Amelia

From the 'Izvestiya' newspaper: The Moscow Chief Ophthamologist said that the treatment results are positive. On Monday, i.e.today, the eye diagnostics showed that Sergei’s eyesight at the moment is ‘decent’. After a doctors’ consilium the eye surgeons carried out another operation on his eyes. It was successful. Sergei feels well after the operation. Later this week the doctors will hold another consilium to work out the further tactics for treatment. http://www.newizv.ru/lenta/2013-01-28/176671-sergeju-filinu-proveli-tretju-operaciju-na-glazah.html

Just to reply to Ann Williams that Fakir Magedaveya was danced by Anton Savichev. http://www.bolshoi.ru/persons/ballet/189/ His flying jumps, which stay in the air and look almost sculptured, and all his expressive movements make some Solors pale in his presence. Anton has been with the company for 10 years, still in corps de ballet and, IMHO, is underused as a dancer. Manou was danced by the lovely Anna Rebetskaya (she replaced the dancer named in the programme - Maria Prorvich, who spends most of her time now with her husband Sergei Filin at the hospital). Lantratov must come to London. He dances leads in La Bayadere, The Flames of Paris and The Classical Symphony. Edited for better layout.

A promo clip for La Bayadere in cinemas on 27 January:

This is full information on the Bolshoi's website about Galina Stepanenko who will be at the helm of the Bolshoi Ballet for the time being: http://www.bolshoi.r...ons/ballet/115/ The teacher Marina Kondratyeva said: 'Sergei trusts her; he must do what he thinks is needed. He is in constant contact with her, gives her instructions, he is practically IN the theatre.' Edit: The second para added.

The 'Izvestiya' newspaper announced that the Bolshoi's Principal Galina Stepanenko had been appointed as ad interim Artistic Director during Sergei Filin's incapacity. http://izvestia.ru/news/543401#ixzz2IhgS4mV8

Strangely no Volchkov or Lantratov. Both have roles in this repertoir. Lantratov was even in the first cast with Alexandrova in 'The Flames of Paris' when they opened in Paris 2 years ago, And Volchkov dances all ballets as far as I remember.

I personally cannot believe that any dancer will aim to deprive another dancer of eyesight.

You made the right decision, zxDaveM. Go to loads. It is not the dancers who use acid.

OK, Bruce, you can not see. However, others, as I know, can. Just a difference in perception and interpretation of the same events. Sitting over the weekend in an arm-chair and browsing the Web one can think at leisure over what one “would have expected to see”. And then to compose the appropriate words plus “closing with something like…” And then to lament “the absence of such words from him.” In the Russian newspaper, the quoted words did not constitute Tsiskaridze’s FULL interview. It was a long article with some shorter or longer pieces from interviews with several people - two sentences here, three sentences there. Not all those extracts showed the expected “correct” reaction. Sergei Filin’s wife, for example, was only stating the facts there while another article described her deep worries. Another reports quoted Tsiskaridze describing the attack as ‘a monstrous crime’. The quoted words were only those words, which the journalist picked for quoting. I can see that Tsiskaridze was in a daunting situation: a female correspondent called him at night being encouraged to do it by the Bolshoi’s PR lady. Then the dancer watched on TV the PR lady's comments: ‘Sergei Filin holds a very good post. I think it is foolproof who could organise such an outrageous attack. Most likely they are the people who want the Artistic Director’s job.’ Then the Director General declared on TV that for him it is aslo ‘clear-cut’. And how Tsiskaridze as a well-known pretender for the post could feel in this shocking situation? Only later the administrators re-collected themselves and said in subsequent statements that they don’t know who was behind this attack and it is a matter for the police to find the culprits. I am personally not surprised by the dancer’s ‘bizarre’ reaction. And prefer not to judge people after reading hastily prepared reports. I accept that other people can have a different opinion. Edited for typo.

Those people care whose reputations suffer from unfair distortions. I also care as a reader who wants to read the truth. Especially in cases like this one. Back to dear Sergei Filin. The latest news (in brief) from ITAR-TASS: 19 Jan. The hospital’s Chief Physician said that Sergei doesn’t feel pain after the operation. He has been transferred to a ward, he walks and eats well. His eyes are bandaged and the result of the operation can be discussed not earlier than after 2-3 weeks. There will be another operation next week. http://www.itar-tass.../c1/625524.html News from INTERFAX.RU: 19 Jan. The Minister of Culture and the Bolshoi’s Director General visited Sergei in hospital and were discussing the company’s plans and managerial matters during his absence. He wanted himself to have this discussion. http://www.interfax....s.asp?id=285986 19 Jan. Crime investigators started interviewing Sergei Filin in his hospital ward. http://www.interfax....s.asp?id=285970 Edited for layout.

Before harshly judging the “bizzarre” reaction of the famous dancer to this horrific crime one has to decide whether the reporter’s coverage was absolutly true. Thank you, afds, for drawing my attention to the Miriam Elder’s article. She didn’t interview the dancer herself but quoted SOME of his words from a Russian newspaper. I wasn’t lazy and found the original article in the ‘Moskovsky Komsomolets’.http://www.mk.ru/inc...i-chemquot.html I discovered that the dancer’s words were taken out of context, i.e. the answer was separated from the question and linked with a sentence from another answer. The words: ‘This all means nothing to me’ were his answer to a question about gossips. Not about the event itself. So to clarify what exactly was said I did translation of this piece from the interview: Nikolai, you probably can guess the reason for my call: Filin… And how I can help? People started pointing fingers, talking about the race for the post... This all means nothing to me. I already had a call at night from some girl, a correspondent, and I also asked her: “Why are you dialing me?” She replied: “The Bolshoi’s press secretary advised to phone you!” Well, you know, an emotional outburst… I don’t think so. Considering the statements, which our management is making already from 9 a.m. … But I have absolutely nothing to do with it. The interview is finished with his words: “Fingers are pointed by those who will make a great profit of it. ”We don’t know what made the journalist distort the dancer’s interview - poor knowledge of Russian language, hectic schedule of work, lack of time, or something else? In any case this reminded me that sometimes we have to take printed words with a grain of salt. Unfortunately. And I totally agree that ‘speculation is always odious’. Edited for punctuation.

I agree with MAB. Even less I like speculations in the Arts Desk. The latest news is that the treatment for Sergei Filin at Burn Unit of the Military Hospital in Brussels has been ruled out because the main concern is not so much about the burns but about his eyesight. One-hour operation on his eyes has been performed by the Moscow best eye-surgeons and then he was transferred to intensive care, which is a norm after operations. No travels or tranfers should be undertaken soon after eye operations. Sergei was praised by medics for doing instinctively the right thing immediately after the attack- he rubbed snow into his eyes and face, which washed-out at least some quantity of acid. I pray for his recovery and for his mother and his family. He is a lovely person and those who did it to him cannot be called humans, IMHO.

I remember that Wheeldon worked with the Bolshoi on 'Hamlet', or ‘Elsinore’. Then on the train to St. Petersburg he admitted that the Shakespeare’s plot was too complicated. And, finally, he created for them the ballet titled ‘Misericordes’. May be he has found now his way around the plot and will come back to ‘Hamlet’?

Aileen, the casts for 'Giselle' have been announced here: http://www.eno.org/s...hp?&itemid=2365 However, I noticed that they have already been changed since I saw them 3 days ago. Edited: the last line added.

More about Midnight Express, including Polunin's interview: http://dancetabs.com/2012/12/schaufusss-midnight-express-with-sergei-polunin-at-london-coliseum-9th-14th-april/

“It is magic. Now we know what we lack. Ulanova’s dance…is so marvelous I can’t find words for it”, Margot Fonteyn said after the Bolshoi's opening night at Covent Garden in 1956. Today is 103rd anniversary of Galina Ulanova’s birth. In 1956, Antoinette Sibley together with other young dancers was watching an onstage rehearsal of “Romeo & Juliet” and saw a middle-aged lady in the stalls wrapping her coat around her. At first she even took her for a cleaner: “Like an old lady…she looked a hundred .…And then…in front of our very eyes—no makeup, no costume—she became 14.…And our hearts! We couldn’t even breathe. And then she did that run across the stage after the poison scene: Well—we were all screaming and yelling, like at a football match.” http://www.telegraph....-Or-did-I.html

'Midnight Express' trailer is scary:

If you missed the recent cinema transmission of The Nutcracker from the Bolshoi with Nina Kaptsova & Artyom Ovcharenko, you can see it here - the quality is superb: Act 1 and Act 2: Act 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVZlLwXOFmc Act 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eel4Z4-mIy8

On Sunday 6 января 2013 г., at 8.00 pm St.Petersburg time (4.00 pm London time), there will be live internet broadcast http://www.mikhailovsky.ru/en/events/live/ The Mikhailovsky Theatre and ParaClassics will present the Internet broadcasts of Duato’s ‘Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness’ The broadcast are free to view on the following websites: www.mikhailovsky.ru www.paraclassics.com and www.rostelecom.ru

“… Laurencia which is a bit like Don Q was good last time ...but once was enough .…” The only thing that ‘Laurencia’ and ‘Don Q.’ have in common is their Spanish background. Unlike the light-hearted comedy ‘Don Q.’ ‘Laurencia’ has a poignant dramatic plot and had excellent performers in Russia in the past: Dudinskaya, Plisetskaya as Laurencia and Alla Shelest as Jasinta. Unfortunately,during Mikhailovsky’s last visit Laurencia was danced by a ballerina whose placid acting did not match her competent technique. This character must be created by a ballerina of fiery temperament and capable of rising to tragic heights. I cannot wait to see Osipova in this role.

R & J - Choreography: Natalia Ryzhenko & Viktor Smirnov-Golovanov. A lot of photos here: http://moscowcityballet.com/en/repertoire/ballet/14

In their joint interview to "Rossiiskaya gazeta" today: http://www.rg.ru/2012/12/26/teatr.html the Bolshoi’s Director A.Iksanov and Artistic Director of the ballet company Sergei Filin spoke, among other things, of the company’s tour of London this summer. Iksanov: We have agreed now that Natasha & Vanya (Osipova & Vasiliev) will join us on our London tour this summer. Filin: For this purpose I went to New York and had a discussion about it. They will dance in “The Flames of Paris”. We will also bring to London “Swan Lake”, “La Bayadere”, “The Sleeping Beauty”, “The Rite of Spring” by McGregor, “ The Classical Symphony” by Possokhov, and “The Diamonds” by Balanchine. Mr. Iksanov set forward one condition to Osipova & Vasiliev: we are ready to cooperate but not through an agent. Iksanov: We have no intention to pay any agents, especially American ones, for our dancers whom we raised. There should be only direct contracts with Vanya & Natasha. They agreed to it. I shall be delighted that they will appear in London… P.S. It can be added that coincidentally with this new development the website of the agent in question - Ardani Artists Russian Ballet Company, who were representing Osipova & Vasiliev in the West, became unavailable.

When James wrote: "I can see why she’s been called the “Marmite” ballerina", I as a devout fan and consumer of Marmite for decades wondered how it can be applied in this case. Decided to read about MARMITE in Wikipedia: “Marmite's distinctive and powerful flavour had earned it as many detractors as it had fans, and it was commonly notorious for producing a polarised "love/hate" reaction amongst consumers. Modern advertisements play on this, and Marmite runs a dual skinned website with two URLs: I LOVE MARMITE and I HATE MARMITE, where people may share their experiences of Marmite and are actively encouraged to fuel this debate, as prompted by the I Hate Marmite Registration form. This resulted in the coining of the phrase "Marmite effect" or "Marmite reaction" for anything which provokes such strong and polarised feelings.” After reading this I want to register as a devout fan of Marmite as I always was - in all its applications.

Right, the capital of the Komi Republic is Syktyvkar. The musical theatre was established there in 1957 and it is called now the State Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Komi Republic. I have not seen this company dancing and tried to find out about in on the Russian sites. Boris Myagkov, a former dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet in 1962-1981, used to be the Artistic Director of the ballet company there from 1984 to 1990. After a long interval he returned there recently to regain his old position. In his interview he said that the company is rehearsing for the tour of Britain at the moment. The theatre’s website shows photographs from its several ballet productions: http://www.komiopera.ru/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemid=75 A click on the first photo opens a gallery of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ photos. Their Odette is shown in the third line.

Anticipating to see the tomorrow's performance I looked at the review in today's Evening Standard. While praising the performance in general the reviewer Lyndsey Winship made a remark: "Swan Lake has come to represent a few things that are frustrating about ballet: the outdated image that it's all fairytales and music-box ballerinas; the reliance on old masters preserved in aspic to keep the box office happy." God save our dear classical ballet from 'critics' with such views.