Catherine

It is nice to look at. I think nicer when you imagine how much it cost, but if no one told me it was onyx, I might just think it was cloudy yellow glass backlit... so I suppose it depends on taste. The color is nice because it gives a warm glow. One architect was explaining they have the ability to light only the "recesses" (the scalloped edges that cut inwards) to save money if need be... Buddy, as for dressing room space, I am told that at least for this performance there were 6 people per seat. (not per room, per seat) But that could be due to the overlap of opera and ballet in one evening. Let's hope.

Ladies and gentlemen, The live broadcast already noted by Buddy from the Mariinsky TV link (here: http://mariinsky.tv/n/ ) starts in just about 90 minutes. Today I went on the press preview tour of the new building - secret service with squiggly ear pieces abound all over theatre square and all parking lots have been cleared of cars with DPS cars parked to prevent any incomers from entering. The distinguished guest will be ushered in through the VIP entrance .. security is very very high. As for the theatre, I have never seen anything so huge or spacious inside. The sight lines are very good for every seat in the house, and that was one of Gergiev's main concerns -- namely that the sight and acoustics for each patron are the same, and that just bc you're in the last row or in a cheaper seat will not mean you have less of the theatre experience. (summarizing his words from the press talk today). I will add that many employees from the Jack Diamond firm are here on site and five of them gave tours this morning. I asked our guide directly about the studios in the theatre. "Well there are seven and they have the ability to adjust the sound..." I had to stop him. "I mean for the ballet, there are only two, correct?" Yes, one large one and then one small in the basement." Confirmed. That said, the space on the SIDE of the wings is like a huge warehouse. It must be five (?) stories tall or more. It is vast. The current wingspace in the old MT is maybe....20 feet deep? Max? Probably less than that. 15 feet I think. This is the same width as the stage itself so what you see looking at the stage, that same amount of space extends to the right of the stage and the left. if they 1) wanted to 2) were persuaded to and/or 3) had money to, they could easily use this space for rehearsals by installing mirrors on the east and west walls and somehow cordoning it off... although noise from on-stage set shifts would disrupt the rehearsal process. Happy to answer any inquiries if anyone has specific questions (given what limited parts of the new theatre I've seen so far).

It's not the first one. But it's the first publicly posted one. They had others during the master classes that took place during the festival (Feb 28-March 11). They are to hire additional dancers for the new theatre.

Indeed. Everyone is focusing on the leaves here. There is a glaringly obvious oversight that everyone is tiptoeing around, in the press, inside the Bolshoi, and for good reason: fear. What Amy wrote above is the closest to the truth yet. Read between the lines. The answer is in front of your nose. People know who it is. People are not stating that outright bc the person in question wields so much power. Think. There's such a thing as a pawn. The hired gun who hired another gun, who hired a third gun. The man who takes the blame. The story is as old as history. In my view, what Dmitrichenko said/did/planned, at this point is irrelevant if the impetus was not coming from him. And that is the message that the Bolshoi press, Filin, his attorney, and numerous articles have been telling us for over a month now: Dmitrichenko was not the initial source of this. Think/look at the forest, not the leaves. It is right in front of us in every article they print. Dancers at the Bolshoi were supposed to hold a collective meeting on Saturday about the issue -i have not had time yet to follow up and find out if that took place but I presume it did not as I've heard nothing since on that note.

Birdsall - the 11th is my birthday too!!! Happy early birthday to you!

As this is the 2013 season thread I wanted to post an update regarding tomorrow's performance. It would have been the debut of Svetlana Ivanova in Giselle, along with Xander Parish, but she is injured. She will be replaced and Xander will still perform. Here is to hoping her injury is not serious and that she can resume this debut before the 2013 season closes.

Another Facebook attack against Filin appeared Jan. 24th according to this article http://www.vmdaily.ru/news/sergeya-filina-snova-atakuyut1359016577.html Summary/translation: Although the posts were dated Jan 11-12th, they appeared yesterday. This is the second time attacks have come on Facebook, the first being November, when a false page was created in Filin's name by someone attempting to make it look as if he was against the Bolshoi administration. When that page was deleted, a similar one trying to compromise his assistant was posted.

Third degree burns to the face, unless I'm mistaken, would mean permanent disfigurement. It's a rather personal attack, and a cowardly one. The video repeats much of the info in the article -- at the end when Tsiskaridze speaks he just says that he saw Filin at the performance last night, he was sitting inthe back in a large group of dancers, and the perf ended "quite late, around 11:30" and then it cuts off.

Yes this Izvestia clip has the details of the background: http://izvestia.ru/news/543191 Recently he had received numerous threats to his cell phone which was only stopped when they finally called the cell phone provider. Someone also created a false Facebook page in his name and attempted to post information about him that would have compromised his position at the Bolshoi -- ie making it look as if he had gripes with the administration above him (which he did not have). More than once his tires had been slashed. He was offered an arm guard in the wake of all of this harassment but didn't accept... Tonight his family, his wife, press rep from the Bolshoi Katerina Novikova, and others from the Theatre were with him at the hospital No. 36 where he was immediately taken.Doctors say his rehabilitation will require at least 6 months. There are rumors the attack was done by someone inside the Bolshoi. That they tried to achieve a change in the administration via one of Filin's superiors and when that didnt' work, decided a personal attack would...would what? Aside from ruin his life. May they be caught... I have no words. No words. [Admin note: The rumor that it was an attempt to change the admin of the Bolshoi is noted at the end of the article.]

Also on the list: Elena Sheshina who came from the Maly initially but is now sadly at the Hermitage (tourist) Theatre; Vladimir Shishov and his then-girlfriend Elena who went to Vienna Opera Ballet. Ivan Popov (Vienna then San Francisco). The list is very long indeed.

Echoing Tiara's sentiments, would have given anything to see this company live in the 60s. And I support/agree with all of your points here, Leonid. It's with every hesitation that I myself even post this information on the forum. But I am trying to reflect the facts as they develop (in English) for people to draw their own conclusions. As a side note, the new theatre was opened yesterday for a brief ceremony including Maya Plisetskaya and her husband Rodion Schedrin. Am told the stage is luxuriously large with great wing space on both sides, and the auditorium (at least at that moment) was not very warm or heated. It will be interesting to see how they use this additional venue schedule-wise after its official opening in May 2013. The comments from Gergiev this year have repeatedly alluded to using it as a performance space, in part, for more children's performances, to educate the local children about fine art. There have been rumors of hiring numerous (ie 60+) additional employees to fill the new space, but the question then arises, where does one suddenly obtain those additional --hopefully polished-- performers, since neither the Msk Choreographic nor the Vaganova can provide such numbers...but that is for another thread altogether.

Totally agree with you Birdsall. I think Gergiev's comments to the press do not reveal his interpretation of this Letter to the Ministry as an act malice from the dancers as much as it reveals his own utter ignorance (pretend? real?) of the actual problem or question on the table. His suggestion that Pavlenko had a personal gripe was incorrect; his suggestion that the dancers' "voted" and solved the issue amongst themselves is also incorrect (First bc it wasnt a majority vote and second bc the vote itself didnt address the issue); and both points missed the facts of the issue. There's been a greater exodus in the past 3 or so years from the MT and/or with Vaganova graduates choosing other companies: Shapran, Smirnova the biggest examples...and that speaks not only to artistic opportunity but financial compensation. I do not personally believe the Mariinsky lacks the finances but that those funds are appropriated to other people and/or things. From Tara - I've posted whatever I see in the Russian news and will continue to do so; apologies only that I do not always have time to translate the entire article as my free time is sorely limited.

She is a principal dancer in good standing; back in shape after maternity leave (long long after) and was not included on the Western tours to LA and SF this October. She was available to go, she was not injured, she was not otherwise engaged. And -- they only brought one actual principal dancer on the tour (Kondaurova). So, based on that alone, I think it's safe to say it already has happened to Daria.

Canbelto - exactly. That mentality is still prevalent even (oddly/ironically/or maybe not surprisingly?) among the newer graduates, the younger generation. In Russia as a whole there is not a culture of speaking up for oneself, standing out of the group, (or of standing up FOR the group), or promoting individualism. How else have the Bolshoi and Mariinsky maintained incredibly unfair working hours well into the 21st century? Because there is no labour union there. There are no labor laws; not like we have in the USA with mandatory breaks, days off, minimum wage, etc etc. Even the "individualist/entrepreneurial" mentality in business in Russia today is still new -- they're only 20 years into that tradition,whereas we have over 200 years to go on. Those 20 years have seen the smaller new entrepreneurs (to step aside from ballet for a moment, just to demonstrate one example) fighting to keep their offices/businesses open -- one reason is that fighting for oneself has no precedent, legally or otherwise. It's hard to fight for rights when the law doesn't include those rights -- simply bc those laws haven't been fully developed yet. Russia has been a culture subject to higher authority for 1000 years, from Tsars to Communist leaders (dictators) to Presidents. Top down rule for the largest country in the world. And even today that inbred approach of following and fearing authority is hard to break. Especially in the theatre system where the daily work relies on cooperation. (corps de ballet, anyone?) No one wants to lose what they've worked so hard to achieve, in a system and art form which is at the outset already insanely competitive. Even if they deserve more or are not receiving their due. It's better to not rock the boat... and so they don't. And so the infection at the top festers and grows...

I bet my bottom dollar and then some, that she is. There was more in the press today about the issue. Sadly it's getting worse not better. No reply from the Minister/Ministry of Culture (and the Dec 20 previously-hinted-at-deadline has now passed) http://www.rosbalt.r...20/1073777.html and now Gergiev has claimed that the problem is solved. In fact, 65 out of 299 total dancers voted on the issue of salary (option 1: monthly fixed salary; option2: base salary of $300 plus per-performance pay each month). Of them, 51 of the 65 voted for option 2. The article rightfully points out that 65 votes out of almost 300 is far from a majority and far less than half of the artists ... Translation of one of the paragraphs: http://www.rosbalt.r...20/1073777.html On Dec. 17th in London, [Gergiev] told journalists that the Mariinsky theatre's ballet troupe resolved the internal conflict themselves several days after voting against changes in the administration's politics. "There was no conflict. I met with the representatives of the ballet troupe and asked them to solve it among themselves. They just a few days ago by overwhelming majority voted not to change anything," the director of the theatre said. If ever there was a game of word twisting, I think this takes the cake.

Tara, my personal response is that Somova's case is exceptional and incomparable to anyone else -- but yes, there are similarities in the casting issues. Keep in mind Somova was cultivated almost entirely under Vasiev's reign, so that alone is a big difference. I don't remember her being cast initially against type (although her Dryad Queen behind Osipova's Kitri was an issue at one year's festival) -- the issue was that she wasn't ready for what she was cast in, and that Western audiences loved her despite that, which began a chicken/egg issue re: foreign tour billing. I think everyone else falls under a different set of standards and challenges but Somova is different from the rest both in how she has been treated in the theatre and outside of it, given her physiology and talents/deficiencies.

Back to clarify this question of Tara's -- I know Kampa performed one of the four couples in the Grand Pas in Bayadere two or more times this June/July just after she flew to St. Petersburg, but she was not Gamzatti. This is either a misprint or purposely misleading. Since the Grand Pas includes Solor/Gamzatti and then the four soloist couples, yes, she was part of the Grand Pas but she was not in the leading role. The phrasing however implies (to Western readers) that she was Gamzatti which isn't the case. She did not perform Kitri in Boston, but she was the Street Dancer. I agree w/the comments about the other role possibilities. In my view, if one were to go sheerly based on typical Russian emploi, she seems better suited to Myrtha, Dryad Queen, Lilac Fairy etc. She is a tall girl and those lyrical roles seem more her style than the soubrette characterisation required of Kitri - but who knows. She is not much shorter than Lopatkina (who has never, to my knowledge, been cast as Kitri, just to make note of that) and also about the same height as Pavlenko (same comments here) and neither of them gravitate to soubrette type roles, although Pavlenko can be VERY spicy as Mercedes/Street Dancer, so I'd not put Kitri past her. So in addition to the debate about "ready/not ready" I think a bigger question is one of appropriate casting in roles suited to a particular physiology. After all, there's a reason that is done esp at the Mariinsky.

Keenan Kampa will debut as Kitri at the Mariinsky in January alongside Ermakov. As far as I know this will be her first principal role: http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/2013/1/16/1_1900/

Actually Kondaurova was promoted after a performance of "Swan Lake" in June, not after the Midsummer's performance.

Tsiskaridze lives/works full-time in Moscow so you're referring to a former apartment he likely stays in only when he goes north to Petersburg for short performances here and there? Yes Baryshnikov lived on Moika, a very chic and expensive area. Near the Hermitage.

I will answer that indirectly. I lived in Saint Petersburg as a Russian Federation-tax-paying resident for 6 years. No big company sent me there, no company paid to ship my things, no company arranged my housing -- I did it all myself. It was the hardest thing i've ever done. I lived as the Russians do and I mention that because the difference between being sent abroad to work with the perks of corporate support is HUGE compared to those who do not have the support. So moving further: St Petersburg was (is?) the 14th most expensive city in the world (Moscow being #1) at least as of several years ago. Russians have the advantage in terms of not having to pay the mortgage rates we have here -- people either live with relatives whose housing was given to them by the state decades ago, or (increasingly in recent years but still not widespread) will take out small loans to buy a room or apartment. Buying real estate outright is not done in the same manner as it is done here. First, all transactions are done in cash and the idea of a mortgage is still fairly new. People today in San Francisco are often paying $3000 and up per month either in rent or mortgage fees, that is the going rate, that is what you pay if you live here. (granted we are having a boom now that is disproportionate to much of the country, but my point is this is a metropolitan area, so as to compare apples with apples). In St Petersburg, such fees are often asked for normal Western standard housing, but the clinch is that salaries there are not commensurate with what Westerners earn -- it is a huge discouragement for expats in any line of work and why (in my view) there are not more of them there. What I am getting at is two things: 1) you can live there on $1800 per month gross income, but it is not pleasant or easy, and you're not putting anything away for the future in such cases; and 2) most foreigners do not live on that little because they're used to a "normal" standard of living. Finally in the case of Russians who climb the ranks in the theatre, the theatre *has* provided interest free loans to some of them to purchase apartments. This is huge as the going interest rates for any loan from any bank today (Dec 2012) is around 18%. (It was about 10% before 2008). So needless to say, taking out a mortgage is prohibitive there. And in many cases, honored artists are often still offered theatre housing. The theatre owns a number of apartment buildings near the theatre and can house --and does-- numerous opera and ballet employees in those apartments (which are nicer than the average kommunalka you will find if you're just looking for a decent sublet). In short: I am guessing that the foreigners have a slightly different setup than some of the Russians, but I dont have numbers. I know a number of dancers are in the apartments now and that is included in their contract. But I didn't find it appropriate to ask what the personal terms of their contracts are.

Hear hear!

Thanks for taking the time to translate it Ilya. From what I understand, any foreigner has a separate contract from what the Russians receive...

If you find it, please share the link! I have the hardest time finding Kultura here if it isnt a live broadcast (ie online recordings). Tends to shift to Youtube and then we get just pieces of it.

http://spb.ria.ru/cu.../500849407.html Highlights of this article: - Makarova and Baryshnikov both sent their congratulations to the Vaganova Academy on December 5 in honor of the institution's 275th anniversary. - On Dec. 7th, a concert at the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow will be held in celebration of the Academy's birthday. The last significant gala of this kind in its honor was 25 years ago. Soloists from the Bolshio, Mariinsky, Mikhailovsky and other Russian theatres will perform. Vishneva, Ruzimatov and Zelensky are listed among the performers. -According to director Altynai Asylmuratova, several generations of graduates will dance from the younger ones just beginning their training this year, to professional levels. - The article says education at the Academy is free (Translator's note: which is true for Russians but not for foreigners). "When commercialization begins, ballet ends," Altynai said. jAs for internships of professional dancers, both Russian and foreign, then that's done on a paid basis the article then adds. -Guests of the evening include Yuri Grigorovich, Evgenia Obratsova, Yuri Bashmet, Evgeny Nesterenko, Vladimir Vasiliev, Ilya Glazunov. -The theatre foyer will display an exhibition with 90 items - drawings, engravings, lithographs, photographs, including images of the first choreographers, teachers and dancers of the Academy. -The gala concert is a not-for-profit event and all guests perform philanthropically; sponsored by Georgy Poltavchenko, governor of St Petersburg. It will be broadcast on the TV "Kultura" channel. -Academy Rector, Vera Dorofeyeva, confirms that there is not a single ballet school in the world where the graduates of the Petersburg Acafemy have not worked. Vaganova graduates join the best companies in the world including: the Grand Opera (de Paris), Covent Garden, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet and many others. (Translator's note: also Bavarian State Opera Ballet, Berlin State Opera Ballet, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, etc) - Dorofeyeva said that many teachers flock to the Academy seeking positions not just because it is prestigious but because it is well paid. -Each year, the Petersburg Academy sees thousands of children but only 50 of them are accepted and no more than half of that number actually graduate. Since 1738 more than 5000 specialists have graduated from the Academy. -By order of the President of Russia in 1995 the Academy was added to the list of valued cultural heritage sites in Russia. $1 billion in government funding was spent on renovations for the school.