nysusan

Hi Vipa - I saw Vishneva's Aurora when the Kirov was touring the Sergeyev version a couple of years ago. I recall her being really exquisite in all 3 acts, so I suspect a less than stellar performance in the last 2 may be due to unfamiliarity with the production and/or her new partner. If that's the case her second performance could be much better than her first.

On the other hand if you really hate this production she is scheduled for Swan Lake as well as Manon and R&J...that leaves plenty of other opportunities to see her this season! (and don't forget "Beauty in Motion" at City Center next year!)

Susan

I wish I could have been there to see Part II. Thank you, drb, for sharing her Beauty.

Oh, I completely forgot to mention the single reason I decided to go and see 2/3 of the Saturday matinee (after Kyra's soulful last Mozartiana). Sarah Lane was stunningly beautiful as Princess Florine. Shimmering epaulment, breathtaking balances (lingering beautifully but never excessive) perfect purity of line – an unforgettable performance.

I thought that the tempo seemed much quicker throughout both the Sat matinee and evening performances as compared to opening night. I think this is a good thing – the pace was still appropriate, this wasn't a NYCB pace but on opening night it was glacial. In the Valor variation it looked to me like both Abrera (Fri) and Schulte (Sat eve) were dancing ahead of the music and I thought it made them both seem frantic and overly emphatic. I assume that they were coached to do it this way but I don't like it. It especially stood out because I think all of the other fairy variations have been done just perfectly.

At the Saturday matinee the pairing of Herrera & Corella brought more dynamism to the production. I thought Herera was lovely. She doesn't achieve the heights of ecstasy that Part can bring - I found the Part/Gomes combination more poetic & magical but Herrera brought a sweetness and sincerity to her portrayal and if she doesn't have Parts gorgeous line & epaulment, well she certainly has the technical chops for the role. Corella danced the heck out of the Prince's role – he was spectacular.

I was so curious to see Murphy's Aurora that I bought a ticket for Sat night the minute I saw the casting change (I'll be out of town till the end of the run and thought I'd have to miss her). I have major love/hate feelings towards her as a ballerina. I really, really want to love her – and I do in roles like Sylvia, Gamzetti, and Myrtha. But the classical & romantic heroines? Forget about it. I was hoping that Kirkland's coaching would add a new dimension to her dancing, and was encouraged in my thinking by her lovely Titania last week. Unfortunately none of it carried over to her Aurora. First let me say that the audience loved her. Adored her – there were shouts of brava from all points in the house practically each she completed a variation. I'm afraid Haglund's captured my feelings perfectly:

Last night's Aurora was Murphy. She was highly competent and correct. Her Rose balances were less than expected, but everything else was remarkable from a technique standpoint. It may be that her emphasis on blazing speed and attack are not particularly compatible with Petipa -- even when you add the epaulment.

If last night's performance had been T&V she would have been wonderful, but it wasn't and she wasn't. This princess had no modesty, no joyful exuberance, in fact no subtlety or poetry at all. I thought her third act was gorgeous but she lost me 2 acts earlier. I'm afraid I didn't love Abrera either. Her dancing was beautiful and very classical but I felt no benevolence, warmth or authority from her, and saw no hint of the creamy lyricism through the upper body that is so necessary to this role. Stiefel was great, combining beautiful line with bravura dancing. I was pleasantly surprised by Radetsky's Bluebird. His leaps showed great amplitude – perhaps not the highest flying Bluebird but he really soared across the stage and he managed to dance this beautifully without looking campy. I'm afraid Ricetto is a dancer I just haven't been able to warm to. She has been fine in every role but my favorite in none.

For anyone who hasn't bought tickets yet and is planning to go – I think this production looks much better from farther away than from up close but it's probably not best viewed from the top of the family circle or balcony boxes. A lot of the important theatrical moments take place high up at the very back of the stage - I don't know if you can see it from balcony or FC center but I missed a lot of it when I sat in balcony box seats. Interestingly enough I also missed a lot of the action when I sat in side Parterre seats (about halfway back) – but that was because I was on the wrong side for this one. If you like to sit in the side arms boxes try to get seats on the even numbered side.

What, nobody else home yet from opening night? Well, I'm sure some people just can't go to sleep tonight until they hear how it went so, briefly – before I go to bed:

Part was triumphant! She not only gave us a technically secure Rose Adagio she surprised me with jetes that were practically worthy of Sizova and was ravishingly beautiful throughout. Gomes was her perfect Prince, Wiles a beautifully classical Lilac Fairy and Cornejo was simply unbelievable as the bluebird – he has claimed this role as his own (as we knew he would). In fact, the best thing about this production was the dancing. I'm tempted to single out Sara Lane's Generosity Fairy (Charity here), but really, all of the classical roles were beautifully done - compliments are due to the coaches whether it was Kirkland, Kolpakova or the entire staff.

As to the production itself – it was nowhere near as good as I had hoped and somewhat better than I had feared. Most of the scenery was beautiful – though it somehow managed to make the huge met stage look small and cramped. Some of it, especially the last act's scenery was way over the top. The costumes went from lovely (Aurora, Lilac and the fairies) to truly, truly awful (just about everything else). I'm not going to go into details on the staging – I'll leave that to those with more thorough knowledge of traditional productions. Let's just say that McKenzie tried for some very theatrical effects and they didn't work for me. Before tonight I doubt anyone ever thought to advise an AD that the Lilac Fairy shouldn't remind the audience of Peter Pan, but now it needs to be said.

Some interesting casting – in addition to Martine van Hamel as Carabosse we had Victor Barbee as Florestan, Susan Jaffe as his queen (she was wonderful),Wes Chapman as Catalabutte. The fairies were

Tenderness/Sincerity – Ricetto

Vivacity/Fervor – Kajiya

Generosity/Charity – Lane

Playfulness/Joy – Fang

Courage/Valor – Abrera

Good night all

Susan

Since I didn’t see Othello the first time ABT did it the Wed night performance was my introduction to the ballet. As it turns out, for me the Thursday night performance was all about the cast.

The entire Thursday night cast brought a deep intensity to the performance, but for this die hard Gomes fan the key ingredient was Ferri. Can she possibly be serious about retiring? In another corner of cyberspace, as part of a reflection on the ABT gala someone lamented Ferri’s upcoming retirement. In my attempt at consolation and to put her retirement into perspective I replied by saying something like that even as Fonteyn and Makarova retired, there was always someone new ready to fly out from the wings and capture our imagination, and as much as we’d miss Ferri there would be great artists after her, too. After last night’s Othello that observation seems so trite. Ferri is an extraordinary artist, astonishing both for the beauty of her dancing and for the depth of her artistry. I realize that it’s been a long time since she excelled in tutu ballets, or any display of academic classicism (if she ever did), but what she did best, she still does so well that her impending retirement seems very premature. I don’t begrudge her a life beyond dance, but what a loss for us, her fans. In Othello she looked like she was dancing at the peak of her powers. As much as I loved her with Bocca, after last night I have to think that if she were not retiring we might be witness to the next great phase of her career in partnership with Gomes. What a loss.

I don’t know where to begin in trying to describe her performance. The beauty of her line is a given but she used her body to form shapes that described a very unique and personal vision of Desdemonda. When Gomes lifted her, her limbs were so literate they spoke in their own language, forming exclamation points and question marks. She was not a passive or guileless Desdemonda, she was passionate and womanly enough that once Iago awakened Othello’s jealousy she seemed to understand exactly where it was coming from, and she knew her fate had been sealed. That “willing victim” of the gala here seemed like someone who just loved her husband so passionately and unconditionally that even with a complete understanding of the situation there was simply no option but to play it out to it’s inevitable end.

As amazing as her dancing was, what stood out most to me was how “in the moment” she was from her first appearance on stage to her last stage breath. Whether born of true spontaneity or endless hours of rehearsal you never saw the process, she simply WAS the character, as she always is.

Marcelo was a powerful, volatile Othello and truly deserves accolades for his performance, as do the rest of the cast. It’s just that I'll still have many opportunities to admire them but this performance just jolted me out of my complacency and made me start thinking about how much I’m going to miss Ferri...

Oopps Zerbinetta, we must have been posting at the same time, and I see we had similar reactions to the performance last night.

Gomes alone might not be enough to get me back there tonight, but Gomes and Ferri is another story. I was hoping to dislike at least the first act so I could catch Kowroski's Terpischere and then dash in for act 2 but I liked the first act of Othello very much, and in my book Ferri+Gomes > Kowroski + Martins. There will be other opportunities to see Kowroski in Apollo but I miss Ferri already...

I went in expecting to hate it, but I actually liked it a lot. Anyone who goes expecting classical ballet will be disapointed, but then anyone who goes to see anything by Lubovitch expecting classical ballet really needs to re-adjust their expectations. This was a mixture of different dance styles used to tell a story - a tragedy - and I thought it was effective and compelling. Although not on the same level as Graham's Cave of the Heart or Taylor's Last Look, I found myself experiencing it in the same way, horrified by the ugly side of human nature but unable to look away.

I had mixed feelings about the music - at times it seemed very bombastic and overbearing but parts of it were beautiful. The only character who really got much classical dancing was Cassius, and last night Jared Mathhews both danced & acted the role beautifully. He is certainly a young dancer to keep your eye on. Iago had the least classical dancing - his role was made up almost entirely of mime and very brusk, contorted "modern dance" steps resulting in a rather one dimensional and very unsympathetic character. Emelia also was a cipher, guilt ridden but completely under Iago's thumb. Carlos Lopez and Maria Ricetto did what they could with the roles - Ricetto danced wonderfully but they were pretty one dimensional roles. Sarawanee Tanatanit was a real standout in the small role of Bianca, dancing with deep passion and abandon.

I decided to go to this performance because I wanted to see Rasta Thomas, and I'm glad I went. He's not a big man, and his Othello wasn't a brute - he was a very complex character who was anguished and really somewhat sympathetic. The title role employed a mixture of ballet, modern and everything in between, and I though Thomas integrated it all seamlessly. He and Reyes were very good together - she was a very innocent Desdemonda, naive and totally unsuspecting. I know ABT already has more great male dancers than any one company deserves - but I hope they bring Thomas in more often. He's a great dancer in his own right, and he and Reyes really compliment each other.

Well, I don't think I can pass up the chance to see anything resembling an actual traditional Swan Lake - so I'm going on Friday. I will plan to take the SEPTA shuttle but if anyone else is making the trip and wants to pool resources or even just meet at the shuttle - let me know!

Susan

If there was any chance for me to travel to Philadelphia this summer, from everything I've read about this wonderful dancer, I would see the Swan Lake with Rojo. As much as I'd like to see Cojocaru and Kobborg, it wouldn't be for MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet.

From everything I've read about Rojo I would also choose to see her Swan Lake if I could, unfortunately this is a Tuesday - Friday engagement which really discourages anyone thinking about traveling in from out of town...

I'm thinking about trying to catch the Friday night performance with Nunez and Soares but I'm not sure. From what I hear the Mann is in a bad neighborhood and not easily accessible by public transportation. That makes things a little dicey since I don't drive. They supposedly have a shuttle bus that runs from downtown Philly to the Mann and then back after the performance but I don't know how reliable that is and I'm not sure I'm ready to count on it as my only option to get back to my hotel after the show...

I have no idea what he is referring to as "her grand mannerisms", but then I have no idea what he's talking about for most of the review. I was at the same perfomance and came away with the opposite impression. I thought Vishneva was the most passionate, most emotionaly involved Nikiya I've ever seen, I thought Stiefel danced (and acted) beautifully, and that they had great chemistry together. Go figure.

Symphony in C was marred in the finale, when Ask LaCour lost control of Sophiane Sylve and her leg hit Pauline in the head. I didn't see that part but I saw that Ask was visibly shaken and Sophiane did not look happy. That must have been upsetting for Ask in this premier performance.

I didn’t see that in the finale, but I could swear I saw Sylve catch Pauline’s shoulder with her leg when Ask brought her over for the first touch down between the demi couple in the second movement. The second one was fine. It also looked to me like he was having some trouble partnering her at one point - not sure if it was in the second movement or in the finale but it was noticeable and I assumed that’s why they both looked so out of sorts in the finale. Come to think of it, I guess it was in the finale because I remember thinking at that point that she looked like she was thinking - Damn, it’s a good thing I can do all this without a partner and he’s not really NECESSARY... (Not saying any of it was Ask’s fault - just that she looked annoyed).

I thought Peck & Woetzel were wonderful in Carousel. I’d seen it once before with the other cast and even though I’ve really enjoyed reading Alistair McCauley’s reviews, I thought he was a little daft when he said the pas de deux brought tears to his eyes. Now seeing it with Woetzel & Peck I had the same reaction. What a difference a little chemistry (and artistry) can make.

And yes, I will remember this Square Dance not only for Megan Fairchild’s wonderfull peformance but also as the first time I was really wowed by Andrew Veyette.

I agree that Agon was given a great performance this afternoon, but so was Apollo - Hubbe has such mastery of the role at this point, and this is one of the best performances I’ve seen from Borree. I thought she'd be totally overshadowed by Fairchild and Bouder - and they were great - but she held her own. She had a couple brief moments of shakiness in the pdd, but mostly she danced with great ease & joy.

I agree with everyone else that last night's performance was outstanding in every way - from corps to soloists to principals. Ethan's dancing was beautiful, his acting has come a long way, and he was a perfect partner for Vishneva. She always astounds me with her dramatic focus and ability to switch effortlessly between expressiveness and classicism. It's very rare to find a ballerina with such a facility for allegro dancing who also possesses expressive plastique, lyricism and cool classicism in equal measure. As Faux Pas pointed out, this served her very well in portraying a complex, multi dimensional Nikiya.

I found most of these comments about Part most distressing......as Swan Lake is not about 32 fouettes, Sleeping Beauty is not all Rose Adagio.....

Agreed, Swan Lake is not about 32 fouettes and SB is not all Rose Adagio, but each of these variations is critical to the respective ballet and I would argue that the Rose Agagio is more critical to SB than the Black Swan is to SL. In Swan Lake, at least Odette's character is established and while I think it's important for Odile to do her 32 fouettes I don't think it ruins the ballet if she doesn't do them perfectly - as long as she is able to do them decently and do everything else necessary in the 3rd act the ballet works. In Sleeping Beauty, the Rose Adagio is our introduction to Aurora and everything about that variation is meant to reflect the perfection, symmetry and harmony of this young princess whose personality and character are the culmination of the gifts all the fairies bestowed on her. Blow that and as far as I'm concerned you've compromised the underlying basis of the story.

Everyone knows how much I love Veronika Part but her Rose Adagio last night was a complete disaster, and it was inexcusable. This was nothing like a simple fall off pointe. When Bouder fell off pointe early in her Rose Adagio she smiled and then proceeded to nail all the rest of her balances, completely in character and bursting with joy. When Ms.Part fell out of her second balance it was only the beginning of the problem. After that every time she had to balance she gripped each prince's hand as if her life depended on it. In her second series of balances I swear she didn't hold a single one unsupported, it felt as if she let go of one hand and grabbed the next with no balance in between. Of course, everything else about her performance was gorgeous - her line, epaulment, extension and musicality but this is not an Olympic sport where you take a tenth of a point off for missing the balances and still wind up with a 9.9 - this is art and her inability to balance ruined the effect of the Rose Adagio. If you can't balance you can't dance Aurora, period. If there was some reason for this sub par performance then fine, but unless she is positive that she can nail this next time she should withdraw from the role and bless us with her Lilac Fairy.

I also found the wobbles by the corps in the shades scene of Bayadere disconcerting - uniformity is critical to the effect. Why can't America's national company find 24 corps girls who can hold an arabesque? Or at least put the ones who can't in the back. I love this company but right about now it looks to me like they need some tough love!

The highlights for me all came in the second act - Gomes and Ferri were fantastic in Othello, they made me very glad I decided to get tickets to see them. Nina came back and claimed this stage as her own, it's so good to have her back. Cornejo was stunningly beautiful in his solo dancing in the R&J pdd but for me there wasn't enough abandon in the partnering sequences. I guess this is unavoidable with him and didn't ruin it for me - Reyes was lovely and they were very good together it just wasn't as good as the best I've seen. I also really enjoyed Kent & Carreno in Manon and my only quibble with the Bayadere excepts that closed the show was that Hallberg didn't get to do much except partner a very lovely Paloma.

Wow, I wish this discussion had been held a month ago! I just got back from a trip to France and my husband and I spent a morning at Pere Lachaise. I had no idea that Marie Taglioni was buried there, if I had I certainly would have sought out her grave and paid my respects.

Pere Lachaise is a very beautiful cemetery, but it can be difficult to locate specific graves, even with a map. It's well worth a visit but I recommend that you go early in the morning to avoid the midday sun. It also gets more and more crowded as it gets later in the day. And wear comfortable shoes - that's really important!!

Regarding the slap – I saw it twice from the right side of the house and it really did look like Soto struck the ballerina, but I also saw it once from the extreme left side arm and from that vantage point it was clear that what he actually did was hold his other hand in front of her face and slap his own hand. In any case it was a very effective gesture!

I was on vacation when NYCB opened their season so I missed the early performances of R+J but now that I’ve seen it a few times I have to say that I like the production WAY more than I thought I would. I see and agree with most of the complaints voiced here and in the papers – Martins sure lets some dramatic possibilities pass and this production doesn’t always flow logically. It doesn’t have the dramatic impact that MacMillan’s version has, either – but I think it succeeds in what Martins was trying to accomplish. It certainly succeeded in filling the house and bringing in a new audience – and that’s quite an accomplishment. The house was 90-95% full for all of the performances I went to, and there were lots and lots of teenagers and people in their 20's and 30's. Not your typical grey haired ballet audience.

I didn’t like the costumes but I only hated a few of them, and I actually liked the scenery and sets. In fact I thought that modular set piece worked wonderfully. Maybe it helps that I’m less invested in Romeo & Juliet as a ballet than I am in Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty, but I was able to accept the modern adaptation that Martins put forth without any problem. Even his choice to use very young dancers made more sense in light of the production – his conception of Juliet seemed very childish to me and his staging really doesn’t demand that the main characters grow up and take control of their destiny the way other productions do, here it seems more a case of circumstances spinning way out of control. Of course that made it less of a tragedy than it should be, but I still found it very entertaining and an interesting, modern adaptation.

I saw 3 casts – Hyltin/Fairchild, Morgan/Orza and Periera/Peiffer. I loved Hyltin and Fairchild, in many ways I think theirs was the most complete performance. Fairchild was a romantic dreamer, and Sterling was just brimming with life and spontaneity. Her technique seems so secure and yet her dancing has a very off balance unstudied quality that worked well in this.

I liked Orza ’s Romeo but I didn’t like Morgan and I didn’t think they worked well together at all. She is a beautiful dancer and I look forward to watching her work her way through the Balanchine rep but as far as I’m concerned she’s the poster child for why you don’t cast inexperienced kids in major roles in story ballets. I didn’t think she was able to integrate acting into her performance, and while that’s not a problem with plotless ballets it is a major problem in story ballets. Her acting seemed very melodramatic and very blocked, it felt to me like she did things because she was coached to do them a certain way and not due to any dramatic impetus. I also thought she and Orza had zero chemistry. I didn’t like her approach to Juliet either. A recent review in the paper referred to her Juliet as self absorbed, and that’s exactly what I saw – a pretty girl who was totally self absorbed and barely aware of anything except as it related to her. At times, during some of the scenes with her girlfriends she almost seemed like a valley girl at the mall and at the end her desperation seemed way out of proportion to what we had seen develop and was totally unbelievable.

The flip side was the Pereira/Peiffer cast – WOW. I have to second everything drb, sz and BW said about them – and thank you for your posts – they’re what made me decide that I had to get a ticket to today’s performance. I don’t know Ms. Pereira, in fact if I’d ever seen her or Peiffer before I took no notice of them. That will never be possible again. They gave an incredibly moving, riveting performance. Pereira’s dancing especially was so smooth and lyrical that it made Martins choreographic choices look inevitable, and her acting was every bit as good as her dancing. Peiffer was also a revelation – where did he come from? As wonderful as they each were, the amazing thing was what an incredible, natural partnership they have. That has become so rare these days; I hope Martins nurtures it, because they are very, very special together. I’m one of the people who think Martins promotes young dancers too soon, but in this case I think I might have to petition him to promote Pereira straight from apprentice to soloist. Now!

I'm definetly going! I'm hoping to catch two shows but I don't know who to watch. I know all the Aurora's and Lilac's will be great but I want to watch someone who is devine in this ballet. Any suggestions?

I'm sure all the Auroras will be wonderful but Cojocaru is sublime. Definitely try to see her in this if you can.

I haven't seen either Aesha Ash or Alicia Graf perform, so I ask of those who have seen them: was Ash talented enough to get a promotion? would Graf's dancing style fit in with either NYCB or ABT's artistic standards?

Like drb, I l saw Graf often with Ailey last season and loved her. I hadn't seen her at all before this, so I can't really tell how her technique or style would hold up to the rigor of a full length classical ballet but considering her height she'd have to be the second coming of Ulanova to get a spot with ABT right now. They are struggling to find partners for the 2 tall ballerinas they already have (my observation, no inside info). If Gomes & Hallberg go down they really don't have anyone else big enough to partner them on a regular basis so adding another tall ballerina at this point wouldn't make any sense.

I have to say that while I found the Times story interesting I found the Virginia Johnson comment that Old Fashioned quoted perplexing:

But on another side, the side that they’re much more afraid of, is their whole subscriber base and their whole history of being a ballet company the way you thought ballet was. It means that you have to create a kind of trust, and they’ve never challenged their audiences to move forward

I have no doubt - none whatsoever - that racism exists in ballet as it does everywhere else but I think she is just plain wrong here. First of all, I don't think ABT's subscriber base would freak out at the sight of a black Giselle or Odette or whatever. As to "being a ballet company the way you thought ballet was" - I have no idea what she means. ABT does some modern work but they're primarily a classical company and if that's what she's questioning then she's right - I doubt that they or their subscribers want to see that change, but what does that have to do with whether or not they chose to hire Alicia Graf?

Secondly, with the aging of the ballet audience I think ABT would LOVE to capitalize on the new audience a black ballerina would bring in. One only had to be at City Center a couple of seasons ago when Misty Copeland danced the lead in a Kirk Peterson piece. I guess it was a matinee cause there were lots of teenagers around me and they went wild for her (as did I). Barring injuries I think you'll be seeing her move up the ladder at ABT in the coming years. Whether she'll go all the way is another question, but I think management is pulling for her (again, just my opinion as an outside observer).

Congratulations to all.

Extra congratulations to Craig Hall. It's about time.

Ditto!!!

Tickets for Nina's New Haven Giselles went on sale this morning & they are a bargain - from a high of $45 to a low of $7 for the last 3 rows of the balcony. They add a convenience fee of $3.50 - $5.50 plus a small restoration fee but they're still a great deal. I'm going on Saturday.

Absent on a much needed but ill timed vacation - I'm missing the whole first week of Balanchine black & whites. Back for a first look at R&J on the 8th, though if I'm not exhausted and the reports here are great I might show up for the Pereira matinee on the 6th.

Chiapuris, thanks so much for the reports. Reading them has been wonderful, almost as good as being there! I saw Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev in DQ with the Bolshoi recently and they were both superb, glad to hear that she was just as good with Sarafanov.

Actually, I'm a registered user and I didn't receive one. Maybe it only went to registered users who are also subscribers? (I dropped my sub last year and only buy 4th ring society seats now)

I'm ecstatic!!!

What I remember most about Nagy's Siegfried is the elegance of his line and the uncontrived nature of his portrayal. I recall a simple, straightforward reading of the role on his part without one ounce of insincerity or condescension. You believed that he believed completely in what he was doing.

Gomes has a unique combination of qualities that make him my favorite current Siegfreid. He isn't the quite the greatest jumper or turner around - not in the Acosta/Cornejo/Corella league - IMO he's just a notch below their level in terms of "WOW" factor, but still very impressive. He also has beautiful line and what I think would be referred to as ballon. I know that ballon usually refers to the way a dancer 'hangs' in the air at the top of a jump but the quality I see in Gomes is the way he lands from jumps - with a big, soft deep plie that kind of steals time at the end of a jump or phrase. That gives his dancing a very plush, romantic look. He also presents the ballerina like no dancer I've ever seen - I really think it is impossible for a ballerina to look bad when he's partnering her. Finally, his acting is very compelling, and he always interacts on a very deep level with his partner. I've seen him twice with Part and the passion they bring to SL is incredible. He's also scheduled to dance it with Vishneva at ABT this season, so I have my fingers crossed hoping that his knees hold out! I think it is very unusual for a dancer to be so acclaimed as both Siegfried and von Rothbart - but then I don't know of any other production that gives von Rothbart the opportunity to steal the show like McKenzie's does.

I don't want to give the impression that I didn't like Nureyev's Siegfried - I just don't really remember him live and I don't like him in the taped version I've seen - the Berlin Staatsopera tape circa 1968. I saw him twice with Fonteyn in the RB production in the late sixties or early seventies and I remember liking him very much but I don't remember any details or what it was that I liked about him. All I remember from those performances is Fonteyn, and the huge impact the two of them made together. I still remember small details of Fonteyn's Odette, but I remember nothing of Nureyev's Siegfried from those live performances.