Lidewij

Does this mean the old Mariinsky will close for restaurations any time soon?

I wish him a good recovery. My thoughts are with him and his family...

It was broadcast last Sunday here in Belgium and I saw it. It's a nice production, but Ihaven't seen many versions of this ballet, so can't really compare.

Vyacheslav Lopatin was born for the role of James. He was amazing, I liked both his acting and his dancing.

Krysanova was nice, but didn't blow me away like I think Evgenia Obraztsova would have done.

They do seem to focus a lot on 'loose arms' in this production (if you compare videos of Obraztsova at the Mariinsky vs in this production, she clearly changed this), and I don't really like it. But that is a matter of taste, I'm sure some people think that fits the sylphs/romantic style better..

Overall, an enjoyable performance. Not as impressive as their broadcast of Esmeralda and Corsaire were (to me).

edit: and also I saw Yelena Pankova in the audience at my cinema, she was looking truly gorgeous...

A video of Sergei Polunin and Kristina Shapran in Coppelia has appeared on Youtube:

It seems to say 'Faedra'.

In Esmeralda, the writing on the wall is transcribed "Feb", or "Phoebus", the name of the captain she's in love with.

I saw Sasha Mukhamedov earlier this year in the peasant pdd (or pas de quatre, in this case) in Amsterdam. Giselle and Albrecht were Larissa Lezhnina and Artur Shesterikov. Very enjoyable performance.

Glad to hear you liked it!

And no, never heard of "Crown Ballet of Moscow"...

In the links for august 13th there is an interview with Svetlana Zakharova where she says:

I can't wait to make my debut in Eugene Onegin, which will open at the Bolshoi next year: it’ll be the first time that I’ll be playing Tatyana, another one of those dramatic roles that I love, where I can enter into it through my sensitivity.

She didn't appear on the 'Coaches and repetiteurs' list like Dumchenko did - did she go elsewhere?

I of course meant to post the link to the Bolshoi's preview video in my previous post, but seem to have forgotten. Here it is:

The Bolshoi has posted a preview on Youtube (if you click 'cc', there are English subtitles), with Maria Alexandrova talking about the role.

So I checked the casting on the website, and indeed it has changed from Zakharova and Volchkov to Alexandrova and Skvortsov.

I just wanted to let you all know that the cast for this live HD transmission (June 24th) is now up on the Bolshoi's website:

http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/performances/63/roles/#20120624190000

Raymonda: Svetlana Zakharova

Jean De Brienne: Alexander Volchkov

Abderakhman: Pavel Dimitrichenko

I'm looking forward to this one!

Did Ulanova only dance Odette? I'm very curious how her Odile has looked, but maybe she never danced the role?

The ballet Shurale is also about a bird.

I still can't find how to embed a youtube video, so here's the link:

edit: apparently I found it!

That owl on the clock is also in Vainonen's Nutcracker at the Mariinsky.. Is it a Russian thing?

I like Aurora's variation in act III. But you reminded me that I do hate Désiré's variation.

And another video of these performances has appeared. This time the entire performance of June 19th:

http://www.youtube.c...bed/aDxTj-UrYDM

edited to add: my personal favourite is the girl that dances the first Paquita variation The second dancer's build reminds me more of Alina Somova so I think that must be Somova Jr.? So the girl I like is Ksenia Shevtsova?

I would like to know for sure, so please help me out if you know

Olga Smirnova has been given another big role: she will make her debut as Nikiya in La Bayadere on the 4th of March.

She seems to be getting many more principal roles than all of the other dancers in her rank.. ('Soloist', below 'First Soloist' and 'Leading Soloist' and of course 'Principal')

Casting is up now:

Medora: Svetlana Lunkina

Conrad: Ruslan Skvortsov

Gulnara: Nina Kaptsova

Pas d'Esclave: Anastasia Stashkevich and Vyacheslav Lopatin

Odalisques: Olga Kishnyova, Anna Nikulina and Anna Tikhomirova

You can find the entire cast here.

Another video has turned up of the Little Humpbacked Horse. In the description I see the names of Olga Smirnova and Kristina Shapran, but when I look back in the thread Shapran has not danced this? So maybe someone else can recognise the dancers

I can't seem to find out how to embed a video in my post, so here's a simple link to the video.

I'm reading Mathilde Kschessinska's memoirs at the moment, and there are some references to encores:

(a critic is quoted, page 65 of 'Dancing in Petersburg') "In the third tableau of the same act Mlle. Kschessinska II danced, in incomparable fashion, the delicate variation sur les pointes to the sounds of the harp. At the public's request she had to give an encore of this number."

And on the same page: "After this I took part in the third act of Bluebeard, in which my father and I danced Konsky's mazurka. This dance was so succesful that we had to repeat it."

On page 66, a critic is quoted again: "The talented ballerina moved the whole audience to transports of excitement. There were ceaseless cries of 'Bis' and applause."

And on page 68, again quoting a critic: "Mlle. Kschessinska II scored her customary remarkable success in The Sleeping Beauty. She danced her variations with lightness and her own particular brilliance and polish: in spite of the audience's demands, for instance in the last act, she did not dance an encore."

It seems to have been customary at the end of the 1800's to demand and (sometimes) get encores from dancers.

This makes me sad. I like to think of the Mariinsky as the "best company of the world" (that's what my mother said to me when she first showed me a ballet video when I was 6 or 7), and when I see (or usually: see on youtube) that the standards are not as high as they used to be, it makes me really sad.

Is it just me, or does it seem lime the Kirov has lost their identity?

It's not just you.

How can they let one of their most brilliant dancers go? They should cherish dancers like her..

Reminds me of how they didn't hire Ayupova as a coach; this way they will never reach the level they were at 30 years ago again.. And the problem is NOT that there isn't any potential in the company/Vaganova academy.

But what are they doing with it? I simply cannot understand what is going on in the AD's mind. (Or whoever is responsible for this)

For those who were curious for Osipova & Vasiliev in the full-length Laurencia: part 1, part 2, part 3 (Grand Pas),

Pasquala is danced by Sabina Yapparova, Yacinta by Oksana Bondareva.

Enjoy!

No, it is the Lavrovsky version. There's a later one with Bessmertnova and I think Mukhamedov which is the Grigorovich version.

edit: the link seems to have been removed.

I have also seen it now. Most things have been said, but there's a few I'd like to repeat/add.

Negatives:

- The tutus, I've hated this type of tutu since I first saw it (a POB production I think, maybe it was Raymonda). The tops were really pretty, though.

- Zakharova's port de bras in her vision scene variation. If there's one variation that needs Mariinsky port the bras, I think it's this one. From seeing her dance this SB, I would never have thought she'd danced there for several years. (Also, I was kind of expecting a different variation in this spot; in the Semizorova DVD of Grigorovich's SB you have the "Sergeyev act III Lilac Fairy variation" danced by Aurora in the vision scene, and it is like that as well in the Vikharev reconstruction. I'm starting to wonder where the variation danced in this performance/Sergeyev version came from? But that's material for another thread I think.)

Positive:

Nina Kaptsova looked like she was enjoying being on stage so incredibly much, watching her made me feel happy as well. Of course, she had just been promoted and had every reason to be happy, but still. All of the others on stage seemed much less enthousiastic to be there.