Gedeminas Taranda

[Helene]

When deepdiscountdvd had it's recent sale, I remembered that Gedeminas Taranda was praised on several threads in the past couple of years. I bought the Bolshoi and Kirov versions of Raymonda, both with Taranda as Abderakham.

I've only been able to watch the Bolshoi version since the DVD's arrived, but I was simply blown away by Taranda, both as a dancer and actor, especially in the way he made a flesh-and-blood character out of a role that could easily become a very bad caricature.

[Alexandra]

I only saw Taranda on stage in "Raymonda" and in "Giselle" (both as Hilarion and Courland. He was adequate -- for him; 20 times better than ordinary mortals -- as Hilarion, and over-the-top tremendous as Courland. He did Courland as a provincial Henry VIII. I loved his Abderakhan as well. One of the things I find distressing about watching performances of companies in whose cities I do not live, is that, grateful as I am to have a glimpse of the Tarandas of the world, I seethe when I think of people who have seen them every week, for a whole career

[DancingPixie]

I've only seen him in the Kirov version of Roymonda and I must agree that he is completely wonderful

[mohnurka]

Kirov version of Raymonda? On video? Where?

[Helene]

I am so sorry -- both DVD's I bought were Bolshoi. The one I haven't seen yet is with Bessmertnova, Vasyuchenko, and Taranda. The Kirov disk is Don Q.

[mohnurka]

Thanks for the clarification; I did see two Bolshoi Raymonda DVDs .