ngitanjali

**sigh** I wish that this would have been filmed and released on DVD so I could see it! Nina was one of the first ballerinas I ever saw, when I was a little 6 year old from Nebraska. <3

Especially for those of us who have to travel to see such a performance--I would happily sit in any theater all day and all night if it meant I could get my fill of world class ballet, and I know that there are many that feel the same way. Coming from a town where the nearest million+ pop. city is 3+ hours away, I would give an arm and a leg to see such productions. Thank you EVERYONE , for providing detailed reports, anecdotes, opinions, discussions--I feel as though I am there! My one question about Corsaire (and maybe even Bayadere and SB) is about the cutting. When the ballets are cut, are the transitions from the scenes still seamless, or is there a bit of a jarring disconnect? I'd imagine that going from A-->B-->C, and then losing B would be quite significant, even if someone had no knowledge of the cuts.

Let's just count our blessings that she isn't Kitri. But, with the leads, and Big Red, I think there are quite a few things that cancel out Alina Somova

You know, I love Osmolkina--but (move this to another thread if need be!), what makes her the "greatest" (or on track)???

She's dancing in Heaven right now, I'm sure of it.

What a fascinating anecdote. I'm actually not that familiar with Esmerelda (the whole ballet, I know the variation by heart)....is there a nice source that I can look it up? Thanks in advance! As per the debate about Osipova...while I don't love extreme extensions....I'd rather take her than a certain ballerina at a certain theater in St. Petersburg, who seems to think that ballet needs to be devoid of art. The impression I do get from Osipova is sincerity (lacking in some other ballerinas), and a pure respect for the theater and the traditions. That being said, I would love to see Gracheva in the role--she fascinates me, since clips of her are so rare. What about Rhyzinka? (Marianna, I believe?) Lunkina? Consider ourselves lucky that the Bolshoi has an army of amazingly talented women--of all ages and styles, and is willing to use them all. Just my $0.02

To be REALLY honest, I wouldn't even call it wimpiness--just normal human emotion, which is a good thing and I'm glad people have it :) R&J is so...raw, compared to the stylized Swan Lake, Bayadere etc....that that death scene does make me shiver.

This is for the ballet teachers out there (and may possible spark a topic in the BalletTalk for Dancers forum), but in your own classes, do many of you integrate a bit of ballet history while teaching? I remember in my weekly Pre-pointe class, my teacher would tell us about particular famous dancers/musicians/choreographers such as Pavlova, Nijinksy, Nureyev, Balanchine/Robbins, The Ballet Russes, Diaghliev, Petipa, the Mariinsky, Bolshoi, Paris, the history of Ballet here...... That was my earliest exposure and led to reading about the subject in depth. She never spent more than 10 or so minutes per class-but it certainly was time well spent. She had clever ways of integrating it too--for example, when we would do particular combinations, that would start a story about "Pavlova who danced in Petipa's XXXXXXX did such and such a pose. This combination is very famous in Giselle......" and so on. A few weeks later, she would then poll us and see how much we remembered. Very refreshing Do any of the teachers on this forum do something like that? How do you make sure that your students are dancing while knowing a bit of what they're doing?

Quote from the interview, linked above: "Fateev is not, to my deep regret, a fan of the reconstructions of 19th-century period performance. "Their time has gone," he says firmly." If we have to go with this quote then the existing new/old ballets will no longer be performed. Quote from the interview: "His approach appears to be accommodating but not lax, given that he wants (supported strongly by Gergiev) to lure the iconic Kirov classicist Irina Kolpakova back as coach from America to re-establish shapes and lines." In any case they won't lure her back in order to reconstruct 19th century ballets.... Thanks for the clarification, however, I do wish that these beautiful ballets would be released on DVD, from what little I've seen on youtube, the 1890 Beauty seems absolutely lovely.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I'm a little confused. Does this mean that that there will be no more NEW productions of reconstructions created, while still dancing the ones that have been introduced (eg 1890 Beauty), or does this mean that the reconstructions that exist will be scrapped? Also, I think it's interesting that the Bolshoi, with the more 'modern' outlook provided by Ratmansky, is the company going back in time. Funny how things change, huh? I also didn't know that the Mariinsky is trying to lure Irina Kolpakova back to Russia--what role do you see for her within the company? Thanks!

I have watched EVERY video of Alina that I can get my hands on, and I have to agree with you. She is a lovely lovely girl, and the Don Q rehearsals are really nice, however, she's just too uncontrolled. As for the Uliana Lopatkina way of holding her head--it's like adopting mannerisms and ignoring the rest of the technique, the story. Lopatkina holds her head up high because it fits with her style. Somova seems to do it because, "Oh, it looks good". Never mind that seh looks ridiculous with the talon fingernails and the floppy jetes. sigh. Let's hope for a Big Red promotion

Based on what I've read of her/by her, I think that the Mariinsky could do much worse. The fact that she has so much RESPECT for the classics and the ballet tradition is so important and is one of her best qualities, I think.

While this is very exciting, hopefully Osipova's guesting won't overshadow the other fine dancers. I really don't think she and Simkin should be paired together, since that's basically excluding them from the rest of the company. Osipova and Corenjo? How does that sound?

WOWWWWW!!!! Can't wait to hear about her!

What a wonderful comparison, Paul. I can visualize your point immediately. Not having seen Somova on stage, I found myself applying "Lydia Bennet type" to a couple of other ballerinas I've seen over the years. I was trying to find a description of Somova, and "Lydia Bennet" is perfect! Thank you Paul!