Buddy

Here are some glances at the scenery for the new Ratmansky's Pharaoh's Daughter. I'm a big fan of the Pierre Lacotte production, including the beautiful scenery, so this one has big shoes to fill. Still, this new scenery is very impressive. The Mariinsky seems to have a knack. I've seen more impressive scenery and costumes at other companies, but the Mariinsky seems to get it just right. https://www.instagram.com/p/CTmESt5tkLi/ https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=mariinsky.theatre&set=a.10160019711745798 (thanks to Sophia at Dansomanie)

I'm sure that she's lovely, ECat. She's from the Mariinsky, so I take that for granted. 😊 A characteristic that I've always enjoyed is her personality. It's charmingly adaptable and believable. Hopefully, the Bolshoi, which emphasises character, will take advantage of this.

I've made comparisons here between this work and the White Swan Duet from "Swan Lake," which I still consider to be two of ballet's finest masterpieces. Although not a duet, it's a solo, I would also include Fokine's "The Swan" as one of the finest. I've never really tried to analyse the 'magic' of the White Swan duet, but while watching a video of an older and extremely lovely performance by the Mariinsky's Oxana Skorik, I felt that the remarkable sculpture achieved by the ballerina, is certainly a key element. In the duet from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" airiness seems to be essential. Allegra Kent floats -- 'tiptoeing,' feet fluttering, Jacques d'Amboise lifting. It fits so well with the enchanting Mendelssohn music and Shakespeare's dreamlike allusions. Added: In both these works, Expression is certainly essential -- the Aura of Enchantment created by the White Swan ballerina and the Character Voyage of the Midsummer Night's Dream interpreter.

Victoria Brileva, an artist that I've much enjoyed and often mentioned at the Mariinsky, has joined the Bolshoi. It seemed that she was given more than usual this year at the Mariinsky, which was good, and I wish her much success at the Bolshoi. "...new artists who had joined the troupe. These are Yulia Bondareva, Victoria Brileva, Arina Denisova, Elizaveta Doronina, Elizaveta Kiryakova, Maria Konkova, Eva Sergeenkova, Daria Sterligova, Sofya Ukhova, Elizaveta Chertikhina, Lina Sheveleva and Ivan Sorokin."(Google translation) https://www.bolshoi.ru/about/press/articles/none/gathering-2021/ (thanks to Sophia at Dansomanie)

New video clip posted of Renata Shakirova doing Princess Florine (The Sleeping Beauty) from several years ago. It reminded me that she's 'holding down the fort' while the company is on vacation and the "Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre" is performing. She has four scheduled appearances.

Posted at wrong place. Please see https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/45782-mariinsky-2020-2021-season/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-433739

Thanks, everyone, for expressing your feelings about Maria Iliushkina and other related feelings. I'd just like to mention that she'll be appearing in Serenade -- June 30 And! Yes, Swan Lake -- July 7. https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/soloists/second_soloists/dancers3/iliushkina1/

And I'll continue to maintain that she was absolutely lovely. 🙂 And the entire cast was also quite fine in many respects. Added: Birdsall, I'm very sorry to hear about your losses, but hope that things will look up as much as possible for your mother, your best friend and yourself.

Volcanohunter, if I could just briefly express something. We all have what pleases us most and what we believe is right. There are certain things that we value highly over others. You've found them and this is what we all search for. The qualities that we love are what we should cling to, even if we all don't agree on what they are.

Thanks, Josette, for this very fine comparison. I feel that Allegra Kent has taken George Balanchine's sometimes higher energy into the realm of high and perhaps sublime poetry, whereas Maria Iliushkina has made it more fairy-like magical, a velvet breeze. Both are very fine interpretations. For me, if you just abstract the beautiful flow and often elegant sculpture of all the Mariinsky dancers in their video, you have something quite wonderful. Maria Iliushkina accomplishes this as beautifully as I've ever seen her do.

As I keep saying, for me, she walks this fascinatingly charming line between a loveable, feeling her way, child and an accomplished artist. She's able to find her way back and forth with impressive mastery ('mistressery' 🙂). As I sense your general sentiments about the Mariinsky doing Balanchine, I'll just say that some days they shine much better than others and when they do it's quite commendable. "Less emphatic than exquisite" seems to work well for me with my favorite ("less emphatic than exquisite") Balanchine. "Seems always to dance with a certain gentleness. Anyway, I was won over--I find her lovely:" I agree.

This is a nice almost thirty minute video of Nadezhda Batoeva and Vladimir Shklyarov rehearsing Act I of Don Quixote. "They are coached by Galina Petrovna Kekisheva — a real bearer of the St. Petersburg ballet tradition, a graduate of the class of Agrippina Vaganova, in 1948–1971 a soloist with the Leningrad State Academic Kirov Theatre of Opera and Ballet." It's a finished rehearsal that moves along with very few double takes. Both dancers are charming, Nadezhda Batoeva, especially. It's also an act where dancers that I never thought could be like that, the Kitris in particular, really come alive as comic actors. One of the first things that I noticed is how not tired Nadezhda Batoeva and Vladimir Shklyarov are in this highly energetic part of the ballet. A lot is filmed from the side so that you get an unusual and very interesting new perspective. Galina Petrovna Kekisheva is one of those 'coaches' that I see year after year sitting modestly but elegantly in the box next to the stage. I'm never sure who most of them are, but they are a very lovely and apparently extremely capable group of individuals. Here you can see her gentle but highly accomplished and sensitive manner. It's something that's nice to observe. I'll also make a comment not related to this video that I feel sometimes compelled to. There are a handful of highly talented female artists that I've seen in different companies whom because of their extreme thinness I'm unable to to watch comfortably and because of that, as talented as they are (or were), I don't comment on. I'd wish that their physical state would be noted and improved so that I, for one, can give them the recognition that they deserve in my posts. I hope that you enjoy this video. With so little live performing still available this is sort of nice. (Posted by the Mariinsky and thanks to Sophia at Dansomanie)

Over the years I've viewed her as a very lovely person, touchingly committed and very talented. Congratulations, Olesya Novikova.

I came across this along with the beautiful pictures and thought that I could include it here. After last year's virus laden season. "Happy New Year our dear audience, readers and ballet lovers." Added: I just found this in another of the related videos and thought that it might be appropriate. "Like a sculpture to be awaken by the power of Love… By the power of light and music that sounds from inside. There is Galatea in every of us. So give the true sense to the perfection of your lines enriching them with treasures of your soul."

Could I suggest this ? More comtemporary . 🙂