volcanohunter

No, I don't think so, but in truth I haven’t seen enough of her to say. If anything she seems so eager to capture the “Indian-ness” or “swan-ness” of a character that she quickly veers into exaggeration.

Good to know I'm not a minority of one. Now you and I can be pilloried together, Cristian!

La Bayadère, August 3, evening Nikiya - Olga Smirnova Solor - Semyon Chudin Gamzatti - Ekaterina Krysanova High Brahmin - Alexander Fadeyechev Rajah - Alexei Loparevich Fakir - Anton Savichev Toloragva - Yuri Baranov Slave - Denis Rodkin Aya - Anna Antropova D’Jampe - Svetlana Gnedova, Viktoria Litvinova Manu - Anna Rebetskaya, with Olivia Jones and Erin King Golden Idol - Igor Tsvirko Drum Dance - Denis Medvedev, Anna Antropova, Vitaly Biktimirov Grand Pas - Elizaveta Kruteleva, Daria Bochkova, Yulia Lunkina, Svetlana Pavlova; Maria Vinogradova, Olga Marchenkova, Ana Turazashvili, Yulia Grebenshchikova, Ivan Alexeyev, Karim Abdullin Shades - Anastasia Stashkevich, Daria Khokhlova, Chinara Alizade conductor - Pavel Sorokin Well, mine will probably be the minority view, but I did not come away thrilled with Olga Smirnova’s performance. In keeping with my newfound resolution to be a net contributor of positivity in this world--despite my natural inclinations--I will refrain from an entirely frank assessment of her first two acts. In general I found her to be very mannered: every vertebra and every joint in her shoulders and arms excessively articulated, her elbows constantly hyperextended; whenever her arms weren’t placed in a position in front of her body, they were way behind her spine, almost resembling insect wings. I felt like I was watching a contortionist rather than a ballet dancer. I was hoping for something more academically pure in the Kingdom of the Shades, and she was better there, but there are still shortcomings. She does not jump easily, and the shape of her legs make it impossible for her to achieve a beautiful line à la seconde in promenades--both of which are prominent features of the adage. During the scarf variation she fell off pointe in her pirouettes to the left, but her turns were very, very fast in the coda. She has many obvious gifts, but in general I found this to be an interpretation in need of drastic simplification. I’m sorry I missed Obraztsova’s Nikiya; I could really use some classical understatement right about now. I can’t say I’m really looking forward to Smirnova’s Swan Queen. But you never know. I liked Semyon Chudin much more here than I had in Swan Lake. Perhaps because so much more of the mime has been retained in this ballet, his character had a dramatic arc to follow. I would have liked a bit more stalwart strength, to counterbalance Smirnova’s non-stop undulating, but he was entirely plausible. In his variations he showed beautiful turns, though his jumps were still too effortful for my taste in the betrothal scene. In the Kingdom of the Shades they were better. The jumps he performs in a backward direction, entrelacés and the like, tend to be smoother. It’s as though going forward he uses too much force, so the landings are jarring. Incidentally, in the betrothal scene he steered well clear of Ekaterina Krysanova as they jumped past each other. On balance I liked Krysanova best. She was not the most glamorous or formidable Gamzatti I’d ever seen, but she performed with complete physical and dramatic commitment. I appreciated her directness, which struck me as very Bolshoi. Here and there the corps had difficulty staying together. I can’t imagine why. Minkus’ rhythms are not obscure, but you know you’re in trouble when the supers playing the temple priests are better at keeping time than Solor’s band of warriors. And the company was uneven in that regard. During the grand pas Maria Vinogradova and Ana Turazashvili were perfectly in sync in their entrance, but Olga Marchenkova and Yulia Grebenshchikova who followed were not. Anna Rebetskaya did a lovely Manu. Igor Tsviko’s Idol got a big response from the audience, though to be honest his vertical jumping, which dominates the first part of the dance, was better than the chaîné turns with which he ended. The drum dance was a great guilty pleasure; Denis Medvedev danced perfectly, and Vitaly Biktimirov was marvellously over the top. The entrance of the Shades was too fast, and personally I found the multiple ramps too busy visually. But there was a palpable satisfaction from the audience when the Shades, all 32 of them, fell into their lines. The trio of solo shades was not always perfectly coordinated, because only Chinara Alizade was right on the music, but they shone individually. Again, credit to Alizade for doing well in a variation in which Agnès Letestu set an almost impossible standard. But the circusy speed of the final coda was perfectly dreadful. It was entirely impossible for the corps to stay together, and it looked and sounded absurd. Audience applause during the final act was enthusiastic, so it’s strange that of the performances I've seen so far, this one had by far the shortest curtain call. I don’t know whether this was a question of the ballet’s length, its somewhat indeterminate ending (though as far as indeterminate endings go, Grigorovch’s Swan Lake is about as enigmatic as they come) or something else. You’d think, though, that if the audience were genuinely thrilled at having witnessed the Next Great Thing, they would have called her back a few more times. Instead on a couple of occasions, after Smirnova finished dancing and went into the wings, the applause would fade away, only to have to start up again when she re-emerged to take a bow. I sat at the front of the amphitheater. Optimal location for watching Shades.

Krysanova made her debut as Jeanne a year ago. Here is a video about the five debuts that took place during that performance. English subtitles are available. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBIZrEyyVvc

Apparently Galina Stepanenko says that Alexandrova has a snapped Achilles. According to other reports, doctors gave her a cast, and she's flown home for further treatment. What a shame. http://www.vmdaily.ru/news/2013/08/03/rukovoditel-baletnoj-truppi-bolshogo-u-marii-aleksandrovoj-razriv-ahilla-207845.html http://www.forbes.ru/news/243031-travmirovannaya-balerina-gabt-vyletela-v-moskvu

In the Russian original Urin is quoted as saying that he hoped British doctors would be able to get Alexandrova back "on stage" as quickly as possible. Since her injury is not life-threatening, I have no doubt they would be able to get her back to the "homeland" if necessary.

I did not attend tonight's La Bayadere, but lots of Twitter witnesses are reporting that Maria Alexandrova was injured onstage during the second act and was unable to complete her performance. Hope it's not serious!

Anderson admitted that he took no part in the rehearsal process until it reached the stage rehearsal phase, and he had not yet arrived in Moscow when Zakharova walked out. It's entirely possible that a dancer may have seemed suitable to him in theory, but then fell short of fulfilling expectations.

Olga Smirnova and Daria Khokhlova spotted looking at Titians at the National Gallery. That is all.

Swan Lake, July 31 Odette/Odile: Ekaterina Shipulina Prince Siegfried: Semyon Chudin Evil Genius: Vladislav Lantratov Jester: Denis Medvedev pas de trois: Anastasia Stashkevich, Daria Khokhlova Dowager: Kristina Karasyova Tutor: Alexei Loparevich Master of Ceremonies: Vitaly Biktimirov Waltz demi-soloists: Anna Okuneva, Yanina Parienko, Anna Rebetskaya, Anna Leonova, Karim Abdullin, Denis Rodkin, Mikhail Kryuchkov, Yuri Baranov Cygnets: Svetlana Pavlova, Margarita Shrainer, Anna Voronkova, Yulia Lunkina Big Swans: Angelina Vlashinets, Olga Marchenkova, Ana Turazashvili Hungarian Bride: Yulia Grebenshchikova Russian Bride: Yulia Lunkina Spanish Bride: Chinara Alizade Neapolitan Bride: Maria Vinogradova Polish Bride: Anna Okuneva conductor: Pavel Klinichev This time I sat in the second row of the amphitheater, an excellent place from which to observe the corps de ballet, which was superb from the waltz right to the end. Ekaterina Shipulina's Odette was perhaps more stylized and dramatically less urgent than Maria Alexandrova the night before, with an expansive range of motion in her arms and back. I wish there were a little more variety in the different sections of her adagio; she seemed most comfortable in the final section and tried to apply that dynamic throughout. There is a certain hard-edged glamour to Shipulina which would give her a natural affinity for Odile, though in her solo passages conductor Pavel Klinichev seemed to give her Alexandrova speeds, and Shipulina had a little trouble keeping up. (For those keeping score, she did single fouettés, but behind the music, so I don't know how many it worked out to in the end.) Where she really came into her own was in the final scene, where she was tragic and very expressive. Semyon Chudin appears to have a somewhat limited dramatic range and seems excessively preoccupied with pointing his feet and splitting his legs. (Personally, I dislike it when dancers worry more about splitting or lifting their legs than their elevation while jumping. I prefer dancers to jump vertically, not horizontally.) At this point his upper body seems to be a bit of an afterthought, which sometimes gives his jumps a certain awkwardness. My friendly advice would be to concentrate more on his port de bras while jumping, particularly continuing them after his landings, so the moment of impact wouldn't be as obvious. I wish he would also think more about connecting individual jumps into a dance phrase, so they wouldn't appear to take place in isolation. The legs will still be there. His turns, after a slightly nervous start, were beautifully controlled. Vladislav Lantratov certainly concentrates on elevation, and his high-flying Rothbart was exciting and dynamic. And there is always a sense of a larger dance phrase in his movement. Unfortunately both he and Chudin seem to arch their backs severely during overhead lifts, which makes me worry a bit about their long-term spine health. Denis Medvedev tried to make the Jester as un-annoying as possible, and Anastasia Stashkevich brought a lot of dynamism to the pas de trois. The cygnets were even better tonight, and among the big swans I liked Ana Turazashvili. For whatever reasons she seemed ever so slightly out of sync with her colleagues yesterday, but today there were no timing issues, and she really stood out. At the beginning of Act III Kristina Karasyova was apparently unaware that her rather un-queenly bopping in time with the music was visible through the curtain behind which she was standing upstage center. Yulia Lunkina was a gracious Russian bride, Maria Vinogradova made the Neapolitan dance look very easy, and Anna Okuneva had lovely port de bras in the mazurka. I couldn't tell you exactly how loud the applause was. Yesterday when I was sitting close to the orchestra and could hear the entire hall behind me, it seemed deafening at times. From up high I couldn't really hear what the audience below was doing. Certainly it was less prolonged tonight, but still very appreciative.

Swan Lake, July 30 Odette/Odile: Maria Alexandrova Prince Siegfried: Ruslan Skvortsov Evil Genius: Yuri Baranov Jester: Alexei Matrakhov pas de trois: Chinara Alizade, Daria Khokhlova Dowager: Kristina Karasyova Tutor: Alexei Loparevich Master of Ceremonies: Vitaly Biktimirov Waltz demi-soloists: Anna Okuneva, Anna Leonova, Maria Vinogradova, Ana Turazashvili, Karim Abdullin, Denis Rodkin, Mikhail Kryuchkov, Artem Belyakov Cygnets: Svetlana Pavlova, Margarita Shrainer, Anna Voronkova, Yulia Lunkina Big Swans: Angelina Vlashinets, Yulia Grebenshchikova, Ana Turazashvili Hungarian Bride: Olga Marchenkova Russian Bride: Anna Rebetskaya Spanish Bride: Anna Tikhomirova Neapolitan Bride: Anastasia Stashkevich Polish Bride: Yanina Parienko conductor: Pavel Klinichev Gorgeous performance. I won’t stop to enumerate the faults of Yuri Grigorovich’s production, because there are many, and no doubt they have been discussed on the board before. Fortunately I’m steeled to them by now. Safe to say that Alexandrova and Skvortsov transcended them. For reference, I sat in the fifth row on the house-right aisle. That meant a big dose of brass and percussion from the orchestra pit, and its biggest upside was that I could hardly hear the swans’ clomping. My view of some of the footwork on stage left was restricted because of the people sitting ahead of me, but I had fantastic views of faces and upper bodies, and being about level with the stage itself, I was in a great position to admire the height of jumps. Maria Alexandrova seldom dances Odette/Odile in Moscow. She last did it there almost three years ago when the ballet was filmed. http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/performances/36/roles/#20100926190000 (Incidentally, a new DVD of La Bayadère was fast-tracked for sale during the tour, but that Swan Lake has yet to be released; perhaps it’s doomed to stay in the vault owing to Nikolai Tsiskaridze’s Rothbart.) But Alexandrova continues to dance the part on tour, recently in Japan, in Toronto and now in London. Obviously, she is not a delicate dancer. Perhaps she isn’t even particularly lyrical, but she has intelligence, individuality, wit, great speed and enormous technical accomplishment. Her Odette is no shrinking violet, and by Russian ballerina standards her tempos are positively brisk. I appreciated this directness, her refusal to milk anything, and greatly admired the flexibility of her arms and shoulders. In her variation the clarity of her footwork was remarkable, and her balances were rock solid. Not a budge or wobble. For once the sequence of entrechats and passés in the coda did not look frenzied or out of control. As Odile I got the feeling that she was not trying to impersonate Odette so much as seduce Siegfried in her own right. Grigorovich’s turning variation--taken very quickly--held no terrors for her, and her combination of fast fouettés and turns in attitude en avant elicited roars of approval from the audience. It was noted in almost every review of the opening-night performance that Svetlana Zakharova and Alexander Volchkov had no chemistry between them. In truth, following my eight-and-a-half hour flight, I could not muster the strength or enthusiasm to attend that performance and returned my ticket. Demand for this run being what it is, it resold almost immediately. (Thank you, buyer.) On the other hand it was obvious that Maria Alexandrova and Ruslan Skvortsov have lots of chemistry and a great deal of mutual trust. He partnered her splendidly, always setting her down from lifts quietly and gently. Both of them have enormously high jumps. Skvortsov was a Prince Siegfried of great beauty and poetry, very romantic, very sincere, unfailingly attentive to the music and characterized by plush dancing. His alignment is always exemplary; he does not engage in the single most common cheat seen today: opening the hip in arabesque. Speaking of upper bodies, he is one of the few dancers who invariably draws my attention to his. It wasn’t until The Pharaoh’s Daughter that I realized how dazzling his legs and feet were. Most of the time I find myself mesmerized by the stillness of his upper body in grand allegro. The usual arm flapping and heaving from the chest have been virtually eliminated, and the windup-free double tours are particularly remarkable. In the first act his was not a melancholy prince but an entirely gracious one. And since in this version there is no ultimatum from his mother regarding marriage, why should he be burdened by any anxieties? It’s not until Grigorovich has Siegfried wander into the third act, as if unaware that a ball in his honor is being held that evening, that he realizes anything is up. So essentially Siegfried has only the fiancées waltz to sketch out his inner conflict (and I have to say that on film Olga Suvorova’s Dowager gave Skvortsov more to work with than did Kristina Karasyova). In his interaction with Odile you could see him vacillating between fascination and a suspicion that she may be toying with him before letting himself give in to her charms. I don’t know whether his projects to the top of the amphitheater, but up close it’s all written on his face. Likewise, with Alexandrova there’s a lot to be gleaned up close from her darting eyes. As the Evil Genius Yuri Baranov was muy macho in the Grigorovich manner, not always comfortable with the tempos given to him, but always working around them successfully. Khokhlova and Alizade were fine pas de trois partners. I can’t really comment on Alexei Matrakhov because my conditioned response to Swan Lake jesters is to ignore them. The swans’ first entrance was very fast. The quartet of cygnets was excellent, heads bobbing almost perfectly in sync. Among the big swans I particularly admired big and bold Yulia Grebenshchikova and am looking forward to her “Rubies” Tall Girl. As the Hungarian Bride Olga Marchenkova displayed big jumps but sadly no épaulement. (What is a csárdás without épaulement?) Anna Rebetskaya’s Russian Bride got very far on the charm of her meltingly lovely smile, but the choreography inevitably reminds me of Balanchine’s Scherzo à la Russe, and I have a hard time taking it seriously. Anna Tikhomirova’s Spanish Bride flew high, but then Anastasia Stashkevich’s Neapolitan Bride appeared and jumped even higher. In the first-act Waltz Denis Rodkin tried very, very hard to outdazzle his colleagues. Pavel Dmitrichenko’s buddy Batyr Annadurdyev appeared in the waltz and mazurka and danced admirably. One of the things I genuinely admired about Grigorovich’s Swan Lake was that in the last scene he kept the action moving straight from the finale without any interpolations. A reconciliation duet may be deemed dramatically necessary, but it breaks up the musical flow of the score something fierce. Once the mandatory happy ending was no longer required, he returned to his original conception, and while the score still keeps chugging through the finale, at the very end, where the primary theme is supposed to change to the major key, Grigorovich reverts to the ballet’s introduction. The “it was all a dream” ending is more dramatic and successful in Nureyev’s version, so I think it can be made to work, but here it’s merely anti-climactic. Nevertheless, given the strength of this performance, on this occasion I even cried a little.

Oh, wow! What a beautiful performance from Maria Alexandrova and Ruslan Skvortsov in Swan Lake. I will try to write more, but I'm inclined to write quite a bit, and at this hour it would only come out as gibberish.

Balanchine was partly restored to official Soviet history following the NYCB tours. He had a cursory entry in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, for example. The link includes Cyrillic characters, so I hope it works. http://slovari.yandex.ru/~%D0%BA%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%B8/%D0%91%D0%A1%D0%AD/%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%87%D0%B8%D0%BD%20%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%B6/ Another encyclopedia entry, which I can't reference because I'm far from home, described him as a representative of formalism, which was bad, of course.

Regardless, if the Bolshoi has been forced to resort to microphones after the renovation, it's a tragedy, and whoever was responsible for monitoring the acoustics should answer for it. We can only hope that the situation can still be rectified.

From an interview with Valery Gergiev published today: - How would you assess the acoustics of the renovated historic building of the Bolshoi Theater? - When we arrived there, they were always putting up microphones for us. For "Pelléas et Mélisande" I asked that every last one of them be removed, because to sing Debussy into a microphone is a small crime. They then assured us that without amplification [singing] at the Bolshoi was inaudible. If microphones really are necessary, this is very bad. Perhaps the [technical] services have not had time to sort these things out, haven't checked the acoustics. http://izvestia.ru/news/554321 When the Bolshoi re-opened, this appeared in one of the wire stories: Iksanov, in charge of the Bolshoi since 2000, says his building is now back among the world’s top 10 best acoustic stages, up from 55th position before the main stage reconstruction in 2005. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-25/medvedev-hosts-bolshoi-gala-after-scandal-on-680-million-refit.html Apart from the matter of whether such an acoustical ranking even exists, the question still remains, was Iksanov lying? Was he speaking from a position of ignorance? Or is Gergiev up to some mischief? Is he still smarting from being denied the position of Grand Czar of All the Russian Opera Houses? Is he trying to deflect some of the criticism directed at Mariinsky-2?

Another change. Now it's Krysanova dancing Princess Aurora on August 5. Obraztsova dances on August 7, as before, and Alexandrova on August 8. http://www.bolshoi.ru/about/press/articles/2013/2633/

Thank you for your report, Swanilda8. I envy you for having had the opportunity to see such performances. I hope you keep the blog posts coming.

The Paris Opera has uploaded a slide show from the POB's season. Lots of beautiful photos on display. http://www.operadeparis.fr/#diapo_ballet

A performance of Elektra from the festival in Aix-en-Provence is available on demand for the next two months. http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/video/Elektra_Richard_Strauss_Festival_d_Aix_en_Provence_Esa-Pekka_Salonen_Patrice_Chereau/ It should be of particular interest to New Yorkers--and residents of Milan, Helsinki, Barcelona and Berlin--because Patrice Chéreau's production will be coming to the Met.

The last-minute casting changes begin. Nina Kaptsova is not going on the tour (for as yet unconfirmed reasons that have nothing to do with injury). Her performances in the Swan Lake pas de trois will go to Kristina Kretova (June 29, Aug 14, 15) and Daria Khokhlova (Aug 10e). Opening night of Sleeping Beauty will now be danced by Obraztsova (Aug 5), Obraztsova's previous performance goes to Krysanova (Aug 7), and Alexandrova is reinstated as Aurora for what was to have been Krysanova's performance (Aug 8). Anastasia Stashkevich will dance 'Emeralds' on August 13. In Flames of Paris Anna Rebetskaya will dance Adeline at both performances on August 17. As Mireille de Poitiers Kretova will dance both evening performances (Aug 16, 17), and Anna Tikhomirova will dance on the matinee of August 17. http://www.bolshoi.ru/about/press/articles/2013/2633/ There is still no casting for the Marquis. Originally Gudanov had been announced for the evening performances and Skvortsov for the matinee. But the festival in Peralada, Spain, claims that Gudanov will be appearing at a gala there on August 16. Who knows? http://www.festivalperalada.com/programacion-2013/danza/gala-grans-estrelles-del-bolshoi-marinsky-eifmann-i-mikhailovsky/?lang=en

What a horrible way for Vladimir Urin to have to begin his tenure. New tragedy for Bolshoi as violinist dies in orchestra fall http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g-fgZ9vbKlVpF5wXhKVQtYHMgTxw?docId=CNG.136d93fdfc8c2c150da0132f0cc8012b.5f1 Apparently the pit floor of the newer theater had been raised to stage level, but a trapdoor was left open and unmarked, leading Sedov to fall about four meters to his death.

No, Chroma is done in soft shoes. The first four photographs linked below show the Bolshoi performing the piece. http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/about/press/photo/oneactballets-2/

No visa. Yikes! Well, I've had first-hand experience with this sort of thing, so I really feel for McKie. Hard to say if it's old-school shenanigans or merely some bureaucrat's incompetence. The sponsor of the production posted a little behind-the-scenes video online. (Unfortunately, the video credits the performance footage to the Stuttgart Ballet when it's actually the National Ballet of Canada.) In it both Nina Kaptsova and Ruslan Skvortsov talk about how happy they are to be dancing in the ballet. Kaptsova says she "always dreamed of dancing Tatiana" because of her strong personal identification with the character, while Skvortsov talks about how pleased he is to be "among the first" to dance in the ballet's first Russian production. Different priorities from Zakharova's, I guess. But look at the bright side. The casting reshuffle that followed Zakharova's walkout resulted in Kaptsova and Skvortsov getting an additional performance of the ballet, and they obviously deserve it.

Act 3, scene 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bY5pFsmYkM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbZ7xzsHQsg

Act 3, scene 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwsHnwTPmf4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL7F2n0NUm4