Mashinka

Actually No: that's the point I'm trying to make. Sadlers Wells sends me advance publicity about all forthcoming events and the brochure about "Blush" made no mention of frogs in blenders, chainsaws etc. True, there was reference to some erotic content and there was a picture of an apparently naked couple photographed from the waist up in a rather chaste embrace. All appearing far removed from the horrors detailed in Ismene Brown's review.

My guess is that this report was commissioned for one reason only: to discredit current recipients of lottery funds in order to enable the government to get its hands on lottery cash to ease pressures on the exchequer (currently experiencing an approximate 11 billion shortfall). The UK lottery was specifically set up to provide money for non-priority areas of spending such as the arts and sport. Covent Garden had been lobbying for a national lottery for years and was instrumental in the introduction of the lottery right from the beginning and was rewarded by generous handouts for its rebuilding programme. As things stand at present, lottery money is ear-marked for "good-causes" in general in addition to the arts and sport, but the organization responsible for distribution does NOT carry out feasibility studies before allocating the money, hence some of the disastrous examples quoted. By issuing a report highlighting only the failures of lottery funding, the government is paving the way to treating lottery money as revenue for the beleaguered Chancellor.

Here is an example of a VERY bad review: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml...xstageleft.html Although it was written by a critic whose opinions I seldom share, I decided to give this one a miss. Comments?

To answer the question as to what Ossipenko is doing right now, I can confirm that she is now acting as the personal coach to the leading dancer of the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, Irina Kolesnikova. Also listed as members of the teaching staff of this company are Lubov Kunakova and Svetlana Yefrimova, both former Kirov principals.

I saw the POB's Giselle last summer and found it a wonderful production that emphasized the original romantic style. The cast I admired most was that of Elisabeth Maurin and Kader Balarbi and I'm a little saddened that their names don't appear on the casting list this time around. In all fairness I have to say that I found Maurin less strong in technique in the second act than I would ideally like to see, but her interpretation of the role as a whole was quite outstanding as she has that rare ability to touch the hearts of her audience. Balarbi was also memorable with his sympathetic understanding of Albrecht. I hope this isn't a case of the POB taking an ageist view of this couple.

If you have a DVD player you may be interested to know that a DVD of Pierre Lacotte's full length version of Paquita with the Paris Opera Ballet became available here in Britain this month and can be ordered through Amazon UK. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...4811320-6526220 I've seen this production in Paris and must warn that the last act and Grand Pas does not include the solos or the pas de trois (which is danced earlier in the ballet). The leading dancers are Letestu and Martinez, but it is Emmanuel Thibault in the pas de trois that you should be looking out for. Watch him and be amazed.

Now that the new production of Romeo & Juliet is scheduled for London next year, I'm keen to hear exactly what the Moscow audience thought of it. Have any of you Ballet Alertniks actually seen it yet?

Lubov Kunakova is currently ballet mistress of St Petersburg Ballet Theatre a.k.a. Tachkine Ballet. The company is at present on tour in the UK. Here is their web site http://www.spbt.ru/index/ Unfortunately there are no details about her though. I very much share Hans and Silvy's admiration of this dancer. I remember her style as very much the "pure Kirov" style of over a decade ago that perhaps only Ayupova possesses today. Rumour has it that there was a "cull" of senior dancers towards the end of Vinogradov's tenure and Kunakova suffered as a result of his ageist policies, but perhaps someone else might know the truth about that.

Thanks for the prompt reply. My memories of R&J go back to 1966 and I saw the original cast several times. I remember some changes taking place with sets and costumes at an earlier date and you can see the changes when you watch the 1965 video and compare it with the 1984 one, but there were no major changes in choreography. I am appalled by the current sets - no balcony for Juliet and she now sleeps in what appears to be a deserted church! The crypt scene is a disaster. Perhaps I could have stomached all of that if the dancing had been better, but apart from the leading pair it was dreadful. I left the theatre deeply depressed and have to agree with the earlier posters, Lynette and Rebekah, who suggested this ballet be "rested". Looking at the state it's in; it deserves to be put to rest permanently.

Apologies for adding to this thread some time after the performances, but I have a couple of questions I would like to ask the regular Royal Ballet goers. Question 1: Do the mandolin dancers in Act II now always paint their faces like clowns or was it just the performance I saw (24th November)? Also concerning the mandolin dance. Instead of dancing the original choreography, the dancers now incorporate a game of leapfrog, is this now also the norm? Question 2: I was told the (very ugly) new sets now being used in R&J were created to fit outside stages during the ROH closure and were a temporary measure, have they now been adopted as the standard sets for R&J and if so does anyone know why? Hoping someone can enlighten me. Mashinka

Amy Reusch raises the question of the two-act ballet, which can often be ranked alongside a three-acter as a full evening work. Back in the 1960's, the Royal Ballet scheduled Ashton's two-act ballet The Two Pigeons with Nureyev's version of Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadere. At least one critic hailed it as the perfect pairing. Some years later at the RB, Giselle was frequently presented on a double bill, sometimes preceded by Ashton's Symphonic Variations. The Bolshoi, when on tour often give Giselle as a double bill preceded by the grand pas from Paquita. This is rare now though and from my point of view a matter of regret. The two act ballet as a full evening work is alive and well and has taken root in Paris, as in the past year I have seen both John Neumeier's version of Sylvia and Roland Petit's Clavigo, both hugely impressive works. Sylvia of course has the advantage of one of the greatest (and least often heard) ballet scores of all time. The one I imagine Tchaikovsky was referring to when he claimed that Delibes was a better ballet composer than he was. Neumeier has taken a Greek myth and given it a modern setting along with reflective ideas about unrequited love. I found it especially moving in its final scene. For his ballet Clavigo, Petit uses a literary source from the romantic era, which he transforms into a very credible story of love and lust. The score was commissioned and was highly enjoyable. It would be fair to say that reactions to both works have been mixed, but in the main favourable. I am glad to hear some mention of Spartacus and agree with the comments about it made so far. Spartacus has far too many repetitious passages for my liking, but with the right cast it can be an exciting ballet to watch. Surely Grigorovitch must be the only choreographer of the past fifty years or so who has ONLY produced three act ballets, though sadly he seems to have few admirers outside of Russia. Eifman too, favours the full evening work, though perhaps it's fair to call Eifman a minority taste. Then of course there is Bejart, that incredibly prolific creator who will seemingly tackle any subject on earth, from Freddie Mercury to Mother Theresa, to mention just the two last works of his I have seen. Bejart loves the full-evening work, but I have to say that on the occasions when I have found myself appreciating something of his, it has always been one of his much rarer one-acters.

Thank you so much for posting those photos. I love the picture of Bolshakova! Although I'm based in London I missed the 1970 season as I was recovering from a road accident and never saw the Kirov until a visit to Leningrad in 1974. I always think back to that period of the Kirov's history as a kind of Golden Age.

I am intrigued that posters are referring to Soloviev's death as suicide. Has some new evidence come to light on this? The official line was that he died as a result of a hunting accident. Shortly before his death I asked the Russian photographer Alexander Ukladnikov, who together with the late John Gregory published a book of photographs of Soloviev in Giselle, whether the suicide rumours were in fact true. He insisted that the cause of Soloviev's death was inconclusive and whether he died accidentally, committed suicide or (as some have speculated) was actually murdered, would never be known. Is there now proof of suicide that was previously withheld?

First of all Tigger, I have to confess that 1964 was the first year of my ballet going career and I would be less than honest if I could claim to give you fair assessment of anyone’s dancing abilities back then. All I remember of Belair was that she was a rather glamorous girl who danced with a lot of panache and I certainly enjoyed the performance at the time. Croydon is a very large town just outside London and the Ashcroft Theatre is what I would call a typical provincial venue suitable for a smaller touring company. Ballet Rambert had as its home base the tiny Mercury Theatre in Notting Hill, which was little more than a church hall. If you have ever seen the famous ballet film "The Red Shoes", the scene where Moira Shearer dances Swan Lake to a defective record player takes place in the Mercury Theatre and of course Marie Rambert herself is in that scene.

I saw Alida Belair dance the title role in "Coppelia" with Ballet Rambert at the Ashcroft Theatre in Croydon in 1964 (and still have the programme), but a couple of years later Rambert transformed itself into a modern dance company and all the more classically minded dancers left, including Belair. I've also read her autobiography, "Out of Step" and consider it one of the better dance biographies around. She certainly writes with honesty and provides an invaluable insight into many of the dance personalities of the time.

Derek Jacobi is a truly wonderful actor. Did you know he has a ballet link? He appeared as the narrator in Ashton’s “Wedding Bouquet” with the Royal Ballet a few years ago. I also remember “Threads”: it upset me so much I wasn’t able to watch to the end as I felt physically ill. A brilliant piece of drama though. Sadly the BBC is now seriously “dumbing down” though every now and then a gem of a programme will appear. I recommend the recent serialization of George Eliot’s “Daniel Deronda” and hope it makes its way to the States.

Marina Semenova of the Bolshoi and Sulamith Messerer, now in UK are still going at 90+

Alla Ossipenko recently appeared in the much admired film "Russian Ark" which was released earlier this year. She played the role of an eccentric lady inspired by an old master painting in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. She looked as striking and as elegant as ever.

Sergei Vikharev, who was responsible for the new "original" versions of Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadere at the Kirov, has gone on record that he would like to stage a production of Daughter of the Pharaoh using the Sergeyev/Stepanov notations. The Lacotte version will be seen in Paris in January and possibly in London in the summer when the Bolshoi appears at Covent Garden.

Having seen Zakharova dance in the UK recently, I find it difficult to reconcile some of these fulsome comments with my impressions of her. Marc described her approach when reviewing her London Bayadere very accurately I thought. Zakharova resembled an alien visitor not familiar with the language of the corps. What I found most disconcerting is however that her technical virtuosity (impressive it may be when taken on its own) is totally unrelated to the drama unfolding before our eyes, worse it is even happening in spite of the drama Another case of a dancer not "travelling" well?

Here in London the "bureaucratic hassles" have simply increased over the years and I'm hearing horror stories of people having to abort their trips to Russia beacause their visas weren't processed in time. Visas can now cost up to £120 plus a surcharge if you have an EU passport. I seriously believe that these people are running some sort of racket.

You should have asked! They might have let you in. I once watched the great Marina Semenova conduct a warm-up class there when I saw the Bolshoi some years back, courtesy of a friendly dancer. By the way, if you're up to a spot of climbing, try going up the hill towards the Parthenon, around the back of the theatre and you can watch over the wall at the back. It's a long way down but fun.

Clavigo is a ballet by the veteran French choreographer Roland Petit. It is a love story set in the 18th century. This ballet proved very popular when it was premiered a couple of years ago and the reviews I read were very positive. Though I've not seen this ballet myself, I hope to see it when I'm in Paris next month and the Paris Opera Ballet is ALWAYS worth seeing regardless of what they are dancing. One more thing Koshka, I take it this ballet is being performed at the Herod Atticus Theatre as part of the Athens festival, right? An evening at this beautiful Roman open-air theatre is an experience you will never forget and I very strongly recommend that you go to soak up the unique atmosphere. But beware! As the moon rises above the Hymettus Hills it's easy to become distracted and forget what is happening on stage. The dancers I'm told can also get distracted as their view will be the immortal Parthenon in all it's floodlit glory. I really envy you and will be thinking of you tonight.

First of all I have to say that civil law is pretty much in its infancy in Russia at the moment, but if Volochkova chooses to sue she doesn't have good grounds for winning. The Bolshoi has probably sacked her more for her antics in the past week than for any other reason. The short contract she was offered reflects the fact that Ratmansky, the new director designate who takes up his post in January, may well wish to review Volochkova's position within the company. Volochkova was imported from the Kirov along with her partner Ivanov. Why the Bolshoi engaged her when it had so much more interesting female talent and why she went on to perform more often than any other dancer, remains a mystery. Now that her partner Ivanov is injured through partnering her and the other male dancers have all refused to replace him, that does in effect make her redundant within the company. In 1994 principal dancer Gediminas Taranda sued the Bolshoi for unfair dismissal and lost. His circumstances were very different, as he had been fired for dancing abroad without prior permission. Just about all the other dancers were doing the same thing and it appeared that he was being made an example of to deter the others. In a British court he may have won as his case was a strong one, but the weight of the Bolshoi bore down on him and he lost the case. Volochkova, it could be said, has become a public nuisance in the past few days and I think the courts will uphold the Bolshoi on this one.