volcanohunter

One way of dealing with intermissions is to delay the start of a transmission. When an opera or ballet is broadcast "live" in many countries, the broadcast actually begins with a delay of 30-45 minutes, which often allows for the elimination of intermissions altogether. During the 100th anniversary performance of The Rite of Spring in Paris, conducted by Gergiev, the "live" online transmission actually started 50 minutes later than the announced start time at the theater, and a pre-recorded intermission feature was still included. With Gergiev on the podium I guess the broadcasters wanted to be super sure that there would be no "dead air."

The Hamburg Ballet has just published a whole bunch of cast changes for June, but Cojocaru's appearances there on June 25 & 30 are still scheduled.

To answer your question and mine, the film was directed by Ross MacGibbon, who has oodles of experience shooting the Royal Ballet, and he had an English crew. http://londondance.com/articles/interviews/ross-macgibbon-ballet-3d-live-screen/ So my best guess is that the crane made him temporarily take leave of his senses. At one point, I think at the beginning of the csardas, he even had his "boom mic in the shot" moment where the moving crane was visible at the top of the frame.

A few months ago a television program mentioned that Tsiskaridze's new apartment had been bought for him by a very wealthy admirer. The program is here, but unfortunately I'm no longer getting any audio, so I can't retrieve the oligarch's name. http://www.ntv.ru/peredacha/exclusive/m29961/o169038/

This report is a summary. The footage of Tsiskaridze speaking dates back to April when he went to court in an attempt to overturn the formal reprimands made against him by the Bolshoi. The report speculates that he could find himself in the same position as Anastasia Volochkova, formally employed by the Bolshoi Theater, but not likely to perform there again.

Thank you. This explains Tsiskaridze's comment. What has changed, indeed? Unless the Bolshoi is going back to Tsiskaridze's accumulated reprimands as grounds for dismissal.

I have to plead complete ignorance of Russian labor law, but judging by the comment Tsiskaridze made in the linked television report, Bolshoi dancers have greater job security than their American counterparts. He states that as a full-time, salaried dancer, he cannot be dismissed unless he writes a letter of resignation, and since he has not done so, the theater has no grounds for dismissing him. I don't understand how the system works, but if you look at the roster of the Bolshoi's dancers, listed underneath the principals and soloists is a group of dancers identified as "working under contract." This implies that their status somehow differs from that of all the other dancers. Prior to this season all of them were included in the various soloist ranks. http://www.bolshoi.r...persons/ballet/ One of the charges made by Sergei Filin's detractors is that he "forced Andrei Uvarov to write a letter of resignation," which implies that if Filin wanted to put Uvarov out to pasture, it was not enough simply not to renew Uvarov's contract. I am surprised by this turn of events. In that part of the world, it is not uncommon for opposition politicians to release information as a pre-emptive strike. They may say, "I am about to be arrested," or "Our party offices are about to be raided," or "Compromising information about me is going to be leaked to the press," in the hopes of preventing the authorities from doing so. Often times it works. The government backs off and says, "Oh no, we have no intention of doing such a thing. So-and-so is just being paranoid." I thought that Tsiskaridze spent the last number of months talking about the Bolshoi's attempts to get rid of him by not casting him and depriving him of students because he believed that the Bolshoi management would be loath to prove him right. I guess the management's dislike for Tsiskaridze outweighed the fact that a dismissal would give him the persecution card to play.

By my best count, Tsiskaridze gave 13 performances at the Bolshoi this season: 6 as Rothbart, 2 as Albrecht, 1 as Petit's Germann, 2 as the Nutcracker Prince, 1 as Conrad and 1 as Prince Désiré. That's fewer than Marianna Ryzhkina, the Bolshoi's oldest principal (15 so far), but significantly more than Anna Antonicheva (4). He is not scheduled to dance again before his contract expires, in which case this may have been his last performance at the Bolshoi: http://www.bolshoi.r...#20130605190000

There are reports in the Russian press today that Nikolai Tsiskaridze's contracts with the Bolshoi--as a dancer and as a teacher--are not being renewed. They will expire at the end of the month. These reports have been confirned by the Bolshoi's press secretary. Tsiskaridze and his attorney have not yet commented. http://en.ria.ru/art.../181579439.html http://izvestia.ru/news/551726

Who was listed as director of the broadcast? I suspect the film had two things going against it. One would be James Cameron's team, instead of a crew that specializes in filming live theater performances. I don't blame cameramen who are following instructions. I blame the director for choosing lousy shots, and since there are multiple films of this production available for reference, there's no excuse for not mapping out a good plan. The other problem was probably Valery Gergiev, who does not specialize in conducting live ballets. I remember a terrible moment in the Mariinsky's 3D Nutcracker at the end of Act 1, when the snowflakes seemed to be totally lost as they made their exit. It was probably the only time I'd ever seen the Mariinsky's corps completely out of sync and off the music. I figured it had to have been Gergiev's fault and that it wouldn't have happened with a journeyman ballet conductor on the podium.

Yes, and the cast featured Irina Ablitsova, making her debut as Esmeralda, Yegor Motuzov as Gringoire, Mikhail Yevgenov as Phoebus and Ksenia Khabinets as Fleur-de-Lys, with Alina Aslanova and Mikhail Martynyuk as Diana and Acteon.

It was the Kremlin Ballet, according to the company's own web site. Photos of illustrious guests included! http://kremlinpalace.org/events/view/3496/

Oh, but she was so thoroughly charming, and the fact that she required big, tall leading men is one of those movies' big plusses. Though asking us to believe that she and Ricardo Montalban could be twins in Fiesta does stretch credulity. Watching Montalban dance with Cyd Charisse more than makes up for it, and the sight of Williams impersonating Montalban in the bullring is worth the price of admission.

Now this is a real shame. Johan Kobborg was supposed to choreograph the 'Four Seasons' ballet in a new ROH production of Verdi's Les Vêpres siciliennes in the fall. Now, apparently, the ballet has been dumped (boo!) and Kobborg and the Royal Ballet are no longer involved. It would seem that the director doesn't want the whole ballet. (I realize it's a long opera, but the ballet is part of its grand opéra identity.) Final tie to the ROH severed. http://www.roh.org.u...res-siciliennes

The Batsheva Dance Company will be performing Deca Dance, a retrospective of Ohad Naharin's works, at the Mariinsky Theater this weekend. But you can watch the show on your computer screen right now. VOD into November. http://liveweb.arte....any_Deca_Dance/

Perhaps you're thinking of this piece, which appeared in the New York Times a year ago. http://www.nytimes.c...nversation.html

Lincoln Center does not fall within Maloney's district, but ABT's studios and offices probably do, so you're right, Jayne, it's not a bad contact to have.

A Royal Ballet performance of Frederick Ashton's version with Alina Cojocaru and Federico Bonelli in the leads was filmed by the BBC some years ago, but it has not been released on DVD. You can, however, watch it on You Tube. Note that part 3 is out of sequence on the playlist.

http://www.dailymail...a-near-you.htmlAh yes, the Mariinsky skycam. Nevertheless, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

Quite a few of ABT’s principals were developed at least partially from within, because despite their varied backgrounds they started their ABT careers in the corps de ballet: Herman Cornejo, the just-retired Irina Dvorovenko, Marcelo Gomes, David Hallberg, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy, Hee Seo and Cory Stearns. It’s not an alien concept for ABT. But all except Seo and Stearns are over 30, and apart from Hallberg the others have been principal dancers for at least ten years. So the mechanism for promotion has largely ground to a halt, and if the ranks of leading dancers are going to be replenished constantly by stars eager to spend springtime in New York, pretty much everybody else is stuck where they are. But it wasn't always that way.

Isabelle Ciaravola was made a POB étoile at age 37, even though the company was perfectly aware that she would hit mandatory retirement age five years later. If ABT were indeed investing resources in developing younger dancers, that would be one thing. But Irina Dvorovenko's recent interview suggests that it's not. Instead, she points out, ABT is hiring already developed leading dancers into whom other companies had invested time and resources.

I agree that a campaign should not explicitly ask for Abrera's promotion, but a lot of "I love Stella!" responses after her performances would reinforce the vociferous reaction Jayne rightly suggests.

Have you considered organizing a Twitter campaign? ABT has an account, and tweets in favor of Abrera would have the benefit of being public, wouldn't they?. (I am a Twitter ignoramus, so I really don't know.) I've sent e-mails to all sorts of people and organizations, but I'm often left wondering whether they ever reach the intended recipient or simply end up deleted by the gatekeeper.

If accessible, I particularly recommend A Summer of Dance, a documentary about Les Grands Ballets Canadiens' residence at the 2008 Étés de la Danse festival. http://www.knowledge.ca/program/a-summer-of-dance

The Bavarian State Ballet will do a live stream of Terence Kohler's new ballet Heroes on Saturday, June 1, at 1:30 p.m. ET. Based on the story of Prometheus, it is set to music by Lera Auerbach and Alfred Schnittke. http://www.bayerisch...orstellung.html Streams from the Bavarian State Opera are only available live, and can be viewed at this link: http://streaming.staatsoper.de/ No subtitles, but this introductory video includes both German and English speakers. http://www.bayerische.staatsoper.de/888-ZG9tPWRvbTEmaWQ9Mjg1NyZsPWRlJnRlcm1pbj0-~spielplan~oper~veranstaltungen~videobeitrag.html