Coated

Viva Svortsov! He managed to breath some live into Swan Lake tonight, or perhaps there was something in the water and the whole company woke up instead of sleep dancing their way through the unwieldy production. He imbued his Siegfried with yearning for Odette, princely ennui when dancing with the Brides and desire for Shipulina's surprisingly coquette and calculating Odile. Those two had some actual stage chemistry, particularly in the second act and it made all the difference. Anna Rebetskaya's Russian Bride was just lovely, the corps was smiley during the Bride dances and Anna Tikhomirova put the icing on my cake when she visibly 'noticed' Siegried's disinterest and then snapped back into cheery potential bride. I'm not a huge fan of Shipulina, but tonight she really pulled all the stops and her Odile was wonderful, she didn't just deliver a dance performance, she was Odile. Though perhaps all of is down to the Bolshoi running out of their industrial hairspray supply - the fierce 70's bouffants of the first performance (couldn't stop staring at Mikhail Kryuchkov's concrete blond helmet that didn't move even a fraction of a millimetre when he swirled around the stage) were replaced by more relaxed hairdos that actually behaved like normal hair.

Oh, tonight's performance was the Bolshoi I was waiting for. Emeralds fell a bit flat, but both Rubies and Diamonds really sparkled for me. Kristina Kretova was full of sass and a delight to watch in Rubies, I wish I could see more of her. I have nothing insightful to say about Smirnova and Chudin in Diamonds, I'm just plain smitten and my hands still hurt a little from clapping a bit too enthusiastically.

That was really interesting. I wish Michael Sugrue could be hired by the RB or ENB to do the same for their dancers...

I think that's spot on for the overall productions so far, especially Swan Lake. There are moments where some of their Dancers overcome the production and insert a bit of that elusive thing, but it's a bit of an uphill battle.

I liked it on Monday, loved it on Tuesday - I can see everyone of the criticisms (though thankfully didn't see the floor from above) and don't disagree but I have to love any ballet that gives me a Christmas version of Dunsinane, the BEST wolf ever and so many pretties. David Hallberg was certainly worth seeing (would have been nice if he could do more performances) and his Charming was charming. I liked Zakharova better in this than in Swan Lake and ended up staring at her feet a lot after she twirled endlessly without the slightest wobble - they are like some super powered ballerina pedals that might need their own mention in the cast list. Both Bluebirds (Rodin on Mon, Ovcharenko on Tue) were delightful to watch, Carabosse and his creatures were fun, but I really need a colour coding chart for the fairies of Kindness to figure out who/what I'm watching. The only one I could easily identify was Tikhomirova (who again was very watchable in any of the roles she was dancing) The Lilac Fairy is a strangely forgettable role in this production. It was nice to get a glimpse of Smirnova, and Shipulina didn't do a bad job either, but all I can remember of either of them was that they were wearing a lilac hat/wig and took the prince for a boat ride. And the one thing that completely cracked me up was the cat fight between Yulia Lunkina and Denis Medvedev on Monday. BEST cat award clearly goes to both of them, they really felt feline. Red Riding Hood and the Wolf were excellent in both Mon & Tue. Maybe the Russian psyche enables all dancers to channel an inner wolf. I had to restrain myself from howling as a sign of appreciation and stuck to the more traditional clapping instead. Though the one thing I find unforgivable are yellow/brown outfits combined with pinkish purple feathered hats. Mercy.

It looked more like a temporary equipment issue than Obratztova being off form. She kept stumbling only during the scarf pdd, went off stage for the scene change, and was completely sure footed after her return. Change of shoes?

Volchkov was just replaced on the ROH website (today, I think, checked quite recently) with Lantratov for the Sat matinee for Flames of Paris. Guess they might need to do a few more switcheros.

The time you pick up the ticket does not change which seat you get - they are all printed out and allocated by 6:30 which is the earliest time for pick-up (we once tried to pick up earlier and that is what we were told) Some timeout seats are allocate based on when you booked the ticket (first ome first served)

Hooray, I'm glad to hear that the Bolshoi has finally delivered that special thing they can be so good at And checking my remaining tickets, I have actually booked for the Smirnova/Chudin Swan Lake and my only Jewels ticket is for the night she is on. Looks like my slightly random approach to buying tickets might finally pay off.

According to twitter Alexandrova's injury was to the Achilles tendon, which would definitely spell an end to this season. I hope it is not too serious and that twitter is wrong. Tikhomirova was an excellent Gamzatti in today's matinee, beautiful dancing and even more beautiful acting. Sitting quite close to the stage, I was blown away by her stage presence and she will definitely be on my future Bolshoi booking wishlist. This was the first bayadere where i felt Gamzatti was the wronged party (particularly when Tikhomirova was pleading with Nikiya) and quite agreed with the snake-to-throat plot. Though it was a bit hard to see how Solor was inspiring this depth of feeling, there wasn't a lot of onstage chemistry going on between him and either of the woman vying for his love. I'm a horrible judge of the Golden Idol, since the first one I saw was Vasilliev and I still expect them to fly. Though this version has so many children jumping around on stage during his performance, it's hard to pay attention to the idol. Loved the hammy acting of the High Priest, am still confused about the profusion of parrots (were they in the previous Bolshoi version? How could I forget that many parrots?) though they provided me with a lot of amusement and I fail to understand why they didn't un-blacken the tiny heathens seeing that this is a recent new version. There was a brilliant loss of wig for Antonio Savichev's Magedaveya which answered my musing on whether all Bolshoi boys were born with the fierce blow dry hairstyle dominating Swan Lake (nope, dishevelled and sweaty just as normal dancers would be under a wig). I did rather like his performance, and not just because his body is near perfection. Other high points were the Dance with Drum and Anastasia Stashkevich doing the Dance with Jug - she is enormously charming on stage and didn't seem to put a foot wrong during her solo. The shades were great, and looked pretty good from the stalls. If you look for wobbles, you can probably always find some but the overall synchrony was beautiful. Obraztova had a few strong wobbles during her 3rd act solo, and I dont know what happened backstage but both her and Volchkov came back on stage and really cranked up the dancing. I had visions of someone standing in the wings with a large whip. She seemed both imperious and sweet girly-ish as Nikiya which didn't really work for me, but I'm looking forward to seeing her in Sleeping Beauty.

Volchkov being injured would make a lot of sense, since he did start of quite sprightly in the first few minutes. And when I next paid attention, he just wasn't and that was that for the rest of the performance. I'm glad I saw Zakharova on Monday and I did love her arms. Some of the corps scenes were breathtakingly beautiful to me. First time the swans come on, standing behind the gauze with just their arms moving? Made me shiver with the gorgeousness of it. The 4 swans were marvellous, and I really liked Lantratov as the 'Evil Genius'. The story telling is somewhat incidental, and I doubt than anyone without prior knowledge could guess what was going on onstage. Siegfried could have been her brother for all the stage chemistry they had on the day. I have a couple more swan lake tickets, and I'm rather looking forward to see what other dancers will bring to the role, and assuming Volchkov hasn't been severely injured, I'm likely to see him again on the 15th which ought to be interesting just to see how he interacts with another partner. Though i have to admit that I'd go back just for the orchestra even if I hadn't enjoyed a fair amount of the dancing (could do with less court scenes). One of the violin solos during the princess dances was so beautiful that I accidentally closed my eyes to listen better, even though the dancing was excellent at the time (couldn't make out which nationality the princess at the time was though, so I probably won't figure out who was dancing)

It really was quite an impressive flower throw tonight, and Tamara Rojo's onstage hug for Esteban after Wayfarer was very sweet. It looked for a moment that she'll make him stay by simply keeping the hug going. When your boss is seeing you off to new unknown shores, that's a hell of a way to let you know that you are appreciated. Tonight's Wayfarer was indeed stunning, and well worth the expensive ticket I bought for today just to see it again.

The ENB was a real treat tonight, they hit that magic spot where everything is in synch and the energy on stage is just magical during Raymonda. The Berlanga/Muntagirov Wayfarer was mesmerising, I think I am in love with the piece now. If they keep this level of awesome going, I'll feel a strong urge to block book for their next London performances

I'm just surprised about how inconsequential and derivative the article itself it. Slow news day? Take the 'exciting' bolshoi drama, provincial disadvantage syndrome as peddled by some papers and construe a story that could be sensationalist if only it had any interesting points or details. Or content. Some years ago, a dancer left. This year two dancers left,and there might very well be an interesting story, but the protagonists chose not to publicise it. Cojocaru left because the RB didn't enable her to dance in Milton Keynes? Surely he could have at least tried to spin an interesting yarn, since it clearly wasn't news reporting.

The tiredness started to show a bit towards the end of the performance, but it I don't think it was very noticeable apart from an ickle stumble. But yes, if someone is doing 2 performances a day the first one might have a little more sparkle. Interesting to hear that they did have an orchestra last time - it didn't even occur to me that it might be canned music when I booked for this and the lack of orchestra was a bit of a surprise to me.

Meunier, where did you sit this afternoon? I was in the upper circle this evening, and the sound was really bad. Perhaps they adjusted it but didnt check all areas of the auditorium. I took 2 ballet-virgins to the performance tonight, and lived in fear that I might put them off ballet for life. To my relief the one who was more or less dragged along involuntarily to the performance turned around after the first half and said in a rather surprised voice "I actually like this". They were not too fond of Chopiniana (too uneven, not in synch), quite liked Schehezerade and thought the Polotvian dances were the best part the triple bill, partially because they liked the music best (I got bitter complaints about the sound quality). Mr Parish is certainly all about elegant lines, and whilst I wouldn't sell my soul for a ticket to watch him at the Mariinsky, I'd make an effort to get a ticket if he were to perform in London. Bit of amused giggling at curtain call tonight when it looked like Yulia Makhalina was pushing Xander Parish backwards out of her way (assume it was an accidental tangle when she was walking backwards and he was still walking forwards - they did look a bit tired this evening, but then there was a lot of unexpected additional Shehezerade)

I saw Programme 2 tonight, Firebird and Shehezerade. I was a little underwhelmed by Firebird, though it was still interesting. I'm wondering how I would have felt about it with a good live orchestra, the sound system at the Coli never quite does it for me. Sheherezerade was good fun. Tsiskaridze is definitely older than the last time I saw him, but the flamboyant stage presence is still working just fine and I'm quite happy that he showed up in the Russian Season (though his man-bra made of pure bling was somewhat distracting). Yulia Makhalina was great too, and I'm rather hoping that they'll both be performing again on Saturday, though wouldn't mind seeing Xander Parish in the role either. Tsiskaridze got a pretty big applause (the theatre was a bit quiet overall) when he was announced, so it seems like the Bolshoi drama does not drag itself into the auditorium - hoping the same will be true for the Bolshoi season at the ROH.

Osipova/Vasilliev seem to have that effect on quite a few people judging by the panicked murmur that set in when a cast change was announced at the start of one of their London performances this year, followed by a collective sigh of relief and nervous laughter when the cast change was for a more minor role. I ended up having an accidental 'Sergei' thing. I booked the Coppelia because I'd never seen the ballet and as part of my grand plan to see as many Russian companies as possible (blame the Bolshoi - a season years ago with ickle Osipova & Vasilliev and Tsiskaridze in La Bayadere). Then I kept hearing about Polunin, and decided to book for one of his performances as well to see what all the excitement was about. Then I had to book another one to make sure that he really was as good as I thought he was. He was. Thankfully this coincided with a nice little overtime payment, so I can still pay the rent this month....

I book the company, and if I know the company I try to book on dates with performers I like. So far there are only very few performers I'd actively try to avoid, but there could be some casting changes that might persuade me to change my tickets to another date if possible. So it's RB for most things for me or guesting Russians and assorted other visiting companies - if I liked their style, I go again if they come back. ENB if there are deals (balcony at Coli tends to induce back spasms, and I'd have to rob a bank to afford stalls...) and it's not Sleeping Beauty, during which I literally fell asleep so I figured it doesn't really do anything for me.

Both male leads (not too sure who danced after reading the info up thread) seemed to slip on the same bit of stage this evening. I assume they didn't grease the floor, but it seemed a bit unusual to see two rather sure-footed people slip that way. Swanhilda was rather good tonight, Franz seemed to be dancing two different halves. He seemed somewhat nervous in the first half, and then returned with a lot of confidence for the second and upped his game significantly - his 'lift with twirl' of Swanhilda in the last scene was veeeery nice. I think the comparison to French cabaret mentioned earlier on hits the nail on the head

I thought it was delightfully bonkers and I loved the little gaggle of pink-tutu'ed ballerinas nearly as much as Polunin's star-turn. I saw him for the first time today, and now understand what all the fuss is about.

A timeout offer is now available until the 16th for the Nureyev tribute, £25 for original ticket price of £40 or £55. Best tickets awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis (assume it's Upper Circle?) https://uk-offers.timeout.com/deals/tribute-to-rudolf-nureyev-july

Interesting. It really didn't feel like 'nudity' to me, just dancers in costumes that didn't include tops, men and woman alike. Paired with the 'mirror dance bit' where a male and female dancer perform exactly the same steps, this is first ballet I have seen that plays successfully with gender stereotypes by literally treating dancers the same (at times). But then I'm European and possibly naturally immune to other people's nudity

I ended up seeing both programmes twice and found that I liked both of them more on second viewing (obviously i liked them enough the first time around to make me buy a second ticket). I'd probably watch anything that has Jeffrey Cirio and Misa Kuranaga dancing, they were just great to watch. I did notice a couple of empty seats after the first or second act for most performances, and quite a few young couples where one half definitely didn't look like they wanted to be there. And one couple left after I asked them (very nicely! I swear!) in the intermission if they could lean back during the performance. I feel a little guilty if I made them feel like they were told off by snooty ballet watchers, but the girl in front of me was swivelling her head like mad to see past them and started leaning forward herself - and I was planning on uninterrupted viewing for Bella Figura.

Bella Figura was excellent in tonight's Programme 2. I wasn't too keen on the start of it with full lights on in the house and no music, but I'm happy to take that bit of Kylián’s mannerisms (or is that the company's choice? It the second time i've seen this with a Kylián piece. Someone sitting next to me just assumed the lights were broken) when it's followed by something as involving and beautifully performed as the rest of Bella Figura. Wasn't too keen on the Polyphonia, it just felt to same-y after a while, and occasionally a little bit out of synch.