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Thalictum

Inactive Member
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Everything posted by Thalictum

  1. Korsakov, not Sarafanov, danced with Yakovleva, right? I saw Badaeeva and Miozzi dance Giselle at the Hermitage last summer with a pick up group. They were good.
  2. Why did anyone expect that Mr. Rockwell, who has spent all his professional life as a music critic, was going to display a great deal of discrimination about dance? This to me is symptomatic of the Times's, and the mainstream media's, lack of interest in dance, dismissal of ballet as elitistic and precious, and. . .Oh I could go on forever. . .But we might as well be back in 1916, when Carl Van Vechten was assigned to review the Ballet Russes. . . .
  3. If that's Vikulov, not Vikuov, then it's probably ex-Kirov star Sergei Vikulov, who choreographed a new Romeo and Juliet for Ballet Manilla in the Philippines not long ago.
  4. Cinderella opens Januay 11 -- nine days away -- and still no "official" casting on the Kennedy Center website, only for the Spectacular. Did I miss something?
  5. I think it's healthy to give major roles early, but not to overload. Pavlenko in an interview talked about how difficult it is to shift styles quickly; I remember around the time of the 2004 Festival she danced Raymonda, Forsythe, the Lilac Fairy and Nikiya in a span of two weeks. I don't know that this is the way you become great in any one role, although it's common in the American system. Marc has posted the 2005 Festival schedule on his site; Pavlenko, Lopatakina and Vishneva will each have her own benefit evening.
  6. I am all for Tereshkina, but I am just worried that the Kirov's total immersion policy for dancers on the fast track, where they are assigned every possible role in a brief span, may backfire with her as it has with a number of others. Some dancers have survived and even thrived under this policy, but even Pavlenko, one of my favorites, can seem worn and a little ordinary at times and the problem is not she, in my opinion, but her workload.
  7. The La Valse casting comes from the Kennedy Center website
  8. Well the Kirov seems to have decided that it makes sense to let people see what a strong roster they actually possess. In Washington, La Valse will be danced alternately by Lopatkina, Pavlenko, and Kondaurova. This certainly gives people a reason to go more than once. Now if they could democratize the rest of the gala casting we might have a real gala and I might actually go after all.
  9. I promise, Natalia, to keep your dark secret about believing Sarafanov deserves the award. But please tell me why. . . About Vishneva not being nominated, if you think this is inappropriate let me know, but I think it is apparent that Vishneva is not the Kirov administration's first priority at this point by any means. Oh, about Steptext, did you see Pavleno in it last summer? She was sublime.
  10. The whole episode is so bizarre, and quite disturbingly Soviet. Kondaurova also danced Lopatakina's role in La Valse this year.
  11. I didn't mean to make more of it than it warranted; I'm just struck often by the amount of mis/dis information some highly charged superstar "camps" like Nureyev's are willing to put out there.
  12. I would say that Lopatkina would be miscast as Aurora: she's enormously tall and hardly an innocent teenager in onstage appearance or temperament.
  13. But it is simply not true that there was no one to dance the "Nureyev" roles before Nureyev appeared and subsequent to Chabukiani's retirement, since Boris Bregvadze, for one, was famous for his Basilio, Solor, and Frandoso in "Laurencia."
  14. The Orange County Register reports that Ethan Stiefel is the new director of Pacifica Ballet, assisted by John Gardner and Amanda McKerrow.
  15. I did say that I had no hard info about Vishneva's Rubies, didn't I?
  16. Isn't Grigorovich replacing Georgi Alexidze, who was mugged in Moscow earlier this year and is on the mend, but now back in Georgia, I believe? Alexidze has taught choreography at the school for some time. I guess not, because as far as I know Alexidze taught students. Alexei Miroschnichenko, a Kirov dancer/choreographer, is also now starting to teach choreography -- is this, too, at the Vaganova Academy?
  17. Apparently it is now Osmolkina,not Novikova, who is dancing Aurora at the Kirov tomorrow, with Lopatkina returning to the Lilac Fairy. Both Osmolkina and Sarafanov are making their debuts. It would seem a perfect role for her. Sologub and Scherbakov are the Bluebirds -- they were wonderful together last summer in Giselle.
  18. These awards are obviously the result of intense lobbying -- Merkuriev and Sarafanov are the Kirov administration's favorite male dancers at the moment. Sarafanov is not suited to Forsythe; Merkuriev was very good here. The fact that both dancers are not from the Vaganova Academy is also a way for the Kirov administration to keep all of its own male dancers in line. While Sologub is also a great favorite of the Kirov ballet administration, and Lopatakina is Gergiev's favorite ballerina. With all due respect the "Council of Experts" might as well be the "Council of Dupes" as far as their objectivity and independence is concerned.
  19. I have just heard that it is now Sheshina rather than Samova who will be Sarafanov's partner in the Corsaire pas de deux in Washington. Vishneva has been so vocal to the powers-that-be about not wanting to dance with him that I have a slight suspicision she may not do the Rubies. Absolutely no hard info on that fact, however.
  20. Exactly, Ari and Alexandra, their whole argument is based on circular reasoning. Why not simply allow both versions to co-exist?
  21. I never expected to see Pavlenko dance Cinderella in Washington; the real question for me is why she was scrubbed from La Valse after being announced for weeks on the Kennedy Center site, and how/why these galas have been permitted to turn into the Lopatkina/Sarafanov show. Couldn't Pavlenko at least dance one of the performances she was scheduled for? Also Gumerova dances all three Rubies as the pin up; I like her in the role but what happened to Dumchenko, Amosova, and dare I say it -- Pavlenko? All three are wonderful in the role as well. Yes I would like to see Makhalina too in that role if she is as good as you, Natalia, say she is. I've never seen the Ratmansky Cinderella. I just heard that Vishneva's "evening" is not happening in January; perhaps not for months. It hasn't yet reached beyond the gleam in the eye stage.
  22. Kolpakova made her debut as Giselle in 1959, while Dudinskaya was still dancing; I don't know when Sizova first danced Giselle, but I would say not until much later. She danced it in London with the Kirov in 1970. Dudinskaya continued her solo evenings at the Philharmonic through the mid-1960s I believe, but stopped dancing at the Kirov in 1962-63, I would say.
  23. Did I say I was taking Edith Le Clercq, or anyone else, as an unbiased source? No. I said she was hardly a third-hand source. I don't take any source as unbiased. Le Clercq's relationship to her mother and father was undoubtedly complicated, as is everyone's.
  24. Dudinskaya wasn't suited to Giselle, so much that Boris Fenster, who directed the Kirov 1958-1960, pleaded with her to dance Myrtha instead, but to no avail. Of course by this time she was in her mid/late forties so she was less suited than ever. However, Dudinskaya in addition to her enormous power at the Kirov did have a big following and her public loved her in every role. But at this point, in the late '50s, Fenster cast Kolpakova and Makarova in their debuts as Giselle. But for years, after Ulanova left and Dudinskaya took over, there was only the very occasional performance by Vecheslova, Petrova or Shelest as an alternative to Dudinskaya in the role. Ex-Kirov dancers say they really didn't know what Giselle was supposed to be apart from Dudinskaya's portrayal. There are people who say that Dudinskaya's attempt to turn herself into Giselle, ultimately unconvincing as it may have been, was nevertheless a fascinating failure in its own right.
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