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Lucky Berkeley!! I think I remember reading the mediocre reviews from last summer's Met engagement re: Korsuntsev. Anyway, I liked his presence the best and if I had to pick a partner to dance with it'd be him. Thanks for posting the Gene Schiavone pics, Natalia & nysusan (and I agree that the one Skorik pic pretty much sums up my feelings towards her as well); he was snapping away behind me during the Kondaurova show on Wednesday. Re: the ending. The feather fight is beyond embarrassing. I took a friend to one show and she asked "am I supposed to take this seriously?" But I guess most productions have embarrassing parts (I'm thinking the Purple Pimp/The Swamp Thing/that damn stuffed swan); it just seems that for something like Swan Lake by the Mariinsky we should expect a little more. edit: She looked incredibly nervous on opening night, I thought. I did feel bad for her and that's not what I want to feel while watching a ballet performance.

Nysusan, yes thanks for reminding me that Skorik/Shkylarov didn't do any of the overhead lifts in the act II pdd. For the diagonal they did a modified arabesque promenade, I think, and for the overhead split lifts immediately before the diagonal they subbed in alternate steps. I wanted to see if Kondaurova or Kolegova did them the same way, but they did them "regularly." I also saw the Saturday matinee with Kolegova and Korsuntsev. I think I've read a lot of criticisms of Danila's acting before but he was practically Daniel Day Lewis in comparison to Ivanchenko and Shkylarov. Lopatkina has clearly trained him well. I too would have preferred to see him with Kondaurova. He seemed the most engaged of all of the dancers onstage, and thoughtfully responded to all of his partners even those he only partnered in big group numbers. He also tried out this new and interesting acting technique where he MADE EYE CONTACT with his partners. Hope the word spreads around that this is something you can do if you want to attempt to relate to other people on stage. I thought his best moment was after the Act III pdd where he pledges his love to Odile: he looked so dumb and happy at knowing he could have her that I actually teared up a little at his crestfallen face afterward. Kolegova was the most remote of the O/Os for me, but I think that was purposeful. She is extremely glamorous (looks like an old movie star with her new dark hair and her big eyes). Her performance was more static than Kondaurova's but not quite the pose-a-thon that was Skorik's. She's clearly a capable and beautiful dancer, but it's hard to follow the memories of Kondaurova from the other night. Kondaurova never stopped moving, and I prefer that to turning the Act II pdd into a bunch of static arabesques and attitudes with no quality of movement in between. I think that Danila must have the strength of several bulls as they slightly flubbed a shoulder sit in Act IV and he just carried her in a semi-sitting/semi-extended position at his chest level across the stage to not mess up the counts. My partnering experience tells me that is not the most fun position in which to hold a lift. Vasily Tkachenko has his best outing as a Jester. He's a great actor and dancer (he didn't have the slight wobbles of the Wed night performance). The audience has loved the Jester at every show. Each performance has been a battle of wills not to laugh at the floppy fish death of Rothbart. Is there not a more dignified way for him to go?

Thanks for confirming who the Desdemona and Emilia roles are in The Moor's Pavane, Marga (as well as for the rest of the report!)

SCFTA has a capacity of around 3,000 seats. That's a lot to fill every night, though one would assume Swan Lake would sell easily. Tier 3 which has been closed off this week has only around 600 seats. In general, ballet never sells out the hall. In general, the hall rarely sells out anything (not even Les Miserables here this summer managed to sell out more than a few nights). For whatever reason the Bolshoi sold out Dorothy Chandler (same-ish capacity) in their run of Swan Lake this summer, though they only had 4 shows. A quick google search tells me the Met has around 3,800 seats and the Koch 1,900 seats for perspective.

SCFTA released a promo for Friday evening's show (Kondaurova). Use the code ENCORE and receive 50% off Orchestra/Tier 1 (B or C pricing) tickets. Online or on the phone. Wish I didn't already have plans!

I believe we had a topic like this last year, keeping track of where our ABT dancers will be guesting this winter when not gracing the BAM stage. I received a brochure from Festival Ballet, who perform at the Irvine Barclay, today: Irina/Max (12/14-16) will be dancing as usual. Misty Copeland was listed on the promo materials I saw last month (and still remains on their website), but now appears to have been replaced by the dynamic duo of Stella Abrera/Sascha Radetsky (12/22-24). (Carla Korbes also dances 12/19-22). Please keep us updated from your neck of the woods!

I don't think we would be seeing much more of Big Red around here if she was attacked by a bat at our theater! I heard several people around me worrying about getting pooped on. For the record, I have been going to SCFTA regularly for many many years and I've never seen any loose animals in the auditorium (aside from when the Lion King comes around!)

Was it a bat or a bird that found its way in?! It was all anyone in my section could focus on during the intermission. I was worried it would be flitting around stage during the final scene, but it conveniently disappeared. I did notice none of the ushers were making a move to do anything about it...nice work, guys.

How disappointing that we in CA are missing Osmolkina's return to O/O!!! I'm thrilled for her though.

Kondaurova was utterly sublime last night . If you do not have a ticket to her other show and you are in the area, RUN to get one immediately. Wow wow wow. Every part of her body was harmonious; she proves how much one can act through the body, that dancers don't need extraneous facial expressions to "act." What's wonderful about her is that her stature/body carriage separates her so much from the rest of the corps, that it becomes impossible to look away from her (why would you want to?) when she arrives onstage. In the third act, she looked like she was having FUN, which is rare to see onstage. Ivanchenko was in good form as well. Siegfried is a thankless role, I think, but he served it well and was an excellent partner to Kondaurova. In the pas de trois, I got a look at the ex-Royal Xander Parish, looking like the Royal should be kicking themselves over losing him (especially considering their male dancer situation). He was much cleaner and more confident than Popov who was on opening night (he looked like he had a bad case of the nerves). Parish does have a tendency to have a bit of a floppy foot though, so hopefully he can tighten that up. Both nights the corps has been outstanding-truly. I think the cygnets were in better form Wed night (fixed the head issues that slightly marred the opening night run); the big swans both nights were dominated by Yulia Stepanova who has such a distinctly grand way of carrying her upper body, making it easy to single her out in the big scenes. Really beautiful--I'd love to see her get a big break. Shirinkina continues to have multiple roles each night--she has a sweet face and a sweet demeanor. Natalia - Shkylarov seemed to have the wrong energy, imo--no melancholy or conflict. Plus no chemistry with Skorik. He was a good enough partner though...she sailed through all the supported pirouettes beautifully (they only flubbed one of the shoulder sits in act IV). Technically, I didn't think he was anything special, and he's looked much better to me in various videos. Maybe jet lag? Both nights have certainly made the unions happy, I'm sure. Opening night we were 25 minutes over the 3 hour mark and last night, 12 minutes. So at least they are tightening it up. The intermissions (and obviously the excessive bowing, which will not be going away) seem to be the culprit.

I don't have much time to write right now, but since I'm sure you are all wondering: no she didn't make it through the fouettes. Not even thinking about that though, she is not the dancer for me. I don't think I saw her facial expression change once throughout the evening, and there was zero chemistry between her and Shklyarov. The audience ate her up though....

But we've had this discussion many times before, no? I'm thinking recently of Veronika Part; even as an ardent fan of hers I am aware going to a performance she may have an off night, technically. But the quality of her dancing/movements, her acting and her presence make me not care if she can or cannot do 32 fouettes perfectly every time; that's not what her performance is about to me (and I assume many others who admire her). I don't think Skorik is in this category (having not seen her perform beyond small clips so far), but I think there will always be exceptions to the rule, of dancers who offer less than technical perfection every time. It's when that magic "something else"/je ne sais quoi is lacking, on top of the problems with technique, that I would begin to have a problem with a dancer.

Congrats to Stepanova...may we see more of her asap!

I read this article a little while ago, and was shocked at the general nonchalance by the Royal towards Sergei's behavior well before he quit. Moreover though, after reading it, I thought that I wouldn't want to dance with him if I was one of the principal women at the RB (so perhaps this was their way of weeding him out??): the frustration of having to deal with his whims would be enough to put me off dancing with him, so it's shocking they were able to get Cojocaru and Rojo to deal with his behavior.

Lovely! Nothing more inspiring than showing up to a class and seeing people continue (or even start, as I recently saw!) to do ballet in their 60s, 70s, 80s.

For Ms. you say say "Mizzz," while Miss gets the sharper "s" (as in snake) sound. At the college where I currently teach, the students of one of my classes insist upon calling me "Miss"--no last name. I keep fighting back the urge to tell them that I am neither a waitress nor a stranger on the street that they are trying to flag down.

They are both jumps on pointe so they do look similar, but having watched Tereshkina just now, she does changements while Novikova does entrechats. Changements simply jump, change, and land, but entrechats (quatre, trois, six, whatever) beat multiple times midair before landing. Novikova does two changements in the middle, which is when you see her fifth position alternate.

Beautiful, wish we were seeing her on tour!

There will be a triple bill with TWO versions of Rite of Spring?

Aurora/nyususan - Yes, I do see where you're coming from absolutely (I've never seen Vasiliev with anyone but Osipova so my experience is more limited) and if Vasiliev turns out to be the soul mate partner for Part, I will be thrilled she found someone to dance with besides Cory (I think it would even be good for him to dance with someone like her-- I find he and Osipova too competitive together). But If anything, Vasiliev is more limited by emploi than Herman--though short, Herman has the lines of a prince, despite his height. Vasiliev is a much rougher dancer, though I am sure we will see him as Siegfried soon, whereas Herman does not dance it ABT. I could be proven totally wrong though!

Regardless of personal opinion on Vasiliev's talents, I think abatt brings up the most important point: his height. Kevin already under utilizes Herman because of how he views his height and the ballerinas available to partner him; I would expect that Vasiliev won't have the same issues from management though....what a shock.

Thank you for posting this, lmspear! A true joy and privilege to watch. I thought the Scherzo is the section that is usually omitted, but added back in by Villella? The Rondo is most well-known part of WS, no?

I would be really surprised if Part/Messmer were not Emilia and Kent/Reyes were not Desdemona...but I guess I could wrong! So the Ratmansky reunites Bolle/Part--great. Nice to see Marian Butler managed to keep her role in Rodeo; I thought for sure Boylston would be up for it. I also thought Boylston would be the partner of choice for Simkin in Stars and Stripes, so it's nice to see Lane get a go there. Really hope the Moor's Pavane (with those casts) makes it out here in July.

More salt in the wounds that we won't see her on the West Coast. I'm thrilled for DC though.

I don't have any issue with Skorik getting one night of SL but three is nuts and a huge stress on any dancer to be honest (3 SL in 6 days??). A company like the Mariinsky (even with pregnancies) should be able to field several principal/first soloist level casts for a tour. It's insane that they have lowered themselves to this position. nysusan: Yes, thanks for the reminder about the opening night sale...And I thought that was the case re: third tier. Third tier never sells out for ballet here.