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Dear Leonid, Would you please clarify just for better understanding what aesthetic standards do you mean? You talk about music, choreography, dancer’s abilities and movements, orchestra style, light, costumes, don’t you? To have authentic copies of 19th century ballet production on stage?

Well, dear Ballet Talker Volcano Hunter, that was very generous of you to translate the article for us. Many thanks. Hello all. I hope you had a wonderful Holiday Weekend! Here we have another interview with Svetlana Zakharova in Russian released on December 25. The interview begins with the question concerning Svetlana’s plans to celebrate New Year's Eve. Svetlana hopes to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Moscow. It’s a holiday for her just to be at home as she had a lot of tours, flights, changes of climatic and time zones. Nevertheless the only priority for her is to be on stage. She notes that she had a new experience as an organizer of “Evenings with Svetlana Zakharova” Gala in Parma Italy in which she had performed the new work “Revalation”, “Swan” by Fokin and “Carmen Suite”. She invited Andrey Uvarov, Andrey Merkuriev and Denis Matvienko to be her partners that evening. She values her Carmen very much as the choreographer Alberto Alonso has changed some details specially for her and she considers it an honour that Maya Plisetskaya has recognized and favoured this work. (Frankly speaking I have no idea about these changes. Please let me know if you have the information about changes were made) Svetlana has performed the new version of “Swan Lake” during this season on the stage of National Theatre of Tokyo as she has a Guest Star contract with this Theatre. She recognizes devotion and loyalty of her Japanese fans. She believes that there are a lot of good dancers and choreographers in Japan at present. Asked if Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber is going to create a ballet for Svetlana (music I guess?) she says that he said this being on the stage of London Covent Garden during the first night of the Bolshoi Cinderella. Happy Holidays from Russia!

Hello all! Sorry for the delay with response. Please find my impressions below. The Kremlin Palace was overcrowded; even the orchestra pit was covered with a special lid for extra seats. The background of the stage has been designed as the colonnade of The Bolshoi Theatre. The Festival of Ballet (as this Gala was indicated by Andris Liepa in his brief speech) wowed me with an outstanding level of dancers performed. My most memorable moments of the evening are bellow. The evening began with Ilze Liepa of The Bolshoi Ballet in Dedication. Ilze wearing in white tunic with black organza in her hands dedicated this dance to her father. She was looking like she was having a contact with him at that moment; it seemed that she try to tell him in this way something that she never told him. There were memories, sorrow and hope in her dance that evening. It was a good way to start. “Revelation” of Svetlana Zakharova numbed me. This was a dance that makes you feel for a moment that you are somewhere else and no audience around you. I admire her in classical ballets, but this modern work exceeded all expectations. Svetlana’s dance fits its name. It was a revelation to me. Roberto Bolle and Greta Hodgkinson danced to Kylian’s “Petit Mort”. This couple makes me feel happy. Their technique was perfect. They were tender and sunny. The afterglow is still with me. Could someone provide me please the link of Kylian Official Site? All other dancers were great. It was astonishing to watch them all perform and I have fond memories of this performance. However, I have some negative impressions too. - Some technical issues caused the delay opening of this Gala. - I’ve got a good look-see in advance, and this decision was right because of lots of special effects on stage that stand in the way of watching dancers performed. - I could not quite understand why if we had such brilliant choreography on stage that evening why would directors think of putting Drujinin choreography to conclude this Gala, right after Kilian “Petit Mort” performed by Bolle & Hodgkinson? It was half past 11 and see this (early performed in Russian variant of “American Idol” Show, if I’m not mistaken) good, but not enough ballet work was extremely hard. Have a great day!

Hello all! Let me provide you the Program of Maris Liepa Gala/ Moscow, Kremlin/ October 31, 2006 PROGRAM 1. Laser Show 2. Ilze Liepa/ Bolshoi Ballet/ “Dedication”/ Music by Khachaturian/ Choreography by Smoriginas 3. Evgeniya Obraztsova and Vladimir Shkliarov/ Mariinsky Ballet/ Sleeping Beauty Pas de Deux/ Music by Tchaikovsky/ Choreography by Petipa 4. Ekaterina Shipulina and Sergei Filin/ Bolshoi Ballet/ Swan Lake Adagio/ Music by Tchaikovsky/ Choreography by Petipa 5. Ramon Thielen/ Harlem Ballet/ “Swan”/ Music by Orf “Karmina Burana”/ Choreography by Nahat 6. Nelly Kobahidze and Andrey Uvarov/ Bolshoi Ballet/ Giselle Pas de Deux by Adan /Choreography by Coralli and Perrot 7. Svetlana Zakharova/ Bolshoi Ballet/ “Revelation”/ Music by Williams/ Choreography by Hiroyama 8. Ilze Liepa and Pedro Benavente/ “Tango”/ Music by Matvienko/ Choreography by Benavente 9. Irma Nioradze/ Mariinsky Ballet/ “Swan” by Sen-Sans/ Choreography by Fokin 10. Olesya Novikova and Mikhail Lobuhin/ Mariinsky Ballet/ Don Quixote Pas de Deux by Mincus/ Choreography by Gorsky 11. Ilze Liepa and Nicolay Tzescoridze/ Bolshoi Ballet/ “The queen of spades” by Tchaikovsky/ Choreography by Petit 12. Ramon Thielen/ “Rivers”/ Music by Tailor/ Choreography by MacAulay 13. Marcella Soltan/ “Oscar Schlemmer Museum”/ Choreography by Doctor Da 14. Vladimir Derevianko/ “Firebird”/ Music by Stravinsky/ Choreography by Sholtz 15. Sophia Gumerova and Farouk Ruzimatov/ Mariinsky Ballet/ “Bhakti”/ Traditional Indian Music/ Choreography by Bejart 16. Roberto Bolle and Greta Hodgkinson/ “Petit Mort”/ Music by Mozart/ Choreography by Kilian 17. Ilze Liepa and Gennady Yanin/ Bolshoi Ballet/ Egor Drujinin /“Wordless City” Music by Piazzolla, Prima, Shelkloper/ Choreography by Drujinin Unfortunately I can’t post my impressions right now because of lack of time. I’ll be back ASAP. Hope other members who were there have an opportunity to post their experience prompt. Have a good day!

You’re right. Osipova and Vasiliev are in Havana right now, participating in Ballet Festival. Probably their performance in Liepa Gala was canceled due to Schedule conflict. So other dancers performed Don Quixote Pas de Deux in this Gala. Olesya Novikova was partnered by Mikhail Lobuhin (Mariinsky Ballet). Have a great day!

Hello all, I hope you are all doing well today. I look forward to attending Maris Liepa Gala in Kremlin this evening. Special Guests form the world's major ballet companies and principal dancers from The Bolshoi and Mariinsky will participate. Director of this Gala Andris Liepa still works in close collaboration with scenographer Anatoly Nezhny. The “Return of Firebird” DVD is one of the results of this cooperation. Artists Special Guests Vladimir Derevianko Roberto Bolle Greta Hodgkinson Ramon Thielen Pedro Benavente Bolshoi Ballet Ilze Liepa Nicolay Tsescaridze Svetlana Zaharova Andrey Uvarov Sergey Filin Natalya Osipova (was replaced by Olesya Novikova) Ivan Vasilyev (was replaced by Mikhail Lobuhin) Gennady Yanin Ekaterina Shipulina Nelly Kobahidze Mariinsky Ballet Farouk Ruzimatov Irma Nioradze Evgeniya Obraztsova Vladimir Shkliarov Keep fingers crossed for no casting changes. Very good seats were not available. First 21 rows tickets were not available for sale and booked for Special Guests. I managed to buy 22nd row at $40 each. Can you just imagine 21 rows packed of Special Persons in a huge Kremlin Palace? I try but failed. Have a great day!

Hello all, I hope everyone is doing well today and had a great impression of Kirov Tour. It is very exciting to read your experiences concerning Kirov performances. Just FYI: October 23 is Uliana Lopatkina Birthday. Congratulations!!! Would you please advise me with Uliana schedule that day? I mean will she be on stage or not? Have a great day!

Dear Giannina, Sorry for delay reply. I had no access to my computer during this weekend. So, I’d like to say thank you for the warm welcome! I and my wife saw Swan Lake with the same performers in April. Zakharova was on a level with the highest standards, Osipova was inflammatory, young princess and the performance was good. I hope that noise of construction work due to the reconstruction of the main stage of the Bolshoi Theatre (near to the new Building) didn’t cause you to feel uncomfortable. Have a great day!

Dear Helene, Thank you for welcome and for your assistance! It was informative to read impressions of various Gala in this Forum. Best regards, Alex.

Dear Leonid, Thank you for the warm welcome! I look forward with pleasure to receiving your feedback of Bolshoi Tour in London this summer. I'm going to attend Maris Liepa Gala in Kremlin October, 31 with a lot of Special Stars participating, but can't quite understand at what Forum of this Site it will be better to post my comments on it. Could you please clarify this issue for me? Have a great weekend!

Hello all! I hope everyone is doing well today. Diana Vishneva was at The Bolshoi as a special guest star on October, 4 (Giselle). I'm happy that ballet fans in US and Canada will have the chance to see Diana again. - 10.17.2006 Costa Mesa Orange County Romeo and Juliete - 10.22.2006 Costa Mesa Orange County Swan Lake - 10.28.2006 Ottawa Nat. Arts Centre Swan Lake - 11.01.2006 Chicago Audit Theatre Swan Lake - 11.10.2006 Boston The Waug Center Swan Lake Your comments concerning Mariinsky tour in US and Canada will be appreciated. Have a great day!

Hello all, I hope everyone is doing well today! I’ve been enjoying this board for the past few weeks and this is my first post here. I appreciate great erudition of board members and good atmosphere here. It’s very interesting to read comments concerning performances and dancers from ballet fans all over the world. Well, a few words about myself. I’m from Moscow, Russia. I work for a multinational cosmetic Company in Product Marketing & Forecasting. I try to attend every interesting event at the Bolshoi Theater. The last unforgettable moment was Diana Vishneva as a special guest at the Bolsoi (Giselle, October 4). Earlier there were Don Quixote with Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev (they compare him with young Baryshnikov here in Russia) (October 3) and Akimov Gala with a lot of first time introduced fragments of Ballets, I mean in Russia (September 17). I’m looking forward to share your positive ballet emotions and to share my impressions with you. Have a great day! Best regards from Moscow, Alex.