cubanmiamiboy

Oh my... May the spirit of Fonteyn miraculously descends upon her...

If the picture for the poster we see in the outside of the theater with Skorik would had been of Kundaurova, what we would had seen, instead of the wacky working leg pointing to the sky, would had been a beautifully executed arabesque a la seconde, as she did last night. Just saying...

Natalia...I VERY MUCH enjoyed tonight's performance with Katya and Danila. It was a completely different animal from last night's.

Big Red Koundarova was FANTASTIC!! This was a completely different ballet tonight. The orchestra sounded better, and the tempi faster. Katya and Danila looked lovely, and in general the whole atmosphere was totally the opposite from last night. Koundarova had a wonderful aristocratic presence during the whole ballet that reminded me much of my favorite in the role, Mme. Bessmertnova. And her limbs were down to normal highs from last night's distorted ones from Skorik. All her 8 variations went without any problem, smooth and precise-(well, she sort of lost her balance once, but it was barely noticeable). Her segment of ronde de jambes was wonderfully executed, whereas Skorik eventually ceased to perform them, barely doing a developpe/kick of the working leg.

By the way...this ought to be, from the classical repertoire, one of the less dancing roles for the male -(after poor Prince Coqueluche in the Nutcracker, who dances even less). But...there are lots of lifts, for God's sake! So kudos to both Koruntsev and Smekalov for handling Katya so well.

Katya and Danila had a solo curtain call tonight, another difference from last night's sad ending.

Edited to add: Tonight, during the scarf variation, I remembered a fragment from Kirkland's book in which she recounts preparing herself for this section. She said that she had read that this scarf had been a previous gift given to Raymonda by de Brienne as a memento before going to the crusades, and that this dance should express the longing of the bride to be for her lover. Lovely, right..?

Oh, and it was again A PLEASURE to see you all guys at the theater!! See you all tomorrow for Kolegova! :flowers: :flowers:

Thankfully, I'm very close to the KC, but I was just rushed out of the Holocaust Museum, for which at 5:45 they would issue a temp. shelter there if conditions worsen.

The BORE-saladze (Virsaladze) costumes and set(s) must go. I know that they were "refreshed" around the 1990s - including the addition of the pink tutus for the A1 Valse girls - but they're still dull. POB, La Scala, and even the Bolshoi (also Virsaladze designs, 30 yrs after the Kirov's) are better.

I particularly disliked the shredded numbers of the nymphs in the Dream Scene...

Goodness! In this day and time, Raymonda seems like an excellent allegory to the awfulness of ISIS/Daesh. It doesn't have to present all Muslims in a bad light, but can (in the correct staging) show the seductive bait-and-switch of extremist religious beliefs.

I didn't see any problems with the Scala recon.

I am disappointed. With the cast AND the production itself. This version simply needs to go asap. The medieval tale of love intertwined with religion gets completely lost here. Key elements of the ballet are much chopped off or completely excised-(like the White Lady). This ballet sans the crusades atmosphere, sans the WHite Lady, and of course, sans the original opulent costumes and décor becomes merely a bare backbone of what is supposed to be. I know it is hard to present it in its original bad-Muslim-guy/good-Christian-couple, but the tale simply looses much of its appeal without all of that.

I was sitting a few rows from stage, and geez, Skorik looked like a mask. Her heavily made up face expresses NOTHING whatsoever. She and Koruntsev had NO chemistry onstage at all. There was never a moment when we could tell that this was a loving couple. Skorik looked livid with fear most of the time, and she started the ballet with an early mishap..(she lost her balance). We also had our fare amount of over extended limbs, which at many times feels awkwardly and plainly vulgar. Her tutu goes way higher than her hips...up at waist level, so from orchestra all you see at all times from this type of tall ballerinas who love to open themselves to no limits is only one thing: CROTCH, CROTCH AND MORE CROTCH.

Generally speaking, the whole ballet looked dry and gloomy. Raymonda's friends had an expression most of the times as if they were going to the electric chair at any moment. The ballet came alive a little bit more during the last act. The Grand pas, along with the czarda and mazurka were beautiful to watch. At the end, and after a very tepid couple of curtain calls, they tried to milk the applauses a bit more with a solo curtain, but the applauses dried off. They kept the curtain ready for the dancers to go and bow, but it never happened. People had simply stopped applauding altogether. That was sort of sad though...

On a side note, it was great to see you all guys there.!!

I am next to the big head!! Is anybody around?? Please report!! ;-)

Just arriving to the airport! No time to stop by my hotel, so I am heading straight to the theater, luggage and all. Very excited, yay!!

Tallchief herself danced with BRdMC as a very young corps dancer for five years, as of 1942. Balanchine was "in & out" of that company in 44-46 period. Tallchief wrote in her autobio that she had "a part" in that 1946 RAYMONDA.

So do you think she might even remembered bits from this variation by the time Balanchine included it in Pas de Dix...? Danilova is not credited as a co stager. Or maybe it was just Balanchine remembering, some three decades later, a piece of Petipa, just as he did with the candy cane variation. In that case, what a great memory, considering that he didn't danced it!

thanks cubanmiamiboy - they were exactly like that - funny and adorable!

My pleasure. Long is indeed VERY tall. I know her personally, and with high heels she's even taller than me-(I am 5.11")

It always amazes me the way choreography is passed and kept alive, particularly that of the XIX Century ballets. I've been recently watching this clip with Tallchief and Eglevsky, and can't help but to wonder what would had been to dance certain choreographies, certain dramatic roles that had a previous historical past for the first time with almost no visual references. A little on this subject can be found in Markova's "Giselle and I", in which she recounts being coached, when she first took up the role, by a man-(N. Sergueiev)- who couldn't offer much help either in a practical way-(he would not demonstrate)-nor vocally-(he didn't speak English), and just with the aid of some messy notations. Markova also had vague memories of having seen Pavlova, and much fresher ones with Spessivtzeva.

Pas de Dix was choreographed in 1955,and to the best of my knowledge, Tallchief couldn't possibly had witnessed any performance of de BRdMC's Raymonda-(correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was only danced overseas)-almost ten years before-(1946). Or ANY Raymonda, for that matters. Even when Balanchine choreographed his version for the touring company, a lapse of 30 years had passed since the time he would had seen the full length performed at the Mariinsky before he left Russia. So I wonder if Tallchief experience with the role, even for the short clap variation, was more or less like that of Markova...no previous visual clues whatsoever. Nowadays any dancer can watch a thousand clips of a given role online, and everybody is dancing everything everywhere, so there is a never ending supply of references.

So my curiosity goes as...Did Tallchief learned this variation-(which is obviously taken from sharp memories of Raymonda, as it is almost identical to those we know from modern references of the full length ballet)- from Balanchine himself...? Or Danilova..? Did Danilova coached Tallchief in Pas de Dix..? Could Tallchief had possibly seen Balanchine's full Raymonda at some point earlier in her life..?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5y-2KdAp6M

Adding to the discussion of MCB's Bourree Fantasque - I saw the Sunday matinee - Jordan-Elizabeth Long and Shimon Ito danced the 1st Movement and they were hilarious. Jordan must be close to 6' on pointe and Shimon might be (guessing here) 5'6'? It's fast with lots of turns and tricky partnering and that is what makes it so funny- the shorter guy with much taller ballerina in full out black tutu, gloves and headpiece to partner. They went for it and I thought they were the standout performance. btw, it was Darci Kistler's role at NYCB.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205896452396063&set=a.3671727317399.2130647.1401360055&type=3&theater

So by the sculpture then...? Perfect. As usual, blonde skinny guy all in black with glasses, easy to recognize here. I am working tonight, so I will be destroyed by tomorrow evening, but..ballet will save the day!! See you all there!

I missed this. Bourree Fantasque was done quite a few years ago already, but I remember I really LOVED it-(particularly the costumes).. The other pieces are unknown to me.

If only we could travel back in time and see Balanchine's full-length version for the Ballets Russes, starring Danilova!

I mem. serves, there's a tiny fragment of this production in the extra features of the BRdMC documentary, with N. Krassovska in the role.

I will be rushing to catch the 23th performance, because my plane arrives in DC with very little time to spare-( I might even have to go straight to the KC before hotel), but I will be there until the 28th, so I will be happy to meet!! ;-)

Ok...so I just bought my tickets for my Russian summer trip. I will be going from mid June to the beginning of July, dividing my time in between Moscow and SP. I tried to wait for the schedule on the Festival, but to no avail. Also, the Bolshoi seems to drop their performances dates little by little. But I couldn't wait any longer before purchasing the tickets, so voila.

I saw it as soon it came out. Redmayne is good in the role, although after some time one can detect quite a repetitive pattern of faces and mannerisms. I liked it though.

Hello all. Opening night tickets are secured, attending other performances TBD. I can't wait and reading everyone's comments just adds to the build-up. It'll be me plus new-to-ballet wife and we look forward to drinks with anyone who'd care to meet up.

Count me in!

I voted for the recon, just because I am a rabid supporter of them, but...MY Raymonda ballerina is still Mme. Bessmertnova.

Oh...and how about the fast original 1877 coda in the White PDD..? Did they included it-(just as Balanchine in his one act version)..?

I think we've all seen multiple versions of Firebird -- while we still have productions of the original choreography, it's one of those scores where many people feel like they can make their own variation.

ABT's didn't work for me.

Thank you, Natasha for the reviews! Oh, I really LOVE the pictures...the loose hair for Odette and the swans...Rothbart's costume, and even Odile's tutu, which gives sort of a mix in between the original multicolored number and our pre conceived all black idea. LOVE the pointy crowns!!...and the look of the villagers valse. Yes...we have a winner here. Can we have it at ABT..?