KathyKat

The complete recent Bolshoi Giselle with Smirnova and Belyakov can be found on Youku which is China’s version of YouTube. I was so thrilled to find it there since I had been wanting to see it again ever since the live cinema cast last January. It can be found by just searching Olga Smirnova. It is such a beautiful performance and I plan on watching it again and again before it (inevitably) gets taken down.

While watching (actually re-watching) a favorite YouTube video from 2013 of the Sleeping Beauty fairies with Yulia Stepanova, Xenia Ostreikovskaya, et. al. , I noticed the different shapes of the tutus or the way hang on each of the dancers. For instance while Stepanova’s tutu had a nice disc or “satellite “ shape, others, particularly the one worn by Tatiana Tiliguzova had what seemed to me an odd droop in front almost to the point of making a saddle shape. Just wondering why this would be. Would this be up to the dancers themselves or the costume personnel? I see this a lot on different vi

Thanks Drew. Yes Semenyaka was fantastic. Her bourrees were just breathtakingly smooth and beautiful. Also almost noiseless.

Thank you, Sandik. Where I live, in southeast Michigan, it’s pretty hit or miss what companies that will come on any given year. That being said over the years I have been fortunate enough to see ABT a couple of times: a Julie Kent Giselle in th late 1990s and The Merry Widow with Susan Jaffe in the early 2000s. Also I saw a “Stars of the Bolshoi” program that is a treasured memory of Maria Bylova in Spring Waters. Chicago is not that far away and I did see a Bolshoi Romeo and Juliet there with Lyudmila Semenyaka in th early 1990s. Now that I’m retired and work conflicts are no longer an issu

Hello. My name is Kathleen and I am a long time ballet enthusiast. I was captivated at a young age at seeing Maria Tallchief on television. Although I took a couple of ballet classes (semesters) in college in the early 1970s I’ve never really been any kind of serious student much less dancer but I have great affection and respect for the art and all who dance it. My daily ballet fix I mainly get from YouTube. My favorite ballerinas are mostly the Russians with their glorious epaulment: Alina Somova, Nina Kaptsova, Kristina Shapran, to name just a few. I would dearly love to read a review of th