volcanohunter

http://realscreen.com/2013/11/29/idfa-13-bbc-to-examine-scandal-struck-bolshoi-ballet/

Sure. Excuse me for the shortcomings of my on-the-fly summary. We don't know under what circumstances Filin heard the remark, or even whether he heard it from Dmitrichenko himself. In his testimony Filin did say that he heard the remark about Lantratov personally. Sorry, the direct link is down, but here is a repost: http://news.rambler.ru/22052600 Obviously Chudin wouldn't be able to confirm or deny any statement made when he wasn't present, so it was a strange question to ask at all. But if its purpose was to establish whether there was any animosity between him and Dmitrichenko, Chudin's answer was, no [at least not on his end]. In its summary the NYT reported that Dmitrichenko's interactions with the dancers who came to testify yesterday were friendly, except with Olga Smirnova. It doesn't appear that any of them came to testify against him. They came because they objected to Tsiskaridze's characterization of Filin. Frankly none of them seemed to have anything meaningful to say about relations between Filin and Dmitrichenko.

I took it to mean that Zarutsky anticipated not being caught following the attack--because if he had been, it would have mattered relatively little whether his house had a natural gas line or not--and that he would then be able to blackmail Dmitrichenko into doing whatever he asked.

A much more complete version of yesterday's testimony has appeared in Izvestia. It notes that the Bolshoi employees who appeared in court were Olga Smirnova, Evgenia Obraztsova, Semyon Chudin, Artem Ovcharenko, Denis Medvedev, Marina Kondratieva, Alexander Petukhov "and others." All of them said that they had no conflicts with Dmitrichenko, and none had witnessed any arguments between Dmitrichenko and Filin, though they had heard rumors. Dmitrichenko's lawyer Sergei Kadyrov protested repeatedly against introducing hearsay as testimony. All of the dancers attested to Filin's polite behavior. They noted that currently Filin is always accompanied by his sister or his wife. Chudin described Filin's right eye as having a purplish-blue tint, and Ovcharenko said it had no eyelashes. Smirnova confirmed that she had attended a performance at the Moscow Art Theater with Filin on January 17 at the request of Filin's assistant and her (future) mother-in-law Dilyara Timergazina, and that Filin had driven her home because no man would have left a girl alone in the cold and the dark. Ovcharenko said he had learned of conflicts between Dmitrichenko and Filin from Filin himself. He noted Dmitrichenko's sense of fairness, and that minor conflicts with the administration arose from Dmitrichenko's desire to defend the rights of dancers. Chudin contradicted one of Filin's claims. During his testimony Filin said that Dmitrichenko had called Chudin a "freak." (Filin also said that Dmitichenko had described Vladislav Lantratov as an "a__-licker.") But Chudin said that his relations with Dmitrichenko were very good, and he was uncomfortable having to address Dmitrichenko formally in court rather than informally. The harshest words reported against Dmitrichenko came from Kondratieva, who was deeply offended by suggestions of a liaison between her pupil Smirnova and Filin. [it's not at all clear that Dmitrichenko is the one who made this claim.] She was also prepared to describe the poor relations between Filin and Tsiskaridze, but the judge stopped her, saying that at issue were Filin's relations with Dmitrichenko. When Zarutsky took the stand, he took all the blame for the attack on himself and said that driver Andrei Lipatov in particular was completely ignorant of what had happened. Zarutsky said he wanted to use Dmitrichenko and to use the attack to make Dmitrichenko dependent on him. Another report on yesterday's testimony elaborated on this. Since Dmitrichenko was responsible for the Bolshoi dacha complex located close to Zarutsky's home, Zarutsky hoped to use Dmitrichenko's influence to bring gas lines to the area. Zarutsky described the solution he used in the attack as boiled-down electrolytes, the sort used in prisons to remove tattoos (tattoos being a prominent feature of Russian prison culture), but diluted with urine. Zarutsky said that had he opted for physical force against Filin, he probably would not have been able to restrain himself and could have killed him. Zarutsky also said that Dmitrichenko had paid him 50,000 RUB not for the attack, but as a loan to purchase a car, and that the relevant paperwork exists. Although Zarutsky repeatedly asked to end his testimony on the grounds of his right to protect himself from self-incrimination, he ultimately answered all questions posed. http://izvestia.ru/news/561548

Reporting on this has been very scattered. There are just smatterings of information in various sources, so it's nearly impossible to get a complete picture of what was said in court. This is, perhaps, understandable, given that the primary witness of the day was Yuri Zarutsky. Contrary to what Ismene Brown's blog suggests, he did testify and insisted that he'd acted alone. However, Brown missed what appears to have been the most critical testimony directed against Tsiskaridze, whom Denis Medvedev accused of being the only provocateur in the company. http://www.rapsinews.ru/moscourts_news/20131127/269876455.html What little was reported of Marina Kondratieva's testimony seemed to reflect primarily her sorrow over the Bolshoi's besmirched reputation. http://www.bfm.ru/news/237981

That's because Balanchine's version is much more popular. To get an optimal look at his group dances, such as the battle scene and the snowflakes, I wouldn't advise getting orchestra seats anyway. An elevated view is preferable.

I would not make generalizatons based on Tsiskaridze's behavior. What is pretty obvious from that documentary is that the other dancers in the production did not act that way.

Vladimir Urin sat down for an extended interview with the Dozhd TV channel, during which he was grilled by a panel of journalists and critics. Two long clips have been posted online, though the second one appears incomplete. In a nutshell: - The members of the Bolshoi's Board of Trustees pay 250,000 euros annually for the privilege. He has not yet encountered an example of them trying to influence the choice of repertoire or artists. - While he does not reconsider the decisions of past administrations, he did cancel a new operatic double bill of Mavra and Iolanta because its set design was too complex. It would have taken too long to put up (2 days), too long to take down (a full day) and would have required an intermission of at least 45 minutes. - He was very reluctant to take the post of general director of the Bolshoi Theater and refused the offer several times. He feared the interference of powerful people. If ever he encounters it, he will resign. When asked whether Vladimir Putin seemed well versed in the Bolshoi's controversies, he noted that Putin spent most of their conversation listening. - On some of the theater's controversial operatic productions, Urin does not believe the goal of art is to be provocative; he is interested in what is artistically justified. He admits that he does not like Dmitri Tcherniakov's production of Ruslan & Lyudmila, but likes some of Tcherniakov's other productions and believes that it's a matter of finding the right material for him. Since the Stanislavsky was the first theater in Russia to perform the works of Nacho Duato, Jiří Kylián and John Neumeier, Urin rejects the notion that he could be labelled an artistic conservative. - Being on the job for only a few months, he is still figuring out what is really going on at the Bolshoi. Where allegations of corruption are concerned, he believes it is important to distinguish whether they are legitimate complaints or dirty battle tactics. If corruption does exist, and he concedes it's possible, it must be rooted out, though he didn't say how. He would not say much about Joy Womack's allegations, noting that he had never even met her. - Urin notes that while Sergei Filin worked at the Stanislavsky there were never the sort of allegations that are being directed at him now. Filin made mistakes, but Urin puts this down to inexperience. But Urin was obviously very ticked off about the circumstances of Filin's departure from the Stanislavsky and his subsequent ("unethical") poaching of its dancers. When the two met in Germany, Urin used the opportunity to lay down the law about their working relationship going forward. Every decision will be discussed and cleared with Urin first. - He wants a more transparent casting policy. He would like choreographers, stagers and opera directors to be able to audition all the theater's dancers and singers before making their casting choices, rather than have the theater offer a prepared list of suggestions, because this is what leads to charges of favoritism. - When asked about the controversy that arose over the casting of Onegin, Urin says he heard various sides of the story, including Svetlana Zakharova's, but it was before his time, so he does not have a complete picture. In general he advocates being open, honest and sitting down and talking things out before conflicts get out of control. But this is not easy given the nature of artistic temperaments. http://tvrain.ru/articles/vladimir_urin_ob_ultimatume_sergeju_filinu_ob_oblake_nenavisti_vokrug_nikolaja_tsiskaridze_i_o_tom_pochemu_ne_hotel_byt_direktorom_bolshogo_teatra_chast_1-357581/ http://tvrain.ru/articles/vladimir_urin_moe_naznachenie_bylo_ne_samym_luchshim_dnem_v_zhizni_filina-357583/

The prosecutors and Filin's attorneys appeared to agree on the Smirnova motion. Neither side seemed to want her there in person. But the court decided she must appear, so she will be able to use the occasion to rebut Tsiskaridze's testimony, as well as to relate what she knows of the events of January 17. She will also have to answer Dmitrichenko's inevitable questions about how often Filin used to drive her home at night.

Olga Smirnova is already on the list of witnesses scheduled to appear. Initially the prosecutor had asked the court to accept her written testimony since she and half the troupe were in Singapore last week performing Swan Lake, but Dmitrichenko insisted that she appear in person, and the judge denied the prosecution's motion. http://izvestia.ru/news/561004

http://www.pointemagazine.com/blogs/janie-taylor-and-s%C3%A9bastien-marcovici-life-after-nycb

If you choose a weeknight performance early in the run or a show after Christmas you should have little trouble buying tickets.

NYCB. I've seen a few Nutcracker productions that I liked very much, but Balachine's version is the only one I adore.

It's not all that easy to follow, but this is an English-language log of today's testimony by Pavel Dmitrichenko, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Andrei Uvarov and Anzhelina Vorontsova. http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20131122/269787308.html

The article cites a figure of $21,000, a rough conversion from 680,000 RUB.

Here is RAPSI's running coverage in English of today's proceedings, including the first half of Pavel Dmitrichenko's testimony. RAPSI promises similar coverage of Nikolai Tsiskaridze's testimony on Monday. http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20131121/269754563.html

No. No cameras in court for this trial.

I think so, even though I found Whishaw more compelling. The screening came across as a peculiar sort of hybrid; it certainly didn't feel like watching a play live, with all those giant close-ups on the screen and actors' voices caught through body microphones rather than reverberating through space, but it was nothing like a cinematic adaptation. The production itself was beautiful, though probably more beautiful in three dimensions (I suspect in the same way that Rouben Ter-Arutunian's Nutcracker sets look very different on film), and the performances were uniformly strong. I was glad for the opportunity to compare the two versions. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/theatre-review-richard-ii-royal-shakespeare-theatre-stratforduponavon-8887542.html

No, dammit, they don't. When I attended my first live opera of the season, an ad for the Met's HD screenings was included in the playbill. The same movie chain did not see fit to advertise its ballet screenings in the playbill of the local ballet company. For what it's worth, last week's screening of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Richard II was no better attended than most of the ballet screenings. Evidently, David Tennant wasn't given any marketing either.

The Bolshoi Theater's calendar now indicates that Marco Spada will be performed on March 30 instead of The Golden Age. Presumably, the live cinema broadcast will be changed accordingly.

Emanuel Gat's piece Brilliant Corners is available for viewing on demand for the next 40 days. http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/video/Emanuel_Gat_Brillant_Corners_Theatre_de_la_Ville_de_Paris/ http://www.theatredelaville-paris.com/spectacle-emanuelgatbrilliantcorners-510

I hope that this will not be a violation of board rules. At the beginning of October Joy Womack sent off a series of angry tweets, written entirely in hashtags, in which she made essentially the same allegations she made in her Izvestia interview. At the time I did not draw anyone's attention to the tweets, though I'm sure I wasn't the only person who saw them, because I suspected she was overflowing with frustration and might later regret her posts. And indeed, by the following morning Moscow time she had deleted them. (No, I haven't got screen shots of them.) Obviously, things didn't get any better for her because just over a month later she left the company and gave a reporter her reasons. My point is simply that whatever may have happened, Womack spent at least a month considering her decision.

Following his departure from the Berlin State Ballet, Vladimir Malakhov will become an artistic advisor to the Tokyo Ballet. http://www.morgenpost.de/kultur/berlin-kultur/article122056799/Vladimir-Malakhov-wird-Berater-des-Tokyo-Ballet.html

The Bolshoi last held auditions on September 16. Twenty-four applicants were invited to participate, and they came from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ufa, Saratov, Voronezh and Minsk--so only Belarus was represented among foreign countries. In a TV report on the auditions Sergei Filin emphasized that he was looking for dancers who learned quickly and would be able to fit into the Bolshoi corps without difficulty. He also said the company was looking for tall dancers. Ultimately nine were hired. The curious thing is that while the segment emphasized that the audition was for the corps and that's where the dancers would be expected to perform, Boris Akimov complained that the candidates were uninteresting and lacking individuality. Filin complained that the quality of dancers was unsatisfactory, that they were insufficiently trained and prepared--and of course in Russia that sort of observation by an AD about the quality of training at its schools is a very loaded comment.

The police report also refers to Filin's wife by surname, name and patronymic, so the LA Times reporter may have been rushing to record the text, but didn't catch her surname, which is fairly unusual. Recent research, on the other hand, has shown that Smirnov is the most common surname in Russia (somewhat to the surprise of researchers themselves, who expected it would be Ivanov), so no Russian reporter would have difficulty remembering it. (In case anyone is wondering, the winning surnames are 1. Smirnov, 2. Ivanov, 3. Kuznetsov, 4. Popov, 5. Sokolov, 6. Lebedev, 7. Kozlov, 8. Novikov, 9. Morozov, 10. Petrov.) http://genofond.ru/default2.aspx?s=0&p=362