Mashinka

This comment got a lot of air time in the UK, not because of what this guy said, but why he said it. He was defending one of his players who was guilty of gouging. In other words, defending the indefensible and for that reason he is beneath contempt. Rugby can be an extremely dangerous sport and the injury rates are high, including the occasional death, but deliberately injuring a player is another matter and had this happened in Britain it could have resulted in a criminal charge of assault. Is Rugby such a manly game? A gay American dancer who used to live in London was fascinated by it and I can remember him exclaiming to me whilst watching a scrum on TV, “just look where he put his hand!” He was quite right and when things like that go on, forgive the rest of us when we find this talk of tutus and cissies a matter of people in glass house throwing stones.

Ms Nunez is indeed an oustanding dancer and is a credit to the Royal Ballet, however........ .....if you are tempted to purchase one of these DVD's, go for the one where she is dancing with Acosta, Soares really doesn't cut it as Siegfried at all.

She writes for the Guardian, therefore it follows that she is nuts.

My guess is that it is about age as the RB has become a much younger company over the years. Natalia Petrovna should look older than Vera, her ward, and old enough to be a mother to Kolia, played by an adult dancer desperately trying to convince us he's really a child. With no suitable older dancers available, the company opts for height instead; that way she can look down a little towards her son and her ward making her more a figure of authority towards the younger members of her household. For a clue as to why she remains in the marriage read Anna Karenina.

Since the RBS production line dried up with regard to British dancers, employing from abroad has become a necessity, but if I'm unhappy about 'political advancement' I'm even more unhappy about the calibre of some of the imports. Surely if the Royal Ballet head hunts for male dancers they could have come up with someone better than Thiago Soares? His performance at the recent Diaghilev Gala at Covent Garden was embarrassing; a Russian friend described him to me in an email after that performance as "No jump, no line, no style, no class". He isn't the only dud as several foreign male dancers have been engaged at lower levels with similar dismal abilities, so what's going on here? The POB has different problems from the RB such as the slavish devotion to modern work of no discernable merit, but the backbone of the company remains solid with talent still emerging from the school. It's more a problem of the wrong people getting promoted than lack of actual ability there.

How do we know they are Christian? I've a feeling Byron didn't intend them as such, That man of loneliness and mystery, Scarce seen to smile, and seldom heard to sigh; Whose name appals the fiercest of his crew, And tints each swarthy cheek with sallower hue: The word swarthy is the giveaway there, hinting that Conrad's crew are of Mediterranean appearance. Although the word Corsaire is French, it was the Barbary version that struck terror in the hearts of many in the region (and beyond, over a million of my Irish compatriots were kidnapped and sold into slavery by them). This link is useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_pirates Byron knew the Muslim world well and was fascinated by it, but he loved Greece better and died in the war of independence against the Turks. Corsaire is a nod to the time he spent in both cultures.

Leonid's post reminds me that you should be careful what you wish for. Those Nureyev 'biographies' are a perfect example of an artistic giant brought low by a bunch of opportunist scribblers and the trash produced by Peter Watson and Carolyn Soutar fit only for the bonfire. I'd rather make do with my memories than have to read more by those kind of 'writers'.

Was is the operative word in that sentence. Perhaps the company recognizes its serious deficiencies in the classics these days. That is my view of both these dances, though Watson is one of the best modern dancers I've seen in years: I'd just prefer to see him with a modern company.

I have a Russian video of this, can't exactly reccommend it as every time I've attempted to watch it I've fallen asleep - it's that boring.

Ivor Guest has written the definitive biography of Jules Perrot.

Really? A forgettable performance is just that, out of mind when you leave the theatre, whereas on every occasion I've been unlucky enough to catch Ms Somova I've seethed with rage for the next 24 hours. Somova is never exciting and incapable of efficient dancing let alone brilliant. I too am a Maryinsky fan but I try not to let it stop me from being objective.

To call Shipulina 'a mediocre dancer' is very harsh.

Nice one, Natalia.

Many, many thanks for your Bolshoi posts. I adore the Bolshoi's Corsaire and consider the Alexandrova /Tsiskaridze cast by far the best, as they really brought a sense of romantic era poetry to the roles when I saw them in London. Hopefully the Pas d' Eventails exclusion is just temporary as it is a thing of great beauty regardless of who choreographed it. Agreed. Crisp is very far from infallible.

Yes, you certainly used to have to tip in the old days, and dreadful old harpies those usherettes were too! These days the ushers/usherettes are young, extremely helpful and often speak English - and they don't put their hands out for tips either. Enjoy Fille, the company dances it really well.

New choreography gets me into a theatre more readily than the other options listed, also rarely performed works of merit from the past, but I voted for specific dancers in specific works, partly because of present dissatisfaction with my local company (RB) and because I take great pains to avoid those ghastly tasteless women that over-extend at every opportunity. Based on that criteria I do a lot of travelling all over both the UK and Europe for premieres and interesting repertoire.

Oh dear, I wasn't able to open the link this time. For anyone interested, Gediminas Taranda's company appears in Madrid this July at the Teatro Gran Via. The repertoire is Swan Lake, a rather unseasonal Nutcracker and Don Quixote. Taranda continues to run a very talented company although Kiril Radev whom I mentioned in an earlier post is now a soloist with Angela Corella's company, whilst another of his discoveries, Aliya Tanykpaeva is a leading dancer in Vienna (a Viennese friend of mind still rhapsodises over her Manon). The present star of the company is Nariman Bekzhanov, an impressive technician with a sensuous stage presence. Marguerita Camish and Yaroslava Araptanova (a guest from Perm), proved to me that the Kirov and Bolshoi aren't the only companies with top class dancers and among recent guests was Yan Godovsky of the Bolshoi. We may before too long see another dancing member of the Taranda family as Gediminas's little daughter Diamante regularly goes on stage as an extra even though she is only about six years old.

I read Lifar’s biography, Ma Vie, many years ago; it’s an interesting read though Lifar came across as a very self regarding character. As far as I’m aware he wasn’t a Nazi, but was accused of collaboration and dismissed from his post immediately after the war, a few years later he was reinstated. Lifar argues that he got cosy with the Nazis in order to ensure the survival of the Paris Opera during the austerity of the occupation and I’m inclined to believe that to be the truth. In his book The Paris Opera Ballet, Ivor Guest clearly admired Lifar a lot, seeing him as a great reformer as previously the POB (let’s be frank) had acquired the reputation of a high class brothel. Lifar put a stop to all that with the company flourishing under his directorship and he is held in high regard in Paris to this day. As far as the charges of collaboration go Guest leaves something of a question mark as to Lifar’s innocence or otherwise but probably he just did what he felt he had to.

I would like to add my thanks to Cygneblanc too for such a wonderful description of Legris's farewell. Sadly I was unable to go myself, but did manage to see him as Onegin last month dancing with the same cast as described. They were all quite wonderful. I wish Legris well in Vienna but really feel that his departure from Paris marks the end of an era.

Film director Martin Scorsese has adored The Red Shoes ever since his father took him to see it when he was a child and in this wonderful interview in The Independent he explains its importance in his life. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...rt-1685003.html I love this film too and would do so even if I had no interest in ballet whatsoever, it holds a fascination for me I can't really explain. Perhaps with the new restored version being screened in Cannes it will get a release and captivate a whole new generation of fans.

Some wonderful photos here of the stars of the past; Robert Mitchum looks so elegant he should have been a dancer and scroll down to my favourite pic of Sophia Loren on the beach with the Carlton Hotel in the background. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...tars-shone.html It isn't just the stars that have changed as Cannes is now disfigured by ugly modern blocks of flats all along the Croisette and the Festival Theatre itself is so hideous the locals call it 'the bunker'. It's not all bad though as the marina is lovely as are the back streets, especially window shopping on the Rue d'Antibes, and there is always the sun of course.

Having worked over a period of time with a contemporary troupe and more recently with a classical company I've seen attitudes towards fans from both sides of the divide so to speak and there is no doubt that fans can make nuisances of themselves and not just fans as I have a keen memory of a dancer begging me not to leave her dressing room when she heard that a certain well regarded critic was about to pay a visit. That young dancer was also a brilliant singer and eventually made a career in the world of music, I expect she has bodyguards to keep her safe today. Some dancers seem to simply love their fans though and I can remember one very charismatic Russian male dancer who on a UK tour kissed every last one of the sizeable number of female fans waiting for his autograph afterwards. I think that most dancers are would be wise to keep a distance though, as over the years I've encountered more sociopaths amongst ballet fans than in any other areas of life.

A very good post Leonid, and I’m relieved to discover I may have some of the qualities of a true balletomane after all. That’s understandable as London ballet fans are uniquely partisan and insular in their opinions in my view, though that hasn’t always been the case. The Nureyev fan story made my jaw drop and I’m tempted to ask if Leonid knew the name of the lady in question; and if so was the surname by any chance the same as that of a leading UK economist elevated to the peerage? If it was I can confirm that the lady made a habit of doing what is described. I went to Zurich to see Nureyev dance in a new full length production of Raymonda in 1972 and a large number of fans had gathered from around Europe for the event. A couple of them invited me to lunch the day after the last performance at the restaurant of the hotel where Nureyev had been staying (he had flown off early that morning). It was a happy lively meal but near the end the eldest of the group, an English lady of advanced years, disappeared for long enough for her friends to become anxious. When she eventually reappeared she was asked where she had got to and coolly replied that after a trip to the ladies she had gone into the gents to ….er… soak up the ambience, as Nureyev may have gone in there. For once I was speechless, but worse was to come when at the end of the meal certain of the party started to pocket articles of cutlery from the table because Nureyev just might have used them: downright theft in my opinion. In spite of everything I still consider myself a Nureyev fan, but the actions of those women on that day appalled me and from then on I regarded them not as much fans as poor deluded souls with a serious mental aberration.

First a film about Fonteyn and now one about Nureyev, I find this very depressing.

As the years go by I recognize more and more the importance of phrasing in ballet, it was something I used to take almost for granted but is becoming a forgotten art. One ghastly woman in the Royal Ballet (sadly my local Co.) dances Swan Lake in digestible chunks with visible full stops instead of a continuous flow. I remember Kurgapkina's dancing well, when former ballerina's die there is often a tendency to be 'kind' to their memories, but Kurgapkina was a marvel, an absolute joy to watch and as far as teaching goes she has left a gap that I can't see being filled.