anin

It's true but there's nobody left alive who saw Nijinsky,not many who saw Nureyev in his prime.

Baryshnikov - that's a totally different story.I've seen him in everything at the then Kirov and many times here in the States at the Kennedy center with ABT,

then with White Oak and now in dramatic roles(I don't mean Sex and the City though he was very good).

Baryshnikov is the greatest male dancer I've ever seen and probably ever will.

A lot of ballets were created for these legends and in my opinion the list of great male dancers is much shorter than that of female but there are quite a few female dancers that have become legends during their lifetime like Pavlova,Ulanova,Fonteyn and the one that we just lost and possibly the greatest of them all Maya Plisetskaya.

Maya Plisetskaya was simply divine. I saw her live only once in Carmen and there are no words to describe that experience.It made me cry.No other dancer (except Baryshnikov)ever had such an impact on me.

She was a phenomenon that comes across once in a lifetime - the greatest spirit in ballet since Anna Pavlova,the greatest Russian assoluta and along with Semeonova,Ulanova,Shelest and Fonteyn one of the greatest dancers of the 20th century.

She was unforgettable in so many roles,her style was unique. Those who were lucky to see Plisetskaya on stage will never forget it.

We are so fortunate that so many of her performances are preserved on tape.

The Incomparable,Magnificent,Awesome Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya will stay forever in the hearts of all ballet lovers.

You brought such joy. Thank You for Your Art.

I don't know if translation was that terrible or the person writing is so ignorant but I'd like to know how Mr.Nureev could possibly help Sergei Polunin in 2003 since he was dead for 10 years by that time.

Someone being dead is not funny but in this case almost is.

Maya Plisetskaya never danced Giselle but was considered a great Myrtha and danced it quite often to Ulanova's Giselle.

The photo of Plisetskaya is not from " Giselle " but from " Chopeninana " as " Les Sylphides " is called in Rissia.

She was not a romantic dancer per se but nevetherless was very sucessful in both of these ballets.

Tsiskaridze lives/works full-time in Moscow so you're referring to a former apartment he likely stays in only when he goes north to Petersburg for short performances here and there? Yes Baryshnikov lived on Moika, a very chic and expensive area. Near the Hermitage.

Yes he did but in a one room apartment no maid included.

Bessmertnova is the greatest Giselle I've ever seen (video just doesn't do justice) when she was a guest at the then Kirov Theatre in 1974 with the God of Dance himself Baryshnikov(about whom someone here foolishly said that Albrecht is not a good role for him) who is the greatest Albrect I've seen and believe me I've seen plenty.

What a pair and what a crime that this performance was not recorded and released and especially now in retrospect it was Baryshnikov's very last performance at the Kirov (next month he danced Giselle with Kolpakova with the Bolshoi before both went to Canada and where Misha defected).

As many Giselles as I've seen and BTW with Misha in US, this one with the divine Bessmertnova - THE GISELLE of the 20th century - was the only one that I openly cried and believe me I wasn't the only one.

The theatre was packed and you could hardly get through the crowd on the way to the theare.All Kirov primas(Kolpakova et al) were there.A very young Kunakova was a wonderful Myrtha.

The standing ovation was going on forever.Such memories as if it was just yesterday and not 38 years ago and Bessmertnova is no longer with us.

Everything: face,eyes,smile,neck,arms,legs and feet - Altynai Asylmuratova.

The greatest Myrtha in the Soviet Union was Alla Shelest but she was also a glorious Giselle and Nureyev's favorite partner in Giselle and some other ballets they danced together.

Tatyana Terehova-Berezhnaya was the best Myrtha of her generation, second only to Shelest and was a lovely Giselle, part that she danced only towards the end of her career.I asw her as Giselle at the Kennedy Center and she was breathtaking.

Shirinkina is Shklyarov's better half? You mean they are a couple off stage?

What happened to Obraztsova? If that's the case I wouldn't be surprised that Filin will invite her to join Bolshoi on a full time basis instead of principal guest artist, especially that he gives her parts at the Bolshoi that Mariinsky dosn't and they still haven't made her a prima.

The Mikhailovsky Theatre has quite an illustrious history.Many wonderful dancers such as Nikolai Zubkovsky, Nikita Dolgushin and Valery Panov danced there.Fyodor Lopukhov,Leonid Lavrovsky and Oleg Vinogradov used to be Artistic Directors.

As Leningrad State Academic Maly Opera Theatre(MALEGOT for short) it was always very experimental in its productions.

So as usual British with their arrogance think they know better.This theatre has always been known to ballet lovers.

These days such greats as Alla Osipenko,Nikita Dolgushin and Zhanna Ayupova coach there.

It has wonderful dancers.Last year Leonid Sarafanov left the Mariinsky and joined Mikhailovsky and his wife the great Olesia Novikov(still not a prima balerina with the Mariinsky) guests there partnering her husband.By the way Sarafanov and Osipova daned quite a lot together either at the Bolshoi or Mariinsky so hopefully that partnership will continue.

What about Irina Perren - Mikhailovsky Prima - what a jem.

Such luminaries as Elena Obraztsova and Farukh Ruzimatov are still involved with the theatre no longer as AD of Opera and Ballet but as Advisors.

It's a wonderful theatre .

Bravo for Osipova and Vasiliev.You go Natasha and Ivan.

Maya Plisetskaya always was and still is very glamorous.

Nioradze and Korsakov were in the cast I was fortunate to see in Berkeley, and after you’d get used to the discrepancies in age and style -- in 1930’s film terms it would be like Dickie Moore partnering Marlene Dietrich – everything went like a dream--the dream that Don Quixote would puncture from time to time with his lance.

As Natalia and Paul say, the show is worth it if only for the Don Quixote, V. Ponomarev, who was wonderfully out-of-it, his eyes flaring with various halting schemes. He looked like someone who had strayed from one of Tadseus Cantor’s casts. I couldn’t keep my eyes off him—or Irma Nioradze, whose face, Georgian like Boris Pasternak’s, with high cheekbones and great sculptural modeling, keep changing and weighing its effects. (She could have been Natasha Filipova in “the Idiot.”) The role of Kitri was a comfortable old chair to her. Korsakov’s range is limited to earnestness and a skeptical lift of an eyebrow or corner of lip. But then he draws himself up, gulps up a bit of air, lowers his gaze and suddenly leaps cleanly and brilliantly across stage.

Don Q ballet has absolutely nothing in common with Servantes's novel, and, though,V.Ponomarev(a grandson of his great namesake) is a good Don Q, it's not a dancing part, and ballet is all about dance and, as such, it does matter who's doing Kitri or Basil. As for Georgian faces, Nioradze does have one as she is indeed Georgian as are Nina Ananiashvili,Nikolai Tsiskaridze, as was Vachtang Chabukiani and George Balanchine(Balanchivadze) and Tamara Tumanova who were both half Georgian.Pasternak was Jewish( a convert to Christianity).As far as Nioradze being N.F.in " The Idiot " I ve never thought about that,but it's Nastasia Filipovna.

I live in Washington,DC area and intend to attend Mariinsky's Don Quixote. Kennedy Center doesn't have the cast for performances yet. They have to get it from Mariinsky's management. There's nothing on Vishneva's website for January 2009. At this point her schedule ends in December 2008. Is there any way to find out when the Mariinsky will announce the cast for their January 2009 Don Q performances at the Kennedy Center ? Will appreciate any ideas.

Thanks

It's his birthday??? Thanks for that info, drb.

Nice tribute from Medvedev. Sounds like it was written by a true balletomane.

Happy Birthday from me, too!

You must be kidding! How would you know he is a true balletomane.It's true that there are some cultured politicians,but in most cases they have people to do that kind of thing for them.Reminds me of NIKITA congratulating Van Cliburn and talking about his interpretation of Chopin.

As this thread reaches almost ten pages, I wonder if it is time for a statistically minded poster to tot up the results and give us a top ten or twenty of just who the Ballet Talkers consider the most beautiful. No I'm not volunteering as although I'm suggesting it I'm not actually very good at that kind of thing.

I imagine Moira shearer would come near the top as she is named pretty consistently (the lingering power of those Red Shoes!) though I'm surprised by the scarcity of nominations for Kirsten Simone, Ludmila Semenyaka and Inna Zubkovskaya.

Inna Zubkovskaya indeed had one of the most beautiful faces I've ever seen, and such greats as Plisetskaya and Makarova

mention her unique beauty in their books.And she was an outstanding dancer.

You couldn't have possibly seen a lot of Baryshnikov in order to draw a conclusion that he is not someone's equal. He is not only the greatest dancer of his generation, but one of the greatest of the 20 th century. It's the other way around-is there anyone today who can be regarded as Baryshnikov's equal or close? In fact there'll never be another or second Baryshnikov -He is One and Only.

Two couples that haven't been mentioned yet whose performances certainly seem/ed to benefit from their offstage relationship: Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev, as well as Alina Cojocaru and Johann Kobborg.

And one that didn't: Asylmuratova and Zaklinsky (or is that just me?)

No,it's not you. Asylmuratova and Zaklinsky had absolutely no chemistry on stage. One of the reasons might be,that she was a great dancer and he was merely good.

Reviewing NYCB's "Four Voices" program, Alistair Macaulay says he cried at two of the ballets: Wheeldon's "Carousel (A Dance)" and Mr. B's "Sonnambula." I always cry at the latter. (One look at Paul Kolnik's stunning photo of Kistler and Hubbe in today's NY Times and I almost teared up again). Macaulay considers these lachrymose reactions "cause for celebration," and I agree with him. I always used to cry at Balanchine's "Don Quixote," and did again at every performance of Farrell's revival two years ago. I may have brought up this subject in the past, but I think it's time for another good cry. What always makes you weep at the ballet? No wise guy answers, please.

I started crying at Maya Plisetskaya's Carmen even before she made a single step. Just the impact of seeing her in the middle of the stage after the curtain went up was such,that you couldn' help getting very emotional.Also cried at Baryshnikov's and late Natalia Bessmertnova's Giselle at the Kirov - the best performance of Giselle either on stage or video - unforgettable.

Veronika Part only joined ABT in time for the 2002 City Center season. She wouldn't have performed with ABT 10 years ago. She didn't make her Met debut until 1999 with the Kirov. They didn't perform Don Q during that tour. They did perform it during their 2002 Met visit, but Part only performed in Jewels (2 Emeralds perfs.), a big swan in Swan Lake and one Saturday mat. in the lead of Swan Lake. And with Corella? How would he be able to partner her? Are you thinking of Vishneva?

Ididn't mean Part at all.It was in reference to an e-mail about Kent not doing Kitri and that's whom I saw with Corella in Don Q at the Met.

I don't think she's ever done Kitri. She's done Mercedes and the Dryad Queen.

Yes she did. As I've said it was about 10 years ago at the MET and I have a program to prove with a full cast.

What a mistake she is making. I will miss her performances, too. But where is she going to find a major company that will make her its star, give her all the rehearsal time she believes she needs, give her one or two tall partners who she can rely on exclusively, and focus on selecting rep that makes her look good?

The article referenced above is certainly sympathetic to Veronika's difficult and stalled journey at ABT, but hasn't some of this been experienced by a lot of other dancers there who have managed to overcome issues of language learning, opening a bank account and grasping "politics"? ABT is a company made stronger by its immigrants, all of whom have had to learn English, learn how to open a bank account, learn how to excel under less than optimal rehearsal conditions, etc., and embrace enthusiastically other forms of dance and choreography. Everyone isn't good at everything. We don't see Murphy as Giselle, we don't see Kent as Kitri, we don't see Reyes as Odette/Odile. I don't see Veronika excelling in major MacMillan dramatic works, but she has every right to try to convince a major company to let her try if that is what she needs to feel fulfilled.

She should stay in New York, I say selfishly, and work out the problems. She has a lot of support here, more than any other place.

I don't know if she dances Kitri these days,but about 10 years ago I saw her at the MET dancing Kitri to Corella's Basilio.

Very sad news. A Giselle for the ages. May she rest in peace.

I couldn't agree more. I saw her Giselle when she was a guest at the Kirov with Baryshnikov in 1974( his very last performance with the Kirov as it turned out). Unforgettable. After almost 34 years since, I can't get over the impact of that performance.No words can really describe it. It was the second time I cried during ballet ( first being Plisetskaya in Carmen).Her marriage to Grigorovich has nothing to do with her greatness.Mabey he miscast her sometimes,but as a great dancer and artist she stood on her own and actually became a great Giselle before her marriage.

She was unique and always will be in the hearts and memories of all those who love and appreciate ballet and Bessmertnova's extrordinary contibution to the art.

Viggo Mortensen looks much like Baryshnikov when younger.

Not even close.

Right now Tsiskaridze couldn't possibly dance this part,since he is still feeling the effects of an earlier surgery. As for Chabukiani, he was never a Bolshoi dancer. He danced in Moscow many times,but as a member of the Kirov ballet,where he stayed until 1941.Since 1941 he was associated mostly with Georgian Ballet Theatre in Tbilisi and the ballet school there, and which produced some of the most illustrous names today like Ananiashvili,Nioradze,Zelensky,Tsiskaridze.

[ ... ] the beefy panache of Chabukiani.

Sorry to be , but this is a great phrase which captures in two words an entire generation or so of Bolshoi males. Thanks!