Naomi M

Nina Ananiashivili became 50 this March and she performed Nikiya in Kiev on the same month. And last month she danced full Swan Lake and heard she was very good. Miyako Yoshida performed full Cinderella in Japan last weekend.

There are actually very blond Onegins recently such as Karl Paquette of Paris Opera Ballet and David Hallberg of ABT. Tall dancers are usually casted as Onegin but there are some exceptions (such as Johan Kobborg)

The Ashton triple bill will be recorded and is scheduled to be broadcasted in Japan in March 18th. They are, La Valse, Thais, Voices of Spring, Monotones 1 & 2, Marguerite and Armand Cojocaru and McRae in Voices of Spring, Rojo and Polunin in Marguerite and Armand are expected

Katherine, I also felt that picture was freakish when I first took a look on that. In case of some modern choreography, I do think that hyper-extensions look thrilling in them, but as Janet said, classics that are not intended to use hyper extensions when they were choreographed, the use if them looks awkward and in those cases they tend to lack musicality and grace. Ballet is art.

Janet and Tony, thank you for telling us about the tweets and the rehearsal. Ayako is one of the best ballerinas in Japan, she is really wonderful and I am so happy that they are doing well at BRB. Can't wait for your reports of the performance!

　 Yes, Janet. It is. Ayako Ono who is guesting in BRB is dancing the Princess in this trailer.

Mary Clarke and Clement Crisp's The Ballet-Goers Guide is definitely a good guide for a beginner getting interested in ballet, it tells us the history, the stories of ballet and basics of technique, and how to enjoy watching them. Speaking of DVDs, the "Footnotes: The Classics of Ballet" video series by Frank Augustyn were a great guide to ballet but they are only on VHS. Some full-length ballet DVDs recommended are Mikhail Baryshnikov & Cynthia Harvey's Don Quixote （American Ballet Theatre), Swan Lake by Mariinsky Ballet Uliana Lopatkina & Danila Korsuntsev, Romeo and Juliet Alessandra Ferri and Wayne Eagling Royal Ballet, Sleeping Beauty by Royal Ballet, Alina Cojocaru and Federico Bonelli. Or it might be nice to see some ballet related movies such as The Turning Point, Centre Stage and Mao's Last Dancer. As other's have mentioned, experiencing live ballet performances would be an unforgettable experience.

Also in Tokyo the trains cease quite early so some of the audience who live in suburbs do rush to the station during curtain calls to catch trains. So here the evening performances usually start at 18:30pm, which is quite early and it is difficult to be in time for the show if you are working daytime. Which explains one reason why the majority of ballet audience here is consisted of women. And due to short intermissions (and not enough loos), we often see ladies rushing to the lady's room in the start of intermissions, which is not elegant at all! We have to find a compromise between interval length and the show finishing time...

In Japan we usually have 20 minutes for intermission at a ballet performance but I think it is too short because especially here the ladies make a long queue at the lady's room and we don't have much time left other than that, hardly no time to socialize. Maybe there is a difference between men and women because of physical reasons like this, women need more time at the rest room, like redoing makeup and other things. I think 25 minutes is fine for intermissions.

Here is the press release of Bolshoi Ballet's recent promotions, listed January 28th. http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/about/press/articles/ Artem Ovcharenko is promoted from the Leading Soloist to Premier, Kristina Kretova — from the First Soloist to the Leading Soloist, Anastasia Meskova & Vitaly Biktimirov — from Soloists to the First Soloists. Kristina Karasyova, Yulia Lunkina, Karim Abdullin, Igor Tsvirko became Soloists.

I think the English version of the article is this http://themoscownews.com/local/20130122/191163104.html

It is not true that Cranko Estate are refusing the release of Onegin's DVD, but when it will be released it must be from Stuttgart Ballet, but Stuttgart Ballet has not released any DVDs for a very long time. National Ballet of Canada's Onegin video, starring Frank Augustyn is a very good performance/ recording. I think at least this footage should be released on DVD.

Bolshoi brought La Bayadere to Japan a few years ago, and they were really so amazing in that, I ended up seeing every cast of the run. Sergei Filin was not so much impressive as Solor at that time but his entrechats in Pharaoh's Daughter (at the same tour) were so beautiful with such elevation, just beyond words. Nadezida Grecheva's Nikiya was such a spiritual and beautiful portrayal, also Maria Allash and Ekaterina Shipuilna in the leads were wonderful. The character dancing is the best in the world and also Shades were fabulous. Nikolai Tsiskaridze's Solor was unique and very flashy but good too, Bayadere is a ballet that you can see the best of Bolshoi I think. (at that time Oshipova was still in the corps!)

Friedemann Vogel has also danced the mirror pas de deux as Onegin at World Ballet Festival in Tokyo last summer. (I saw it but I won't comment on that) but as Angela said he has not danced the full performance yet. For ladies at Stuttgart, a recent example is Hyo-Jung Kang who debuted as Tatiana last October (she was Olga in July), following a guest appearance as Tatiana in Universal Ballet of Korea in 2011 November.

I have seen all of the recent Onegin performances at Stuttgart Ballet, and of course Jason Reilly. I also saw RB's Onegin when they last did it with 3 casts. Stuttgart Ballet Onegins are strictly coached and monitored by Reid Anderson and Jane Bourne and the Cranko Foundation (including copyright owner of the ballet Onegin, Dieter Gräfe), also with many of their predecessors, and they learn the role with a time span of several years. The fact that Jason Reilly danced this role in Stuttgart Ballet's 50th anniversary gala in 2011 shows the fact that he is an authentic Onegin. Onegin is a VERY important role at Stuttgart Ballet and the foundation has the right to choose the dancers. Well I didn't think Mr. Kobborg's portrayal of Onegin was authentic when I last saw him...

I haven't visited Vienna in Christmas time (it was April when I visited) but the opera house there is classic, gorgeous and worth visiting, and the ballet company there, under the direction of Manuel Legris has become of very high standards and with exciting programming. The city itself is very attractive with plenty of historic museums of many masterpieces, palaces to see and many cafes, restaurants too. And they have a Christmas market too. The city is not too large equipped with public transport so it is very convenient. It would be a good choice.

Johan Kobborg is replaced by Jason Reilly of Stuttgart Ballet on 19th and 23rd http://www.roh.org.uk/events/k8vc3

Janet, the few ballet companies that pay regular salary to dancers are K-Ballet Company (but to dancers above soloists) and National Ballet of Japan (but I think you are not paid if you are not cast in performance). The situation in Japan is pathetic, so many dancers who want to hold a living by ballet engage with overseas companies.

For your information, there is a clip of Bintley's Aladdin. Ayako Ono as the Princess and Akitmisu Yahata as Aladdin at the National Ballet of Japan. http://www.atre.jp/11aladdin/movie/index.html This is a fun piece with lots of divertissments so I think you will enjoy even without the leading roles, lots of juicy solos.

Ayako Ono who guests in Aladdin at BRB is a wonderful dancer, IMO she is the best ballerina in Japan. She is quite small but has stellar technique, beautiful lines, musicality and sweetness, moreover acting qualities. She is young, I think about 25 but she has danced almost all classical roles such as O/O Nikiya Sugarplum plus MacMillan's Manon, Juliette and Bintley's Sylvia, Prince of the Pagodas, Cinderella. I think she will be the next Miyako Yoshida, and we Japanese audience are afraid that if she guests in BRB, she might not return to Japan because she is Bintley's favorite and they would like to keep her. Here's her profile. (in Japanese though) http://www.nntt.jac.go.jp/ballet/dancer/onoayako.html And here's her partner Yudai Fukuoka. He was a former soloist at Zurich Ballet. A very noble and versatile dancer. http://www.nntt.jac.go.jp/ballet/dancer/fukuokayudai.html

This article is in French but it does indicate how much a dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet earns. POB is known to be one of the best paid companies in the world. http://www.lesechos.fr/journal20130102/lec2_industrie_et_services/0202472281076-le-ballet-de-l-opera-de-paris-fait-salle-pleine-a-300-ans-524885.php Youngsters earn 2.655 euro a month and Etoiles earn 7000 euro or more.

It was 3000 yen for the transmission in Japan which was about twice the price of the cinema relays in UK. And for the time zone, the actual viewing was on the next day, 19:00 Japan time. We had a brief talk show by Miyako Yoshida at the cinema, and she was talking about her experience of the O/O role at Saddler's Wells and RB. All the extra behind the scenes had Japanese subtitles, and that documentary, especially the swan corps thing was very lovely. Although we experienced some sound and visual interruptions (as those who saw the live relay had seen), the overall quality was good and I enjoyed the performance so much. RB is going to tour next June to bring Swan Lake and Alice so it is nice was see this performance beforehand. I especially loved Gary Avis as Rothbart and Laura Morera and Ricardo Cervera in Napoli, Yuhui Choe in the pas de trois. And for the missing casting, It was indeed Mendizabal in Spain and Kenta Kura was also in the Mazurka

I will be catching up with all three of the casts, this will be so excited! I think I can report.

Matthew Golding is a very good dancer, as already mentioned he is a good turner, has elegance and also great in partnering skills. He guested in Tokyo Ballet's La Bayadere (Natalia Makarova version) last year and was terrific. Also, he is quite tall so he can partner tall ballerinas too. He must be guesting for Solor.

That is the documentary I am mentioning.