angelica

I completely agree, Vipa, which raises the issue of whether preference for most, if not all, dancers is a subjective matter of taste, and whether putting the casting in the hands of a single person's taste is unfair to the general public, not to mention the dancers themselves. Thankfully, we have Ratmansky, who, IMHO, has demonstrated a rather broader appreciation of the dancers at ABT than has KM.

SARAAAHHHH! STELLAAAA and SARAAAHHH! Long overdue, but worth waiting for, if it happens. We must pray to Terpsichore.

Thank you, josevich and Helene, for reporting on and linking to that performance!

Is there anyone on this forum who had the good fortune to see Stella Abrera dance the title role in Giselle opposite James Whiteside with Ballet Philippines last night? If ABT doesn't give her this role in the next series of Giselle performances, then I will have to regret the rest of my life that I didn't move heaven and earth (which is what it would have taken me) to see her dance there.

On the home page of the ABT channel, look to the far right under the image from Swan Lake. There's a little grayish box you click to subscribe or unsubscribe. Easy to miss. When you go to YouTube, it usually shows you newly loaded videos from all your subscriptions on the first page. One puzzle: This channel has been on line for three months and I subscribed back then, so I'm not clear on why they are just now sending out a press release. Maybe they wanted to wait until they had several videos to choose from? Thank you, California!

Does anyone know: Is there any way to "subscribe" to this YouTube channel so that you'll receive an email when each new video is posted, or do you have to go to YouTube and put it in the Search box every time?

Picking up on this concept, abatt, I like to say that ballet is sculpture in motion--which puts it squarely in the "art" category.

Thank you, Birdsall. I see on the Mariinsky thread that the company is coming to the US and Canada in 2015, but that they are bringing only Cinderella to NY (the exact dates weren't clear to me). That might be motivation enough for me to go down to the Kennedy Center or up to Canada for performances of other ballets. This board is a terrific resource!

Thank you, Birdsall, for this wonderful information ballet by ballet, which I didn't quote here but I will take to heart and start adding to my DVD collection. It was only with this visit of the Bolshoi that I came to realize the enormous differences between the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky styles, especially the difference in the carriage of the upper body. I definitely prefer the Mariinsky style, which is undoubtedly why Veronika Part is my favorite ballerina at ABT. As I said earlier on this thread, the Bolshoi dancers carry themselves with a more erect torso, like the dancers at POB. The Mariinsky dancers have much more fluidity, which to me allows for more expressivity. You can even see in the YouTube videos of the school how the dancers are trained from an early age to use their upper bodies even in barre exercises, beginning with plies and cambres. Now, with all the switching of companies (Zakharova, Obratzova, Smirnova, et. al.) I wonder whether that will have an effect on stylistic matters. I think David Hallberg would be more suitable for the Mariinsky than the Bolshoi. Of course it was the Bolshoi that invited him to join. I hope the Mariinsky Ballet will be coming to New York soon and will bring some of the great 19th century classics as well as some more contemporary ballets. Now I feel more than ever motivated to attend multiple performances with multiple casts.

I'm pretty dependent on this thing called the interwebs. I don't even know what "interwebs" are. I will google it. Okay, so slang for world wide web or internet. If you got all that from the web, volcanohunter, that's awfully good sleuthing and compilation!

Please pardon my ignorance, but does the Mariinsky Ballet have different (and better) versions of these classics? Yeah, they're available on video ... Thank you canbelto. I'll look them up.

I'm pretty dependent on this thing called the interwebs. I don't even know what "interwebs" are. I will google it.

Please pardon my ignorance, but does the Mariinsky Ballet have different (and better) versions of these classics? By the way, I am amazed at the knowledge of some of the people on this board. I've been following and attending ballet for six decades, and I was in awe when I read volcanohunter's post: "Vinogradova and especially Tikhomirova have appeared with the Bolshoi on the big screen more than once. Tikhomirova was filmed in solo and small ensemble parts in Flames of Paris,Class Concert, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, The Bright Stream, Romeo and Juliet, Spartacus and Marco Spada, and most notably in the Mimi Paul role in 'Emeralds,' in the pas de trois and as the Spanish Bride in Swan Lake, Folie in Coppélia, the Third Odalisque in Le Corsaire, in Raymonda dancing the second variation in Raymonda's dream, as the Lead Sylph in La Sylphide, the Guadalquivir in The Pharaoh's Daughter and the Second Shade in La Bayadère. Vinogradova has appeared as one of Fleur-de-Lys' girlfriends in Esmeralda and the Fisherman's Wife in The Pharaoh's Daugher and also in Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire, La Bayadère, Romeo and Juliet, 'Rubies' and 'Diamonds.'"

I saw Spartacus last night for the first, and probably the last, time. Two words come immediately to mind: testosterone and narcissism. The ballet seemed to me a grand spectacle--a combination of powerful dancing, circus acrobatics, and Broadway kitsch. While admittedly Nikulina has a great deal to develop in the drama department (her grief at the end of the ballet seemed to be made up of choreographed gestures), I seem to be one of the few people on this board who find her dancing beautiful. In my eyes she has perfect proportions and reliable technique, coupled with a gorgeous line, fluidity of movement, and a genuineness that was a strong contrast to the blatant flaunting that characterized Zakharova. For me, the most beautiful sections were the adagios with Nikulina and Lobukhin. I found the choreography stylized and repetitious. I wish I would have counted how many times Aegina stood with her front foot planted on the floor on pointe in front of her with her back leg straightened to show off her long leg with hyperextended knee (I know that that's a virtue in some quarters). It was way too many. I found Lobukhin to be a marvel of both drama and technique. His leaps and turns were phenomenal, his body was gorgeous to watch. The stamina required to dance this ballet from Spartacus down through the corps members was mind-boggling. I sat in the second row of the orchestra and could see the dancers heaving to take in air, but they never did anything less than the maximum, except for the fact of the smaller stage of the Koch Theater, which required them to contain their movements to fit the available space. At one point in the choreography Spartacus took three grand jete leaps in a row across the stage and you could see him holding back in order to keep himself from flying into the wings. Overall, I'm glad I saw this ballet, if only for my education and for its significance as a showpiece of the Bolshoi at a certain time in its history.

A variation on the above theme: Every audience member is unhappy in his/her own way.

I agree, Waelsung, that without Part, ABT is nothing more than a regional company. Unless, of course, they promote Stella Abrera and give her principal roles.

The designs for this ballet are irredeemably ugly, but I've always thought the basic structure of Siegfried's costume was quite flattering on most dancers, with the single color top to bottom and the big inverted triangle on the front of the tunic creating the illusion of broad shoulders and a narrow waist, even when the dancer doesn't actually have them. You may be right, and perhaps the costume actually enhanced his proportions. Whatever the reason, I found his proportions not ideal. This may not matter to some people, but it mattered to me.

now we all better hope they don't try to get her back! That would be a tragedy for those of us in the US who adore her. I must say that among her many accomplishments, for me she is still the world's reigning Swan Queen.

The Mariinsky Ballet administrators will weep when they see what they lost in Veronika Part.

I agree, abatt, about Nina Ananiashvili, who has always been one of my most favorite ballerinas, and who does, indeed, have upper body fluidity. I was therefore particularly struck by the absence of upper body fluidity in the dancers last night. I don't know to what to attribute that, but it was very obvious to me.

I, too, saw last night's production with Nikulina and Ovcharenko and agree with much of what was said above. However, my own thoughts conflict with one another--some things good, some things egregious. The opening oboe solo boded well for the orchestra, and in fact I felt that the orchestra played extremely well throughout, especially compared with ABT's inconsistent orchestra. I was initially impressed with Ovcharenko's beautiful line and clean technique, but became distracted by his coiffure (to make him appear taller?) and what seemed like emotional immaturity. Basically, he looks like a kid, and lacks an onstage intensity that would have given dimension to his performance. On the other hand, his choreography seemed to be so repetitious--same old jumps, same old turns--that his role became less and less important as the ballet went on. His renverses, on the other hand, showed him to be a dancer with promise, and perhaps with more years behind him he will develop into a dancer with more weight, metaphorically speaking. Although he doesn't have ideal ballet proportions, I don't think the costume did him justice either, lengthening his torso and shortening his legs. Nikulina, petite though she may be, uses every inch of her body--torso, arms, legs--to its fullest extent. I found her breathtakingly beautiful as Odette, although her undulating arms could have been a bit less extreme and more gently nuanced. Her strong technique served her well as Odile, however I missed the gorgeous eyes-flashing, seductively evil smile of Veronika Part in that role. Drama is not, apparently, Nikulina's forte, but I found her dancing so exquisite, clean, precise, and secure, as to compensate. I so much wish the Bolshoi would get rid of that jester, who keeps showing up where he isn't wanted, annoying like a gnat. At first I was glad to see that the costumes for the corps in Act I allowed you to actually see their legs and feet, unlike the enormous heavy costumes at ABT, which should have been retired many years ago. But as others have said above, the dancing for the corps, both in Act I and in the national dances, was so repetitious that I found myself wishing for the character dances of ABT, which have never been a favorite of mine. As for the curtain calls, yes, there were way too many, and I was shocked to see them at the end of Act I, which completely broke the already minimally portrayed story line. As the Bolshoi presents it, this ballet does not create a story line, you have to know the story in advance to know what's going on. What struck me most about this performance is that the Bolshoi dancers seem to carry themselves more like the Paris Opera Ballet dancers, with erect torsos, rather than the Vaganova-trained /Mariinsky dancers, with their upper body fluidity. Think Diana Vishneva and Veronika Part. I love that upper-body fluidity and missed it last night. This must be simply a difference in style and taste, but suffice it to say that I'm glad I got only one ticket for the Bolshoi's Swan Lake. I'll be especially interested to hear about Smirnova's performance in this role.

Thank you, Bingham. I suppose that they don't actually cast the ballets until they see the dancers in rehearsal for them. Makes sense, I guess, although they cast the spring season many months in advance, I guess to sell subscriptions.

Does anyone know when the casting will be announced?

What a great contribution, FauxPas. Although I agree with almost everything you say, I would ask please that we not write off Stella Abrera so quickly. She is such an astonishingly gorgeous dancer, perhaps with some real movement out of the female principal rank she may still get her chance, if not a promotion, at the very least some leading roles of which she is so deserving. I would attend every performance in which she is the lead dancer. I also think that James Whiteside is so inferior a dancer compared with his peers of principals, that ABT had to really try hard to find someone so undeserving. Thomas Forster, Eric Tamm, JARED MATTHEWS, SASCHA RADESTSKY, and now Calvin Royal--McKenzie should have held on a little longer and not brought Whiteside in. He lowers the standard of the company.

I would definitely second that if it weren't for a huge chance that he might be replaced by Ratmansky. I don't think Ratmansky has any interest in being an AD (he's been there, done that). On the other hand, at Sacha's farewell, Ethan was schmoozing with everyone. If anyone else is going after the ABT AD job, I'll bet it's him. But I'm totally fine with that. I would like nothing more than to see Ethan at the artistic helm of ABT. I'd renew my membership in a heartbeat.