naomikage

Currently Mariinsky Ballet is touring Japan and I saw Shakirova in the dress rehearsal of Don Quixote, she was phenomenal. with brilliant technique and stage presence. Her fouettes included triples, great musicality as well. (And I interviewed her for the official site of the promoter here, lovely person)  So I am very happy for her.    

A photo from the dress rehearsal in Tokyo on Wednesday

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Here is the page of the program where you can see all the vdeos.

https://tvkultura.ru/video/show/brand_id/63029/episode_id/1970753/video_id/2030473/

Ksenia Shevtsova and Dmitri Sobolevski (Moscow Academic Theater Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko) 

Elena Svinko and Georgi Bolsunovski ( Krasnoyarsk Academic Opera and Ballet Theater) 

Amanda Gomes and Wagner Carvalho (Kazan Academic Opera and Ballet Theater Moussa Djalil) 

Ksenia Zakharova and Nikolay Maltsev (Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater) 

Miki Nishiguchi and Alexey Seliverstov (Yekaterinburg State Theater) 

Radka Příhodová and Adam Zvonař (Czech National Ballet, Prague) 

Julian MacKay (Mikhailovsky Theater, St. Petersburg) and Skylar Brandt (it was expected to be Marion Barbeau (Paris Opera Ballet) but it was changed to Skylar)

Also May Nagahisa and Victor Caixeta (Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg)  were expected but were cancelled due to Caixeta's injury.

No, they don't eliminate the lowest scorer. 

On 11/2/2018 at 10:12 PM, Ashton Fan said:

The streamed performance of Mayerling was danced by a cast led by McRae and Takada and quite a few people here don't understand why it was not the Bonelli, Morera cast who were recorded. 

The latest relayed version of Mayerling is by McRae and Lamb. 

Nacho Duato will return to Mikahilovsky next season and will create a new La Bayadere in October. Also they will be touring to Japan next November.

https://vestirossii.com/kultura/nacho-dyato-vozvrashaetsia-v-mihailovskii-teatr.html

And Akane Takada as well. Please do not omit her.
 

I saw her as Giselle opposite Kimin Kim guesting in Universal Ballet's Giselle this April and she was the ideal Mariinsky Giselle, so exquisite and ethereal. Haven't seen her as O/O yet but I regard this as a good replacement and am considering to add tickets. 

There has been a few cast changes. First withdrawal of Oksana Skorik, and then yesterday withdrawal of Anastasia Matvienko (both assumed to be of happy reasons)

Alina Somova and Ekaterina Osmolkina has replaced them.

https://www.japanarts.co.jp/mariinsky2018/english.html

Don Quixote

2018.11.28[Wed.] 18:30 
Viktoria Tereshkina, Kimin Kim
2018.11.29[Thu.] 14:00
Renata Shakirova, Timur Askerov
2018.12.5［Wed.］ 18:30 
 Renata Shakirova, Philipp Stepin

The Mariinsky Gala

2018.12.2[Sun.] 18:00

art 1 "Chopiniana"
Music by Frédéric Chopin　 Scenario by Michel Fokine
Choreography by Michel Fokine (1908), Revised version by Agrippina Vaganova (1931)
CAST Alina Somova, Xander Parish

Part 2 "Mariinsky of the current"
The Sleeping Beauty "Rose Adagio"
CAST: Yekaterina Osmolkina, Roman Belyakov, Konstantin Zverev

SOLO
CAST: Phillip Stepin, Yaroslav Baibordin, Maxim Zenin

Corsaire PDD
CAST: May Nagahisa, Victor Caixeta

A Flashback PDD
CAST: Ekaterina Kondaurova, Roman Belyakov

Ballet "101"
CAST: Vladimir Shkliarov

Talisman
CAST: Renata Shakirova, Kimin Kim

Part 3 "Paquita" Grand pas
Choreography: Yuri Smekalov
Reconstruction and staging of Marius Petipa's choreography (Act III Grand Pas): Yuri Burlaka
CAST Viktoria Tereshkina, Timur Askerov

2018.12.3[Mon.] 18:30

Part 1 "Chopiniana"
Music by Frédéric Chopin　 Scenario by Michel Fokine
Choreography by Michel Fokine (1908), Revised version by Agrippina Vaganova (1931)
CAST:Yekaterina Osmolkina, Philipp Stepin

Part 2 "Mariinsky of the current"
The Sleeping Beauty "Rose Adagio"
CAST: Maria Khoreva, Roman Belyakov, Konstantin Zverev

SOLO
CAST: Phillip Stepin, Yaroslav Baibordin, Maxim Zenin

Corsaire PDD
CAST: May Nagahisa, Victor Caixeta

Ballet "101"
CAST: Xander Parish

"Parting"
CAST: Ekaterina Ivannikova, Yuri Smekalov

Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux
CAST: Nadezhda Batoeva, Vladimir Shklyarov

Part 3 "Paquita" Grand pas
Choreography: Yuri Smekalov
Reconstruction and staging of Marius Petipa's choreography (Act III Grand Pas): Yuri Burlaka
CAST Yekaterina Kondaurova, Andrei Yermakov

Swan Lake

2018.12.6[Thu.] 18:30 [Open 17:30 / End 21:45]
Viktoria Tereshkina, Vladimir Shklyarov
2018.12.7[Fri.] 18:30 [Open 17:30 / End 21:45]
Yekaterina Kondaurova, Timur Askerov
2018.12.8[Sat.] 12:00 [Open 11:00 / End 15:15]
Nadezhda Batoeva, Kimin Kim
2018.12.8[Sat.] 18:00 [Open 17:00 / End 21:15]
Yekaterina Osmolkina, Xander Parish
2018.12.9[Sun.] 14:00 [Open 13:00 / End 17:15]
Viktoria Tereshkina, Vladimir Shklyarov

Also there are 2 performances outside Tokyo, in Hyogo Prefecture.

November 30th Swan Lake in Hyogo Arts Center　（Somova/Parish)

December 1st Don Quixote in Hyogo Arts Center　（Batoeva/Shklyarov)

And a detailed timetable of the participating companies here.

Bolshoi Ballet's announcement on World Ballet Day

https://www.bolshoi.ru/en/about/press/articles/announce/WBD-2018-10-02/

I am not sure what pointe shoes they are wearing, but many Russian ballerinas wear Grishko, and they tend to be noisier than other brands. 

Svetlana Zakharova and Denis Rodkin will guest in Universal Ballet's La Bayadere. Dates, November 1st and 4th. Sejong Arts Center in Seoul.

http://www.universalballet.com/korean/performances/performance_view.asp?cd=711&furl=performance

(Korean)

They have an English page but not enough details there. 

http://www.universalballet.com/eng/index.asp

I have seen Kimin Kim and Ekaterina Osmolkina guest in their Giselle in April, and the quality of the company is very good. 

Lopatkina had also taught in a summer masterclass in Tokyo this summer. She had also came to teach at this seminar while she was still dancing.  

http://sofia-ballet-seminar.com/

And she came to watch the World Ballet Festival

9 minutes ago, Quinten said:

You would also know that old account had something in the range of 10,000 followers, several orders of magnitude less than Copeland and Kochetkova.  Most Bolshoi ballerinas with social media accounts have more followers than Stepanova ever had. 

I don't disapprove of dancers who engage actively with their fans on social media but the (false) implication was that Stepanova is one of those who actively seeks out and engages with followers.  She doesn't, as anybody who follows her would tell you.  Her pattern for a long time was to post a single photo of herself for each debut and the occasional vacation photo.  The new account appears to be somewhat more active, along the lines of Nikulina's or Krysanova's -- she recently posted one video of rehearsal footage, a first for her, and has reposted some of the Sasha Gusov photos.  She politely responds to comments, mostly thanking people.  However, she does not promote her brand like, for example, Maria Khoreva (@marachok - 219,000 followers) who engages directly with her followers on a daily basis.  Nor does she promote products a la Obratzsova (86,000 followers), who goes so far as to post photos of her children wearing branded clothing and the cosmetic products she uses.  Again, there's nothing wrong with dancers attempting to promote and monetize their brand, especially given the brevity and unpredictability of their careers.  The immediate metric for social media success is how many followers one has, and on that score Stepanova is at the lower end of the scale.   

I don't mean anything, just saying the fact about that the current account is new and I am not criticizing Stepanova for her social media activities. 

6 hours ago, Quinten said:

Reality check:

Misty Copeland Instagram followers: 1,600,000

Kochetkova Instagram followers: 176,000

Stepanova Instagram followers: 1,050

Based on the actual numbers, I think you can take Stepanova off that list.  

That is because Stepanova deleted her old Instagram account and started a new one on June 27th, only 2 months ago. 

18 hours ago, MadameP said:

I have seen her also as a shade and as Florine.   I don't want to slap down a young girl at the start of her career, but I can't help wishing both her roles and her promotion had been given to a Vaganova graduate.  Really her promotion is a slap in the face to all of them.    

Could you tell us the reason why do you think so?

11 hours ago, Drew said:

Would love to read about that performance if/as you have the time. 

I will try!  The world Ballet Festival is a 3 week long feast of stars but what's best is seeing someone special in a full length piece. 

And Ould Braham, Heymann will also be dancing full length Don Quixote on July 27th in Tokyo as part of the World Ballet Festival.  I have tickets for them. 

Here is the press release in English.

http://www.nntt.jac.go.jp/english/news/detail/detail_012653.html

Former Royal Ballet Principal Miyako Yoshida was announced to take over National Ballet of Japan from 2020/21 Season. (effective 2020/09)

Her contract will be until 2024/08. Great news.

http://www.nntt.jac.go.jp/release/detail/23_012652.html

 (Japanese) 

Currently National Ballet of Japan is lead by former Scottish Ballet principal Noriko Ohara.

Maria Khoreva has announced that she will join the Mariinsky 

She will be performing in Apollo alongside Xander Parish, Anastasia Nuikina and Daria Ionova on July 21st.

https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/2018/7/21/1_1931

The Chief Choreographer and Artistic Director of the Ballett am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg, Martin Schläpfer, has been appointed as the new director of the Wiener Staatsballett

https://operamrhein.de/en_EN/magazin_1806_schlaepfer_wien

English National Ballet's press release. Still unknown whether Cirio will leave ABT or not.

https://www.ballet.org.uk/blog-detail/promotions-new-dancers-joining-company-2018-19-season/

5 hours ago, Gnossie said:

Absolutely agree. 

Osmolkina is the purest representer of the Vaganova style, and so is Obraztsova even if she is at the Bolshoi now, Ostreikovskaya although a Perm product, represents the Mariinskly style. The only Prima of the company that does represent the Vaganova style is Madame Pavlenko (her Saint Petersburg haters can go to hell, thanks all the best!)

Among the men, Steppin is the only one to be considered Baranov's heir, a true prince.

Yermakov is Ruzimatov's heir. 

Sergeyev (should have been promoted 50 years ago) and Batalov (I'm crying right now) are also pure Vaganova style. 

Absolutely agree with you Gnossie. I am especially looking forward to see Stepin in Don Quixote for the coming Mariinsky tour in Japan this November~December. 

https://www.japanarts.co.jp/mariinsky2018/english.html

7 hours ago, Laurent said:

Pagliero and Heymann are consummate artists. I don't know what has happened in Moscow, the rake of the stage or something else ? Don't make sweeping judgements based on a gala performance of some showcase piece.

Mathias Heymann had just danced la Fille mal gardee in Tokyo with Birmingham Royal Ballet on May 27th before he came to Moscow. And now he is injured and out of La Fille mal gardee at POB. So I guess he might be not the usual self after crossing continents. I agree that Heymann and Pagliero are fabulous artists, and Heymann in La Fille was so fabulous, polished technique with elegance.  

And as meunier fan has pointed out, the Peter Wright version of Giselle, Albrecht is supposed to do 12 entrachats and then do some saut de basques, this is his choreography. Speaking about artists in Russia, Kimin Kim is one of the best male dancers in Russia but when I saw him in Giselle guesting in Universal Ballet of Korea he did not do entrachats but did some beautiful brisees, and that did not harm the quality of his amazing performance.