naomikage

Did Mathieu Ganio perform in La Bayadere? He is the senior most male etoile and he's only 31. I can understand male etoiles like Herve Moreau and Karl Paquette, who are on the other side of 35, opting out of it but Ganio not doing it (if, in fact, he didn't) would be perplexing.

No, Ganio did not perform in La Bayadere. As for the new McGregor piece Alea Sands, many etoiles, such as Ganio, Gillot, Hecquet (she was also in La Bayadere), and the very rarely seen Bélingard were in the cast (I heard this was a single cast this time). It does seem Ganio rarely performs in classical pieces these days. Also, it was strange about the absence of Stephane Bullion as Solor, because when the ballet was performed last time he was quite good in it and even partnered Zakharova. He was born in 1980 but I think he had the capability to do this.

Speaking about Fabien Revillion, he was performing as the Bronze Idol and he did a fine job.

And BM does express in his interviews that he does not like full length classics especially the Nureyev works. But the next season repertoire is not clear yet so we will see.

I went to see two performances of POB's La Bayadere (and also one performance of the Wheeldon, McGregor and Bausch) but did not attend the Mariinsky pair's guesting. I did hear especially Kimin Kim was fabulous.

Kimin made some laughter because he introduced himself in Japanese.

And what he said was that, it was Japan that he visited first for tour after he joined Mariinsky so it is a memorable place. And he is happy that he could dance his favorite roles, Siegfried, Mercutio and Rubies.

I see that the Mariinsky Ballet's corps includes a Japanese lady, Kumiko Ishii. I'm wondering if she is related to Rika Ishii, who used to guest regularly with the Mariinsky during the early 1990s (Vinogradov late era)?

No she is not. Ishii is a common surname here. Rika Ishii was infamous to have bought her roles at Kirov

Sorry I have not updated the Japan tour thread. The Mariinsky tour closed here successfully.

We can't tell exactly how serious Shklyarov's injury was but he was trying to appear on 11/30 R&J two days after his injury and they almost announced that he will be dancing. So I suppose his injury was not that serious. According to his instagram he didn't have an MRI screening in Japan (only X-ray) so not thoroughly sure but we can hope he will be back in February, it is 3 months ahead.

I was at the performance when Shklyarov was injured, it was when almost the performance was done, when he seemed to have a bad landing and did not appear on stage when he was supposed to. Yermakov replaced him and danced the last pas de deux, without makeup. Shklyarov did appear in the bows with Yermakov.

Here is the official announcement.

https://www.japanarts.co.jp/blog/blog.php?id=1677

It says his injury does not seem too serious so they were considering whether he could be on stage for Romeo and Juliet today, but eventually Phillipp Stepin will replace him. God bless Vladimir and wishing him a speedy recovery.

Apart form that happening, Legend of Love with Tereshkina, Shklyarov, Shrinkina and Zverev was a fabulous performance, the 4 main cast were marvelous and so dramatic. Tereshkina had so much charisma, her beautiful lines were stunning and also her dramatic portrayal touched out hearts. It does seem a dated work but there is plenty of virtuoso dancing and partnering, a lot to see of the strong corps both male and female, a fun ballet to watch. They said they will bring it to tours and I assure that will be a great experience for the audience.

And the cast of Romeo and Juliet on December 1 was announced, and Kimin Kim will dance the role of Mercutio. That sounds exciting.

Oh right, thanks for the translation. I have to say bravo to Xander and Kimin for succeeding in learning Russian; it really sounds like they've done a great job!

Also, what did Masha say at 17:10 and what did Vladimir say at 23:10 that provoked laughter and made him go red? Lol!

What Masha Shrinkina said was nothing special, just saying that she will dance in Lengend of Love and Juliet, and how she appreciates the knowledgeable Japanese audience. Vladimir made us laugh by saying he had waited so long for his turn and got tired.

Xander was specially requested to speak in Russian this time. (there will be a book signing session of him on Sunday)

Thanks Naomi, do you know what's being said, aside from the promotion of the tour?

Yes, I was at the conference. One journalist asked why so many dancers left the company this decade and also not much Vaganova graduates joined the company. But Fateev's answers were not convincing. He did speak about the globalization of ballet, with having Kim and Parish for example.

Also, this was the first time Mariinsky's Legend of Love performed outside Russia. They now consider it is time to be seen overseas, and the are planning to bring it on tour, for instance Europe and North America. Fateev thinks this work displays the Mariinsky men's quality. They did not have Raymonda on tour till recently, and now it is touring US.

Shapran was asked why she joined the Mariinsky, and she said that the quality of the coaches, and the repertoire was attractive to her.

Here is the video of the press conference. In Russian and with Japanese interpretation.

First night in Tokyo was Jewels and I enjoyed it a lot. Kondaurova seemed fully recovered from her injury and was commanding as Big Red in Rubies, also Kimin Kim is back from his injury in China and showed such delight in his dancing, Bateeva had much jazziness and musicality. Kristina Shapran a little unstable in Diamonds but nevertheless displayed her fragile beauty and lyricism, Askerov, although a little stiff was good with his accuracy and academism. The corps seemed good as well.

Kondaurova is replacing Skorik in Swan Lake on Saturday at Nagoya. (Skorik is in Japan now but she was not at the conference, but she is still scheduled to dance in Swan Lake on December 5th)

Wait, more changes? Somova has withdrawn? I thought she was replacing Shirinkina... So hold on, have they actually undone some cast changes now?

Yes, So actually some cast changes are undone.

Here is the latest cast.

http://www.japanarts.co.jp/mb2015/english.html

Tereshkina was okay and she will fulfill her engagements in Tokyo. Relief.

Another announcement. Natalia Makarova will come for the December 2nd performance of Romeo and Juliet and celebrate her birthday.

http://www.japanarts.co.jp/blog/blog.php?id=1654

There has been a lot of changes for the Mariinsky Japan tour. Somova and Selina withdrew because of company reasons, Somova SL replaced by Tereshkina, Tereshkina SL replaced by Kondaurova (who was in the original announcement but withdrew because of injury, glad she's back) and Shirinkina replacing Somova's Juliet. And now the tour started and the first night at Osaka, Tereshkina withdrew because she had fallen ill and Anastasia Matvienko replaced her. It is unknown whether Tereshkina will be dancing her other dates in Tokyo, she has not arrived in Japan yet because she needs medical exams.

I will be attending the press conference on Thursday so I hope I can report about it.

I read in her interview on the Japanese Dance Magazine that she did not become Maitre de Ballet because she would like to continue performing as an artist. The job of the Maitre de Ballet is demanding and she would have had to dedicate 100% of her time, and look after not only the soloists but also corps de ballet.

She mentioned that she will be guesting as a teacher occasionally at the Opera, and her relationships with the management continue to be friendly.

BAM has just announced their winter season and Mariinsky will be performing in February.

http://www.bam.org/media/4810305/2016-winter-spring-full-season-press-release_FINAL.pdf

You can also watch the video of the program here.

Here's Judith Mackrell’s review

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/sep/30/alexei-ratmansky-the-sleeping-beauty-la-scala?CMP=share_btn_tw

There is an interesting review of the La Scala performance on Ballet.co forum. It seemed to be a good performance but the Italians did not seem to like it. (like Natalia's friend's reports)

It seems Irina Perren and Marat Shemiunov's names appears on the Mikhailovsky Ballet's company website. Hope they have returned to the company.

http://mikhailovsky.ru/theatre/company/ballet/

Such a lovely wedding dress of Gillian, congratulations to the beautiful bride!

https://instagram.com/p/71H1dGyJTK/

As for Japan a Japanese distributor announced that Romeo and Juliet, Vicera/Afternoon of a Faun/Tchaikovsky PDD/Carmen bill, and Nutcracker will be shown in cinemas beginning from November. No announcement of other works to be shown yet.

http://roh2015jp.wix.com/cinemaseason

Natalia Osipova has been injured and now pulled out of all her performances at the Royal Ballet Autumn season (September to November).

How sad. Wish her quick recovery.

http://www.roh.org.uk/news/cast-changes-autumn-2015-performances-of-romeo-and-juliet-connectome-tchaikovsky-pas-de-deux-and-carmen

Principals Irina Perren and Marat Shemiounov (her husband) has been fired from Mikhailovsky. This was due to the fact that Perren did not perform at Le Corsaire on September 12th and performed in a gala in Monte Carlo instead.

http://www.mikhailovsky.ru/press/news/izmenenie_v_sostave/

Their profiles has disappeared from the company roster.

Terrible news as Perren is a truly brilliant prima ballerina.

Pierre Arthur Ravaud guested in Kyoto Ballet's Romeo and Juliet in August as Tybault and there were no signs of injury in him. Heloise Bourdon (as Juliet), Karl Paquette (Romeo), Axel Ibot (Mecutio), Yanik Bittencourt (Benvolio), Christophe Duquenne (Paris) and Monique Loudieres (Lady Capulet) also guested in this production.

Mathilde Froustey has announced that she will continue her career at San Francisco Ballet on her Twitter and blog.

http://mathildefroustey.me/2015/09/03/i-want-to-break-free/

I don't understand why Paloma had to be criticized by this interview. I myself enjoy social media and backstage shots by dancers, but Paloma's opinion has a point and tweeting during performances might be just too much. Anyway she has her freedom to express her opinion, and that opinion is not a strange one.

And as the interview was also about her life after ballet, she has her right to talk about her new business and there is nothing there to be criticized about. As Helene said she said nothing against self promotion.

Here is the trailer for the Japan theatrical release