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ECat

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Posts posted by ECat

  1. 1 hour ago, volcanohunter said:

     

    More likely, her place will be given to Alyona Kovalyova, and the next to Olga Marchenkova (prospects that fill me with shock-horror). 

    I am in total agreement with you on Olga Marchenkova.  In my opinion, Margarita Shrayner should be next in line.  

     

    Congratulations to all of the promoted dancers!

     

  2. 4 hours ago, Buddy said:

    Sergei Filin did something similar, I believe, when he came in, ECat. Yekaterina Shipulina, maybe Maria Allash and perhaps another who had been around for awhile were made Principals. I somehow felt that his having danced during their earlier years may have had something to do with it, but that’s just a guess. Nina Kaptsova was also later made Principal. (Alexei Ratmansky before him, ‘youthened’ the company a lot.) Congratulations to Denis Savin.

    On the other hand this does not seem to happen at the Mariinsky and I sometimes wish that it would -- for instance Yekaterina Osmolkina (because I once told her that she should be, for one reason  😊)

    Yes - that was wonderful when Shipulina, Kaptsova, and Krysanova were all promoted within weeks of one another.  Of course, Krysanova is a bit young than the other two.  It is similar to when Isabelle Ciaravola was nominated Etoile at POB in her mid-thirties and Stella Abrera becoming principal at ABT in her mid-thirties.  These are not common practices, but when it happens it can be inspiring for other ballet dancers.

  3. 1 hour ago, Buddy said:

    Just saw a video clip of a very young Anastasia Plotnikova (Vaganova, yes, graduate?) doing a variation (solo) from Don Quixote. She’s quite lovely with a delightful resemblance to the lovely and very young Maria Iliushkina, whom you might have heard me mention. 😊

    Is she the next generation of Maria Iliushkinas ?  Generations seem to last about 40 seconds in Russian ballet these days.

    Could anyone tell us about her ?

     

    Just watched her dancing Princess Aurora Act 3 variation.  Yes indeed she sure looks like Maria Iliushkina!  What a beautiful dancer Anastasia is.   According to her Instagram page, she is a student at Vaganova.  If the Mariinsky hires her, I'm sure they'll give her some soloist or leading roles to see how she does.

  4. According to Ruslan Skvortsov's Facebook page, he is now "ex" premiere of Bolshoi status.   I so Hope that he will continue to dance as he is one of my favorite male principals with the Bolshoi.  He is an amazing parter, too!

    Quote
    30.092020 Finally, this day has come and it means that from tomorrow I get the unspoken status of ′′ EX ′′ premier of the Bolshoi Theater of the Russian Federation. And so now I want to thank my dear theater, which for 22 years became my second home, who took most of my life. Thanks to you, I was lucky enough to learn from legendary teachers who put their knowledge and wisdom into me. Working with outstanding ballerinas / partners, thanks to which my every step on stage was unique and unforgettable, thank you, my dear for this experience! Thank you for giving me the pleasure of working with my colleagues (without glass in ballets and finals on the bandage 😅) with respect to each of you! Thank you for allowing us to visit many corners of our planet, work in different theaters and make many friends! Thank you for staying until this day with my joints and bundles and especially with my opinion and outlook on life 😂! Many thanks to all the leaders (there were many of you 🤔) who ′′ tempered ′′ my character! Thank you to our dressers and costumes who, once in a while, contributed to the magic of reincarnation! Thanks to our concertmasters for their patience and professionalism! To our amazing conductors and orchestra!
    Now with a calm conscience, I pass the relay....!!!))))) I wish him / her good luck!!!
    AND AGAIN THANK YOU SO MUCH THEATER!
    Low bow!

     

  5. 1 hour ago, miliosr said:

    This move did not go without comment either. Not long after Ganio was promoted in rapid succession to premier danseur and then etoile, Jean-Guillaume Bart gave an interview in which, without citing Ganio by name, he said that he thought the position of etoile was rather "too easily won" these days.

    Thank you for mentioning that interview.  Here is a link to it from 2006.  http://auguste.vestris.free.fr/Interviews/JGBartEnglish.html

  6. 21 hours ago, pherank said:

    To everything it's season? Americans like their Christmas-themed events near Christmas time. Unfortunately, the media, commercialism and capitalism do play a large part in how the year is organized. Events have to stick to their time slots. This year’s Indianapolis 500 was the lowest-rated broadcast ever, most likely because it wasn't run at its normal time of the year due to the pandemic closures.

    Very interesting about the Indianapolis 500.  It is true that the  year is organized by money.  Halloween items are already in the stores!

     

    Also thank you for the link to the SF Ballet survey.

  7. 1 hour ago, Jack Reed said:

    With Mr. B. and the traditional Russian companies, I really don't think The Nutcracker has a season:  The experience of art is, or ought to be, like a trip to another world, with its own time and place.  That's the value of it; it "takes us away" from the ordinary and may even change us for a time - or permanently.   

    Thank you for your reply as it really make sense to me why this baller can be enjoyed all year round.   When done well, the Nutcracker is truly magical.  I remember seeing the Maurice Sendak version for PNB on television many years ago.  That was probably my favorite.

  8. Hello Fellow Ballet Alerters!

     

    Mariinsky and Bolshoi tend to perform Nutcracker throughout the year.  Most other companies tend to keep Nutcracker for the holiday season.  Does anyone know why this is?

     

    Thank you!

  9. Thank you for the news @volcanohunter.  This was inevitable and I hope that Edward Watson gets the retirement performance that he hopes for.  He has been of my favorite male dancers with the Royal Ballet.  Dramatic roles seem to be his forte and he has moved me on many occasions.  Royal Ballet dancers will be very lucky to have him as a coach!

  10. Lately, I have been reading through many older threads here and I just love this one.  Some of my favorites include (in no particular order):

    -Diana Vishneva

    -Ekaterina Kondaurova

    -Anastasia Kolegova

    -Julie Kent

    -Ekaterina Shipulina

    -Yulia Stepanova

    -Yumi Kaneko

    -Maria Vinogradova

    -Maia Makhateli

    -Anna Tsyganova

    -Susan Jaffe

    -Aurelie Dupont

    -Irina Dvorovenko

    -Marianna Tcherkassky

    -Moira Shearer

    There are so many beautiful dancers that it is hard to choose!

  11. Just finished the Royal Ballet's stream of The Sleeping Beauty.  It was fantastic!  Just as fantastic as Romeo and Juliet.  

    Fumi Kaneko made a beautiful Princess Aurora.  Her Rose Adagio was absolutely stellar.  Fumi is also very beautiful.  She reminds me a bit of Julie Kent in terms of her facial features.  Every variation she danced was pristine and so well rehearsed.  Gary Avis stood out to me as one of her foreign suitors in the Rose Adagio.  Any ballerina would be lucky to be partnered by him.  Frederico Bonelli was princely and performed his role well.   First Artist Genna Storm-Jensen was the Lilac Fairy and did a beautiful job. Her variation in the prologue was excellent.  All of the fairies were excellent.  The corps de ballet looked great.  Matthew Ball and Yasmine Naghdi almost stole the show with the Bluebird Pas De Deux.  These two are some of the most exciting Royal Ballet principals in my opinion.

     

     

  12. Just finished watching Snowblind and I loved it.  This is the first time I am seeing anything choreographed by Cathy Marston.  Had I not read about it first, I would have been a little confused in terms of the corps representing snowfall and the elements.  Sarah Van Patten was so powerful and poignant in her portrayal.  Mathlide Froustey was very well cast as the young caretaker and was expertly partnered by Ulrik Burkkjaer.  This ballet is a dramatic one indeed and may not be loved by all audiences, but I truly enjoy these types of ballets.   I thought that the choreography was very effective in showing the depth of emotions that the characters were going through.  

     

     

  13. 16 hours ago, vipa said:

    ECat I was going to write this but you wrote it for me. I'm really loving the Megan Fairchild interviews!

    Oh aren't they wonderful?!?!  Megan just put up an interview with Indiana Woodward which is very interesting.

  14. 8 hours ago, JuliaJ said:

    Omg for real... the "debut deferred" series just sounds so depressing. Why would anybody other than maybe die-hard fans of those particular dancers want to watch that?  I haven't watched, and I don't plan to watch, any of ABT's online offerings. Whatever the reason for ABT not streaming past performances, they're missing out on valuable opportunities to show the world what we're actually missing in their absence. 

    I admire NYCB's fundraising strategy of showing videos that elicit joy and appreciation -- not pity -- from audiences and donors. 

    Agreed on all points, but I did watch the interview with Hammoudi.  The video where Isabella Boyton interviews Cynthia Harvey was almost unwatchable and I was unable to get past 10 minutes in.  Perhaps I have been spoiled by Megan Fairchild's excellent interviewing skills, but Boylston was lackluster.   Cynthia Harvey is a legend to me and needed a better interviewer.  ABT is going to need to start upping their level of videos...

     

  15. Just finished Pacific Northwest Ballet's dress rehearsal of Swan Lake.   Standout performances for me were Kyle Davis as the Jester, James Moore as Wolfgang, Leta Biasucci is the Pas de trois, as a cygnet, and Neopolitan.  Angelica Generosa was also quite fantastic in the Pas de trois.  Kyle Davis stole the show for me as the Jester - he is quite a turner!  Leta is lovely in everything she does.  In this version, Wolfgang dances in the first Act and has a comedic role.  The corps de ballet looked really good.  The cygnets really impressed me.

    PNB is more a neoclassical company so my thinking is that their Swan Lake needs to be viewed with the understanding that it won't be like a typical Russian or more classical version.  For me, understanding this makes it much more enjoyable.   Do I prefer a more classical version?  Yes, but I love PNB so they will always get my support.

    Some of the costumes could be updated or changed - mostly in the 3rd act divertissement.  The Princess costumes were a bit fluffy and a couple of them actually had midriff showing which I thought looked strange.  But the swan costumes were beautiful.

    Onto our leads - Noelani Pantastico is a beautiful woman with a feminine body and she used it especially well as Odile.  Her Odette was lovely, but I would love for her to extend her arabesques for just a second longer in certain places.  Her Odile was great, strong fouettés.   Seth Orza was a strong and caring partner.  What a handsome dancer he is.  A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to see them both in Dances At A Gathering.  

  16. 6 hours ago, Kaysta said:

    I’m deeply disappointed in ABT.  They used to be my favorite ballet company.  Now, I’d much rather spend my donation dollars at NYCB.  They are doing severe damage to their company by not having a digital presence.  I hope they recover but I’m not sure how much time and money I’ll be spending there when this is over.

    Sadly, I agree with you.  They used to be my absolute favorite company filled with my favorite dancers.  It has been a number of years since I have seen them as I feel that their quality has gone down.  Hopefully that can recover from this.  They'll need to try something different than what they're currently doing as it doesn't seem to be working.

     

     

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