Mashinka

California, I think there may be other recordings of her. I have videos of her dancing Carmen and the second act of Giselle with Alexei Ratmansky.

But Leonid, hasn't your life been more enriched as a consequence of what you've seen than having money in the bank?

As someone kindly emailed me details of this 'anonymous' donor my curiosity is satisfied. I'm aware that companies rely on donations for all kinds of projects, but to specifically employ guests is unusual, at least it is in Britain.

Yes they do seem rather..........................zealous.

Legal and ethical are very often two different things.

It's a publicly funded company therefore there should be accountability.

And does this 'benefactor' (anonymous I take it) specify who those guests are to be?

I wonder how the budget stretched to guests?

I know this is the POB thread, but RB style? Yes it did have one, now it doesn't. A Paris based friend watched the RB and said she would never complain about POB again. The British style died when the contempt for Frederick Ashton was born.

Yeah, the tattoos would help too.

Drew, first and foremost I think of Yanin as a virtuoso, but you are quite right about him, his acting skills are remarkable. He was the best Mercutio I ever saw in any version, but I remember him as always doing character stuff alongside the virtuoso roles.

meunier fan, I was also lucky enough to see Bruhn in those two roles and know exactly what you mean. Did you ever see Henning Kronstam in character roles? I saw him as the puritan in Whims of Cupid - so stiff you could almost hear him creak. I suppose the Danes are so much better because of their exposure to the stage from an early age. They go from kiddie extras in Napoli to dancing first the Sylph and, when age permits, Madge. Danish character dancers always remind me of that James Bond title song: 'Nobody does it better, makes me feel sad for the rest'.

The Kirov's character dancers are now pretty weak on the whole, perhaps they have some decent ones at home but they're certainly not sending them out on tour. Still feel the Danes corner the market when it comes to character performers.

It won't be a first, Zakharova dabbles in politics too.

For me she was the queen of verismo, the emotion in her voice was unique. Truly one of the greats has passed.

Spartacus needs an outstanding cast to convert the naysayers. I am an admirer of the ballet, but then I did see Vladimir Vasiliev and Maris Liepa in the leading roles.

One of the jewels in the crown of Danish ballet, I'm very happy she's decided to teach. Much under-rated too in my opinion.

Vaganova graduates will dance Paquita in Cannes on 27th August as part of a Russian Arts season, in the same programme Tsiskaridze dances Afternoon of a Faune.

In post 99* it clearly says that foreigners don't belong in the Kirov. There was nothing ambiguous about it. [Admin note: edited to reflect the post number in the merged topic]

Renata Shakirova was selected by Ratmansky to dance in DSCH, surely it is the choreographer's prerogative to choose whoever he wants to dance in his works? For Londoners it came as a jolt to see a new work to a score so closely associated with Kenneth MacMillan and I expect a lot of us were making mental comparisons throughout, but no one can deny the craftsmanship of this choreography and it was for me another palpable hit for Ratmansky. It was a pity though that DSCH didn't come first, if it had we could have left and gone home happy. The version of Firebird that the Kirov has is vastly inferior to the Royal Ballet's in particular the lack of a coronation at the end is a real anti climax. I disliked it more than usual this time around as the saving grace used to be Ilya Kuznetsov's swaggering Prince Ivan and without him the work is flat as a pancake. I quite liked the much vaunted Stepanova, but she was miscast in the role as the Firebird should always be a creature, never a person. M&A was even worse, so bad I'll draw a veil over it, though I can't resist repeating what one wag said about Lopatkina, "when she leaves the stage she looks like she's popping to Tesco's for a pint of milk". Quite. Note to Kirov promoters: never bring Firebird or M&A to London again - ever.

I feel uncomfortable reading the xenophobic comments being posted here and I wonder what exactly constitutes 'foreign' now that the old Soviet Union has split into a number of independent countries. I know nothing about the background of Kimin Kim, but I am aware that in the old Soviet Union there was a sizeable minority of ethnic Koreans. Would there now be no place for Kazak Asylmuratova, Georgian Nioradze or Austrian Baimuradov for example? Ballet is an international art and talent shouldn't be restricted to where someone was born.

Marguerite & Armand was created solely as a vehicle for the unique talents of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, Ashton never envisaged it danced by anyone else. The current Kirov production looked odd, something looked wrong with the staging and the costumes had a cheap tacky appearance, only an approximation of the Beaton designs. Saving grace of the ballet was the excellent playing of the Liszt concerto.

Stepanova danced Helena in yesterday's matinee Midsummer Night's Dream. Skorik was Titania

When Gediminas Taranda danced the role of Don Jose he turned the ballet into a masterpiece.

Senior critics may be able to request tickets for her matinee performance as I think it is important she gets reviewed. This will be the performance out of town balletomanes will go to as many British cities aren't served by train services after about 9pm, it won't just be full of families with kids.