Mariinsky Ballet China tour 2018

[Xiaoyi]

Swan Lake, Nanjing

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzI3NDY4NTM3Ng==&mid=2247484969&idx=1&sn=9e8e04ff3670d05b934fa127db8ffe05&chksm=eb110a86dc66839047ccdc8b1f611a0d5632de05aab92b37caeb32cf24704db05d72785ff4d7&mpshare=1&scene=1&srcid=1114Nj3i9danYkMXrs3xlyGm&pass_ticket=4XrR3PQN3xiRPAGPTVBWPBbXOuHB2FatOY9tdNd%2FMzhKBq5I5qlA4WbHMaY7xEfu#rd

2018.11.22[Thu.] 19:30 
Yekaterina Chebykina, Timur Askerov, Konstantin Zverev (as Rothbart), Nadezhda Gonchar, Elena Yevseyeva, Philipp Stepin (as Prince's friends) (The following cast in the same sequence)

2018.11.23[Fri.] 19:30
Anastasia Kolegova, Yevgeny Ivanchenko, Andrei Yermakov, Maria Khoreva, Anastasia Nikitina, David Zaleyev

2018.11.24[Sat.] 14:30
Yekaterina Chebykina, Timur Askerov, Ivan Oskorbin, Nadezhda Gonchar, Elena Yevseyeva, Philipp Stepin

2018.11.24[Sat.] 19:30
Yekaterina Osmolkina, Kimin Kim, Konstantin Zverev, Maria Khoreva, Anastasia Nikitina, David Zaleyev

2018.11.25[Sun.] 19:30
Anastasia Kolegova, Yevgeny Ivanchenko, Ivan Oskorbin, Nadezhda Gonchar, Elena Yevseyeva, David Zaleyev

 

Swan Lake, Tianjin

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzU1MTQ5Mzk2MA==&mid=2247496542&idx=1&sn=f91fd8668e8e9d95fda42bd8e04bd7c2&chksm=fb923b79cce5b26fd9ddaf1482673300970ce88e601cd2c97f99e59f6b773f16b445e5c14b25&mpshare=1&scene=1&srcid=1114ipmZ4AbNMHopsIDh5JRA&pass_ticket=4XrR3PQN3xiRPAGPTVBWPBbXOuHB2FatOY9tdNd%2FMzhKBq5I5qlA4WbHMaY7xEfu#rd

2018.12.12[Wed.] 19:00 
Nadezhda Batoeva, Vladimir Shklyarov, Konstantin Zverev, Renata Sharkirova, May Nagahisa, Philipp Stepin

2018.12.13[Thu.] 19:00 
Ekaterina Kondaurova, Timur Askerov, Roman Belyakov, Maria Khoreva, Shamala Guseinova, David Zaleyev

2018.12.14[Fri.] 19:00
Ekaterina Osmolkina, Xander Parish, Konstantin Zverev, Yana Selina, May Nagahisa, Philipp Stepin

 

It was rumor that Balanchine Gala (Prodigal Son. Symphony in C) would also come to China with the sales-promising Swan Lake. But it was declined by the conservative theaters : (

Edited November 15, 2018 by Xiaoyi

[Drew]

That's a shame about losing the Balanchine gala--and Prodigal Son and Symphony in C is not exactly wildly avant-garde programming!  But you certainly will get a chance to see a number of terrific dancers in Swan Lake. (From the casts you list, I would particularly love to see Osmolkina in Swan Lake myself.)

If you are able to see any of these performances, then it would be great to read your impressions.

[Xiaoyi]

I've bought a few tickets, and would love to post my humble opinions. Figure crossed that the cast will stay unchanged for the real performances.

[Helene]

I'm looking forward to reading your impressions!

[Xiaoyi]

2018.11.24(eve)  Swan Lake - Osmolkina/Parish/Zverev/Khoreva/Nikitina/Stepin

I went to Nanjing simply for Osmolkina, after her 11 years’ absence from Chinese stages. (So the change from Kim to Parish didn't hurt me so much.) I had watched her videos of Black Swan pdd and White Adagio from Youtube. She exceeded my expectation in this performance. Her Odette was melancholic and sentimental, a beautiful swan queen under the veil of depression. Her fragility and innocence was obvious when she bowed to Rothbart. And she told her story to the Prince with sad eye contact and leaned on his arms with attachment. Her famous musicality and upper body were there as always. And I could see that her arms as Odette got better with more performances and retouch in the past two seasons. (Two minor complaints about the technique, Pas de bourrée not delicate enough during the entrance and the turns getting more slowly instead of speeding up during the variation.)

IMHO, her Odile was more impressive and stunning than Odette (You can watch the video from russianballetvideos2). Her entrance and the perfect attitude pose caught my breath immediately. During the pdd, She had got an evil grin facing the audience. And when she turned to the Prince and other characters on stage, she was aggressive and flamboyant, attracting everyone's attention like a super gorgeous princess from a neighbor country. Some of her facial expressions reminded me of Anna Tikhomirova, but in a more elegant way. Some friends complained that Osmolkina's interpretation was too gentle, but I thought this was reasonable. Why would the Prince propose to an obvious devil?

Her foettes were well done, although all in singles. The shaft was stable with the leg up high and she matched beats beautifully. (You cannot demand Osmolkina to perform foettes like Tereshkina anyway.) Chinese audience loved the foettes. So Osmolkina sent us a charming air kiss during the bow in applause.

In Act 4, Odette refused to make eye contact with the Prince in the adagio out of disappointment, Her solo moving backwards on one leg was so light and ethereal, as if the swan is trying to fly away. When Odette was put on the floor before the final fight, her arm slid gently in front of the Prince's arm, reminding me of the farewell photos in World War II. (The performance will be better with a tragic ending.)

 

I have to praise Parish a bit, although I dislike him overall. His technique and acting improved considerably from Stepanova's debut. The variation of the black swan pdd was light and well-stretched with elegant pose. His partnering was tolerable and even good in Act 4. He was quite devoted to his acting, maybe a bit over acting. The eagerness to find Odette from the swans, the longing for his beloved when dancing with the bride candidates, the doubt of Odile and the regret after being cheated were quite believable. I will not ask too much of him about the neat footwork and musicality. (The little solo by Parish in Act 1 was miserable with no connection to the music.) Anyway, he's done his best. And I've got to tolerate him considering he is the partner for a few great ballerinas.

 

Zverev's Rothbart was almost invisible in my eyes, fading into the dark background. He was light, but not strong and sharp enough. His stage presence was weak IMHO. (He shares some secondary male roles with Smekalov, but with totally different acting quality.)

 

Pas de trois by Khoreva/Nikitina/Stepin was average, not the best they can do. Khoreva has great clean footwork and Nikitina has great upper body. (Nikitina was also the Big Swan in Act 4. She was very beautiful. I can almost imagine her as Odette.) Stepin looked a bit tired and was heavy in his jumping. (He performed 4 out of 5 Swan Lakes in Nanjing, due to Zaleyev's injury.)

 

The Hungarian Dance was especially good with Alina Kraskovskaya and Maxim Zenin, with a sense of nobility.

(Written in Chinese and translated into English. Please forgive my mistakes in wording.)

 

Some photos from curtain call:

Edited November 26, 2018 by Xiaoyi

[Drew]

Thank you for the review and wonderful photos!

[Birdsall]

If the turns that slow down instead of speeding up that you mention were assisted turns (with Parish assisting with finger turns or paddle turns) then the fault is probably Parish. He is notorious for slowing down ballerinas during turns. He's gotten better, but it used to be the second he put his hands on the ballerina she would almost come to a complete stop and occasionally looked like he knocked her off balance. I have seen him doing better recently, but he's still not great at helping the ballerina. 

[Xiaoyi]

1 hour ago, Birdsall said:

If the turns that slow down instead of speeding up that you mention were assisted turns (with Parish assisting with finger turns or paddle turns) then the fault is probably Parish. He is notorious for slowing down ballerinas during turns. He's gotten better, but it used to be the second he put his hands on the ballerina she would almost come to a complete stop and occasionally looked like he knocked her off balance. I have seen him doing better recently, but he's still not great at helping the ballerina. 

The slow down that I mentioned was the end of Odette's variation when she makes turns in diagonal direction swapping her wings. From 1'50'' in this Zakharova's video:

https://youtu.be/cpsk0GPEI1U

So it had nothing to do with Parish. Parish's assisting turns got better and tolerable now. It didn't look easy and fluid, but at least he didn't slow down the ballerina or knock her off balance this time. 

Edited November 27, 2018 by Xiaoyi

[Birdsall]

Okay, I am glad to hear that he didn't cause it. 

[Xiaoyi]

2018.12.14  Swan Lake - Osmolkina/Parish/Belyakov/Selina/Nagahisa/Stepin

How lucky and privileged I was to watch Ekaterina Osmolkina’s Swan Lake twice in a month. A rare pleasure, even for the audience in St. Petersburg.

Affecting Odette and enchanting Odile. Act II was better than the performance in Nanjing. The entrance of Odette took my breath away with fluid arms, great back flexibility and musicality. The white adagio moved me to tears, as her arms were conveying sadness and love with the violin. (A friend told me she was also crying in the other corner of the theater.) I wanted time to stop when I was watching this part. There was a little bit of stumbling at the end of the Odette’s variation, but it didn’t hurt the performance.

Osmolkina presented a strong fear of destiny and broken heart after betrayal in the duet in Act IV. I also love the part when Odette was fighting Rothbart with the Prince. Although she looked so fragile as a fallen leaf swirling in the wind, she held herself together until the last minute with facial expression showing the inner force of Odette.

Her Odile was also great. I won’t go into details since it was written last time.

Parish’s partnering was OK, but not so good as Askerov. It was obvious in the lifts in white adagio.

 

For pas de trois, Stepin was in better shape than Nanjing with regal presence and stable technique. I hope that I can watch him as the Prince some day.

I had some doubt about May Nagahisa's proportion and arms when watching the videos before. But I became a little fan of her after this performance. Her pointe technique was stunning, best of the new generation. Her stage presence was fresh with good musicality and light arms. Selina looked average compared to Nagahisa.

 

The character dances were amazing too. I love Hungarian Dance the most. Yernikeyev showed a strong and dramatic stage presence in it.

Nedviga is always a delightful character dancer. He danced the Neapolitan part as in 2013 recording.

Gavriel Heine conducted better than Repnikov with more attention to the dancers. The atmosphere of character dances was more fervent under his baton.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Xiaoyi

[Drew]

How wonderful that you got to see Osmolkina twice--it's always fascinating to see how different performances, even by the same cast, sound different "notes" so to speak. (And thanks again for the photos.)

Edited December 22, 2018 by Drew

[Xiaoyi]

2018.12.13  Swan Lake - Kondaurova/Askerov/Belyakov/Khoreva/Guseinova/Beishenaliev

Kondaurova and Askerov starred in Mariinsky’s Swan Lake recording in 2013 which I guess everyone in this forum has watched. I went through the recording again before the performance so as to detect the possible difference in acting. But I didn’t notice much, except the reduced difficulty in Odile’s variation and foette.

Compared to Osmolkina’s version under the veil of depression or a blue-green vintage filter, Kondaurova’s Odette was more human and lively. A very different interpretation, but it still made sense with Kondaurova’s personal quality.

Kondaurova had perfect muscular arms like wings of a swan, and this gave her a strong stage presence. Her acting was mostly delicate and designed in detail. She looked at the water mirror and shook her head as if a girl was appreciating and decorating herself during Odette’s entrance. Her arms brushed with the Prince’s arms before lying on the ground at the beginning of white adagio, showing affection and linking the dance together.

The white adagio itself did not impress me so much. (Maybe because the recording took the feeling of freshness away.) It looked like the prince was chasing a shy maiden hidden away from people, instead of fighting the destiny with her. Kondaurova’s back flexibility is not so good as Osmolkina. So her attitude and lying back pose in the Prince’s arm were not so soft.

Odette’s variation was great with meaning in every string of dance steps. The first half told her sad story, and the second half showed her love for the prince and doubt about the future. Her speed of moving and turning responded perfectly to the music.

The goodbye kiss with the Prince connecting a speedy turn was very touching. However, after the Prince made the vow, Kondaurova didn’t show surprise and took it for granted, which made me felt weird.

Kondaurova’s Odile was more charming than evil, like a playful courtesan. She also teased the audience when she was trying to attract the Prince. As a tall ballerina, she performed the technique very well and stably. I liked her single foettes as her double turns looked too slow and forced in the recording.

Odette was sad at the beginning of Act IV, as if her feet were trembling with the music. But she was a bit blank in the duet, with little anger or blame to the Prince. However, I forgot the doubt of her acting when I saw a gorgeous queen up in the air. She looked so strong and divine that the triumph over Rothbart made sense.

 

I’m not a fan of Askerov, but I have to admit was dependable as a partner and impressive in Prince’s variation in Act III (one of the variations he prepared for Moscow Ballet Competition). He acted according to the Mariinsky’s tradition, and gave enough response to Kondaurova’s acting. I cannot ask for more.

Zverev had a back problem and flew back to Russia after Japan tour. So Belyakov danced Rothbart in all 3 performances in Tianjin. He was quite weak in technique, and wasn’t giving 100% maybe due to the tiredness. The jumps had no height or aggressive power. And the struggle before death in Act IV looked so fake.

Shumakov’s Joker was brilliant, full of energy and wit. For the first time, I noticed so many acting details of Joker, with the tutor at the queen’s arrival in Act I and behind the bride candidates in Act III. Then I found that these details are set and Beishenaliev from the other performance did that too. However, Shumakov made them look spontaneous and authentic.

I liked Guseinova in pas de trois. She presented a graceful young lady with good musicality. Khoreva was beautiful and great in technique, but she was too eager to show off and please the audience with a fake smile. She performed as if she was in a competition. Beishenaliev was tense too, but it was understandable considering that this is his first few shows as the friend of prince, replacing injured Zaleyev.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Xiaoyi