Drew

I thought this performance was excellent--at least if one likes the ballet...which I do. Zakharova was very moving (especially in Act II, but really throughout); I can't remember seeing her live--or on video or on HD broadcast--give anything like this affecting and memorable a performance. That she danced with great fluency and, occasionally, a touch of power certainly didn't hurt the performance either. I suspect Neumeier must get some credit, and also his team, for drawing this performance out of her. According to Novikova, speaking at intermission, Keven Haigen rehearsed the Bolshoi dancers for this run while Neumeier has been preparing for the premier of his Duse ballet with Alessandra Ferri, though Neumeier did work with them setting the ballet originally. (An experience mentioned by dancers in pre-recorded segments and, I think, also by Tikhomirova, during an intermission interview.) The last time I saw Zakharova was in the broadcast performance of Sleeping Beauty--where she hardly looked at her partner. I have enjoyed her dancing live (up to a point), but without ever being swept away. Anyway, Neumeier's Marguerite seems to be a role that sets her free. As for Revazov as Armand--a dancer entirely new to me--he was a fantastic partner for Zakharova (she looked petite and fragile next to him) and in the intricate pas de deux, one could focus entirely on the dance which is to say, too, the story and not give a thought to the 'partnering.' I found him a good actor as well. Maybe, as Yudi says, not a complex portrait, but full of feeling all the same. Enjoyed the soloists in the subsidiary roles as well. Other Bolshoi dancers may do as well or better than this cast, but I am plenty satisfied with what I saw. I noticed, too, that this was by far and away the best attended of any Bolshoi (or other) ballet broadcast I have attended near my home (in the southeast). Not entirely sure why--and I don't attend all of them anyway. The broadcast was not live, but began early afternoon and that may have helped. But I don't really know.

Sad news...RIP

I vaguely remembered a thread in which people discuss sighlines at BAM -- but did a search and couldn't find it. Are orchestra seats decently banked (say, how would it compare to Met)? how much does one lose sitting way on side? How far back in orchestra to be sure not to lose feet? Or any other advice. I don't know if I am going to make it--but I'm certainly going to try ... (Will also be trying to see Raymonda in D.C.)

Unfortunately I don't know the current generation at all, but have enjoyed reading about them and would also be interested in hearing people's responses. From RDB tours from way back my very favorite dancer was male (Arne Villumsen)--but among ballerinas Linda Hindberg--great in Bournonville and Glen Tetley!--and, though I saw her less, as Alexandra mentioned above, Lis Jeppesen; I also loved Ryom's Swanilda. On still earlier tours I loved Dina Bjørn. At the very beginning of THIS century I saw a single performance of a group of soloists on tour and especially liked Tina Højlund--actually thought she was the only one of the woman whose "Bournonville style" was like the style I remembered from earlier tours and dancers like Jeppesen. But I never saw her dance again. I would love to see today's RDB soon (and live), but don't think I have much of a chance. By the by, the first Odette-Odile I ever saw was RDB ballerina Toni Lander, but she was dancing then with ABT.

Die is cast--albeit castless--for me as well.

On the Festspielhaus page that just 'announces' the company, it indicates that Lopatkina will be dancing in Little Humpbacked Horse on the 21st and Corsaire the 26th. ( http://www.festspielhaus.de/en/schwebende-schwaene-verzauberte-pferdchen-2/) . Perhaps you saw this already? I remember that she is not one of your favorites, but perhaps you can start some 'process of elimination' guesses about other nights... They do usually seem to bring a slew of top dancers with them to Baden Baden.

Lopatkina & Yermakov: Plisetskaya gala performance of La Rose Malade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAhwnaLKhyc

Thank you Naomikage...glad to hear Kondaurova is looking substantially recovered.

Am I mistaken or is there still no cast information about Raymonda with tickets going on sale to the general public in less than a week? I know the Mariinsky may not care, but surely Kennedy center has some interest in showing respect for the people it sells tickets to... Everyone understands that casts are 'subject to change'--with the Mariinsky perhaps all too subject--but if the company can announce Vishneva and Lopatkina for concerts in NY, then I think they can announce who is dancing Raymonda... It's perhaps a forlorn hope that Kennedy center media people may check this thread from time to time, but if they do, please be assured that If I have to buy tickets "blind," then I will buy fewer and cheaper...if at all. Waiting until later? A solution with many pitfalls since I have to plan a trip, arrange time off work etc. The big draw is Raymonda itself--thank you Kennedy Center for that!--but not to the exclusion of all casting considerations. If casting has been announced and I somehow missed it--then to all involved. But please do let me know where to find it...

Thank you very much!

Thank you Sasark for this review. When I saw Chudin's Siegfried in NY I was just delighted. I had never seen Chudin on video and had read a bit of criticism of his dancing/acting on this site. So, I had no expectations. Then he entered with a leap so buoyant and so graceful, I literally sat up straighter in my seat. For the entire performance his dancing was, very much as you describe of the performance you saw, preternaturally clean and beautifully articulated. At one point I actually thought of Bruhn. At the same performance one friend found him too "academic" and another found him a touch "lightweight"--for me the academic quality of his dancing is infused with warmth and elegance and, well, his 'lightness' didn't seem lightweight to me. (He was a little less preternaturally clean at a performance of Swan Lake a few days later, though still very clean and very refined--but perhaps he has some especially 'on' nights and we were, at different times, lucky enough to see one of them.) I do quite vehemently dislike the Grigorovich production--which, to my eyes, does add many elements to the inherited form of the ballet. But, at that performance in NY, as Chudin finished his entrance, I remember thinking something like "it's Grigorovich--Siegfied has lots of extra dancing--GREAT!!"

Hmm...hard to picture a copyeditor replacing Youskevitch with Baryshnikov! Maybe it's the reviewer's mistake, but perhaps not a mistake about 'facts'--more a slip of brain to pen coordination or break in concentration--like the kind of unthinking name or word slip that occurs in speech all the time (parapraxis)--or, say, writing the wrong year down, by a decade, when dating a check. (I can't be the only person who has ever done that). Of course professionals are supposed to catch those kinds of mistakes, and it's a very embarassing blooper for the writer and, also, the editor of the journal, even if it is just a 'slip of the pen.'

Cuthbertson gave what I (and others on this site) thought was a fine performance in Song of the Earth last spring in NY. The company as a whole made a mixed impression, but honestly, I don't think of her performance as one of the weak links. Of course, I haven't seen her in classical roles (even on video) and can't judge her overall for myself. I know she has admirers as well as detractors. As far as bad days go: I have seen Lamb in a disaster of a performance--in what I believe is considered one of her best roles, Aurora. That is, I have always read high praise for her Aurora from fans in the UK, pretty much from the time of her debut...still, the Sleeping Beauty she danced at Kennedy Center some years ago was a trainwreck in Act I and only really beautiful in the vision scene. Even that was, arguably, a touch too Gisellesque. In Act I, I am not just talking about the rose adagio balances (which could only have been more wobbly if she had actually fallen off point) but essentially every sequence in which she had to show any sense of security. In fact, Lamb had given an interview a day or two earlier talking about how nerve-wracking it was to perform in front of her old teachers who were in D.C. to see her. I assume nerves caught up with her, and I would still be willing to give her Aurora another try--live at any rate. But, yeah, as noted above by Bella 12, even very fine dancers can have off performances. I can only imagine their frustration when an off performance is caught on tape or film. I could not be more excited about the Monotones/Two Pigeons program. How I wish that was coming to the United States!!!

I'd have said they are lightweight fun-- (And I doubt the designers of the campaign want it to look like specialized dance photography.)

Very sad...

I can't comment on this program or these performances. But I would like to say something about two of the ballets that have come in for some criticism--which are both works that I admire hugely. I consider Fancy Free one of Robbins' best ballets (I know it was his first). It has a fantastic score too. Call it a 'character ballet' if you like. Danced well it is a proven crowd pleaser. In decades past it was a regular at ABT. Now both ABT and NYCB dance it--that is, it's a living part of the repertory and has been since it was first danced. That Fancy Free is not to all tastes is fair enough, and I have no idea how MCB danced it. But it's a major work that has had a long life in the history of American Ballet. Character ballets of this kind are not my favorite rep, but I like Fancy Free, I enjoy it and, more importantly perhaps, I think it's worthy of respect. As for Balanchine's Swan Lake, it is "not enough" Swan Lake for anyone who only enjoys seeing the full length Swan Lake. I have always loved this distillation/combination of the two white acts...I would never want to lose the full-length Swan Lake (though I might want to lose most productions of it available today), but I dont' think this is a zero sum game, though I recognize that most companies have to make a choice. For a largely neo-classical company Balanchine's version seems to me potentially the right choice. It also has a number of distinctive choreographic elements, and I'm delighted by NYCB's decision to keep Balanchine's one act version in its rep even after mounting a full length production--and so preserving Balanchine's particular 'take' on the ballet, a take that still has power to move (to move me certainly) well into the 21st century. Could MCB mount a plausible full-length Swan Lake? Maybe...and maybe one day it will.

I don't find the Polunin remark crystal clear either. (Who knows what the Royal or Bolshoi have said about having Polunin and Osipova dance together?) For the rest, I don't begrudge Osipova preferring to dance with certain partners, though one could wish companies, her management, and she herself would get on the same page about it when an originally scheduled partner cancels. However, I don't assume that the fault is hers. Actually, don't particularly have an opinion about 'fault.' I always thought these performances were a question mark despite La Scala's advertising. Of course, people who bought tickets to the performance have a right to their disappointment and irritation. That is, those feelings are understandable--I would feel the same.

I don't think we know anything based on the (admittedly weirdly worded) La Scala press release, especially since it was always odd that Osipova was announced to dance for these performances given that she is out of all 2015 Royal Ballet performances. Who is to say La Scala wasn't trying to combat rumors about "the artist?" I have no opinion one way or another, but It's all "unofficial."

Wasn't sure exactly where and how to say this, but my thoughts have been with Paris all evening and all night. I hope that readers of this site who live there--and their loved ones--are safe. And, too, a special thought for the dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet...

Thank you for posting this. (As a side note: I'm intrigued that Stepanova (Yanguroza) has two featured roles even though she just joined the Bolshoi this year...)

Very nice news--congratulations to Ekaterina Borchenko. My impression from the Mikhailovsky website is, like that of Naomikage, that Irina Perren is once again dancing with the company--so her dismissal was, so to speak, reversed...I hope that's right.

Thanks Alymer--I had.always just thought Ashton when I thought of that production (and de Nobili). (He was Director of the company at that time. When you say he was never asked to produce Sleeping Beauty...would he not have had the authority to do one had he wished? I don't know the ins and outs of the Royal Ballet at that time, though I understand he felt a bit pushed out.)

I thought Ashton did a very short lived production. If I am not mistaken I saw it at the Met (as a child) ... My first time seeing the Royal Ballet and my first Sleeping Beauty.

Thank you for reporting about this event. I would have loved to attend. I think, too, Ashtonfan put it precisely when s/he referred to "the argument as to whether performance style in music should be informed by knowledge of period practice and performance style." I added the italics because I think "informed by" allows some flexibility (though I can't claim to know what Ashtonfan intended). Put a little differently: few orchestras now play Bach with Wagnerian style orchestration nor do their audiences want them to...but people--even what I would call hard core music afficianados--DO flock to hear Angela Hewitt play Bach on the piano, an instrument unknown to him. There are orchestras and soloists that specialize, say, in playing mid-nineteenth-century music in a "mid-nineteenth-century style" or even on mid-nineteenth-century instruments (or facsimilies) but the New York Philharmonic hasn't, therefore, given up on playing Schubert or Schumann in their way etc. etc. It's a performing art--and when Petipa staged Giselle, he himself doesn't seem to have been hung up on producing Perrot's or Coralli's choreography and style exactly as it once was done. And Perrot, for example, was not a "nobody." I liked Ratmansky's Sleeping Beauty a lot; I'm eager to see his Swan Lake (where presumably--I know there is debate about this--the difference between Petipa and Ivanov comes into play too)...but to see ballets that look exactly the way they looked in 1890 is scarcely possible nor, in my opinion, desirable except as a historical exercise. The bodies, the pointe shoes, the technique are all different. Which is not the same thing as saying that Petipa should be danced the way one dances McGregor ... so, yes..."informed by..." knowledge of past traditions/styles. (I hate the wholesale rechoreographing of Swan Lake etc.) But, for my taste, still not absolutely determined by them. It will be very interesting to see what Vaziev does with the Bolshoi and what they do with him. Apparently he found the Mariinsky dancers recalcitrant when it came to reconstructions--years later, will he find the Bolshoi dancers any different? It's a genuine question not a rhetorical one...I don't find it easy to speculate.

I enjoyed your blog review (which I had actually read before seeing this post)--it's a ballet I very much want to see...