Rosa

Maybe I'm remembering this wrong but in the Kirov version with Mezentseva doesn't she prevent him from making the vow by lowering his hand?

At the end of Act II she lowers his hand after he's made the vow. Since the mime is not included in the Kirov version, he does not make/attempt the vow at the beginning of the act.

You are welcome drb and Helen!

And thats when Nureyev's version of the ballet comes i and makes everything logical. Since no normal guy whould fall for a bird (at least I hope not) ..??....He made the story take place in Siegfried's head, as a long day dream.

The first act is as usual, but instead of going of hunting, Siegfried takes refuges in his own dreams, you know he's been brought up with to many romantic novels....! Odette and Odile are just "metafors" for his own ideals,....I guess???

and when he betrays the in his mind, he loses his reason......

thats one way to look at the story, Otherwise I guess you'll just have to go with the guy likes birds....

Maybe Nureyev made the story logical, yet IMHO he also made it much less tragic. Having Odette and her betrayal just happening in Siegfried's mind caused me not to connect with either character, and left me feeling puzzled instead of sorrowful at the end.

Mods, if this is not allowed, please delete.

There is a marvelous 6-part program about the 8th annual International Ballet Festival that was just put up on youtube; it has clips from seemingly all the performances. It can be found by putting in the keywords "Mariinsky International Ballet Festival."

I was recently thinking about Siegfried's vow in Swan Lake. Why does he not break the curse in Act II when he swears twice to love Odette, yet it works at the wrong time in Act III? In most productions I've seen on video/DVD, the dancer playing Siegfried just raises his hand in the vow in Act II and Act III (with Rothbart simply demanding that he swear to love Odile forever). In one or two other versions Siegfried specifically mimes in both acts, "I love you/her. I will marry you/her. I swear!" So I guess I am confused why the vow does not work the first time if Siegfried does the same thing at the lake and the ball.

Any thoughts?

Very very sad news.

Marcelo Gomes

Igor Zelensky

Sergei Filin

Roberto Bolle

Michael Denard

Anthony Dowell

Ivan Nagy

Charles Jude

Gennadi Lediakh

Alexander Bogatyrev

Ivan Vasiliev

and

Farrell & Martins

Cinderella: Nureyev's or Asthon's?

Thank you Jane! What a wonderful picture.

Hair up

Swan Lake: Show Odette being turned into a swan at the beginning or just have the music by itself?

Martins

Anthony Dowell's Swan Lake or Sir Peter Wright's Swan Lake?

Thank you very much chiapuris for your many reviews of the festival. I've really appreciated them.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful reviews! It has helped me feel like I was actually there. *sigh* Also, I'm glad to hear about all the sightings of present and former dancers that were in the audience. Thank you again!

Happily I can take RB's Sylvia off my list, and now add more...

*POB's Swan Lake, Pietragalla/Dupond

*Malakhov's Cinderella, Semionova/Shpilevsky

*RB's Jewels

I never realized before how different, unique each performance of the the same ballet production can be. Watching the clips of the International Ballet Festival's Swan Lakes the last two days, I've been amazed how each cast has left their own touch on the ballet, no one performance exactly the same; not regarding changes in choreography, per se, but style, little details, reacting to one's partner, etc. It has been especially fascinating comparing the clips of the Black Swan coda and the Act III finale.

chiapuris, thank you so much for your lengthy, thoughtful reviews. They have been a pleasure to read.

Thanks for the heads up, Natalia, about the highlights on YouTube. I saw there are also videos of the Kolb/Vishneva Swan Lake.

According to Amazon just this past Tuesday a new DVD of the Bolshoi's Swan Lake was released, starring the great Plisetskaya. This is not the 80-minute SL from 1957, but seems to be the whole ballet at 150 minutes. Her partner is Bogatirev.

http://www.amazon.com/Swan-Lake-Tchaikovsk...9723&sr=1-3

Not trying to be tiresome, and respect people's dislike of the director's 'creativity', but it still is the first time I've ever enjoyed Giselle.

That is wonderful though that this version drew you into the ballet, papeetepatrick. Giselle has always been one of my favorites.

But I'd be glad to hear if there's another good Giselle DVD.

Alesandra Ferri's Giselle at La Scala (1996) is the production that has always touched me. I own this one VHS, so I don't know how it looks on DVD. The Kirov version starring Galina Mezentseva is also quite good in my opinion.

This is a really good production. And I'm glad I was finally able to see Bruhn/Fracci. The camera work is a shame though; I was most upset over the camera moving to water during the Wilis' glorious dancing. Terribly distracting.

What a fun thread! I'll play, too.

White Swan PDD

Emeralds "walking" PDD

Rubies PDD

Giselle Act II PDD

Cinderella Act III PDD -- Possokhov (The most moving reunion of Cinderella and the Prince I'd ever seen, very tender while also a bit sexy. Zakharova and Filin were beautiful.)

Theme and Variations PDD -- with Kirkland and Baryshnikov

Tchaikovsky PDD

Nutcracker Grand PDD -- Nureyev

Sleeping Beauty Grand PDD

Paquita PDD

There are new videos of the company on tour in London.

Also from Royal Ballet: Nunez and Soares. I remember reading about how they added something special to their Diamonds from "Jewels" last fall.

So many great companies coming....!!! Wow. ABT (depending on casting) and RB (I'm not familiar at all with Manon) right now look most interesting. But very exciting to also see Kirov and Bolshoi!

I just finished Beauty by Robin McKinley, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I'd heard lots of good things about it and finally decided I would give it a try. I was not disappointed. McKinley breathed new life into the characters from Beauty to Beast to her sisters. The imagery in the book was wonderful.

Now I'm on Jane Austen's Persuasion. I've read all her novels except this one.

What a great, sad article. Lovely photos.