Buddy

Thanks for your response, Charlie. Yekaterina Osmolkina had never been high profile at the Festivals, or perhaps anywhere else, until the last two years. Her Giselle last year I thought was perhaps the finest performance of the entire Festival. It reminded me of (two?) of her Giselles that I saw in California years ago and thought were excellent. Last year's was even better. Agree completely with your admiration for Daria Pavlenko and her husband, Alexander Sergeev. I've also seen Yekaterina Kondaurova do some wonderful performing. Ulyana Lopatkina, I feel, would have to be considered one of the all time greats. In regard to the Festivals, only a few of the top spots are given to guests. The quality of the home dancers is usually exceptional. I think that they really try to give it their all as do the guests, who in many instances have done the best that I've seen them do and have been very worthy of the Mariinsky stage. Please relate more about what you've seen and will see whenever possible.

Hi Charlie. Welcome to Ballet Alert! I hope that you find much interest and pleasure here. My feelings about Oksana Skorik are perhaps reasonably well known here by now. In terms of pure beauty of motion, I think that she’s probably the finest in the world. Because this is the ethereal art of ballet, on this I would rest my case. I will add, though, that in the areas of portrayal and technical prowess, although she’s had challenges, I’ve also seen her do some amazing things. Yekaterina Osmolkina, who's been around for awhile, just seems to grow and grow. She may well be an equal to Oksana Skorik in pure beauty of dance. In that same regard, keep an eye on the Vaganova trained, Alena Kovaleva, now at the Bolshoi. Yekaterina Chebykina, whom I’ve always liked very much for her ability to combine expressiveness with high classicism, really touched me at this year’s Mariinsky Festival. Have you been to any? You mentioned that you were in St. Petersburg in March 2016, which was just before that Festival. Has anything that you’ve seen there really impressed you? Yekaterina Chebykina, partnered by Xander Parish, performed a Diamonds, that I thought was one of the top highlights of the entire 10 days. In this performance she was pure Mariinsky, an absolute dream of grace and enchantment.

Soloist, Principal or whatever, Yekaterina Osmolkina is a beautiful ballerina.

I've just decided to make Yekaterina Osmolkina a Principal ! Does that count ? Wishing her much success and happiness on her Monday night Swan Lake.

It’s interesting to compare Swan Lake with Giselle and La Bayadere. In these two, the dream scene, where the enchantment occurs, is at the end and it makes a lot of sense. A sensitive handling of the final scene in Swan Lake can have a very similar effect. Added: In this regard I like the Mariinsky versions of Giselle and La Bayadere the best of those that I recall. The storyline is handled delicately. In Swan Lake and La Bayadere there is a ‘reconciliation.’ In Giselle there is forgiveness. I also like the final moments of ABT's Swan Lake. Although sad on earth, that final coming together in the giant sun is breathtaking. It's brought tears to my eyes. I favor the happy endings. They just seem consistent with the uplifting value of the art form.

Ah, dear Veronika ! I missed commenting on her departure from ABT, but I'll certainly miss her. I hope she finds something, somewhere worthy of her remarkable and wonderful talent. She performed, after Ulyana Lopatkina, perhaps the best Swan Lake that I've ever seen.

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts. I guess that if I ever did a version of Swan Lake the White Swan duet would go at the end. Or at least I’d eliminate much of the heavier Rothbart stuff from the last scene and let the beautiful principal and chorus dancing be a lovely echo. By the way, the Perm Ballet does something different. The dance of the Four Little Swans goes just before the duet instead of immediately after. How much of this charming dance I’ve missed clinging to my memory of the duet.

Perhaps I could clarify what I’m trying to say. I’m talking about the pure beauty of the dance and I’m thinking primarily about the Mariinsky, which possibly exemplifies this best. As good a focus as any is its Swan Lake. I’ve mentioned before that when I watch the Mariinsky’s performance, all my attention centers around the famous White Swan duet. It stands by itself as perhaps the most enchanting passage of pure dance in all ballet. After that, all I want to do is to conserve and continue that experience. I focus primarily on whatever follows that maintains and reinforces this. I truly appreciate any aspect of the story line and its interpretation that accomplishes this. Is this an abstract approach? Maybe. Is it a case for abstract ballet? Maybe it is. As in pure instrumental, there are no words. The pleasure is the pure dance. Why look at it this way? Because companies like the Mariinsky do it with such remarkable beauty. The Bolshoi is a slightly different matter. Its pure dance can be just as fine, but the importance of expression and characterisation is also very evident. Thus the ’story line’ and its interpretation have more impact. I think that ultimately I value the pure dance of any company the most. The Bolshoi never overwhelms the dance with the drama and the message. As an example, I recall Svetlana Zakharova (I believe) once saying that the Bolshoi actually tries to smooth out the Odile character. And I would add that the Bolshoi’s Maria Alexandrova performed one of the most delightful Odiles that I’ve ever seen and for me it worked just fine. In addition it helped to maintain the gentle, delicate and uplifting aura that for me is the essence of this work and perhaps all of ballet.

Possibly everyone would agree that it’s so much of the beauty within the art form that draws us to the ballet. This beauty has its own spell. Couldn’t/shouldn’t the ‘literary content’ be worked with as much as possible to elicit/reinforce the exact same response ?

"Even in my moments of deepest reflection, I've always felt that beauty should be beautiful." Sam Poet

Quote: "Art, such as ballet, helps me to dream. The happier the art, the happier my dreams." Sam Poet

I’ve not read such raves for a newcomer since the arrival of Olga Smirnova so I feel compelled to pass them on. These are by two NYC reviewers who are not necessarily easy to impress. They refer to the Lincoln Center performances of George Balanchine’s Diamonds about a week ago. Robert Gotlieb “Not so the Bolshoi corps in their “Diamonds,” which came brilliantly alive. This “Diamonds” really glittered. Yet everything in this performance paled in comparison to the ravishing splendor of 18-year-old Alena Kovaleva in the lead role. It was her debut—for all I know, the first time she’s had such a major opportunity in anything. She’s tall, dark, willowy, beautiful. And she’s technically impressive, but you hardly notice because she’s so winning, so gently secure, so obviously happy to be dancing. If she was nervous, it didn’t show. If she was daunted, you’d never know it. She wasn’t Farrell, she wasn’t Odette, she was a magical new creature. The audience had never heard of her, but from her first moment, there was a collective holding of breath, and at the end, a wild, heartfelt ovation; really, a burst of love. Gimmick had been transformed into glory.” http://observer.com/2017/07/jewels-lincoln-center-review/ (thanks dirac) And about Olga Smirnova these days at the same series, Joan Acocella had this to say. Olga Smirnova as the ballerina in “Diamonds”: she had danced that role many times, but on this occasion she apparently decided that she was going to become everything that anyone could ever want from a great Russian ballerina. http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/jewels-three-ways-balanchines-tri-national-ballet (thanks again dirac)

There is a lot of overlapping today. It’s sometimes hard to know where to post or what category to use. Oksana Skorik, whose Swan Lake performance will now be replaced in London by Yekaterina Osmolkina, probably because of a continued injury, remains in my mind perhaps the most ‘basically' beautiful ballerina in the world. Yekaterina Osmolkina, whom London will be very fortunate to see as her replacement, is very similar in beauty and continues to develop wonderful artistry. Olga Smirnova from the Vaganova, now at the Bolshoi, will possibly be the most famous, perhaps one of the top five most famous ballerinas ever. Yet Oksana Skorik is perhaps the most beautiful. Partially the reason for this is the direction that Olga Smirnova has chosen, that of emphasising her expression, range and search for meaning. Alena Kovaleva, from the Vaganova and now at the Bolshoi, is also one of the most fascinating. Some posters here were fortunate enough to see the beginnings of her career in NYC about a week ago. A couple prolific NYC reviewers, one being Robert Gotlieb, were knocked sideways by what they saw. She’s perhaps the heir apparent to Oksana Skorik as the Mariinsky’s most beautiful ballerina, generations seemingly lasting for several years at the moment. Although she’s at the Bolshoi, she may yet be the next most beautiful ‘Mariinsky’ dancer.

So glad to hear these nice reports about Yekaterina Osmolkina. She's my designated Velvet Cloud at the Mariinsky.

My congratulations as well. He continues to develop remarkable theatrical qualities, perhaps an English attribute, along with being an extremely graceful and finely capable ballet dancer. He's also a very nice person, which reflects highly in his stage presence.

Hi, "Pherank". Moves that may sometimes just seem to be moves become very special because of the way that she is able to do them. In fact they seem sometimes to exist just to show off how remarkably well she can do them. For example, the second section (Winter?) starting just before 23:00 and perhaps most dramatic starting around 30:00.

Hi, Drew ! I do agree with you. Also both she and Diana Vishneva have always been able to take most anything given to them and make it work.

Sorry for the mixup, but it's always good to hear from you anyway and I'm glad that you enjoyed it. So did I. I also think that there's a lot of potential that can be developed in future works.

Drew, I find that there's slightly less of this here than I've seen in many Mariinsky (and other) young (and older) contemporary choreographer's efforts and this is good. Sometimes 'modern dance abstractionism' does really work for me. I like certain efforts by Tharp, Forsythe, etc. very much. A handful of those sort of moves here did get my admiration. I think that Ilya Zhivoi is now trying to get more of a handle on this sort of thing. I'll also mention the possible collaboration of the Mariinsky's Maxim Petrov, having seen many of his works. He comes from a different style, which I like very much, a highly entertaining yet technically remarkable one. I think that this has to be factored in.

MadameP said at the broadcast topic: “I enjoyed it very much for what it was, including the played around with Vivaldi music.” http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/42705-mariinsky-livestream-the-seasons/#comment-383425 For those who watch it now, here is an explanation of the music which might add to your enjoyment. For the last season’s Creative Workshop, Zhivoi prepared a one-act SeasonS to music by Max Richter (featured on his album Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons). The music of the contemporary British composer Max Richter represents a 21st century interpretation of Antonio Vivaldi’s masterpiece. Richter kept the shapes, the textures and dynamics of the Vivaldi’s cycle, but in his interpretation the instrumental music of the Baroque hit meets electronic sounds. The Spring and Summer parts of the composer’s album were the basis for the premiere of SeasonS (2016). Continuing his choreographic exploration of Max Richter’s music, Ilya Zhivoi will present his two-act ballet at the Stars of the White Nights Festival–2017. https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/2017/6/19/2_1900 (click on "About The Production")

“The Four Seasons” and beyond. This work was broadcast on-line June 19 from the Mariinsky II Theatre and can now be seen here. It’s a ballet in two acts. The choreographer is Ilya Zhivoi, but I see much of the influence of the Mariinsky’s highly talented young choreographer, Maxim Petrov, who has presented four of his works at consecutive Mariinsky Festival’s A Creative Workshop of Young Choreographers. I would go as far as to say that this work seems like a collaboration. Much of what I consider the essentials of Maxim Petrov is evident here. What is different from his four large scale works, which are my favorites, is a lovely lyrical gentleness, which may exist in some of his small scale works. This may be one point of departure for what Ilya Zhivoi has done and is another very fine direction for this sort of thing to go in. The beautiful and very interesting complex blending and intertwining of dancers, who sometimes are performing separate patterns in the same grouping can be seen at 11:55 and 1:10:00. Much of this can be seen in Maxim Petrov’s work here at 1:30:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXILEnsBSrY Whoever’s doing what, there’s something very fine coming from several Mariinsky performances of young choreographers’ efforts. I’d like to add Garrett Smith who presented his work at this year’s A Creative Workshop of Young Choreographers. In a somewhat similar manner he has directed highly interesting, individual detailing to his small group of dancers. This can be seen at 43:10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXILEnsBSrY I like very much the gently lyrical feeling in The Four Seasons. I wouldn’t change a thing in what these fine choreographers are doing. I would like to say that much new dance seems to require a lot of physical difficulty and I wouldn’t mind seeing less physically demanding yet beautifully developed and equally interesting styling. A quick mention of Yekaterina’s Kondaurova’s excellent performance. I’ve stated that she can deliver extremely impressive theatricality as well. This can be very noticeable in her facial expression and is often done very selectively. Here it can be seen at 9:00 from The Four Seasons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiMucyaun0g

It can now be seen here.

I’ve watched the first two parts, MadameP, and I tend to like it as well. I do see the influence of one of my favorite happenings in new choreography, the Mariinsky’s young Maxim Petrov, in the interesting structuring of groups and moves. What’s been added is a blending of Mariinsky modern choreography and a nice sense of classical flow. In terms of young choreographers’ works that I’ve seen on the Mariinsky stage, this has a nice sense of focus and artistic composer. Any of these new choreographers’ efforts, in which Yekaterina Kondaurova always seems to be cast, at least show what wonderful ability she has. It’s really a pleasure when she’s given something worthy of herself. Added: For the moment it can still be seen here. At first viewing it really seems quite nice. https://mariinsky.tv/e

Dance Magazine “When Masha posts on Instagram, people talk about it. And not just dance people—the San Francisco Ballet and American Ballet Theatre principal has more than 166,000 followers, drawn to her quirky content and statement-making style….” http://www.dancemagazine.com/the-most-influential-people-in-dance-today-2440965004.html She’s a Sweetheart —- and a very talented one.

Please delete since Pherank already posted the video in the next post.