Amelia

"... taken down"? No, it is still available.

The Glory of the Bolshoi - Historical extracts from 1913 to 1968 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue9qZe-98wk Soloists include: Natalia Bessmertnova, Vakhtang Chaboukiani, Ekaterina Geltzer, Musa Gottlieb, Pyotr Gusev, Mikhail Lavrovsky, Olga Lepeshinskaya, Maris Liepa, Ekaterina Maximova, Asaf Messerer, Irek Mukhamedov, Maya Plisetskaya, Marina Semenova, Vasili Tikhomirov, Galina Ulanova and Vladimir Vasiliev.

The streaming of "Le Rouge et le Noir” by Pierre Lacotte from Opera de Paris is still available. Hurry up, it may end soon. https://my.mail.ru/mail/viktorlaskin/video/_myvideo/63543.html

Bolshoi’s relays of the 246th season https://2011.bolshoi.ru/en/about/relays/ Aram Khachaturyan Spartacus Choreographer: Yuri Grigorovich 7 November 2021 Live Pyotr Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Choreographer: Yuri Grigorovich 19 December 2021 Recorded 23 December 2018 to music by Gabriel Fauré, Igor Stravinsky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky Jewels Choreographer: George Balanchine 23 January 2022 Live Pyotr Tchaikovsky Swan Lake Choreography by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, Alexander Gorsky Staging: Yuri Grigorovich 6 March 2022 Recorded 23 February 2020 Cesare Pugni La Fille du Pharaon Choreography by Pierre Lacotte after Marius Petipa 1 May 2022 Live

Some of the Bolshoi's relays are live and some recorded: Bolshoi https://2011.bolshoi.ru/en/about/relays/ Relays of the 246th season Aram Khachaturyan Spartacus Choreographer: Yuri Grigorovich 7 November 2021 Live Pyotr Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Choreographer: Yuri Grigorovich 19 December 2021 Recorded 23 December 2018 to music by Gabriel Fauré, Igor Stravinsky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky Jewels Choreographer: George Balanchine 23 January 2022 Live Pyotr Tchaikovsky Swan Lake Choreography by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, Alexander Gorsky Staging: Yuri Grigorovich 6 March 2022 Recorded 23 February 2020 Cesare Pugni La Fille du Pharaon Choreography by Pierre Lacotte after Marius Petipa 1 May 2022 Live

In an interview with Barbara Newman in "Striking A Balance", Antoinette Sibley recalled how in 1956, as a new member of the Royal Ballet corps, she went with the rest of the company to watch the visiting Boshoi Ballet at Covent Garden in a rehearsal of "Romeo and Juliet". She noticed a middle-aged woman in the stalls, without make-up, wrapping herself in a coat: "This little gray-haired person all covered in woolies came up onstage from the stalls, and started pointing to things. We thought, Oh, she’s obviously the ballet mistress….and this little old woman with the gray hair went up to the balcony onstage and took off the woolies and was sixteen years old. Just like that in front of us. No makeup, no costume. It was a miracle in front of our very eyes… I have never seen a similar reincarnation in my life.” The “little gray-haired person” whom Sibley observed was the great Galina Ulanova, who was almost 47 at that time...

A new film about Victoria Tereshkina in celebration of her gracing the Mariinsky stage: https://www.lapersonne.com/post/film-o-viktoria-tereshkina-film-mariinskij/

You can, Bruce, buy Balcony tickets now.

The premiere of Alvis Hermanis' film about Pope Benedict XVI starring Mikhail Baryshnikov is scheduled for late 2021. The film is based on the performance of the New Riga Theater "White Helicopter". http://oteatre.info/film-khermanis-baryshnikov/

The Dance Open festival has announced the program for December 2020 season. It will take place live on 10-16 December. "Fontanka” newspaper tells you what to watch and why. https://www.fontanka.ru/2020/10/27/69519083/ Another link: https://vk.com/dance_open You can use this google russian english translator

Ticket to the Bolshoi - New Season - film by Michael Zelensky - (don't miss the quiz at the end). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exG7cZFeFiI

Since you like Asylmuratova, Janet, you will enjoy a collection of her recordings: https://vk.com/videos-7940809 I haven’t come across a collection of Mariinsky’s Kitris. There is one variation by Tereshkina; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvjO2bn-KYk&list=PL024PlLWCs50LcRI6WS0Err7ZfRnLAlyc&index=146

Amazing Bolshoi Kitris over Time - Plisetskaya, Maximova, Alexandrova, Osipova, Krysanova, etc

Apart from Nadezhda Pavlova as Bluebird there was a dancer from the Kirov Ballet Valentina Ganibalova as Water. Other roles were played by Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda, Ava Gardner, Robert Morley, Patsy Kensit, Todd Lookinland, Cicely Tyson, Margarita Terekhova, Oleg Popov and a whole bunch of Russian stars. It can be watched in Russian below. Pavlova appears on 47 min.:

Tributes are pouring in from colleagues saddened by the death of Vladimir Nikonov who was universally loved as a dancer, a teacher and a person. Alexei Ratmansky: Sad news from Moscow: Vladimir NIKONOV, beloved Bolshoi dancer and teacher passed away this morning. He was a true gentleman and a great professional. I will always remember his support and his kind heart. RIP dear Vladimir Leonidovich Alexei Ratmansky: When I asked Baryshnikov who was the dancer he admired the most among his colleagues in Russia, Misha said: Nikonov! Vladimir Leonidovich was very pleased to hear that. Here are too films of him dancing, one from 1965 (Class-concert) and the other from 1971 (Blue bird). Hard to believe he is gone. Just last November we worked together on Giselle at the Bolshoi. Such a decent, courteous and benevolent man. https://www.facebook.com/alexei.ratmansky?redirect=false And his latest very talented charge - David Motta Soares - on his Instagram. davidmottasoares: There is no word to express the loss of a beloved person... my mentor my friend my everything, who I’m as a dancer as a person it’s all because every morning all day long he was ready to teach me something new. To be never forgotten 🖤

The famous ballet teacher, People’s Artist of Russia, Vladimir Nikonov has dies yesterday in Moscow at the age of 83. It was known on August 3 that he was hospitalized with pneumonia. He was a soloist of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1957 to 1978, and then taught at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Since 1978 he has been a teacher-coach at the Bolshoi. Among his pupils are dozens of famous artists, including Viktor Barykin, Vladimir Derevyanko, Valery Anisimov, Yuri Posokhov, Vadim Pisarev, Alexander Vetrov, Vladimir Neporozhny, Denis Matvienko, Alexander Volchkov, David Motta Soares… His son, Leonid Nikonov, was also a soloist at Bolshoi and now is a ballet teacher at Academia Teatro alla Scala. https://www.en24news.com/2020/08/former-soloist-of-the-bolshoi-ballet-dies-in-moscow-after-pneumonia.html

In some forums, Jeannette, this is acceptable when they have the topic 'Im Memoriam'. However, since this topic was about the dear Nikolai Borisovich, perhaps, it can be split after Amelia's post on 25 July. The next one, 'In Memoriam' can start with Amelia's post Posted Tuesday at 22:57.

Unintentionally, this topic turned into a memorial to several dancers. I just want to show one more piece, which I like -- “Bacchanalia” to music by Saint-Saëns. Choreography by Alexander Gorsky. Malika Sabirova is partnered here by her husband Muzaffar Burkhanov. Although different physically from Maximova, she reminded her to me here.

Of course Malika Sabirova could not match Maximova’s personality. And as you rightly wrote who could? But she demonstrated excellent schooling. As a 9-y-o girl she travelled from her native Tajikistan to Vaganova Academy in Leningrad. After graduation she danced in Dushanbe Opera and Ballet Theatre for 21 years and also toured a lot. She could not work with Ulanova permanently but Ulanova liked her very much and was coaching her for Moscow and Varna competitions. Sadly, Malika died of lung cancer at the age of 39 and was buried in a costume of Giselle. Some photos and clips of her can be seen here: https://www.asiaplustj.info/ru/news/tajikistan/society/20190522/malika-sabirova-legenda-na-stsene-i-za-kulisami

Yes, Sheila, in theatre Struchkova’s Cinderella was with dark-haired plaits. In real life she was also dark-haired. I saw her first time in this role in 1948 when she danced with Asaf Messerer. “The Crystal Slipper” film was made in 1960 when she was already 35 and the blond hair made her look younger. Back to Ledyakh. If you only knew his story! Yes, he was not so elegant as N.Fadeyechev but he was a very powerful dancer. In my view, he was born to dance in Grigorovich’s ballets. However, when the latter came to Bolshoi, Ledyakh, 36, was already an established Principal and Grigorovich was giving preference to much younger dancers. By the way, N.Fadeyechev who was 5 years younger than Ledyakh also didn’t dance in Grigorovich’s ballets. The master was building his own command out of the new generation. Ledyakh was especially famous for his outstanding turns and tours. He could do pirouettes easily in dozens. Ballerinas were waiting in a queue to dance with him as a partner. Once during a concert with Irina Tikhomirnova at some provincial house of culture, a dog jumped to the stage. At that moment Ledyakh was holding Irina with one arm in a high lift, so called “chair”, and the dog started running around the dancer’s feet. Irina high above his head started giggling but Ledyakh, while trying to avoid and push away the dog, was holding up well and the piece was performed as if nothing had happened. You can imagine the success with the audience. In 1969, when already retired, a pensioner by ballet standards, Ledyakh was asked by Ulanova’s pupil, Malika Sabirova, to partner her at the Moscow International Competition. Sabirova won Gold and Ledyakh who did not compete of course won a special prize for partnering skills. Their performance of Don Q. pdd is worth watching for a number of reasons:

A former Principal of Bolshoi Ballet Gennady Ledyakh died on 3 July at 92. He was a virtuoso dancer, a king of pirouettes. All ballerinas wanted to dance with him because of his partnering skills. I don't know if he visited UK with his company but a friend told me that he saw him here with a mixed group of Russian performers at the Albert Hall and at the Davis Theatre in Croydon - his partner was Irina Tikhomirnova. He was an excellent Prince to Raisa Struchkova's Cinderella in the old film “The Crystal Slipper" (1960). The young Ekaterina Maximova is dancing the Spring here:

The choreographer and author of libretto for this ballet was Alexey Miroshnichenko. After 11 successful years as the Chief Choreographer of Perm Ballet he left this post in order to pursue a freelance career.

Some might be interested in watching a 60-min. programme about Nikolai Fadeyechev, which was shown on Russian TV in 1981. The talking sequences can be easily skipped from one ballet scene to another. There are scenes there from the Bolshoi’s old productions of Giselle, Swan Lake, Chopiniana, The Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda, Carmen, The Stone Flower, and Anna Karenina. Fadeyechev’s partners there were Galina Ulanova, Maya Plisetskaya, Nina Timofeyeva and Marina Kondratyeva. There are also sequences of him rehearsing with younger dancers: Vyacheslav Gordeyev, Alexander Bogatyrev and Alexey Fadeyechev.

Balanchine here is as enjoyable as ever but this piece does not depict the spirit of Walpurgisnacht.

I never had a chance to see her on stage but loved in "Hans Christian Andersen" (1952). Erik Bruhn and Zizi Jeanmaire: