canbelto

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Zakharova's ear-whacking doesn't bother me that much. It's her coldness as an actress that I find so unappealing. And the fact that she doesn't seem to be growing much as an artist.

It's not so much the legs that's bothersome. It's her hammy, unconvincing acting. Furrowed brows and vacant smiles. That being said, her Shades scene is impressive.

Fully agrees. Zakharova is really, err, overrepresented on video. This Bayadere? I'll say for the millionth time how much I hate Makarova's Bayadere, from the drastic slash and burn of the Engagement scene, to the artificially souped up orhcestrations (so different from the simple but beautiful orchestrations of both the POB and Kirov) to reducing the Shades from 32 to 24, and I don't like her reconstruction of the lost act either. But Zakharova I saw in Bayadere and she's exactly the same here -- beautiful but ice cold. Beautiful in the Shades scene but unaffecting elsewhere. Her Nikya has little vulnerability. She has two expressions -- furrowed brow when she's upset, smile when she's happy. I agree with Natalia about the underrepresentation on video of a whole generation of dancers. At least we have Vishneva's unforgettable Giselle on dvd.

Considering how many wigs are used in ballets, has anyone seen a wig fly off during a performance? Or hair extensions?

I recently rewatched "Portrait of Giselle" and one of the most enchanting parts of the documentary was Tamara Karsavina, recalling as if it was yesterday, how during one performance her strap slipped off her shoulder, thus exposing herself. She recalls Pavlova going up to her and attacking her and she says, "Naturally, I cried." So that was obviously an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction, to quote Janet Jackson. But has anyone ever seen any other wardrobe malfunctions? Shoes that flew off, skirts getting ripped, etc?

It's kind of like the Spessivtseva solo of Giselle. Yeah it wasn't always there, but now it's become of the Giselle tradition. However in some versions it's still omitted. For instance in the recent video with Svetlana Zakharova the Bournmeister version was used and the last fouettes become supported pirouettes.

I don't know, they've become a tradition, like it or not. It's kind of like the penchee ending to the White Swan pdd. It wasn't always like that, as footage from anything before the 1970s show. But now audiences have come to expect it, and it fits the music so well, so anything other than the penchee looks funny.

I've seen it, and overall I really think this dvd is worth having. The Parisian swans are absolutely beautiful. I really like Nureyev's production which unlike his film with Margot Fonteyn is essentially very traditional. He restores Odette's mime. Act4 is not cut to shreds, and the ending closely follows the original Petipa/Ivanov ending, which I found in the Nijinsky book: the Prince finds the Swan Queen at the lake, but since he broke his word she sails away doomed to remain a swan forever, and the Prince falls dead. I don't know if he was following Soviet tradition or not but the Black Swan pdd is a bit of a pas de trois with Rothbart. But overall, I really liked the production. As for Letetsu and Martinez, Letetsu is more Ice Queen than Swan Queen. Not for a moment does she seem afraid of anyone. There's very little chemistry between her and Martinez, who in one closeup during the White Swan pdd is actually grinning. But still, the overall classical beauty of their dancing is awe-inspiring. If Lopatkina's Odette is all about beautiful posing, Letetsu's Odette shows off her classical technique. Some warmth and vulnerability would be welcome, though. Her Odile is effective, although she fails to imitate her Odette very effectively. Her fouettes are well-done, with some doubles thrown in, landing in perfect fourth position. In Act4, there is no sign of forgiveness from Letetsu. Siegfried has betrayed her, and she is the most unforgiving Odette I've ever seen.

Congratulations to Diana! Thing is, I went to the website and didn't see any announcement.

Johan Kobborg talked about the telecast on his website, and indicated that it was a complete performance, much like the Giselle. Originally he was slated to dance the Prince but he's had a rather bad foot injury and Frederico Bonelli took his place. I saw the new/old SB in D.C. but not with Cojocaru. I saw Nunez who was wonderful.

Good news is at least the other telecast (the Sleeping Beauty) is complete. But a complete Kirov Swan Lake with their prima ballerina would have been a treasure, despite my reservations about Lopatkina. Maybe a Russian channel will telecast the whole performance? Was the whole performance even filmed? What a letdown. The other upside is that the POB is releasing *their* version of Swan Lake with Letetsu and Martinez.

I saw the telecast. It starts with Darcey Bussell teaching some girls some moves in Swan Lake. Cute, but a bit contrived. Also some brief but fascinating B&W footage of Margot Fonteyn as Odette from the early 1950s. Interviews with Gergiev, and then some clips (again, seem a bit contrived) of Makhar Vaziev drilling the Kirov corps. Interview with him saying how hard it is to keep a corps de ballet together. Then there's 30 minutes of a masterclass with Dowell and Sibley. But anyway the 'extras' took up an hour's worth of screentime, when presumably they COULD have telecast the entire ballet. Also ... if Vaziev wanted to showcast the MT corps, this was not the right telecast, because almost all of the corps de ballet parts are cut! Here are the cuts (that I counted): 1. The Act 1 waltz. 2. Dance of the Swans 3. (most unforgivable) -- the lovely harp introduction to the White Swan pdd where the frightened Odette finally folds up her "wings" on the stage. We cut right to the beginning of the White pdd. Grrr x 10! 4. (also unforgivable) the coda to the White Swan act, with the four swans hopping across the stage, etc. We don't even get Odette's solo for that! Instead we cut right away to Odette's transformation back into a swan. 5. a whole bunch of Act 3 divertissements. 6. the mournful dance of the swans in Act 4. It reminds me of the bad old days when filmmakers thought audiences couldn't "handle" complete ballets and instead made drastic cuts. But I thought they'd at least keep the sacred Act2 intact. But I guess not. About Lopatkina? She certainly is the Swan Queen. Most regal Odette I've ever seen. Her long arms are boneless and beautiful, her mile-long legs make Svetlana Zakharova look stubby. But Lopatkina's performance is not only glacial, it is marblelized. She does not really dance, she poses. A bunch of admittedly beautiful poses, but the White Swan pdd is taken at a pace so slow Makarova would check her watch. Even in variations she seems more interested in posing than actually dancing. She even avoids most jumps (injury?), but somehow it seemed appropriate. Statues do not jump. Some people find it divine, I found it beautiful but incredibly remote. Surprisingly I found her Odile more appealing. She uses her almost freakishly long limbs for good effect -- she's sinewy, silken, and undeniably sinister, much less interested in posing. Her somewhat hard chin becomes more prominent -- her Odile is tough as nails. Her fouettes are clean as a whistle, and she throws a bunch of doubles in there too. A nice bravura performance. This is a very "strong" review but I felt like another great opportunity was lost. Despite my reservations about Lopatkina I thought this could have been *the* Swan Lake performance. But the cuts are unforgivable. I wonder if the whole performance will ever be seen. I check Dana Sanderson's website and it says that only "highlights" will be on dvd. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

Yes they are about 40 minutes long, and comprise of dance clips and interviews. I've seen a few of them. I love the dance clips, and REALLY wish I could understand Russian.

I wrote to Irina Kolpakova and sent her a picture and not within two weeks it was sent back to me, signed.

I'm going to offer an unpopular opinion in that yes Croce and Acocella do this but the queen of dismissing dancers with a cheap shot and/or lavishing overbearing praise on a dancer is Laura Jacobs. If she doesn't like you, you often get a one-paragraph (or, in some cases, a one sentence) dismissal. If she likes you she can write a War-and-Peace length essay about the way you bourree across the stage. I respect her enthusiasm and her way with words, but I've read too many of her essays to really trust her judgement.

I think the Bat Scene in Nureyev's Nutcracker is creepy.

Both are very eye-catching dancers and I would see them in anything, because no matter what, the performance won't be boring.

Natasha is well worth getting though. I have it on videotape. The Month in the Country pdd with Anthony Dowell is worth the price of the entire dvd.

I saw Curse of the Golden Flower the other night. It reunited Zhang Zimou with Gong Li, his one-time muse, and it was supposed to be his return to "storyline" filmmaking, as opposed to his "martial art" flicks like Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Strangely, while the movie had its moments, it has less emotional impact than both Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Maybe it's because I felt like all both the Empress and Emperor were pretty despicable, so siding with the Empress (Gong Li, which Zimou filmed in endless, voyeuristic closeups) is hard. As usual the film had great visual beauty. But it grinds to a halt halfway through the movie from a fascinating family drama to a grand civil war, and despite some interesting moments the movie never recovers, in my opinion. Other movies I've seen: Stranger than Fiction (charming, if a little too self-consciously charming for my taste) and Borat. During the movie large chunks of the audience walked out, but a larger chunk held their sides in splinters from laughing so hard. I was in the second group. This is a movie I think most people should see -- whether you find it totally offensive or a wickedly funny satire of American culture is for you to decide. And Oscar noms today -- WHY was di Caprio nominated for Blood Diamond? He was 1000x better on The Departed.

I'd love to see the Kirov dance Jewels, and an all Balanchine program of maybe Apollo, La Valse, and Symphony in C. Other things I'd like to see: Manon Chopiniana/Les Sylphides Scherherezade Firebird

Nero does a good PAL --> NTSC conversion.

Maybe disturbing was the wrong word. I just think that it's surprising that after such a long glorious career Bussell doesn't seem particularly happy with her career choice. It sounds like she started dancing because she wasnt good at anything else, and that she remained a dancer because of determination and lack of options, rather than love of the art. I know ballet is a terribly demanding career, but Bussell seems to have been blessed and led a charmed life. Unlike, say, Suzanne Farrell, she didn't have moments when her entire career was in jeopardy, and she's married to a banker and has two lovely kids. Yet she still doesn't sound particularly happy about being a dancer.

AFAIK, the "tight bun" look started with Olga Spessivtseva. Pictures of Tamara Karsavina, Mathilde Kschessinska, Anna Pavlova, et al. show hair often worn in nets. Sometimes the hair is worn in ringlets, sometimes they even wore fros, and Anna Pavlova channeled Princess Leia. I think a tight bun makes the head look smaller, and that's a feature that's more and more prized in ballerinas. For instance, sometimes I think the heads look too small.

I thought this was the most disturbing quote:

Wow, this is an interview that dirac posted and it sounds very different from the Bussell interviews I've seen of the past. She seems very disenchanted with dance and ballet.