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Inga

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Posts posted by Inga

  1. Thank you, Leigh Witchel, for you review!

    It seems the dancer you asked about really is Nelly Kobakhidze. She looks like you described, and she is a person who can attract attention even in small role.

    She was born in Georgia, like Nina Ananiashvili. She began to study ballet in her native Tbilisi, after some time moved into Moscow ballet school. In 2001 she was graduated from the school and joined Bolshoi Ballet.

    In Bolshoi she danced small roles like Tenderness Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, variation in Raymonda dream (I wonder if she danced it in USA?) and so on. Her main achievement is leading role in Les Sylphides, and, last season, solo roles in Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco and Yury Posokhov’s Magrittomania. In galas she danced pas de deux from Giselle and Raymonda.

    She attracted attention of Moscow audience by her musicality, charm and lyrical qualities. She was noticed even when danced in the corps. She seems to be intelligent dancer. Her only problem is, as it’s not unusual with thin and long-limbed dancers, she sometimes have technical problems. But she is young, so if she’ll be able to cope with big roles, we’ll have a ballerina of highest level.

  2. Bolshoi breezes through 'Quixote'

    By Christine Temin, Globe Staff | October 9, 2004

    "Don Q" is a bravura comic ballet, and the Bolshoi delivered in both departments. Maria Alexandrova, as Kitri, the spirited heroine, was a flame burning through the challenges of difficult choreography she seemed only to laugh at. Alexey Loparevich was an appropriately addled and idealistic Don. Yury Klevtsov was an unimpressive Basil, though, quite overwhelmed by Alexandrova, and technically disappointing.
  3. Natalia, Stanislavsky Ballet is homeless now because their home theatre is closed for reparation. So the Stanislavske Ballet performs in other Moscow auditoriums, including Bolshoi’s New Stage. In the Bolshoi schedule it always written if the performance is done by the Stanislavsky Ballet. The Bolshoi and The Stanislavsky companies never mix.

    The same with Grigorovitch Ballet in Mariinsky Theatre – the tour of Grigorovitch Company was advertised long before it take place, so it was clear what company will dance.

    In the case of foreigners who cannot understand Russian the mistakes is quite possible of course.

  4. Natalia, Lunkina became mother last winter and she still didn’t return onstage. Her performance was scheduled in September, but she was replaced by another ballerina; In October she also scheduled for several performances, I hope she will dance. So it’s natural that she will not tour.

    When part of the company will be in USA, in Moscow the Bolshoi will show “small” ballets, but there will not be any guests from other Moscow troupes as far as I know. Whom do you mean? The only guest will be POB’s etoile Laurent Hilaire who will dance Giselle with Zakharova.

  5. I don’t think in Moscow is opposition between “bright” Moscow style and “refined’ style of Kirov. Uliana Lopatkina and Diana Vishneva is very popular in Moscow. I have a friend who is fan of both Alexandrova and Vishneva. As for Svetlana Lunkina, she became mother last winter and supposed to return onstage this season. She is very gifted but she was weak technically. Giselle, her first big role, remain her most prominent achievement.

  6. Hmm... Interesting. I must find these reviews.

    http://www.kulturagz.ru/RUBRIKS/Music/Rubrik1_index.htm

    The article in “Kultura” where several critics talked about the season’s results that I mentioned above. Violetta Mainietse called Alexandrova “the most bright Moscow ballerina”.

    Also two season result articles with high estimations of Alexandrova’s Aspiccia.

    http://www.vremya.ru/2004/128/10/103327.html by Anna Gordeeva, “Vremya novostei”

    http://www.kulturagz.ru/RUBRIKS/Music/a2.htm by Ekaterina Beliaeva, “Kultura”

    I think the Telegraph article mentioned by Dale is good description of Alexandrova’s style. Jeffery Taylor in his article http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_04/au...olshoi_0704.htm also very keenly named her the Muscovite missile. She have distinctive style of her own, and people can like her or like her not, it’s just a matter of taste.

  7. When I saw Alexandrova's Pharaonka in Moscow her technique was breathtaking. The thing I especially like about her Aspiccia is her being enigmatic and passionate that suit my notions about ancient Egypt queens like Cleopatra. Recently Russian ballet critics named Alexandrova the person of the season, especially for her performances in Pharaonka, Romeo & Juliet and Ratmasky’s Leah.

  8. The Sleeping Beauty at June 12

    Nadezhda Gracheva in the main part impressed me by her academic style but she nave nothing more for Aurora. Maria Alexandrova danced as high class ballerina, she have her technique and her stage presence, but I think she didn’t show her full abilities. I liked very much Andrei Uvarov, who looked fresh and quick with his lightning-like jumps.

    I also like Ekaterina Krisanova as Violant Fairy. She is very young, just a first year in the Bolshoi, but already danced several small roles and looks very promising.

  9. At May 15 Maria Alexandrova danced Don Quixotte with Vladimir Neporozhny. Alexandrova performed Kitri last time three years ago, so now she bring in the role all the experience she gained in the time. Three years ago she was bright ballerina but not Kitri. Now she IS Kitri.

    Alexandrova not only show her famous stage presence, her charm, her rare technical strength. For me the most fascinating was the contrast between Kitri as simple girl and Kitri-Dulcinea in Don Q’s dream. In the first act Masha looked like a real innkeeper’s daughter, simple, self-assured and merry. You can easily imagine her pouring a beer to the clients and laughing with them! Her love for Basilio was sincere, she pretend to be indifferent to him, but she cannot hide her feeling.

    In Don Quixotte’s dream she was just another person. Playful girl is gone, Dulcinea is a crystal fairy with royal bearing. And how beautiful was her balances!

    In the last act pas de deux she again was simple girl, but she was so happy and charming! Her variation became the peak of the performance. The audience responded with enthusiastic applause.

  10. April 3, “Spartacus”

    Spartacus – Yury Klevtsov

    Crassus – Vladimir Neporozhny

    Phrigia – Inna Petrova

    Aegina – Maria Alexandrova

    Very exciting evening! The ballet, with its boiling music and hot dancing still can touch one’s heart. This romantic, sensual ballet about gladiators fighting for freedom, that is so unlike usual fine performances with ladies in tutu and sweet princes in white, often arouse arguments, and sometimes bring critics to hysterical fits, but the Bolshoi showed that the story is still alive.

    Klevtsov was very emotinal Spartacus. His dancing was not very powerful but competent, he is not very young, but he show his dramatic gift (I never saw him so good, by the way). His hero is not aggressive, and he understand that his fight for freedom will be very hard, but he cannot be a slave. He is man of kindness and dignity whom cruel fate put in a deathly trap, and he must fight with all the world, and he don’t lost his honor till his end.

    Vladimir Neporozhny was rather bland. His Crassus, the chief of the legionaries, was interested in Aegina but not in the war I am afraid.

    Inna Petrova as Phrigia, Spartacus girlfriend, was very moving and graceful. Her romantic fragility was very good contrast to Alexandrova’s self-assured, beautifully dressed Aegina.

    Masha Alexandrova as Aegina was just great. She is the courtesan, the mistress of Crassus, she wants to rule with his help. Masha excelled with her charisma that made any of her movements something special, and show herself as real actress. As Neporozhny was not a very brave Crassus, Aegina apparently was the head here. That Aegina was a woman of low origin who stopped at nothing to gain the prominence she enjoyed now, and she is sure that she will have everything. She was very strong, powerful, and at the same time so beautiful, so womanly! Her variation in the gladiator’s camp, where she goes with her courtesans to distract the rebels and to make them forget about danger, was just fantastic. She radiated joy and sensual beauty. The poor gladiators have no chance against such a woman.

    I also like Alexander Petukhov who with real fire danced the gladiator killed by Spartacus in the “blind” fight. The male corps was splendid, especially in the second and third acts. How much energy the performance give to the audience!

  11. On 12,13,14 of March Bolshoi showed at last their Balanchine program. Was performed Concerto Barocco, Agon and Symphony C, and some short number – first day it was Tchaikovsky pas de deux, second day – Tarantella, third day – Sylvie pas de deux.

    The long awaited premiere was much less successful than the Balanchine program of Mozartiana, Agon and Symphony in C shown 5 years ago. In 1999 Agon was adorned by Gudanov, Belogolovtsev, Pertova, in Symphony C shone Ananiashvili-Uvarov and Alexandrova-Tsiskaridze… We have no such a treat now.

    The company looks as if the roles were given at random without considerations of a dancer’s abilities. There were just a few bright moments.

    Maria Alexandrova danced Tchaikovsky pas de deux with Sergei Filin. Both show a lot of energy and star power but the number was apparently not rehearsed well so there were mistakes.

    Galina Stepanenko was very impressive in the Symphony in C IV part and in Tarantella (with Andrei Bolotin whom I also liked). She is an earthy bravura dancer, a type not usually connected with Balanchine, but she danced with apparent joy and inspiration, so the audience received her with enthusiasm.

    The rest was fine but not exciting. Sweet but bland Anna Antonicheva in Concerto Barocco; nice but not very memorable Anastasia Yatsenko (II trio) and Ekaterina Shipulina- Ruslan Skvortsov (pas de deux) in Agon; good, professional and dull Nadezhda Gracheva (I part) and Svetlana Zakharova (II part) in Symphony in C. Maria Allash danced Symphony C III part showing a heavy jump, and her partner Yan Godovsky showing nothing at all.

    Now I am waiting to see the same program with another cast. I hope one day the stars of 1999 premiere will dance their old roles again.

  12. Viviane, Lilac Fairy is not so bad - in Grigorovitch production it's big dance role, good ballerina can show herself here. But on the previous performance Alexandrova danced Violant Fairy! It's really uncomprehensible! Ballerina with such a talent should not waste herself on small roles like that! Sometimes I think that the management is afraid of talented people.

  13. "Sleeping Beauty" February 18

    Princess Aurora - Svetlana Zakharova (debut)

    Prince Desire - Alexander Volchkov (debut)

    Lilac Fairy - Maria Alexandrova (debut)

    Candid Fairy - Olga Stebletsova (debut)

    Fleur-de-Farine Fairy - Irina Semirechenskaya

    Dropping Crumbs Fairy - Anna Rebetskaya

    Canary Fairy - Daria Gurevich (debut)

    Violant Fairy - Elena Andrienko

    Diamond Fairy - Anastasia Goriacheva

    Sapphires Fairy - Maria Zharkova

    Gold Fairy - Yulia Efimova

    Silver Fairy - Irina Semirechenskaya

    Princess Florina - Elena Andrienko

    Blue Bird - Vladimir Neporozhny

    White Cat - Olga Zhurba

    Puss in Boots - Ruslan Pronin

    Red Riding Hood - Anna Ivanova

    Grey Wolf - Vladimir Moisseev

    Cinderella - Olga Suvorova

    Prince - Ruslan Skvortsov

    The performance with participation of the two queens of the Paris season promised to be interesting. It was.

    Maria Alexandrova shined like lilac diamond. In the Prologue she wanted to stress a lyrical side of her role, and was successful, but the effort was noticeable. Later she behaved more natural, I think it was better. This Fairy was real queen of the situation, everything go as she want, and she know it. She looks at other personages friendly but with feeling of her own superiority. When Aurora fall asleep, Lilac Fairy's dancing was so emotional, that you see that the sleep for Aurora is a happiness, it's her way to new beautiful world... Masha' s famous stage presence make her the center of the ballet, and her dancing was real joy to see.

    Svetlana Zakharova have many qualities necessary for Aurora, but emotionally she was too monotonous to bring her heroine to life. Her beautiful body, graceful movements and youthful charm was described many times already. It was very pleasant to see her, but as actress she was not convincing. Her first act was more inspired than the rest of the performance.I was impressed by her strong balances in the adagio with suitors; her six o'clocks was out of places, especially in the third act pas de deux.

    Young Alexander Volchkov is growing into real prince. His angelic Desire was charming and apparently in love.

    In the Prologue all the fairies danced good, I especially like young Olga Stebletsova, inspired and romantic (she already danced several small roles and some people think her a rising star), joyful Rebetskaya, and Daria Gurevich. To talk about the latter, I was amazed that French balletomanes have such a good eyes and recognise the talented dancer even in the corps! Gurevich was more easy and natural that some principal dancers. I hope to see more of her.

    In the third act divertissment I liked beautiful Anastasia Goriacheva as Diamond Fairy, the rest of Aurora's guests was rather dull.

  14. silvy, I dont think it was a certain person who said "We will fire all the "showy" dancers and will hire new, long-legged and neat". Time goes on, so the change take many years, it goes on by degree. World cannot be always the same, and ballet also cannot be the same. Since 1964 till 1995 Bolshoi Ballet have the same director, Yury Grigorovich, promotions chiefly depended from him. And since later 80ies Bolshoi seems to have problems with dancers of heroic style, leading man was rather a classical princes.

  15. Marc, that policy of Bolshoi to get on tour ballets that was rarely performed at home is real wonder. Some people think it very bad because the dancers was not ready for the tours. I hope it change. Before last tour in Paris, all three “touring” ballets was danced in Moscow for several times, so the company was familiar with it. And there is now many performances of Romeo & Juliet and Bright Stream, those ballets will be shown abroad in the near future.

  16. "Sleeping Beauty" February 13

    Princess Aurora - Nadezhda Gracheva

    Prince Desire - Vladimir Neporozhny (debut)

    Lilac Fairy - Maria Allash

    Candid Fairy - Nelly Kobakhizde (debut)

    Fleur-de-FarineFairy - Olga Suvorova

    Dropping Crumbs Fairy - Anna Rebetskaya

    Canary Fairy - Olga Zhurba

    Violant Fairy - Maria Alexandrova

    Diamond Fairy - Elena Andrienko

    Sapphires Fairy - Maria Zharkova

    Gold Fairy - Yulia Efimova

    Silver Fairy - Irina Semirechenskaya

    Princess Florina - Nina Kaptsova (debut)

    Blue Bird - Andrei Bolotin

    White Cat - Anastasia Yatsenko

    Puss in Boots - Alexander Petukhov

    Red Cap - Ksenia Pchelkina

    Grey Wolf - Georgy Geraskin

    Cinderella - Ksenia Tsareva

    Prince - Andrei Evdokimov

    This February Bolshoi scheduled 3 performances of Sleeping Beauty. This ballet was not shown in Moscow for at least two seasons (however in the Fall of 2002 it was taken on a tour to Japan). This performances promise many debuts - partly because the time goes on, partly because leading males of the Bolshoi now are abroad with Nina Ananiashvili and Alexei Fadeechev Dance Theatre.

    This first performance gave me doubtful impressions - many soloists in smaller roles were good, but the leading ballerinas were not fit, so the performance was rather dull.

    Nadezhda Gracheva apparently is not Aurora - she is not youthful and not aristocratic. Her stage image is rather a servant girl, Cinderella, who never will became a Princess. Her dancing was of very high quality, I enjoyed her beautiful movements, but for Aurora it's not enough. Maria Allash as Lilac Fairy was a real sleeping beauty - she doesn't look interested in what's going on, and almost never awakened. Her only variation I like was when she and Desire come to the sleeping palace.

    Vladimir Neporozhny is not a dancer of great personality but he did his best, his Désiré looked young and excited. He is a very handsome dancer, tall, long-legged, and has no problems with technique, so that Désiré was much more convincing than his two ladies.

    Maria Alexandrova as the Violent Fairy was exactly what you can see when a big star does a small role - she attracts all the attention to herself, even when she stands in line with other fairies I cannot look at anything but her. So hot, so bright, so clean! I also like Anna Rebetskaya as Dropping Crumbs Fairy, she danced with passion, as if hungry for dancing.

    Nelly Kobahidze was rather a disappointment. She is a young dancer, now 3 years with the company, very gifted - musicality, plastique, artistry, charm, beautiful body, thin and long-limbed... When she did her first big part, the main role in Les Sylphides, many people were charmed and predicted her a great future. But alas! As many thin long-legged dancers, she is not very strong technically. When she began to dance other solo parts, it became apparent, and her charm diminished. In the Candid Fiary variation she apparently was not at her ease with technique, so never showed her artistic qualities. I really hope that she will overcome those problems, or it will be too sad. There is no perfection in this world.

    In the third act divertissement I like the aristocratic and merry Kaptsova (Florina), and her partner Bolotin, who looked like fantastic creature and danced with ease. The puss-in-boots pas de deux also was exciting, especially with a charming Yatsenko, who noticeably improved last year. Pchelkina was playful Red Riding Hood. Andrienko as Diamond Fairy was not convincing, she is not a dancer for the old classics I think.

  17. Alexandra, I always suspect that the world is crazy :FIREdevil: . It’s real pity that there is not many new ballets in classical style.

    That R&J was shown four times already and I hear about two or three people who like it J. And the Bolshoi want to bring the ballet on tours in London, Paris and USA.

  18. The critics impressed because it’s first Bolshoi ballet without pointes in many years. They think that if a ballet is in modern style, it’s masterpiece by definition. I have nothing against modern dancing but if a ballet is dull, no matter in what style it’s done.

    OK, we will see – may be with time the audience will be used to it.

  19. Jane, thank you for the press release.

    I think Balanchine’s program will be staged in Bolshoi in March and will consist of Symphony C, Agon, Tchaikovsky pdd, Tarantella and something else.

    Agon and Symphopy C was first staged in Bolshoi in April 1999 and was in the rep till autumn 2000. At the time the management was changed and the ballets was dropped. It was a great loss because I think the Bolshoi danced Symphony C just superb. Nina Ananiashvili as the second movement ballerina was great, she looks not as if she danced with the music but as if she composed the music by her dancing! Nicolai Tsiskaridze and Maria Alexandrova was very impressive in the third movement.

    I dont sure that bringing in London Romeo& Juliet is a good idea. I have impression that London audience prefer classical ballets to modern ones. Is it correct?

  20. In December the Bolshoi show a world premiere of Prokofiev’s Romeo&Juliet, staged by young Moldovian choreographer Radu Poklitaru and British theatre director Declan Donnellan. The casts was like that:

    Juliet – Maria Alexandrova, Anastasia Meskova

    Romeo – Denis Savin, Yan Gidovsky

    Mercusio – Yury Klevtsov, Mark Peretokin

    Thibault – Denis Medvedev, Alexander Petukhov

    Lady Capuletti – Ilse Liepa, Maria Volodina, Maria Isplatovskaya

    It was quite different from well known productions by Lavrovsky or MacMillan. There was no dancing on pointes, the choreography was modern, a mix of Kyllian, Preljocaj, Ek. But unfortunately it was much less musical, sometimes discrepancy between music and steps was very hard. The plot was not changed but the staging badly lacks sense. It looks like a chain of scenes scarcely connected with each other. Judging by the interviews in the booklit and the press, Poklitaru and Donnellan have different views on the ballet, and often changed something, so I dont surprised that the result is a mess. Honestly, I think the ballet is a disaster. The dancers did their best but it cannot help.

    The most surprising for me is great difference in opinions about the ballet between the public and the critics. The applause after the performances was just polite, most part of my friend think it’s shame that Bolshoi Ballet degraded itself by such weak production. But the journalists went wild with enthusiasm: they write it’s great, it’s step in XXI century, it’s revolution! Very weird.

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