Mariinsky 2020-2021 Season

[Helene]

I hope he recovers well and fully.

[Buddy]

Maria Iliushkina

Well she's done it again -- La Bayadère ((Mariinsky Primorsky Stage at Vladivostok)

Also Alexey Timofeev (good to hear) and Victor Caixeta debuted as Solor.

"Congratulations to the soloists of the Mariinsky Theater who made their debut in the ballet La Bayadère on the Primorsky Stage! On May 29, Alexey Timofeev⭐️ performed the part of Solor for the first time, and on May 30, Nikiya and Solor were danced by Maria Iliushkina⭐️ and Victor Caixeta⭐️
⠀
Tomorrow the duo will perform the pas de deux from the third act of the legendary oriental ballet Petipa in St. Petersburg, on the stage of the Mariinsky II. Alexei Timofeev will also take part in the ballet evening, as Torero in Alonso's Carmen Suite.'

https://www.facebook.com/mariinsky.theatre/posts/10159814014985798
(Thanks again to  Sophia at Dansomanie)

[ECat]

Thank you for the update on David Zaleev!  This is fantastic news and I wish him a full recovery and many years of ballet ahead.

[Buddy]

5 minutes ago, ECat said:

Thank you for the update on David Zaleev!  This is fantastic news and I wish him a full recovery and many years of ballet ahead.

You're very welcome, ECat. Check the previous post that I just made.

[Buddy]

There are video clips of Maria Khoreva's recent Giselle and Maria Iliushkina's recent debuts in La Bayadere  (Mariinsky Primorsky Stage at Vladivostok and excerpt at the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg). Maria Khoreva is a very high quality artist, especially for her age, and her balance of this with her youthfulness works very well for me. A major quality, for me, is that she always gives more than expected.

Her's and Maria Iliushkina's careers are somewhat paralleling each other at the moment. Maria Iliushkina is similarly fine, showing more outward sweetness, but with very fine ability and inner resolve. In her most recent gala duet from La Bayadere they've given her more eye makeup to appear more mature. I think that it works from a distance and is something that they can experiment with. I think that it looks rather cute, actually, because her sweetness still sneaks through. I feel that this balancing of youthfulness with artistic maturity works well for both of them.

Xander Parish partnered Maria Khoreva in Giselle. He's a very handsome and fine dancer. His sense of theater is also quite good. I still somehow attribute this to England's well recognised theatrical tradition. The challenge is not to overwhelm the beauty of the ballerina. He's also quite versatile. At the last complete Mariinsky Festival, two years ago, he was given, by far, the most, different performances. This might be the result of not having trained within the Vaganova perspective, where the main focus is producing many of the most gracefully beautiful dancers in the world. I have no complaints about that.

Victor Caixeta also seems very good as Maria Iliushkina's partner.

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by Buddy

[Buddy]

Here’s a video of Maria Iliushkina performing Giselle over a year ago. It’s a video clip that I’ll post because it’s from the producer. It’s the first time that I saw her do a major role and I think that she was as beautiful then as ever.

Also, in the recent performances that I mentioned in my previous post, I think that she and Maria Khoreva are, once again, as lovely as I’ve ever seen them.

 

[ECat]

19 hours ago, Buddy said:

Her's and Maria Iliushkina's careers are somewhat paralleling each other at the moment. Maria Iliushkina is similarly fine, showing more outward sweetness, but with very fine ability and inner resolve. In her most recent gala duet from La Bayadere they've given her more eye makeup to appear more mature. I think that it works from a distance and is something that they can experiment with. I think that it looks rather cute, actually, because her sweetness still sneaks through. I feel that this balancing of youthfulness with artistic maturity works well for both of them.

 

I cannot agree with you more about the heavier make-up for Iliushkina.  It was beautiful and elegant, yet still allowed her innocence to shine through.  I would like to see her as Juliet.

[canbelto]

Congratulations Olesya Novikova for being named Principal!

[Drew]

Congratulations from me as well to Novikova—

[ECat]

WOW!!!!!  That is fantastic news!!!  Very well deserved.  Congratulations!

 

[Buddy]

Over the years I've viewed her as a very lovely person, touchingly committed and very talented. Congratulations, Olesya Novikova.

[tutu]

Fantastic, long-awaited news!

[naomikage]

And May Nagahisa has been promoted to First Soloist.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQaqVSMjnnS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

[Buddy]

This is a nice almost thirty minute video of Nadezhda Batoeva and Vladimir Shklyarov rehearsing Act I of Don Quixote. 

"They are coached by Galina Petrovna Kekisheva — a real bearer of the St. Petersburg ballet tradition, a graduate of the class of Agrippina Vaganova, in 1948–1971 a soloist with the Leningrad State Academic Kirov Theatre of Opera and Ballet."

It's a finished rehearsal that moves along with very few double takes. Both dancers are charming, Nadezhda Batoeva, especially. It's also an act where dancers that I never thought could be like that, the Kitris in particular, really come alive as comic actors. 

One of the first things that I noticed is how not tired Nadezhda Batoeva and Vladimir Shklyarov are in this highly energetic part of the ballet.  

A lot is filmed from the side so that you get an unusual and very interesting new perspective.

Galina Petrovna Kekisheva is one of those 'coaches' that I see year after year sitting modestly but elegantly in the box next to the stage. I'm never sure who most of them are, but they are a very lovely and apparently extremely capable group of individuals. Here you can see her gentle but highly accomplished and sensitive manner. It's something that's nice to observe. 

I'll also make a comment not related to this video that I feel sometimes compelled to. There are a handful of highly talented female artists that I've seen in different companies whom because of their extreme thinness I'm unable to to watch comfortably and because of that, as talented as they are (or were), I don't comment on. I'd wish that their physical state would be noted and improved so that I, for one, can give them the recognition that they deserve in my posts.

I hope that you enjoy this video. With so little live performing still available this is sort of nice.

(Posted by the Mariinsky and thanks to Sophia at Dansomanie)

 

 

 

 

[duffster]

How delightful to watch this rehearsal.  Thank you Buddy for posting. I enjoyed the couples absolute ease in approaching the demanding sections- with no strain, gorgeous lines. (Vaganova). How fortunate to be coached by the elegant and calm Kekisheva. I remember having an old program, from theKirov, now Marinsky, when they came to tour in the US, and she was pictured in a photo of The White Cat (in the Sleeping Beauty) -Gorgeous legs , beautiful jump and an absolutely charming face. Strange today how I still remember it. It was my first ever ballet performance that my mother took me to see. I held on to that souvenir program until it was in shreds.

[Drew]

I enjoyed this rehearsal too...and thanks @naomikagefor posting about May Nagahisa's promotion. I remember her dancing an especially effective 3rd shade in Bayadere at Kennedy Center a few seasons back. Congratulations to her--

[ECat]

I want to wish a huge congratulations to May Nagahisa as well as Olesya Novikova.  Novikova's promotion was long overdue and very much deserved.  When I saw the Mariinsky perform La Bayadere in DC a few years ago, Nagahisa was still listed an apprentice and was one of the 3 shades.  She blew me away.  Rock-solid technique and a beautiful stage presence.   Then I saw her again in the pas de trios from Emeralds in LA and again, she stood out.  She has definitely got something special.

Batoeva is another special dancer.  She was Gamzatti in DC and almost stole the show.  She and Filip Steppin (who needs to be principal) performed the pas de deus in Rubies.  WOW!  They had such wonderful chemistry and were outstanding.

[Meow]

I remember Batoeva's Gamzatti in DC; it really was a highlight for me, and my mom who was with me and is not really a ballet fan.

[Drew]

Batoeva’s Gulnare in D.C. was pitch perfect. More than that, she looked like a ballerina and effortlessly (or seemingly effortlessly) drew one’s eye. Just a few months later dancing the lead in Paquita, also in D.C., her dancing was excellent, but .... she looked like a soloist. It may have been an off night but it was disappointing to see her have such a pallid outing when she was dancing as the bona fide lead. (I don’t find video the best way to assess the distinction I’m trying to capture.) I imagine she will be cast in Rubies in D.C, and, if she is, then I hope to see it. I do always enjoy her unaffected, clean style....

[Buddy]

New video clip posted of Renata Shakirova doing Princess Florine (The Sleeping Beauty) from several years ago. It reminded me that she's 'holding down the fort' while the company is on vacation and the "Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre" is performing. She has four scheduled appearances.