her. Partnering by Tissi was fine even though it was their first duet together. The long Adagio was pure, unmatched lyricism of the most Romantic style. Nobody can dance like that. Ballet is not a circus, is not a sport competition, even though some novices mistake it for one or another, imagining themselves, by the way, to be the verdict passing jurors. An occasional misstep doesn’t make a master artist a lesser artist, or a lesser master of dance. Similarly, a never erring machine is not automatically a great artist, or even a great dancer, she may be little more than a fast moving, high jumping dancing machine. Classical dance has many dimensions, and the most ethereal and sophisticated ones are the domain of a very select group of dancers. A principal deserving of such a distinction doesn't need to be technically the strongest. In the same company there can be equally strong or stronger soloists or demi-soloists. Listen to what Natalia Makarova has to say on this subject in her "Ballerina" BBC documentaries, a veritable Bible for an aspiring ballerina, and for an aspiring balletomane as well. A great, even a supreme artist, may have a serious difficulty with or feel panic faced with the fouettés, to the point of being completely unable to do them. This is the reason why we rarely or never see some of them doing the fouettès. I would like to point this out to the person who has been pedaling this issue for a month in multiple threads, in countless posts, as if it was a decisive moment on which a ballerina stands or falls. Anna Pavlova, Galina Ulanova, and a few supreme ballerinas still alive, obviously must be deserving the damning verdict "fail" (the ballerina who has been a constant object of her inquisitive mind, by the way, has no difficulty with fouettés at all and, while not a fouettés machine, does them at ease while many don't, I saw her fouettés a dozen of times, all in grand spectacles). Ludmila Pagliero in her three Swan Lakes last December in Paris was short on the number of prescribed fouettés. A mortal sin, I suppose, for a novice, except that it is irrelevant. Pagliero is a supreme artist, currently by far the best ballerina at the Opéra de Paris, and one of the very-very few in the World. Her performances were artistically absolutely exceptional. They stand at the very top of 25 Swan Lakes I saw last year, all danced by the principals of the leading companies (along with the November Bolshoi debut by Stepanova, artistically the most moving Swan Lake I saw since I can remember). So, if ballet is still counted as Art and not a form of competitive gymnastics, it doesn't matter if an artist occasionally missteps, it counts if she can uplift us with the ethereal qualities of her dance, if she is capable of filling stage with Light, if she can charm us with her soul.
  11. The choreographers of course have a deciding say in casting. These "Corsaire" casting changes have nothing to do with this, however. Stepanova and Rodkin were the first choice (her debut in April was magnificent) but Rodkin couldn't dance, while Stepanova danced it only twice, both times with him. Medora's part in Burlaka/Ratmansky's production is extremely challenging, Smirnova for example decided it was too much for her to prepare it on a short notice, hence withdrew, and we've got Krysanova and Tsvirko. Krysanova, an excellent dancer, fast, acrobatic tricks, etc, and, compared to, for example, Stepanova, she is very, very experienced. Unfortunately her dance is often mechanical, dry, lacking nuance, no singing lines, and, like in the broadcast -- not filled with meaning. All of this was very noticeable in the broadcast.
  12. The fouettés at "Stipanova's Balshoy debut" were fine too, done at a very fast speed, with a little travel sideway, but totally acceptable by all standards, your information is inaccurate, mildly speaking. That performance you admitted you did not see. I did. It was terrific, the best "Corsaire" since Asylmuratova, perhaps.
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