Buddy

I have not had a chance to read your other postings, but would respectfully like to make these comments beforehand. Went to see Savion last night in Detroit. I thought he and the musicians were brilliant. Woke up this morning and said to myself, "You aren't going to see such a genius performance of this kind again for a long time. Let's see it again. This is something exceptional!" Went to Sunday matinee. Lots of children present. This is the acid test. Classical Savion ok. Second half of free-form jazz, I wonder? Little girl in front of me is falling asleep about 15 minutes into the Classical Segment. "Booooom!!!"...Savion explodes into one of his mega-speed sequences. Little girl is wide awake!! I believe she remained that way until end of show, enjoying it all as far as I could tell. OK, what about an hour of free-form jazz?? (Flashback. After finishing the Vivaldi to a thunderous audience approval, Savion looks out to the audience and asks how everyone feels. Audience response, "Fine!!!" Savion's reponse, "Me Too!!!" Then things just kept accelerating.) "OK, what about an hour of free-form jazz??" Well this had nothing to do with the night before. Savion took this segment up to another level. It sailed!! It was powerful and it was Happy! In my opinion it got an "OK for Little Children" rating and I don't hand out this rating very often. Actually Savion only danced this segment for a half hour, instead of a full hour, like the night before...but what dancing!!! Nonstop dynamism of the highest order! I think there's still some Sesame Street left in this grown-up performing genius, and all I can say is "More power to you!" For a more critical analysis of this amazing performance, well maybe when I catch my breath in a week or two. It was a wonderful afternoon! java script:emoticon('')

I hope that this is appropriate. If you would like to share or retain the experience of these exceptional performances I could recommend several videos, all Kirov-Mariinsky productions. One that is very close to the recent live performances and featuring the beautiful, wonderful Altynai Asylmuratova is perhaps my first choice. (1990 VHS) Another that is maybe slightly closer in format features Larissa Lezhnina, Faroukh Ruzimatov, and Yulia Makhalina. I am in love with the performance of the Tenderness Fairy (Candide,etc., the first of the group of five, dressed in white) by Zhanna Ayupova! For those who really enjoy a more restrained, classical(?) approach to ballet, her dancing would seem to be a delightful experience. (1989 DVD). The last is a super-abridged (90 minutes) version with the "mind-boggling" dancing of Alla Sizova and Yuri Solovyov. ( Please accept the more than usual enthousiasm, because after about 30 viewings, this is my only conclusion.) A sensational extra (for me anyway) is the also abridged dance of Princess Florine by Natalia Makarova. (1964 VHS). The corps de ballet as perceived through all of this has remained consistantly spectacular for about 40 years. (An apparent correction to my post above. According to the program and another poster, Vasily Scherbakov danced the Bluebird Saturday evening. Anton Korsakov danced Saturday afternoon.) I hope that someone will find an evening's pleasure in the above suggestions. I've gratefully found many. P.S. It's even more "wonderful" (yes again!) when you can share all this.

carbro, thank you so very much for your kind welcome and for getting me started. I had never seen Igor Zelensky before. Though some parts of his performance, his jumps for instance, at this point in time, seem stronger than other parts. Still I felt that he possibly gave the best live male performance that I had ever seen. I use the past tense because about two weeks later in Detroit I saw Leonid Sarafanov for the first time and thought that he was extremely good as well, especially at the jumps. He seemed like a younger Zelensky in this respect. Both seem to have a light and soaring manner. If I'm not mistaken Zelensky opened his hunting scene solo with huge cabrioles. This was different from the other dancers. Only on a video have I noticed something similar (Farukh Razumatov's same variation). In the Wedding Scene solo (Saturday, LA) Zelensky's circle of jumps started off slowly, but then determinedly became stronger and stronger. They were those jumps that seem to go higher at the point where you would expect them to begin their descent. Although he didn't seem greatly demonstrative in his characterization, I still felt that this is a very capable person and a man with a geat deal of feeling. Leonid Sarafanov, I thought did many things very well in Detroit. His jumps as I mentioned above, like Zelensky's, had a poetic quality. The way he and his partner, Olesia Novikova, related to each other was quite fine. They may not have had the onstage lovingness of Fonteyn and Nureyev, but they seemed to have a comfortable and warm understanding of each other. Natalia, I believe that you mentioned somewhere that you appreciated some audience members applauding Adrian Fedeev's solid fifth position landings. I did see Sarafanov do the same thing in most of the landings that I observed. As for the other men, Princes and Bluebirds, I liked them all. No surprise. This is one incredible dance company! The other Detroit Princes. Listed as Vladimir Shkliarov in the program, Saturday afternoon. He had huge jumps. I guess they all did. With Adrian Fedeev there was probably a lot of detail that I missed. He seemed very good and very nice. I believe he inserted double jump turns between his jetes in his circular Wedding Scene solo. They were there someplace and quite impressive. He also seemed to be the most genuinely touched by the warm audience response Saturday. Two women in our group were shouting "Happy Birthday!" to him at the end, but he would have needed very good ears to have heard them. But maybe. Bluebirds in Detroit. Listed as Maxim Chaschegorov, Thursday. I liked him very much because he had a certain elastic quality in his in aerial moves. Listed as Demitry Semionov, Friday, and also appearing Sunday. He was very agile. He is a huge man and the lady in our group, Friday, remarked how amazingly quiet his landings were for such a large person. If he was indeed Demitry Semionov, I read that he received an ovation backstage from his fellow dancers earlier in the tour. Listed as Visily Scherbackov, Saturday afternoon. No strong memories, but I'm sure he did well. Anton Korsakov, Saturday evening. Fine. He definitely has a distinct style. A certain looseness maybe. My schedule for the four days was to get up, enjoy the beautiful autumn color and drive to the Detroit Opera House. A wonderful combination!

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend all the performces of the Kirov-Mariinsky's Sleeping Beauty in Detroit last week and the final Vishneva-Lopatkina-Zelensky performance in LA. I would like to share some of my impressions of several of the female dancers. Diana Vishneva. Very graceful, flowing yet complex and dynamic dancing, totally controled. Very expressive dancing. Beautiful, controled held positions when lifted by Zelensky in wedding pas de deux. She has a "sensual stretch of her own." (someone else's quote.) Uliana Lopatkina. Lovely linear flow and verticality. Airy dominance and projection. She did a beautiful delayed last turn in her Act II supported pirouette. She was subtly but totally captivating throughout. I could have watched her hands alone and have been totally enchanted. I might describe her in these performances as a vertical anchor to Vishneva or Somova's expansive stage coverage. Ekaterina Osmolkina. Beautiful smiling presence! I loved her! Light airy dancing. Beautiful positions and poses! Restrained lovely dancing style. Alina Somova. Very fine dancing, expressive style. Large extensions. Youthful, joyful presence. Olesia Novikova. Very fine dancing again. Refined characterization leaving strong images in my mind several days later. Long balances on point. (Rose Adagio, etc.) Captivating presence with enchanting passages. I would be glad to relate some more at a future time. By the way, I do speak some French and follow two very good french forums that may be very rewarding when the Kirov-Mariinsky appears in Paris next month. I will try to relate some of this.