Mashinka

I was watching a Russian video of Romeo and Juliet with Natalia Bessmertnova and Mikhail Lavrovsky yesterday and was disappointed that there is no cast list on the box nor any credits of any kind on the actual video. The video was made in the early 70's and the quality isn't that sharp so I had great difficulty identifying the other soloists. I think Mercutio was Mikhail Tsivin and Tybalt may have been one of the Simachev brothers, possibly Anatoli ( difficult to identify in that wig), but I couldn't figure out who the troubadour was at all, though his partner looked a bit like Golikova. Can someone with a better knowledge of the company at that time or a better copy of the video help me out over who danced what? Thanks in advance MB

I haven't seen him in a principal role nor have I heard of him dancing one. He always looks good in the corps and with his blond Greek-god looks he'd be a natural for Apollo. Had a feeling he wouldn't stay in the corps for long.

Nureyev, Soloviev, Lavrovsky and Vasiliev.

So glad you mentioned Ivan, as Anastasia she totally understood what the role was about whereas the alternate didn't. I find her a very sensitive artist.

I also read this in an interview with Vikharev on another web site.

Another Choleric here. Am very interested in Gina Ness's post as I am also a sun in Pisces and moon in Aquarius. Perhaps this predisposes one to a love of ballet.

For Don Quixote, always a difficult work to sell, even in London (at Covent Garden they had to 'paper the house' for the first night of the Bolshoi Don Q. last year), there was a special offer of £20 for all seats - I call that cheap.

Sorry to hear you're financially embarrassed right now, as the theatre in Cardiff is superb and you would have seen the Kirov in a far superior (and cheaper) setting than in London where the seat prices are sky high and sight lines in the Royal Opera House are atrocious. Well done the Welsh!!!

I first saw Beriosova in the mid sixties in a MacMillan ballet called Images of Love in which she danced with her regular partner Donald McCleary. She danced a pas de deux which was based on a Shakespeare quote: "When love begins to sicken and decay it useth an enforced ceremony". It was a psychological piece about a couple who had fallen out of love. She was superb. The following season she danced in Balanchine’s Serenade and the leading role in Nijinska's Les Biche, but at this time it was fair to say she was winding down her performances. Beriosova suffered from emotional problems that caused her to lose confidence in herself as a dancer and her early withdrawal from the major roles was a tragedy. She went on into the seventies in roles such as the Tsarina in Anastasia and her appearances in Les Noces and Enigma Variations were greatly appreciated. She was very beautiful indeed, with the kind of physique we don't see today and a face of pure serenity. She was a similar kind of dancer to Fonteyn, by which I mean that technique was a means to an end with both of them and the idea of presenting a role to an audience took precedence over all else. Along with Fonteyn, Beriosova was what I would call a creative instrument. Involved in the creation of works by major choreographers. It added a dimension to the work of these dancers, to be part of the creative process and to act as a choreographers muse. Something few dancers of today ever experience. But looking at Beriosova (and indeed Fonteyn) it's easy to see why they were such a source of inspiration.

Ina, we posted almost simultaneously and I discover you have answered my question. Interesting that the film you saw was with Nureyev. In his autobiography he rates her very highly indeed and considerd her his best partner. I shall contact my Russian pals and try to get a copy of the book.

At least there is a record of how Osipenko danced but I've been told nothing on film exists about Shelest, is this true? She remains for me the most intriguing of the Soviet Era ballerinas. So many tantalizing descriptions and a few lovely photos, what a great pity there is nothing more tangible.

Margot Fonteyn, Jennifer Penney and Lesley Collier.

In addition to the Bolshoi it's danced by at least two other Russian companies: The Imperial Russian Ballet and the Moscow City Ballet. There is a video available of Nadezhda Pavlova dancing Carmen with Moscow City Co.

Euros only? You mean they don't demand dollars anymore? (!!!)

One piece of advice for the Bolshoi is to keep your seat ticket ready to show the usherette when you return to your seat in the interval as ticket checks are not unusual to ensure that people don't sneak into better seats. When you check your coat in (just hand it over and smile) you will probably be asked "beenokle?" meaning do you want to hire a pair of opera glasses. Just say Da or Nyet accordingly. If there is a bit of a scrum to collect coats at the end, just hang back until the crush has subsided. How much Russian you need depends on whether you are travelling independently or in a group. As an independent traveller I don't know how I would have survived without some basic Russian, but in answer to your query, "pazhalsta" is correct for please and "eezveeneetye" works for both excuse me and sorry. "Spaseeba" for thank you comes in handy too.

Best ever: Deanne Bergsma (RB) Best today: Maria Alexandrova (Bolshoi)

In productions mounted by Isabel Fokine the famous neck spin for the golden slave's death is omitted and a rather inappropriate and lengthy romantic pas de deux occupies the middle section. I remain curious as to why the golden slave's death scene is watered down in this way, is Ms Fokine unable to teach it or are the Kirov dancers unable to perform it? Surely not the latter? Apart from the Kirov I've seen this ballet danced by English National Ballet and the Monte Carlo Ballet and both had far more accurate productions than the Kirov's with the dancers performing the neck spin impressively.

If money is no object, I would suggest the centre of the stalls circle (slightly elevated from stage level) or the centre of the grand tier. The dirt cheap option of standing at the back of the stalls circle also gives a wonderful view and if you have a standing place behind the centre block it is a better view than most of the seats in the house.

Absolutely not! It seems a totally new style is emerging in Russia, particularly at the Kirov, that is actually inferior to what has gone before. I hope we aren't going to start to denigrate everything from the Soviet era as worthless. Ulanova, Semenova, Dudinskaya, Plisetskaya, Maximova, Nureyev, Soloviev, Vasiliev et al were all products of Soviet ballet. Compare them to the dancers coming out of Russia today and apart from a few honourable exceptions, we are watching inferior dancers. As far as Segei Vikharev's "ballet archaeology" goes, I always interpreted his efforts as an exercise in going back to the source in order to show the choreographer's original intentions, how could it be called a return to imperial style with dancers throwing their legs to the ceiling? Natalia, those rioting pensioners were given almost no media coverage in the UK either, most likely because with an aging population, likely to suffer unprecedented hardship in future years, it was felt showing protesting Russian seniors going in for direct action might give Britain’s impoverished pensioners ideas.

In addition: the picture of Irma Nioradze identified as La Bayadere is actually Le Corsaire; Ethan Steifel and Sarah Wilder are dancing Coppelia, not Cinderella; the Giselle picture of Carla Fracchi is not with Maris Liepa but his son Andris and the picture of Merle Park and Rudolf Nureyev should be captioned The Nutcracker not Sleeping Beauty. In spite of these errors I loved the site, as there were a number of photos I'd never seen before.

Natalia, do you know what happened to the version of The Bolt that Grigorovitch was preparing some time back? There are some sequences from the rehearsals on the video "Master of the Bolshoi". Did he have to abandon the project or was it eventually shown elsewhere?

I love this video. Although the production is Sergeyev's it resembles the Bourmeister version with a prologue showing Odette being transformed into a swan. Evteyeva is good without being outstanding and Johnny Markovsky makes an exceptionally handsome prince. For me though, it's worth having just for Valery Panov's jester which he plays like one of Shakespeare's sad fools and he dances like a dream. I have to agree with Ballet Nut that the Markarova/Dowell version is probably the best around, but I have quite a number of Swan Lakes on video and have found this version more rewarding than most.

They are basically a reconstruction of the Bakst originals. The Firebird herself wears a substantially different costume though. Personally I prefer the Goncharova designs used by the Royal Ballet, but both are beautiful.

I'm not sure why you consider the styles of Guillem and Tsiskaridze to be at odds, as he has made guest appearances with the Paris Opera Ballet with great success and both understands and appreciates French style. Because of his height he is invariably paired with taller dancers and in Paris he danced with Marie-Agnes Gillot. I have seen him dance with Inna Petrova, Maria Allash, Svetlana Lunkina, Anastasia Volochkova and Anna Antonicheva at the Bolshoi and Irma Nioradze and Diana Vishneva at the Kirov. I liked him particularly with Elena Kniazkova when they guested in London with the Chisinau Ballet.

I'm not familiar with Balanchine's La Valse at all having seen it danced for the first time last month by the Kirov, so I was very interested to read how the central role is normally interpreted. Both Lopatkina and Pavlenko took exactly the same approach to the role appearing to accept that their time was up and dancing with a sense of foreboding. I had a preference for Lopatkina in the role though Pavlenko was also good. I was also very taken with Islom Baimuradov as death, he had a wonderful sinister presence and looked fantastic. A pity he's not down to dance the role in the US.