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Skorik


Birdsall

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If the acid attack on Sergei Filin, is the greatest crime in ballet history, the 2nd greatest crime is the insane casting of Skorik in major roles. Skorik has been highly criticized by many ballet lovers for her incompetent ballet technique, her horrible Mariinsky style arms and upper body, her total lack of any stage presence, no acting ability, no flow of movements, a complete impostor of a ballerina , a true disgrace to the Mariinsky name and an insult to all ballet lovers, who should be seeing great ballerinas, like Stepanova and constantly get Miserable Skorik shoved down their throat, and she constantly dances opening nights when the best should perform, not ballerinas who are worse than the worst corps de ballet girl.

Sounds like you are very passionate about this topic - I can understand that! Especially having seen Stepanova right after Skorik. This experience will definitely make me follow the casting announcements much more closely and do more research before booking any tickets - especially that I was planning a trip to Moscow to catch a few Bolshoi performances. I have a lot of reading and learning to do...

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As you can see, NATinCPH, Skorik's career and dancing has a polarizing effect on the ballet community. Some agree with you; others find virtues in her dancing. She's a ballet dancer whose management has cast her prominently in the greatest roles. She is not responsible for global warming or the demise of the art form.

Absolutely. I was just describing my impressions and disappointment from a personal point of view, not trying to demonise her or assign blame. I hope I did not come across this way and/or go against forum rules (?).

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If the acid attack on Sergei Filin, is the greatest crime in ballet history, the 2nd greatest crime is the insane casting of Skorik in major roles. Skorik has been highly criticized by many ballet lovers for her incompetent ballet technique, her horrible Mariinsky style arms and upper body, her total lack of any stage presence, no acting ability, no flow of movements, a complete impostor of a ballerina , a true disgrace to the Mariinsky name and an insult to all ballet lovers, who should be seeing great ballerinas, like Stepanova and constantly get Miserable Skorik shoved down their throat, and she constantly dances opening nights when the best should perform, not ballerinas who are worse than the worst corps de ballet girl.

Sounds like you are very passionate about this topic - I can understand that! Especially having seen Stepanova right after Skorik. This experience will definitely make me follow the casting announcements much more closely and do more research before booking any tickets - especially that I was planning a trip to Moscow to catch a few Bolshoi performances. I have a lot of reading and learning to do...

Everyone has different tastes, but I have very strong opinions on what I look for in dancers and particularly with the Mariinsky, I am familiar with all their dancers and would gladly give you my opinion on every Mariinsky dancer. I am familiar with some of the Bolshoi dancers, but most of my knowledge applies to their stars with some knowledge on lesser dancers.. Anyway, I would be happy to give my recommendations and why, plus you can research on your own, various dancers.

Casting is very important because some dancers do not deserve their roles and others are more suited for certain roles, while some are great in every role.

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As you can see, NATinCPH, Skorik's career and dancing has a polarizing effect on the ballet community. Some agree with you; others find virtues in her dancing. She's a ballet dancer whose management has cast her prominently in the greatest roles. She is not responsible for global warming or the demise of the art form.

Absolutely. I was just describing my impressions and disappointment from a personal point of view, not trying to demonise her or assign blame. I hope I did not come across this way and/or go against forum rules (?).

You did not at all. You expressed your opinion, and your disappointment about that performance is completely valid to express here. It's always a privilege when a major company visits, but in return for the respect we give the companies, we expect a minimum standard, and, to an extent, to not have to worry about who is cast. Sadly, our expectations aren't always met, especially when a dancer proves to be polarizing (or, at the other end of the spectrum, relatively dull).

I hope you will tell us about what you see in Moscow. (If you're an opera fan, too, and get to see one while you are there, we'd love to hear about it in our "Other Performing Arts" forum.

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You did not at all. You expressed your opinion, and your disappointment about that performance is completely valid to express here. It's always a privilege when a major company visits, but in return for the respect we give the companies, we expect a minimum standard, and, to an extent, to not have to worry about who is cast. Sadly, our expectations aren't always met, especially when a dancer proves to be polarizing (or, at the other end of the spectrum, relatively dull).

I hope you will tell us about what you see in Moscow. (If you're an opera fan, too, and get to see one while you are there, we'd love to hear about it in our "Other Performing Arts" forum.

Great to hear, I was not sure how to interpret your answer for a moment;-).

I will report from Moscow - no opera feedback from me though, sorry! Once again, happy to have found such an amazing collection of resources and ballet fans.

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Oh I know. I threw myself into ballet with checking out one performance and then securing tickets for all other performances of the season (and doing the same for the current one). There are definitely ballets that do not speak to me, but as I want to explore, I just accept it as a learning curve. There is always something beautiful and touching to appreciate, or at least I try to find it. Thank you, tamicutethanks.GIF

Going to see Napoli today (this season's premiere) with Alban Lendorf as Gennaro - can't wait!

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Oh I know. I threw myself into ballet with checking out one performance and then securing tickets for all other performances of the season (and doing the same for the current one). There are definitely ballets that do not speak to me, but as I want to explore, I just accept it as a learning curve. There is always something beautiful and touching to appreciate, or at least I try to find it. Thank you, tamicutethanks.GIF

Going to see Napoli today (this season's premiere) with Alban Lendorf as Gennaro - can't wait!

You will love Napoli.

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Thanks, Plisskin.


This is a great chance to see Oxana Skorik and Alina Somova together. For me, they have many remarkable parallels that can be studied and enjoyed here.


After one viewing, Oxana Skorik's solo (at 35:00) is very compelling. For one thing, it shows in a very subtle way, her power and multi-dimensionality of portrayal. Again she goes deep inside herself and gives us something fascinating and completely her own. She reminds me of Veronika Part (ABT, formerly Mariinsky) is her ability to do this. Later in the video Alina Somova displays a similar depth and dimension.


Their dancing is extremely fine. In one instance, Oxana Skorik just floats. Alina Somova puts her well known flexibility to use in such a poetically restrained and artistically beautiful manner. I look forward to watching all this more carefully.


Having never seen this work before, after one complete viewing of the video, I have lots of thoughts. There is depth, invention and beauty with enough room for personal interpretation to make it something that I would like to become more familiar with.
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A few more thoughts about the Legend of Love video posted above.


Oxana Skorik


Subtlety


This is what I'm noticing more and more about Oxana Skorik. I've seen her perform with mind boggling bursts of expression. Now she is more quiet, more refined, perhaps the difference between Mozart (refined) and Bach (powerful). The depth, power, and range of interest are there, but they're tempered with sensitive intricacies of feeling.


Naturalness


This is also becoming more apparent in her expression and portrayal. She seems to be living her character. In doing so she knowingly fine tunes her emotions, thus the subtlety. She is real. Her dance extends and is integral with this. In this respect she looks comfortable and at home.

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The only obvious trait of Skorik is that she is the most puzzling enigma in Russian ballet history. Why has this no talent ballerina been made a star? Skorik was star of the movie, "A Beautiful Tragedy", but Skorik clearly is the Tragedy of Mariinsky Ballet, a disgrace to the name Mariinsky.

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There's no puzzle. It is as simple as being in the right place at the right time favored by the right people. It is just very sad that a whole company is being discredited by such actions...

Unfortunately, you are correct that it is entirely due to being wrongly favored by someone high up.

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Pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if the Acting AD started to feature her in solo parts, and when criticized, thought he had to prove everyone wrong by pushing her even further. Maybe with the right match for a coach, she could develop, in the same way that Somova has developed.

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It is his job and his right, given, to do as he pleases, but...history-(and not only ballet's)-is full of case scenarios where "rightful" decision were-(are)-endlessly questioned when outcomes are just too much to witness or accept. Given, Skorik is dancing right now all she wants under her powerful tutelage, but given also that this is being exposed to the whole world as the decline of the company. It is not a win-win situation. Both Skorik and Fateev are destroying a legendary symbol. And yes...this is all "legal".

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I don't think there are more than a handful of AD's around whose judgement isn't scrutinized and disparaged. The question was why Skorik is cast. The answer is that the person in charge of determining what is presented to the public has cast her. She also had the luck to be in the right place at a time when several of the ballerinas with the company were on maternity leave. I also thing that AD's like to promote young dancers for whom they can take credit.

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Definitely, Helene. I have witnessed in this very forum disagreements about Martins's tenure, or Hubbe... and Alonso was legendary for decades at stopping ballerinas to be rightfully promoted, but...this worldly exposure of Skorik's badness I think is a very isolated case. I don't think such thing has happened before to such extent AND in such iconic territory AND with such ample exposure. I mean...how many videos of a Prima of any company-(past or present)- focusing on her lack of technique are floating around the net...? And if there's the argument of Youtube being just a recent fixture...how many cases ballerinas, past or present, can have any similarity to what's going on with Skorik in terms of audience's public uproar..?

I do believe that, even if AD's being questioned is an old thing, Skorik's case scenario is the first of such.

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I think Somova was the first, and she was pushed by Fateev's predecessor, Makhar Vaziev, who was attempting to follow a misunderstanding of a "Western" aesthetic. (If he thought it would appeal to the West during a time when there was no money and constant touring, he was mistaken: the West wants to see the "same-old" from the Mariinsky.)

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Somova had some big technical weaknesses when she started, like her feet and losing alignment in her big side extensions. Having seen her at City Center in 2008 in "Ballet Imperial," from an interpretive standpoint, she did some lovely, lyrical work in this neoclassical piece and had a strong start, but then she got a dear-in-the-headlights look mid-way through, as if she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with it.

Over time, Skorik might get stronger. Of course it's ideal when a dancer is allowed to move up the ranks from strength to strength, and, if given a stretch role, is within reach of it.

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