chiapuris

Uliana Lopatkina of the Mariinsky had a daughter, ca. 2002.

Would Alina Cojocaru have a website with performances to come posted ?

Mireille, I searched for a Cojocaru website after your suggestion but couldn't find one.

I owe thanks to canbelto for providing Kobborg's site, which was very helpful.

Perhaps he will join her for the final gala? One can only ask.

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You're right Natalia.

Kobborg's website lists the Mariinsky gala of Mar. 26th on his performing schedule.

Let's just hope that the very thought of Cygnet's "But then again, I just can't help thinking they may just slip someone like..." and Natalia's "Same first name as...."

removes the threat of such a tactic ACTUALLY happening.

Thanks everyone for the useful cast information!

And they will repeat Ondine on the 17th, one assumes with another cast, as with the 2003 Festival when the reconstructed Bayadere was given--opening night with Vishneva and 2nd night with Pavlenko.

Somewhere I read that an American dancer (I won't name her) will appear in Apollo in the Zelensky gala on the 23rd.

Any information on guest artists?

1-5-06 NYCB

The Thursday performance was a more satisfactory program overall.

The opening Allegro Brillante was excellently cast with Miranda Weese and Philip Neal.

Weese exhibited her virtues of fluency and clarity of movement, while Neal appeared ebullient not only as a partner but as a solo dancer. Their work was thoroughly enjoyable.

Not all was perfect. The final overhead lift (that etches a parting picture) ended too soon- for those on the right side of the auditorium- as we watched him bring her down just inside the wing, but still in audience view.

The Wheeldon liturgy provided Wendy Whelan an ideal vehicle for her unique plasticity and musical vibrancy. Albert Evans gave the right support with his secure partnering. Moreover, his strong physical presence matched her delicate frame for an ideal casting.

The Stravinsky pair- of Gesualdo madrigals and serial tone music- is a tough pair to bring off.

Kistler's dance persona lacks a sense of menace, or maybe arrogance, or an undercurrent of a subtext, to ground the courtly manners that serve to build the choreographic textures. Maybe more energy on the part of all the participants would have enlivened the proceedings.

Symphony in C was even better that Tuesday night's. The four leads of Thursday's performance -Somogui, Sylve, Bouder, and Stafford- gave more coherence to the whole work with their individual contributions.

Jennie Somogui (1st mv't.) had an authoritative aura and a confident style. I wished she had a different partner. The male demi-soloists outshone the male principal (in the ensemble work) in jumps, line, change-of-direction movements-you name it.

Sofiane Sylve (2nd mv't.) (whom I had never seen perform) I found an ideal interpreter of the part. Her reserved but fully articulated presentation (French reticence?) added an aura of mystery to the courtship of the adage, one which I found in line with earlier performers of the part. Charles Askegaard, as a partner, added, with his unobtrusive support and self-effacing demeanor, to an atmosphere of contained emotion.

Ashley Bouder (3rd mv't.) together with Millepied entered and took over the stage with a verve and brio that seemed unstoppable. Truly impressive dancing, joyous and effervescent.

Abi Stafford (4th mv't.) repeated her Tue. night role with the same clear-eyed, no-nonsense approach that I find very likeable.

The demi-soloist couples in all the movements seemed exemplary.

The finale seemed more energetic than Tue. night's.

Particularly impressive were the four leads dancing together in the finale- sheer bliss.

I was not disturbed by any metronomic inconsistencies in steps or timing.

I marveled at their performing steps together but with each keeping her own personality intact. To me it was glorious dancing.

Symphony in C remains a “pristine classic”.

Thanks, Buddy, for alerting me to the Mariinsky posting.

I'm hoping I can arrange to attend it.

NYCB 1/3/05

Saying anything useful to others about dance performances has doubtful utility unless the writer is very familiar with the dancers of a company. I don't have that advantage in writing about NYCB. I came to NY specifically to see two works that seem never to be given in June-my usual time of visit: Concerto Barocco and Symphony in C. Having been familiar with these works in times long gone, the question I posed is 'How are they faring?'

After seeing the performance of Jan 3 I can say, 'very well indeed.' Save for some changes in the principals' steps in the 3rd mv't. the Balanchine/Bizet looks like I fondly remember it from decades ago: a masterwork expressing human sociality in classical dance movements.

The leading parts: 1st m'vt. the radiant Jenifer Ringer partnered by a deeply disengaged Nilas Martins, 2nd m'vt. Wendy Whelan with the attentive Philip Neal, 3rd m'vt. Megan Fairchild with Benjamin Millepied and 4th m'vt. Abi Stafford with Jason Fowler. What a joy it was.

Whelan gave a unique and moving interpretation of the 2nd m'vt. adage. Fairchild and Millepied were a buoyant and charismatic couple in the 'jumping' mv't.

Abi Stafford was a particular favorite with her lucid and unmannered style in the 4th m'vt. The finale with some four dozen dancers on stage executing a series of basic ballet 'tendus' is a thrilling spectacle.

I look forward to seeing the work one more time on the 1/5/06.

The program opened with Concerto Barocco. Yvonne Borree, Rachel Rutherford, and Albert Evans were secure and confident in the technical demands of the piece. One jarring glitch was the lead couple's arms which bumped the head of a corps member as they passed around them with arms overhead. (It's the easy stuff that needs attention--every time). Evans is an excellent partner but could do with less facial 'acting'. Borree's dancing shows some stiffness in the shoulders, which detracts from her technical prowess. Nevertheless, a series of pique arabesques were dazzling in their space-conquering amplitude.

The main comment is that the choreography shone as always. The dancers deserve kudos for realising the intrinsic values of these elegant and popular works.

The middle work in the evening was P Martin's Fearful Symmetries. Andrea Quinn conducted thoughtfully and I enjoyed the music very much.

The dancers, a stellar cast, were spectacular in a lot of entry-exit exercises of virtuosity executed at an incredible speed. The purpose of the impressive feats was not evident, at least to this viewer.

Abi Stafford with Amar Ramasar, Jennie Somogui with Stephen Hanna, Ashley Bouder with Joaquin de Luz were altogether superb. I wish I could say something positive about the choreography. OK--here it is: it shows off the dancers' astounding capabilities.

Thanks Buddy for letting us know about this production!

I read the company's description of the film's rationale

and it seems to be a film to look forward to.

The filmmaker is described as a balletomane and his choices of

embodiments of the "ballerina" [all Mariinsky] are interesting. For those who are described as having reached the pinnacle, Lopatkina, Vishneva, and Zakharova, there'd be few arguments.

For those 'on the way', the choices are intriguing: Obratzsova (I'm a huge fan) and Somova.

The dates have just been corrected on the website (for 11 performances):

March 16 through March 26.

Does anyone have any information on the 2006 Festival,

other than its dates of March 16-20?

Thanks Natalia, for providing a context for the American 3-city bonanza of multiple Beauties. Much appreciated!

Detroit Sleeping Beauty 10/22/05

Saturday evening's performance was the third I attended. For some reason I enjoyed it the most- very likely because the previous viewings allowed me to relax and pay more attention to the ancillary micro-events taking place on stage at any one time. The Mariinsky Sleeping Beauty is a rich feast indeed.

The leads were, as on the 20th, Somova and Fadeev [i'm following the program orthography]. Lilac Fairy was the delicate and beautiful Olga Esina who left a light trace of her path through the story, with exquisite line and sure footwork. She and Vostotrina, who was the previous night's Lilac Fairy, are listed as members of the corps de ballet on the Mariinsky website.

It would be interesting to know how much experience they have in the role; maybe Natalia can help. I was very impressed with both, but especially was taken with Vostotrina's authority on stage. (Particularly since she followed Lopatkina in the role the night before). I hope it augurs promotions for both of them.

I thought I would have more 'opinions' on Somova's dancing with the second viewing.

I don't.

While technical challenges were met with equanimity, meeting those challenges still does not spell great or even good dancing. There tends to be a flatness to movements that always end in a hyper developed leg extension. Three-dimensionality is a requisite in classical dance.

When the two are combined, that is, when high extensions are combined with the dimensionality of the classical canon, that's fine. We can say the aesthetic premises have shifted. But take away the space conquering dimensions of the classical ballet, then, we are left with a diminished art form. For what?

OK, off my high horse.

The Vision scene adagio of Somova/Fadeev impressed me with its precision and expressiveness. I really liked the Wedding pdd, even with some of its musical overemphatic moments.

I enjoyed the Prologue with the detailed staging of group dancing and the variations of the fairies. This time I took time to appreciate the lavender-tutu-ed retinue

of the Lilac Fairy. The corps de ballet dancers are truly the company's treasure chest.

After three nights of veritable feasting, I've left out a bothersome question.

What's happened to the Bluebird pdd? Why is it such a shamble of inconsequence and

confusion and unmusicality? The Florines were faultless (X Ostreykovskaya on the 20th and 22nd and S Gumerova on the 21st). The Bluebirds (it's better to leave their names out since I don't know who really danced.) were difficult to comprehend. How were they coached? Only one of the three acknowledged that he was dancing with another person and actually looked at her while doing double work. The others looked like they were in separate universes, smiling to the audience (blithely?)

What were they coached? Only on the third night did the male dancer do assembles battu after the first two simple assembles. Are beats no longer 'required'? Or do they know that Cecchetti /Petipa didn't originally include them?

As Doug Fullington has pointed out, the choreographic addition for Florine, in the 1950s, of the flicked wrists after the shoulder lift makes the pdd ending unmusical - with the final pose after the musical ending. Why does the management perpetuate this unmusical 'improvement'?

And why did only one of the three Bluebirds take the arabesque pose behind the kneeling Florine at the end of the pdd? (The other two just stood behind her).

Without a buoyant male dancer with elevation and plasticity for the entre-chats six and the brises vole and the assembles battu the duet doesn't make much sense. It's hard to believe the company can't fill the role appropriately.

The other Wedding divertissements are so beautifully coached. The standout is the White Cat of Yana Selina. Witty and technically interesting.

The corps de ballet shone all three nights in the Vision scene.

All in all, the visit of the Mariinsky was an artistic treat of first quality for Detroit.

Sleeping Beauty Detroit 10/20/05 and 10/21/05

This was my first view of the 1952 Soviet-era version of the Mariinsky's SB.

I have seen the 1890 reconstruction some years ago in NY and liked it because because there was a lot in it to like.

In some ways this version is like a 100-year survey of Russian ballet - but what doesn't change is that it has one of the greatest musical scores ever written for ballet.

Reduction of mime keeps up with artistic trends but does not necessarily improve aesthetic clarity. 'Improving' the choreography over time is a subject of complexity and disputation..

The principal roles on the 20th were filled by Alina Somova as Aurora,

Andrian Fadeev as Desire and Uliana Lopatkina as the Lilac Fairy.

The fairies are listed in the program (for the 20th and 21st) as

Tenderness D Sukhorukova, Vivacity T Tkachenko, Generosity Y. Kasenkova,

Courage Y Serebriakova, Lightheartedness Y Selina

Diamond I Golub (20) & V Tereshkina (21)

Sapphire T Tkachenko

Gold Y Kasenkova

Silver D Sukhorukova

Florina X Ostreykovskaya (20) & S Gumerova (21)

Bluebird M Chaschegorov (20) & D Semionov (21)

I have little faith in the accuracy of the cast because E Obraztsova is listed as

Red Riding Hood and she definitely did not appear either night.

Management does not bother with such niceties as actually reporting substitutions.

The Prologue both nights was a treat visually and aurally. Serebriakova (in spite of a bad fall on the 21st), Tkachenko, Selina were outstanding. The Diamonds of Golub and Tereshkina in the third act truly sparkled. The orchestra under Polianichko surged energetically.

Somova as Aurora is a puzzling subject. Having gone to the theater after having read appraisals of her dancing on BalletTalk I was especially wary. But considering that it is a barely started enterprise -her role as Aurora-- I believe she should be given a chance to prove herself. Personally, I enjoyed her performance, which was for the most part unmannered, and broadly speaking provided sketches of the role. Aurora, as a role, calls for three fully drawn dance portraits. The first is the sixteenth birthday party.

The second is the vision conjured by the Lilac Fairy to convince Desire of his life choice.

The third is the wedding ceremony which calls for her to become the standard bearer for classicism. All three sections, it seems to me, suggest the presence of different resources.

The birthday party is, I'm guessing, the most challenging. Somova's Rose Adagio was the least successful of the three 'parts' of her role.

She generally substituted a very high leg at the end of a step that calls for three- dimensionality of movement. This is awkwardly phrased but it was my impression throughout the first act. Another way of stating it is to say that the upper torso lacked full plasticity when too much effort was chanelled to the final leg extension as a be-all of dancing.

I found her vision scene more successful, but again as a sketch and not a palpable portrait of longing and mystery.

The partnership of Fadeev with Somova seemed to me very successful, in that they are well matched physically.

Fadeev's solo at the end of the vision scene was ardent and compelling.

The wedding pas de deux was clean and correct, lacking only a sense of serenity that comes with the nonchalance of authoritative readings.

Ms Lopatkina as the Lilac Fairy provided the center for the production with the virtues of

classically pure dancing, unadulterated and plain. She is the dancer of three dimensions, carving and claiming space as her own, all around herself.

Olesia Novikova as Aurora on the 21st, provided much more fully realized 'portraits' in the three sections of the ballet.

Her most successful was the vision scene. Her partnership with Leonid Sarafanov seemed a good match, because of their 'young' faces and physiques. They looked splendid together.

Her birthday party scene had wonderful nuances that I found attractive. One was that in the opening moments she stood still, arms down in front of her, feet together, in front of her mother, giving with her body language the message “I'm here and I don't know what to do”. Her mother's reply with mime gesture was : “Dance”.

Technically her Rose Adagio surpassed the previous evening's. In her supported attitude

Novikova would raise her arms 'en couronne' before giving her hand to the next of the four cavaliers. A very nice start.

For the record, Sarafanov's partnering in the pas de deux was solicitous and attentive, and even the overhead lift was beautifully executed.

The Lilac Fairy of Elena Vostrotina was a fully developed reading of the role; it was a very impressive performance, with luscious lines and a charismatic presence. esp. in the light of following Ms. Lopatkina's Lilac Fairy of the previous evening.

Did they mention who would dance on Saturday afternoon? I was psyched to see Novikova but it seems as if Kirov management has once again overhauled all their casting 

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Sat M: E. Osmolkina with V. Schkliarov and T. Amosova as LF

I attended the Detroit opening night Mariinsky Sleeping Beauty;

Aurora was A. Somova with A. Fadeev, and (YES!) the Lilac Fairy of

U. Lopatkina.

Tonight (at least as listed in the program insert)

O. Novikova with L. Sarafanov and the LF of E. Vostrotina.

Saturday night Somova again.

More later.

I'm attending the three evening performances, and I hope the original Ardani postings of Osmolkina (21st), Sologub (22nd),

and the Lilac Fairy of Lopatkina (20th) stand.

If this is true, then it's a real nasty bait-and-switch on the part of the Kirov.

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I called the Ardani office in NYC this morning, their number given to me by the Detroit Opera House (who had no information on casting). The person answering said she is dancing on the 20th and 23rd. When I mentioned that Ms Vishneva's website states that she will not appear in Detroit, he told me that no matter what her site says, she is scheduled to appear and she will be dancing-- unless there is a last-minute reason for canceling. I thanked him and hung up.

In response to another specific inquiry, she [Vishneva] will NOT be dancing in Detroit on October 20.

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Any information, drb or Helene, on who will be dancing on the 20th in Detroit?

Are the reconstructions of Bayadere or Sleeping Beauty being performed by the Mariinksy this season?

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The only Bayadere scheduled in Sept.- Oct., 2005 at the Mariinsky, is on Sept. 30 and it is not the reconstruction, but the V. Ponomarev/V. Chabukiani 1941 revision.

And it was deadly dull. Imagine working all day and then have to sit three hours before seeing any substantial "ballet!" .

I guess it comes down to individual perceptions.

I saw two performances of the new/old Bayadere at the Mariinsky in 2003 and found it

anything but dull. It was long, close to 4 hours, but I relished every minute in the theater.

It was different in terms of lighting, (there seemed to be no sidelights), it was paced leisurely with passages of mime or processional pageantry that made the dances all the more pleasurable

when they did appear, partly because of the anticipation and partly because of the 'framing' the dances received.

Nikia's solo choreography for the royal guests made much more sense when done with the long-necked lute as a prop during deep bends- chcoreography that makes little sense without the lute.

Very different from contemporary choreography, but dull? I don't think so.

The look of the company "as a company" is very positive.

Thanks Michael for your post. Your impressions show a discerning eye.

I enjoyed reading your assessment of the Bolshoi company's 'look' and deeds.

I, too, am a great admirer of Shipulina's buoyant jumps.

I am going on the 22nd to see Spartacus, with this cast:

Spartacus: Dmitri Belogolovtsev

Phrygia: Anna Antonicheva

Crassus: Alexander Volchkov

Aegina: Maria Allash

Has anyone seen Antonicheva? Thoughts welcome 

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I saw Antonicheva last June at the Bolshoi and my notes at that time were:

"The first-act pas de deux between Antonicheva and Belogolovtsev was wonderfully modulated by the dancers so that even the acrobatic lifts looked somehow serene and musically right. Altogether, their dancing was of impressive quality, accurate and passionate, achieving a mood of calm and inevitability in a world of storm."

Competition Gala at the Bolshoi Theatre, 7-01-05

Tonight's final night of the Xth Int'l Ballet Competition was also the final night for

performances at the big theater before it is closed for renovations, for at least three years.

Performances will continue in the New Hall, a smaller stage on the one side of the

Bolshoi, where the ballet competitions were held.

The evening repeated yesterday's program at the New Hall with additional medalists

who did not perform in the first gala. The added medalists tonight were Natalia Osipova,

Anna Tikhomirova, Marina Bourtseva, Matthias Dingman, and Isaac Hernandez.

The Matvienkos, moreover, added their 2nd round contemporary dance, called Radio and Juliet.

Osipova also danced her contemporary piece, called Liturgy; it was well received.

Hernandez, too, performed his contemporary dance. Bourtseva and Dingman danced

their classical variations: pas de trois variation from Swan Lake for her, Coppelia variation for him. Anna Tikhomirova danced DQ variation.

The best received pieces were Chinara Alizade's Grand Pas with Karim Abdullin,

Domrayeva's and Ischuk's Tarantella, and Krysanova's dancing with Bolshoi soloist Alexander Vorobiev (in her first contemporary duet to a Piazzolla tango). I believe she received the warmest applause from the audience.

Of course, other than that given to the Matvienkos. The evening was theirs.

The theater was chockful of cameramen recording every minute of the gala.

All medalists were called to the stage for a final bow and to end a glorious evening of dance.

Gala performance of Laureates 6/30/05 [small stage Bolshoi]

Program

Variation 'Esmeralda'

Choreo. N. Beriosov

Maria Vinogradova

Variation 'Flames of Paris'

Choreo. V. Vainonen

Zherlin Ndudi

Variation 'Festival..'

Choreo. A. Bournonville

Natalia Vorontsova

Variation 'Don Quixote'

Choreo. A. Gorsky

Christina Shevchenko

Variation 'Esmeralda'

Choreo. A. Vaganova

Ivan Vasiliev

Grand Pas Classique pdd

Choreo. V. Gsovsky

Chinara Alizade

[Abdul Karim]

Variation

Choreo. P.Lacotte

Jourgita Dromina

Variation 'Giselle'

Choreo. M. Petipa

Ivan Kozlov

Contemporary pdd

Choreo. Sun Xin & Ron Tao

[sun Xin] Zhiwei Wang

Variation 'Bayadere'

Choreo. M Petipa

Doszhan Tabyldy

Contemporary pdd

Choreo. A. Melanbin

Ekaterina Krysanova

[Andrei Melanbin]

'Tarantella' pdd

Choreo. G. Balanchine

Natalia Domrayeva &

Victor Ischuk

Variation 'Tchaikovsky pdd'

Choreo. G. Balanchine

Evgenia Obraztsova

Contemporary variation

Choreo. S. Bondour

Yaroslav Salenko

'Corsaire' pdd

Choreo. M. Petipa

Anastasia Matvienko &

Denis Matvienko

The gala opened with all the dancers of the third round plus others who received special

awards, the jury, other presenters of special prizes, onstage to receive their medals as well as for the non-medalists to receive their diplomas. Natalia Osipova, received a large number of special awards or prizes.

Before the end of the ceremonies, George Zoritch, a dancer of some time ago, (Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Ballet Marquis de Cuevas, among other companies), was brought onstage to make some comments to the young dancers. He spoke in Russian, so I can't report on what he said.

The gala was a solid confirmation of the merits and abilities of the medalists, and since not all of them danced, tomorrow's gala on the large stage, seems like a welcome continuation of tonight's program.