annamicro

Cojocaru left directly from Milan to New York on June 9th, the day after her last performance of Ballet Imperial in La Scala, so, if they didn't meet before, they had little more than a week. She said she was ready to enter in Sleeping Beauty mood and it seems she succeed! I've been lucky to see her two performances with the Royal Ballet in Autumn, so nothing of unexpected in yours comments, anyway I'm really happy to read of her success. But, hey, don't love her too much: we NEED Alina on this side of the pond! I totally agree

I saw it two years ago in Zurich and I don't remember that much, but that I didn't like it. Especially I was not remembering anything about rehearsals, having in my mind a more traditional story. I've checked the program and it really seems to be more or less the usual story. The synopsis is divided in the usual 4 acts - 1 Park eines Schlosses (Park of a castle), 2 Seeufer im Mondschein (Lakeside in moonlight), 3 Ballsaal im Schloss (Ballroom in the castle), 4 das Ufer des Sees (the shore of the lake)-, but the show is in two parts; all the shows I've seen in Zurich have just an intermission.

The comment on MacMillan version was just a joke; Volchkov is a quite late substitute for Vogel (it seems that he didn't have the permission to guest)... to be honest I'm not expecting a great show, but maybe I'll be surprised... "Conspicuously": as much as I like Osipova, I think that Bolshoi is Bolshoi and not Osipova and other people, so probably she was just absent from it. There were only 4 shows, danced by Nikulina, Kaptsova and Krysanova and all of them are excellent dancers. The previous premiere was Esmeralda and the title role was danced by Alexandrova, Osipova and Kaptsova. Osipova is lucky to have other opportunities, but in my opinion she have also lots of oppotunities with the Bolshoi, even if the Bolshoi is right giving some of them also to the other dancers of its wonderful rooster... and giving Osipova time to make Paris, Milan, New York audiences happy!

Yes, with the Bolshoi. I think we cannot say at all that she is underused in her home company: she is dancing almost everything of new and old they are staging (Esmeralda and Coppelia among the latest new things). Anyway, good for her to have also opportunities elsewhere (it's funny that in few days we will have in La Scala another Bolshoi debut in MacMillan Romeo and Juliet: Volchkov as Romeo... maybe time to have the work in Bolshoi repertoire?). I think Osipova made her debut as Nikiya in Novosibirsk before dancing it at the Bolshoi (I feel that Aurora should suit her better than the Bayadere). There are a few cases of dancers making a debut in another company: Cojocaru, for example, made her debut in La Sylphide on Bolshoi stage.

After the one on the 9th, Bolle danced also the two other scheduled performances of Mats Ek Giselle, on the 10th and 11th. It's difficult to say if for an injured person, to dance Ek's Albrecht in 3 consecutive days is less taxing than dancing Swan Lake 10 days later. For sure it is not an acting role (Bolle in an ACTING role????????? the video could be sold as a remedy for insomnia), Luc Buoy uploaded on youtube extracts from his famous performance with the great Ana Laguna: According to his web-site, the next Bolle's scheduled performances are his Bolle and Friend's gala, starting from July 19th.

Bolle danced yesterday Mats Ek Giselle in Naples. A selective injury.

You have missed him in '07, partnering Cojocaru. He was not clean nor handsome (returning from an injury), clearly below his "basic". Anyway he saved Cojocaru's show, having the company huge problems with male dancers in that moment and nobody else available to dance with her. Returning to the topic, I've already fixed my dates for Onegin (what a shame that Rojo is not dancing Tatjana, she said in an interview she refused to dance it the last time, who knows if she refused again or was not offered at all this time?) and T&V mixed bill. I love Giselle, Swan Lake and Manon so I think I will not be able to skip them and I'm looking forward Scenes de ballet/Voluntaries mixed bill (hoping to have shows during the week-end) I'm dubious on Wheeldon new ballet and Rhapsody/Rite of Spring mixed bill. I'm avoiding for sure Sylvia and Beatrix Potter mixed bill and probably Cinderella. I have to find strong reasons to see Ballo della Regina, being not interested at all in the rest of the evening.

If with "we" you intend you and me, I don't see where we disagree, a part the cleanliness of his basic technique (excluded troubled double assemble en tournant and cabriole with bended knees - probably not basic enough). To me to be clean doesn't mean to be interesting or worth to watch: we are talking of a ballet dancer, not of a lavatory. As I wrote, he has a huge fan club in Italy, but it includes the kind of people that consider a great success to hear clapping during the entrechat series in Giselle or during the final manege of L'Arlesienne (when I saw it in Parma, people was clapping as in DQ coda, but in that moment Frederi is devastated and going to kill himself jumping through an open window, a very silly behavior by the audience, but honestly, having not seen the ballet before, it would have been hard to understand what was going on with Bolle as the main character). I agree that he can be "the equivalent of having teeth pulled", but during a very strong and deep general anesthesia. Maybe the ability to change dramatic moments in comic has been intended as a compliment, but I don't understand how: I remember Leacault death in a Bussell-Bolle Manon as a truly hilarious moment and absolutely unforgettable. But that doesn't mean that I consider the 8 pounds I spent for that show a good investment. I've always had the impression that Ferri was using him as a pole for pole dancing, looking through him more than at him. Leigh, I'm afraid that Simon and I described (or have in mind) exactly the same dancer. I just think that he, when in good physical form, can do a good triple pirouette (or three single pirouettes in suivi, at your choice): wow!

I don't agree. When Bolle is in a good shape his basic technique is clean. His acting is basic and clean too: you can see every "step" the face is supposed to make. Very basic and very clean. He also shares with his preferred partner Bussell the unique ability to change dramatic moments in comical ones: their Manon was unmissable. In Italy he has a huge fan club and a number of sponsors, but I've never meet (nor in London nor in Milan) a regular ballet.goer nor a professional in ballet world who admits to like him, but this is a different point. According to his press office he had an huge success in New York and they adore him. Could it be something like the huge success of La Scala Sleeping beauty in London, a triumph, according to Italian news? I don't know, but I'm happy that ABT is keeping him busy and probably away from the Royal Ballet, even if he remains Etoile of La Scala Ballet.

It was an accident. Another merit of Lendorf-Philostratus was to make it seems part of the story "telling" immediately to the man with the barrel organ what I would have loved to tell him in that moment! I'm copying what I've written in another place "She was literally run over by the barrel-organ, entering on stage at full speed behind her back. She run out of stage for few seconds (if I remember well, she was not supposed to do that much in those moments), probably just to regain her composure (and it happened very quickly). It was clear by her dancing that she didn’t suffer an injury and at the end she said to have not had any problem “but the shock”. Probably she was hit just by the big front wheel, as its iron support could have caused some problems. It was likely she was in a wrong position in that moment and she confirmed it, nevertheless I’d expect that when entering on stage running with such a big thing, the ”driver” looks where he is going (“he said he didn’t see me”). Anyway, the incident was closed with a lot of laughing. "

No, he danced also on the 29th, with Kloborg and Bojesen in the main roles, giving the same excellent performance. As you wrote, Puck role is a tour de force and he did it wonderfully in two consecutive nights. I don't know if Kish fit in RDB or not, but in my opinion he was the best of the three Theseus-Oberon I saw (I enjoyed also Kloborg).

Was he unscheduled to dance Puck? I’m surprised: he was absolutely excellent! I hope that this second substitution doesn’t come from another injury, but for sure a Puck-Oberon (Lendorf and Kish) double change of cast that led to a much more rewarding performance than the very weak one I’ve seen previously with Rickert and Blangstrup.

Osipova was great in La Scala earlier this month, with a great success. I've already seen her dancing Don Quixote a few times and I thought she was even better than in the past, especially as Dulcinea (very delicate), and her tricks never appeared as forced or pointless, but really connected to an exuberant Kitri. She was dancing in a very spontaneous way and that was really appreciated by the audience (without going bananas ). I'm sorry it was not the same in your show, but maybe she is a little tired now: here in Milan she danced Don Quixote (Nuereyev version: Osipova was quite precise with the choreography, not the same for her partner, who danced a personal version mixing up stuff) on the 13th, 16th, 18th and 19th and maybe she is a little bit tired now. I thought she was badly paired with a very bland Sarafanov (depending on the day more or less excellent as usual in his solos, not that much as a partner and quite invisible, as usual I'm afraid, as a character: he has some absolutely amazing qualities, but they are definitely not enough to make him interesting for me in a full length ballet). Maybe sometimes Osipova can be badly paired with Vasiliev too, because they often tend to exaggerate a little bit too much and transform it in a circus show... but they are amazing and very exciting and communicative, so usually their exaggerations work in Don Quixote, at least for me. Here is a comment (in Italian) about Osipova's Don Quixote in La Scala: http://delteatro.it/recensioni/2010-02/don-chisciotte.php

Maria Alexandrova: she IS Myrtha. She has a commanding stage presence and impose herself in such a noble and authoritative way that it leaves no doubts on who is the Queen and why. Her powerful dancing, supported by her clean but eloquent technique, gives to the role a dimension of grandiosity that is beautifully matched by her acting. The first time I saw her entering on stage launched in imperious grand jetes and with the music going up, I was almost scared and willing to escape from my seat! She can just stand in a corner and you can "feel" her: she is motionless and when she just closes her eyes, without moving any other muscle of her face or her body, the air immediately vibrates of her indignation and her hardly controlled interior fury at the sight of Giselle's rebellion, so offensive to her. When I saw it live, it was almost impossible to move the eyes from her even when Giselle (and it was Lunkina!!!) and Albrecht were dancing the main pdd: her presence was so strong to remain the focal point, and the story was more "Myrtha defeat" then "Giselle saves Albrecht". Maybe Lunkina, as wonderful as she is, is too delicate and the only Giselles that nowadays can match Alexandrova's Myrtha are Osipova, because of her not-that-much-Giselle energy, and, at a higher and incomparable level, Alina Cojocaru, whose Giselle has such a vibrating and perceivable soul and such a spiritual strength that can face without fear or hesitation the physical and institutional power of her Queen. Alexandrova's Myrtha, in my opinion, is a must to see.

it's a bad period for a lot of people, not just for dancers, so fingers crossed and good luck... anyway it's great to see you back here! and hope to see you soon in person!

I don't think that the size could be a problem. I remember a boy, now a quite affirmed professional dancer, considering "Alina is not short, because she is soooo long": being the boy almost 2 meters tall (! ) this is an enlightening sentence and I agree. And if "soulful" means exactly what it seems to mean, I couldn't think a better name than Cojocaru. Cojocaru said in a recent interview that she never saw Diamonds (nor live nor in video, she confirmed later to have just a quite vague memory to have seen something of it danced in a gala by Malakhov and Vishneva), she just danced it. So, we have probably seen her own idea of Diamonds.... and having her dared to change the final of Romeo and Juliet, I'd never expect to see from her a dutiful copy of something already done. I'm biased for sure, but having a very talented and gifted Ballerina, I'd not be very strict about notes, but I'd rather let her free to put her own art and imagination in a work: having a true artist on stage, it would be a pity to waste what she could give to a great work. Especially, having a Tchaikovsky music and a ballerina with such a unique, original and intense musicality and such a sensitivity as Cojocaru has, I'd always let her free to use Balanchine beautiful steps to paint the music in the way she want: we will not have a Ballerina serving a ballet and we would not have the Diamonds we are used to, but something of new as a result of the work of three great artists put together... something to treasure, in my opinion. Now I'm looking forward to see what she will do with Bizet and Balanchine great tools put in her hands.

She hasn't left: she is just waiting for her second child...

You can add Natalia Osipova to the group...

Probably yes: I've seen them dancing together DQ pdd in Ravenna this summer.

Ferri's Giselle is broadcasted RIGHT NOW by Italian pay TV (Sky classica Channel). Hard to think that somebody could pay 525 (or 150 or 50) dollar for it.

Probably Sarah Crompton read this and tried to explain it on today's Telegraph "Tamara Rojo is a dancer with a unique ability to make the liquid art of movement look like sculpted air. Her arms seem to ripple in response to the music, her legs and highly-arched feet carve the space around them, her body falls perfectly into each changing pose. But all her physical beauty and skill is as nothing to the air of dramatic intelligence that accompanies her every time she walks onto a stage." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre...ROH-review.html To me she is one of the very few dancers of these days I'd call an "artist". At the same time I understand Carbro perplexity, because I think that videos often don’t convey enough Tamara's qualities (another, even more evident, case is to me Masha Alexandrova, whose HUGE stage presence and charisma are in great part lost in filmed performances).

Ivan Vasilev, in my opinion, has a great stage presence, especially when considering his age (how old is he? 21?) I saw him live for the fist time, in Don Quixote, in December 2007 in Turin and I was really surprised by his charisma. He was dancing with Osipova and matching her perfectly. The theater went totally mad. Considering full length ballets, I’ve seen him also in Flames de Paris, Fille mal Gardée, Corsaire and Giselle. As Albrecht he didn’t impressed me that much, but it’s a tough role for such a young man, and also as Colas (but for me, in this case it’s more a “Bolshoi problem” – and Paris Opera too-: they just seems, to my taste, to not have the right comical timing for that ballet… it’s surprising because the company is amazingly funny in the Bright Stream, for example), but in the other roles he was great. He is one of the very few male dancers I’d travel for. With that incredible virtuosity (well controlled, has to be said!), he can be amazing in galas, of course, but it’s well worth to watch him in longer things. On the other side, I think that Corella is fantastic in galas, being a great at firing up the crowd, more than in full length ballets.

Kobborg is great as Romeo, but having only one possibility I’d have chosen his Des Grieux, which is just fantastic: his first solo is one of the best thing I’ve ever seen. Having two possibilities I’d love to have also his Rudolf filmed: a very subtle and clever portrayal of the Habsburg Crown Prince (I’m not happy with the cast chosen for the programmed film: Galeazzi is good, but Watson’s Rudolf looks just like a disgusting depraved ill-mannered mad, not giving at all the idea of the complexity of the relationships in the court and of the actual historical character –but, I saw him only at his debut, when also the partnering was quite bad, so maybe he has improved since then…) Kobborg injury happened just few days before Bayadere and R&J, and for sure the cast for the DVD was chosen much in advance. I don’t know what you mean with “fiasco”. It’s an Italian world and I’d not use it to define the two Bayaderes with Cojocaru: in the first one she wasn’t bad at all and Morera too…yes, they were partnered by Bolle: it’s well known that Solor is beyond his acting and technical skills so you cannot expect that much from him, in addition he was returning from an injury and so he was even below his standard and really fat: the “incident” with his tights, cutting his bottom in the first act and giving him three HUGE cheeks, all of them trembling like jelly , didn’t help the performance, but, again, the company was in a bad moment with male dancers and they had to use him, already there to lift Yanowsky: what could you expect? In the second Cojocaru was absolutely great (a friend watching her for the first time was totally charmed, even beyond his quite high expectations) and even if Zachary Faruque’s partnering was dreadful in some moments (a part of a couple of “risky” lifts , he was keeping the veil so low that Alina had her tiara blocked by it… I mean: it happened with the petit Cojocaru, another dancer would have been strangled!!! ), he wasn’t bad at all in his solos (the manege of double tours assemble was the best I saw in that run, Acosta included) and also his portrayal of the warrior was good: partnering is extremely important, of course, but the overall feeling about his debut was positive for many people. That said, I think that Cojocaru was much better when dancing Nikiya in Barcelona this July, but that’s quite normal with her: no matter how good she was before, she is always better than herself when returning to a role. (a months has passed, but maybe I’ll try to write something about that show…) Returning to the topic, I too hope that somebody will write something about Tereshkina: she is one of my favorite (probably at the moment my favorite at the Mariinky), but unfortunately I’ve never seen her as Juliet

Maybe the choice of the opening cast was done by somebody willing to finally get rid of the “anti-ballerina”. The awful critics were more than predictable and Somova was sent naked in front of the firing squad. One could say “poor girl”, being piteous… I’m not: at the end of the day she is a strong reason to prevent me to travel to watch the Mariinsky (a friend had her instead of Lopatkina in Swan Lake and is still there crying and screaming…). The real criminal thing is to waste Shklyarov talent and artistry in such a partnership (my secret dream is to have him leaving from St. Petersburg to be engaged by the Royal Ballet: that would help to resolve another big problem)

I think she could be lethal in that ballet. (and as Myrtha too) I suspect that Somova was infesting Kirov-Mariinsky schedules much before Osipova came to the attention of a larger audience (here in Milan we had the opportunity to appreciate Natasha stage presence and communicative dancing already in 2003, when she was really young). Somova danced Odette-Odile at Coven Garden in 2005 (during that tour, I saw her live for the first time, awfully throwing her legs here and there in a minor role of la Bayadére), but, for example, London Osipova’s clamorous success as Kitri (Clement Crisp article on the occasion is to remember as much as the show itself) was in 2006. Returning to Tamara Rojo’s Juliet, I think that she is great in dramatic roles, giving always a clever, personal and natural portrayal of her characters. She is considered by many people, me included of course, and critics one of the best actresses in ballet nowadays. Her casting in the filmed Romeo and Juliet, that made me happy, could maybe not satisfy everybody, anyway for sure is not as odd as some other more recent decisions of Royal Ballet management… Alina Cojocaru’s last Juliet in 2007-2008 has changed a lot from the first I saw in 2003: the former was absolutely lovely, young and fresh, but the last one is one of most interesting thing I’ve ever seen on stage; a clever and original lecture of the character, that loses nothing in poetry but adds to the tragedy of the two young lovers the modernity of a fight for freedom and independence; she is always referring to God as her only hope and at the end she dies with a smile on her face and a gesture of gratefulness to the sky, turning the climax of the tragedy in a moment of relief and hope in a better future, in another world. I found it amazing and loved it immensely. I could also add that she was able in her second show in La Scala to awaken even Bolle: for the first and so far last time I saw him really present on stage (it was just for five minutes and only in the second of the three shows, but nevertheless it was a sort of unbelievable miracle…).