Roberta

The following YouTube channel of the Ural Opera Ballet Theatre in Ekaterinburg, Russia, contains many clips from the most recent reconstruction of the complete PAQUITA, based on the Stepanov notes & related materials. This recent (2018?) staging is credited to the late Sergei Vikharev, although I found it by googling the name of his associate, Pavel Gershenzon, who may have finished the work of Vikharev. Here you'll also find clips of Vikharev's Fille Mal Gardee and of another Ekaterinburg production of a long-lost Petipa work, King's Command (not sure what this is based on; looks modern). Enjoy poking around this interesting site, including the lovely Paquita clips! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7P_pWfpnZdSv3I7VKPCsUg/videos?disable_polymer=1 In case the above doesn't work, you can start by seeing the Camargo variation that I pointed out above...then 'dig in' by finding other clips. The name of the YouTube site is Ural Opera Ballet. https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=AwrJ7FVqYZtdlsUAqgZXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybWI4ZDFiBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjg4NzdfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=Pavel+Gershenzon&fr=yfp-t#id=7&vid=96f3977b10fba5f0cbc4caedc265a8b6&action=view

It's a shame that the cuts/shortenings in Berlin-Ratmansky (compared to StP-Vikharev) take place at the very end because "the last thing seen is the first thing remembered." Other than those slight disappointments at the end, I give Berlin-Ratmansky five stars! The deep cuts to the Pas d'Action's Coda (not just Gamzatti's fouettees but many other segment/steps, such as enchainements danced by trios made up of bridesmaids and the "Nikolai Legat cavalier" plus a final "run on pointe" up to the footlights by Gamzatti) are all outlined by Vikharev's associate, Pavel Gershenzon, in the Fall 2002 issue of Ballet Review...four pages detailing every number and segment-of-a-number recovered by Vikharev in 2001/2002 through various sources (not just the Stepanov notes but scribbles in the margins of scores, contemporary reviews, dancer recollections)...but Vikharev and his team weren't able to execute all of those findings. (EricMontreal - yes, I remember an interview in which Vikharev lamented not being able to stage all of his Bayadere findings.) In case anyone was wondering, I carried a hard-copy of that Ballet Review article to the Berlin Staatsopen Unter den Linden...true balletomane! Oh, I will miss Ballet Review for those sorts of analytic articles about the great reconstructions. I'm so hoping that at least one more Ballet Review may include an article by Ratmansky about his Berlin Bayadere, just as he wrote a great one on Harlequinade, published in the current issue.

Hi & thank you, Cubanmiamiboy/Cristian. This is another favorite of mine. This one is from an early Diaghilev-era ballet, Le Pavillon d'Armide, so it's definitely post-Nutcracker and post-Petipa & Ivanov! Music by Tcherepnin and choreography by Fokine. Since this one never would have been a part of the Paquita Grand-Pas during Petipa's time in charge, I'm not quite sure when it became one of the standard variations in the suite, when performed at the Vaganova Academy or Kirov-Mariinsky. I am guessing that it became standard with Vinogradov's 1978 staging for the main company, although it may have been inserted earlier (by Petr Gusev, in his stagings)? Many of us became familiar with this one when Larissa Lezhnina danced it in the famous 1989/90 film of the Grand Pas by the Kirov (Vinogradov era).

In the Berlin-Ratmansky version, based on the Stepanov notes, it's made very apparent that the dagger belongs to Gamzatti's father Dugmanta. Dugmanta removes it from his belt and lays it on the chess table with a sweeping move, early on in the scene. I have not seen that in other versions.

Isn't Copeland now concentrating on these sorts of modern works? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/arts/dance/kyle-abraham-misty-copeland-fall-for-dance.html

More on the above PAQUITA-CAMARGO variation. I first fell in love with this when I saw Irina Dvorovenko perform it at the 1990 Jackson ballet competition...so, to me, it will forever be know as "The Dvorovenko Variation" in my book. This is fuzzy but you get the idea. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJvb_ShOnOg One of these days, it would be great if someone with time and resources on their hands could create a video (or YouTube) "Compendium of Paquita Variations."

I'm guessing that, if it is made available to the public, it will likely be through a livestream. I asked the lady at the Staatsoper's shop if there were any plans to do a livestream of Bayadere and she told me, "So far, no plans." Most of the German opera houses seem to livestream more operas than ballets.

What is your favorite "Petipa Bon-Bon" from among the many variations that appear in various versions of the Paquita Grand Pas? As hard as it is to decide, I've narrowed it to this one...I think from CAMARGO, originally danced by Legnani. It seems to be a specialty of Vaganova Acad recent (2019) graduate, Alexandra Khiteeva, who performed it in the past three graduation concerts at the Mariinsky. In the following YouTube clip, we see the variation performed twice -- by Khiteeva, then by Mariinsky prima Viktoria Tereshkina, whose aplomb I deeply appreciate, compared with the then-student Khiteeva. So interesting to see two ballerinas in different stages of their development. Khiteeva, by the way, will be dancing at the Kennedy Center next week, although apparently not in this variation. The KennCen casting indicates that she'll be dancing a variation for CORSAIRE. Tereshkina, of course, will be dancing the lead in the first cast of PAQUITA but I'm not sure if this is the variation that she'll perform. Others -- Chebykina and Shirinkina -- are slated to perform a variation from CAMARGO...but will it be this one?

I love this production, which I attended three times in mid-September, led by Ovsianik/Timaziclaru/Correa (once - 10 Sept) or Salenko/Simkin/Godunova (twice - 12 & 14 Sept). I'm just popping into this thread to mention a major disappointment - maybe the only real disappointment - that none of our Ballet Alert posters nor the professional reviewers pointed out: Compared to Sergei Vikharev's staging for the Mariinsky in 2002, the Berlin-Ratmansky edition cuts the Act IV Pas d'Action coda in half. (Five minutes or so of music played in the St-P coda are excised, including Gamzatti's 28 fouettes, which Tarasova and Osmolkina performed in 2002/03.) On the other hand, Berlin-Ratmansky properly reinstates the "other male soloist" (here, the character Toloragva, dancing Nikolai Legat's steps) into the pas...properly a Pas de Huit (Nikiya's ghost, Gamzatti, Solor, Toloragva and 4 bayadere bridesmaids) and not a Pas de Sept, as in Vikharev. This was immediately followed by the start of the marriage ceremony (the Great Brahmin joining Solor's and Gamzatti's hands), then the Destruction of the Temple, achieved in about 30 seconds via projections on a scrim. I was prepared for this because almost everyone who reported on the Nov 2018 premiere cited the disappointment of the quick and cheap temple destruction. They were right. It's almost as if the Berlin troupe decided to make most of the big cuts to Act IV (sc 7), so that the ballet could be achieved in 170 minutes, with one 30-minute intermission. Concerns about costs, including overtime pay for unions? (The Russian opera houses, unlike the rest of the world, don't seem to have this problem; the late Mr. Vikharev dealt with many issues in staging his ballets but not the problem of staging within Union Time.) On the whole, Berlin-Ratmansky seems to be far more faithful to the Harvard notes than was the St. Petersburg-Vikharev edition, as Vikharev most likely caved into Mariinsky coaches' (and sr dancers?) pressures to retain most of the beloved Soviet-era steps. In Berlin-Ratmansky, the steps for most dances - including the simplified Fire Ritual Dance for 8 priestesses, now in soft slippers - and all of the mime, seem more 19-C-appropriate. The procession that opens the 3rd scene moves only across the stage, all traveling from one wing to the one across the stage (as the elephant always does)...and everybody appears in the parade, even Manu and the two little girls! Not-so-funny "staging bloopers" from one of the recent Berlin performances (the opener on Tuesday, 10 September): 1. Sc 3 - During Nikia's "Danse de Panier" with the basket of flowers, the "snake" literally jumped out of the basket very early, during Nikia's backward-traveling arabesques. Imagine how that messed-up the mime that followed. Of course, as real pros, the Berlin dancers did not blink...but I'm sure that the audience wondered why Nikia clutched her throat (as there was no snake in the basket by then), the Fakir Magdaveya stomped on the rubber snake that had been on the floor for 4 minutes before then, and the Great Bahmin handed Nikia a vial of antidote! 2. Sc 5 ("Shades") - During Nikia's solo with the scarf - and in this version it is indeed danced "solo" with only with a floating scarf, one end sereptitiously connected to a wire, held by someone in the wings - when Nikia performed her releve-turns and lets go of the scarf...the scarf just stayed there, hovering above the stage. It did not go up and off into the wings, as it was to have done. In fact, to make matters worse, it remained in full view above the stage, bouncing up and down, as the prop people backstage continued to tug at it. Poor Xenia Ovsianik/Nikia heard laughter from the audience...as the rest of her solo had to compete with a bouncing, hovering scarf! Happily, these errors did not occur in subsequent performances. p.s. Eyes on Evelina Godunova (Gamzatti on 12 and 14th Sept.), who impressed me the most among many wonderful Berlin soloists, during this run. She possesses a crystal clear technique, great musicality and convincing mime, without being campy.

I checked this sub-forum and discovered that Paquita did not have its very own thread, so here we go! In anticipation of the US premiere of the Mariinsky Ballet's full-length version at the Kennedy Center (DC) next week, I was hoping to read into this work, known mainly for the "Paquita Grand Pas" and its multiple variations. So far, I've seen Lacotte's lovely but "imagined" version for Paris, as well as Ratmansky's edition for Bavarian State Ballet (Munich), based on the Stepanov Notes. I love both for different reasons; Lacotte's for the decors and Ratmansky's for the steps/staging, which gives it the edge, as far as I'm concerned. The Mariinsky's, as I've read, is a total reimagining by leading choreographer Yuri Smekalov, with a brand-new scenario and even new characters and names of leading figure (the hero is Andres, not Lucien, for ex). However, my understanding is that the third and final act of the Mariinsky version, with the fabulous Grand Pas Classique, is indeed based on the Harvard notes, as interpreted by Yuri Burlaka (who worked with Ratmansky on the Bolshoi's Le Corsaire from 2007, among other recent reconstructions). Burlaka also staged the Bolshoi's own version of the Paquita Grand Pas, around 2008-2009...a one-hour super-duper version with more variations than normally seen. In addition to thoughts on the full ballet, I'm hoping that somebody may be able to shed light on the various sets of Grand Pas variations. I found this on the web: http://dictionnaire.sensagent.leparisien.fr/ballets+by+paul+fouche/en-en/ (early version of the Wikipedia artile on Paquita, now much shorter than before). Notice that the Kennedy Center casting notes include some information on each of the G-P variations that we'll be seeing ...but no mention of the male variation that follows those by the ballerinas. https://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/event/BUBSG

While familiarizing myself with this forum and sub-topics, I ran into this one. It is amazing to read through this now, 10 years after the last entry, and realize that many of Ballet Alert members' wishes have been fulfilled. For example, since Feb 2009, we've seen revivals of various ballets using the Stepanov Notations (Harvard notes) or other informed sources by Ratmansky, the late Sergei Vikharev, Yuri Burlaka, Vasily Medvedev and others working in Russia or Eastern Europe. Since 2009 we have revivals of Petipa or Ivanov ballets Raymonda, Esmeralda, Paquita, Fille Mal Gardee, Harlequinade, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, alternates to Vikharev's stagings of Sleeping Beauty and Bayadere. Didn't Medvedev revive the Grand-Pas Electrique from Bluebeard for one of the DanceOpen festivals? There was to have been a revival of King Candaules somewhere in Russia (not Moscow or StP) during the Petipa bicentennial, no? We still don't know if the upcoming Bolshoi Giselle by Ratmansky will be a recon or a totally fresh reimagining. It's fun to re-read this thread and realize how much has come to pass. Even if the degree of authenticity greatly varies, from one stager to another, I feel grateful for what now exists. As for remaining wishes, there aren't that many left, among the Harvard notes, that have yet to be touched. I echo Ericmontreal22's wish for The Harlem Tulip, as well as Natalia's wish for a Little Humpbacked Horse in the traditional Imperial (Pugni et al) score. Burlaka and Tsiskaridze have at least revived entire scenes from Humpbacked Horse for the Vaganova academy. Kurgapkina also revived parts of Humpbacked Horse in the 1980s (Frescoes pas de quatre, Enchanted Island scene, Underwater scene, and so on), drawn from memory and 'foot to foot' teaching, as she did not have access to the Harvard notes. Unfortunately, the Harvard notes do not include Cinderella or Camargo, among my wish list. However, a few variations from those lost ballets exist in various versions of the Paquita Grand Pas and elsewhere, when favorite variations were interpolated into pas de deux.

Hello. Do any of our Russia-based (or other) friends have any news on Ratmansky's Giselle? Will this be another reconstruction? This production is set to premiere in November, with a live cinemascast on 26 January (at 12:55PM in the eastern USA). Several DC-area theaters are already announcing it. https://www.fathomevents.com/events/bolshoi1920-giselle

So happy to see this!

I'm the one who spotted the Teatro Colon's announcement about Copeland's planned La Sylphide, posting it here. I thought "how interesting" this was, as Lacotte's ballets in the Romantic style feature a lot of difficult terre-a-terre taquette style dancing...spinning lace with the feet. I was wondering if Copeland was up to it, although I've no reason to think that she cannot. Fast footwork, quick pointe work is different from fouettes and such. Evgenia Obraztsova is a genius in such Romantic-era roles and is a particular favorite of Lacotte. I was looking forward to Copeland displaying some of the same qualities. Maybe at a later time.

I saw that. Thanks for posting, abatt. May he rest in peace. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/billionaire-businessman-david-koch-dead-at-79-132246911.html

I know. The entire anecdote, with quotes, is in the story, to which I gave the link. So he was a "gentleman" because he prefaced the $10 quip by saying that he doesn't want her to feel like a prostitute and explained that it was for parking? Good grief, a jerk is a jerk is a jerk.

Domingo -- the last of the big-time spenders (not): "One accuser claims that he left her $10 after one of the two times they had sex...I don't want you to have to pay to park..." https://nypost.com/2019/08/13/opera-legend-placido-domingo-accused-of-serial-sexual-harassment/

Not a surprise. Still, very sad, on so many levels. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-49334226 The $64k question for me: How did (does) his wife of 50+ years, Marta, put up with this? (Not an easy q to answer, I realise.) I remember Marta as a very good production-director of some of our operas, during the mid-90s. We all felt sorry for her, in a way.

Most enlightening, Ashton Fan. Thank you.

May she rest in peace. One of the greats. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2019/08/06/toni-morrison-dead-at-88-beloved-author-nobel-prize-in-literature/334663002/

Thank you for this news. Is Luke related to Peter Schaufuss, who staged Ashton's R&J in London, when he (Peter) led ENB/London Fest Ballet? I see that single tickets are now on sale for the 2019/20 Sarasota season. https://www.sarasotaballet.org/events/type/company-performances/all Lots of Ashton, as before.

Not Harss. We'd get a steady diet of "All-Ratmansky, All-the-time." Kourlas is perfect - fresh and light, yet knowledgeable.

Oh, that's basically about the creation of the Goh ballet Configurations, followed by the ABT performance - Baryshnikov - The Dancer and the Dance - emphasis on the dance part. We're grateful to have it but no cigar. Absolutely not a biography docum. Neither are the shortish docums about Makarova going back to the USSR. I'd love to see Baryshnikov and Makarova get "the Patricia Foy treatment" in a documentary...although I know that Foy herself passed away a while back. We need a new Patricia Foy.

Wonderful castings, overall. Especially looking forward to Tereshkina and Batoeva, among the Paquitas. Also, I believe that this is the first time that we'll see Renata Shakirova at the Kennedy Center.

With all due respect to Nureyev, I can think of so many great ballet stars of the Boom Era (60s/70s) who deserve to have his/her story told (Makarova, Baryshnikov, Kirkland, Bruhn, the Panovs, etc.). We have a couple of good docums about Fracci, one about Marcia Haydee and a couple two about Bujones, thanks to his sister's initiative. We also have one about Farrell. Think of all the greats of the 60s and 70s about whom there are no true documentaries. No. "Baryshnikov on Broadway" does not count.