Drew

Thanks from me as well...

That's just a faulous line-up!!!

I can't give this quite the time it deserves, but I enjoyed all the ballerinas you selected. I will mention that I think Shipulina -- not the most heralded of Bolshoi ballerinas -- has a consistency across the variation that I appreciate. To my eyes, at least, she did the least fudging of fifth positions, negotiated all the different difficulties the least unevenly etc. of the three ballerinas. (I only watched through once. I might see other things if I watched again.) She also picked up some good speed in her turns. I'm a firm believer that a variation and, even more so, a ballerina is more than the sum of all these kinds of details. And all these details are exactly what video comparisons encourage one to notice and underline. Kudos all the same to Shipulina. I hope I can see her live one day. The other two videos are also lovely in different ways. In the opening phrases of the variation, especially, I think Stepanova and Smirnova show off distinctively lush upper bodies that I like a lot--both of them sort of revel in the epaulement (that is, the way they pose their head and shoulders in relation to the rest of the body)--but Stepanova (to my eyes) looks more natural at those moments. Fully stretched out but still sort of soft in a way that seems appropriate. It's quite clear that she is a little messy in the first sequence of double pirouettes with her arms en couronne (when she is doing the turns with the arms overhead)--sounds like that may have gotten cleaned up by the time she danced in London.

Nice to learn about this...I STILL regret his departure from ABT!

Completely agree that musicality is different from dancing 'on' the music. ALSO completely agree that video is not the best place to judge musicality--though one may feel one is getting a flavor. If the sound and image aren't perfectly coordinated, then that is one problem...I would add that the 'textures' of movement through which a great dancer responds to music are often lost on video. (Sorry if that's a little numinous.) It intrigues me, too, that judgment's of musicality are where lovers of dance often disagree the most. (Heck, lovers of classical music too). I don't doubt some people know more (a lot more) about music than, say, I do. But even among deeply knowledgeable people, one person's 'exquisite rubato' can be another person's 'draggy self-indulgence.' As it happens, although I have enjoyed a lot of video of Stepanova (and the teensy bit I have seen her dance live), the video of her debut as Queen of the Dryads in the new Bolshoi DQ is not what I personally would choose as an example of musicality. For all the reasons mentioned earlier in the discussion -- about video, debuts, particular performances, the variation itself (which is unfamiliar to me) -- I don't draw any great conclusions from that ... But when someone who has seen her recently and live in the same role finds the performance unmusical, I'm certainly not inclined to dismiss it out of hand. I'm grateful to everyone sharing their reactions to Stepanova's live performances. Those who love her, those who don't, and those for whom the jury is out. For myself, I wish I had been there for the Swan Lake...

That was my reaction the first time I saw this version--I couldn't believe some of Tchaikovsky's most thrilling music had been lopped in that fashion.

Some ballerinas pull you in to what they are doing even when they seem to be in an entirely different world from the audience--others less so. (Even when pretending the audience doesn't exist a ballerina has to project - and to the last row.)

Thanks for these reports on Stepanova and the Bolshoi in London. Looking forward to more (of all the dancers) if/as people are able.

Very sad news. May she rest in peace.

Congratulations to Elena Yevseyeva --

Absolute fantastic! Thank you!

Had hoped to see this - even bought tickets - but had to cancel plans for NY trip. Am eager to hear others' thoughts (though a little melancholy) -

Martins does not arouse the casting bitterness Mckenzie does, but I have sometimes wondered why Laracey doesn't get cast more.

Thank you for that report. When I saw the gala program, I was curious how she would handle herself and come across in that high-powered atmosphere. I do think opening the Paris tour puts her under a lot of pressure and scrutiny--very much hope it goes as well as her NY debut.

Don't know if you were alluding to this: http://www.hamburgballett.de/e/_anna_karenina.htm That is, he is taking it on -- with his Hamburg company in "cooperation with the Bolshoi Theatre and the National Ballet of Canada."

A very interesting comparison in the case of La Valse -- thank you. Worth more time than I was able to give it this week (mid-summer work crisis) but as you indicate just a minute or two does give at least a flavor.

What was puzzling to me was that the production that preceded Baryshnikov's at ABT had the double suicide, so that, in itself, would not have been a change in the ABT context. Would be interested to hear from those who saw it ...

Here is a link to a feature (w. interview) on the Baryshnikov production of Swan Lake that premiered at ABT in the late 80's. I never saw it, but remember it received a mixed reaction--as alluded to in this feature piece. What he says in the interview doesn't address your question directly, but indirectly perhaps. (As the article mentions, too, Baryshnikov never danced Siegfried in the Soviet Union.) http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/07/arts/baryshnikov-searches-for-the-heart-of-swan-lake.html?pagewanted=all

"In one of Gorsky’s versions - and I’m not joking - he had boys in grey shorts dancing the cygnets' dance" (from Messerer interview--link below). The 6 cygnet choreography was added or, rather, restored to the Mikhailovsky production fairly recently. Plans for the change are mentioned in a 2010 Mikhail Messerer interview with Ismene Brown that also gives a lot of background to the production. One thing I found quite interesting in view of recent discussions of Ratmansky's Swan Lake: "After all, if you think about it, the original Swan Lake got altered because it was constantly restaged and reworked by its creators... You know, I am sceptical about those Harvard notations - I don’t think it’s possible to recreate from notes. It is not easily recreated even from film, even if you danced in it yourself..." Brown and Messerer return to this subject later with Brown pressing him more and more--he concludes one response rather acerbically, but still making (I think) a serious point: "I think it’s more important for people to be good stagers than good historians - or they just become librarians." He also responds to Brown's question about the ending: "One can have the tragic ending, but there aren’t any in Russia that are famous. But it’s not my job to make changes for the better or for the worse. I wanted to preserve a complete period piece as a piece of art of its time - the 1937 version as performed famously in London in 1956." Anyway, here is the link: http://www.theartsdesk.com/print/1825

Thank you for the link. That is one of the more...uh...interesting such official announcements I've read. It implies practically a whole novella.

Oh yes--I saw the picture and knew that was what your were referring to...perhaps should have made that clearer.

Quote function didn't work properly--from Gnossie's post above-- "Cleo said "Skorik bears no blame for what is happening at Mariinsky. She has worked hard through many challenges, and I think we have to give her credit for that. It's not her fault that she is an inexpressive dancer; she is doing the best she can with her instrument" [...]. for years I have read how Alina Somova, a dancer I do NOT like has been trashed in this forum and never, not even once I read someone saying "she does the best she can so let's give her credit for that" why should one be kind to Skorik? .... There is no reason for you to remember this, but actually in some of the long impassioned debates about Somova over the years people who didn't like videos of her dancing have jumped in to make comparable kinds of comments--for example, that at least they showed 'improvement' and 'hard work.' I never said that exactly, but I did, for example, once jump in to express reservations about focusing so much criticism on flaws of just one video of Somova's Aurora that had been taken quite a few years earlier. (However 'downgraded' my taste may be, I'm quite confident my memory of this is accurate .) I tried to watch the documentary in which Skorik appears as a student, but gave up after two minutes--I found the tone very hard to take...

I'm not sure "credit" is the word I would use. But wishing the new family every happiness.

Yes, it is a wider Russian tendency. Sometimes I'm okay with it--especially in adagio--but other times not so much. From the one time I've seen Kolegova live I would have said she can dance with speed but video of her Lilac Fairy at the same performance also seems unnecessarily slowish to me, though having some other quite lovely qualities. Edited to add: thinking about emploi -- I'm intrigued to see video of Kolegova in this role, but a slower tempo makes more sense to me when there is a tall majestic Lilac Fairy, rather than a petite, elfin one: