Buddy

Some related facts about the Mikhailovsky situation. The Mikhailovsky is a government owned institution so financial aid from it would seem possible if necessary. The general director of the Bolshoi has said that he would like to invite Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev back as "guest stars". Also about a month ago, I tried to get a ticket to Nacho Duato's "Sleeping Beauty" with Leonid Sarafanov and Irina Perren at the Mikhailovsky for March and was told that all the performances were sold out. And back to the Mariinsky for another moment. "The first musical at the Mariinsky" "My Fair Lady" (Possibly my favorite musical and movie) There were five performances this month with one being added "in view of the tremendous public interest in this new production". http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/?year=2012&month=2 Stage Director Robert Carsen “There is something popularizing about the mixture of all forms, plus the elements of spoken theatre, drama, plus the taboo of the microphone… In Vienna, Covent Garden, I did “Kandid” last year for the Shatle, at La Scala… it is something which is now happening occasionally at the opera houses. We are very happy and honored to be invited to be the first one to bring this very English piece here, …. in the Mariinsky. For the choir and the ballet dancer it’s been really fun to do this mixture of genres, they have fun of working together, which I don’t think they frequently do. Plus they had to play in so-called straight drama theatre. I would like to come back one day with an opera production. In my own work I’m always trying to think how to bring a piece from the original age to our age. With “My fair lady” we are not that far away from it. And I think if you modernize it the piece will be destroyed. It is because the Bernard Shaw’s characters are unbelievably English. All of them have got such specifically English qualities. Shaw was very aware about the sexual politics, defending women rights and also social justice. He always does it in comedies with the smile and in a great warmth in a way he looks at the society. So it’s a kind of hidden political piece and it’s also quite ironic. He thought that the best way to give the pill was by sugaring it”. http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_robert_carsen/ And http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_kuhareshin/

Back to Alina for a moment. Of the eleven Festivals so far, Alina Cojocaru has danced leads at five of them that I know of. She's danced two "Giselle"s, "Don Quixote", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Romeo and Juliet". She probably danced the Galas at all those Festivals as well. One year she even flew back for a Gala because her main performance was one of the first. She has also been to two Galas only, right after her injury. That makes seven of eleven Festivals, that I know of, that she's been to. One year I actually sat on the plane next to her from London. She was lovely. For one thing, there were only entry forms in russian for some reason, and she helped those around her to fill these out. She's probably been as much a part of the Mariinsky Festivals as anyone. Her full length performances have always been exceptional and extremely well received. Last year as Giselle, I would say that she was better than ever. Perhaps the finest Giselle that I've ever seen !

Alina's in ! I never like to post what I hope will happen/wish will happen, because....you know. Well it happened ! Alina Cojocaru -- "La Sylphide" with Johan according to Anna Gordeeva in "Time Out Moscow". Perfect ! Also Matthew Golding -- "Swan Lake" Vladimir Shklyarov -- "Le Jeune homme et la mort". Jose Manuel Carreno at the Gala. http://www.timeout.r.../feature/26281/ (thanks to sophia at dansomanie (in french) for this information) I mentioned Evgenia Obraztsova in my above post. Apparently she will continue to perform at the Mariinsky from time to time. Thanks for your information about Bolero, Angela, and I look forward to seeing you in Saint Petersburg, Kevin.

It would really be nice to see Daria Pavlenko once again at a Festival. She seems to be appearing much more this year (Washington DC tour, etc.) A lovely lady. One of the key performers from the London Balanchine/Robbins and a former Festival regular is Evgenia Obraztsova. Several times last year she showed an electrically vibrant aliveness that I've never seen from her before. She has since become a Principal at the Bolshoi. I'll miss her at the Mariinsky, but wish her all the best at the Bolshoi. I also look forward to seeing Yana Selina. She has been at every Festival that I've been to, and probably every Mariinsky performance anywhere, that I've been to. She is an everywhere-doing-everything sort of person and she sets a very high standard for the other soloists, etc. Then there's Yekaterina Osmolkina, Olesya Novikova, Valeria Martynyuk, Anastasia Kolegova, Svetlana Ivanova, the entire Corps de Ballet.... As for who will be there from other companies, your guess is as good as mine. Roberta Marquez was there last year. I liked her very much recently in London as Titania in "The Dream".

There has been very little new Mariinsky Festival information since Kevin posted the schedule several weeks ago. The only casting that has been announced is that Ulyana Lopatkina will appear in "Anna Karenina" on the usually high profile last Saturday. Diana Vishneva will perform her own program, "Dialogues", the night before and Svetlana Zakharova (now at the Bolshoi) will dance "La Bayadere" on the first Saturday. With less than a month to go, there should be a lot more information before too long. http://www.mariinsky...allet_fest_229/ The only two Festival 'standards' being performed this year are "Swan Lake" and "La Bayadere". "La Sylphide" should be somewhat in the same spirit. Two Balanchine/Robbins works, that were so Wonderfully! interpreted by the Mariinksy in London last summer, will return -- "Ballet Imperial" (Balanchine), on opening night, and "In The Night" (Robbins). Also on opening night will be "Prodigal Son" (Balanchine). The surprise revelation from last year's Festival "Le Parc" (Angelin Preljocaj) will be staged again along with this year's 'unknown', two stagings of "An evening of choreography by Maurice Béjart". I'm very curious to see what happens with this one. I've seen very little Béjart, but after the Mariinsky's beautiful handling of "Le Parc" and Balanchine/Robbins (London), we could be in for another very fine effort. I did see a Béjart dancer perform at the 'Aid for Japan' Gala in Paris last year and he gave one of the most expressively compelling male performances that I have seen. Also Maurice Béjart was the only choreographer who would take Suzanne Farrell into a dance company (so I've read) after she left George Balanchine, so I have a warm hearted respect for him.

So let our dreams dance on. There are many women that I'm very much hoping to see at this year's Festival. Alina Somova and Ekaterina Kodaurova. They are among the somewhat younger Stars. They are both long and statuesque. Alina Somova has beautifully graceful, linear flow. She is a source of fascination for me. I'm never quite sure what she will do next, but I made a special trip across the Channel last summer just to find out. Ekaterina Kondaurova is scupturesque. She is picture perfect, elegant. If Alina Somova is of the air then Ekaterina Kondaurova is of the gods. Ulyana Lopatkina is the immortal. She is statuesque. She has poetry built into every inch of every limb. Her "Swan Lake" performance from a few years ago at the Festival was possibly the best dance performance that I've ever seen -- Ever ! Alina Cojocaru may be at the Festival. She has been to many. She is so wonderfully expressive in both her portraying and her dancing. She is Lovable. Diana Vishneva -- I haven't been able to see her in a long time. She shines like a sun from her own distinct universe. Viktoria Tereshkina also must be mentioned. She comes through like a bolt of artistic lightning. Of the youngest ladies, Oksana Skorik, Daria Vasnetsova and Maria Shirinkina just shine brighter and brighter each time that I see them. I'm not going to let Olga Smirnova slip off the radar even if she did decide to start her career at the Bolshoi as an instant Soloist and instant Star. When they complete the transcendental express from the lobby of the Mariinsky to the lobby of the Bolshoi, I want to be on it.

Thanks so much, amum/Cathy, for starting this topic and for your continued interest and thoughts. My only response is that I truly enjoyed the film, both for its highly inventive, outstanding artistry and for its subject matter. There are four color pictures of opera sets that David Hockney designed in the 'conversations' book and they look quite Wonderful to me. When he talks about lighting these sets and responding to the performance requirements, he seems very sensitively attuned and knowledgeable. I also wanted to add that what I suggested in the post before might be interesting to someone like Wayne McGregor as well, who seems very interested in exploring and expressing basic physicality.

If David Hockney could somehow put human beings in motion (i.e. choreograph them) with the same naturalness and natural grace that he has shown in his 'choreographing' of trees, it might be very similar to the essence of flowing, lyrical beauty that makes ballet so compelling.

 I guess that representing nature is done, at least as a training exercise, in modern dance ("move like a wave, be a wave"), but I've never seen a performance of this sort. It seems fairly common in Chinese 'classical' dance.

 Lar Lubovitch is very interesting in that he has dancers chain reacting to each other, somewhat like leaves rippling along as a breeze passes through. Diana Vishneva has done a beautiful few seconds of expressing the motion of leaves in the introduction to her "Firebird" dvd. An alternative to depicting Nature, might be to have dancers responding to Nature or just being a part of it. 

 Then, with David Hockney's limitless ways of seeing and depicting, anything could happen, but that's another story.

 In tacking on about ten minutes of dance to his exhibition film, an exhibition that is almost exclusively devoted to depicting the Beauty in Nature, he may already have something like this in mind.

David Hockney -- 'The Choreographer' Thanks, amum/Cathy, for your post. I haven't read any David Hockney biographies, but look forward to doing so. As for the man speaking for himself, he seems very intelligent and very well informed. He is an intellectual, but he is also 'Very Accessible'. He is a sympathetic person who seems to love life and love what he is doing. His works are so easy to get drawn into, almost childlike in there charm and appeal and yet there is a very highly developed mind at work as well. I would like to know better, if when he creates something, whether it is his highly analytical mind at work (which is certainly evident in his descriptions of what he is doing) or a more spontaneous, childlike approach. Probably both. Also, like George Balanchine, who was also constantly inventing, one of the reasons that he succeeds is, quite honestly, that he is extremely good at it ! Perhaps of interest to us here, who love dance, is 'David Hockney -- The Choreographer'. His exhibition has made me think of choreography in a much broader sense. For the moment I think of choreography as any 'Artistic Effort' that involves 'Motion'. Thus I consider his drives filming trees, his extensive work in the 'Dynamics' of Stage Lighting, and his setting picturesque drives through the LA hills to music that he has edited as being choreography. I can see his inventiveness with choreography as being exciting and limitless, as is his other work. Although anything can be the subject of choreography, my main source of pleasure is from human beauty. The beauty of Nature, in general, is equally compelling. When human beauty is accomplished in the most natural way possible, then I'm in 'heaven'. This is why I would love to see David Hockney work with actual dancers as he has just done at the end of the film shown at the exhibition. With his stage lighting he has already had considerable experience working with live performers (operatic singers and the accompanying performers). Maybe this will all lead to something even more exciting. Added comment; Thanks, bangorballetboy, for this information. Hopefully something 'exciting!' will come of Wayne McGregor and the young dancers/choreographers' planned visit to the exhibition. (many typo corrections made)

Leanne Benjamin Having very much enjoyed her performance in "Song of the Earth" I found this description of her from 1995. "You could say that there are two ways of looking at the Royal Ballet's Australian ballerina, Leanne Benjamin. If you look at her close up, you see the wonderfully detailed articulations: the proud set of the head and the expressive angling of it, the long hands without tension, the feet touching earth just so, the roll down through the foot. If you look at her in long shot, you see that although she stands about five feet two, she dances big: generously, fearlessly, with her long limbs, her light jumps, and high, strong extensions. Vitality and musicality underlie every move. A keen intelligence is visibly at work in Benjamin's fresh and individual interpretations, especially of sensual, bold, complex women, as well as everything from Juliet to Odette-Odile." http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... ntent;col1 Would anyone like to comment or elaborate on this. (From the performance and some internet video clips, I also find her to be -- Very Lovable)

David Hockney -- The Choreographer I think that you will be fascinated by the exhibition, Beryl. I hope so anyway. I have just finished the 'Conversations' book and it gives a lot of insight into this remarkable artist who seems capable of representing anything. He has approached choreography in many ways. His filming of trees from multiple cameras as he drives slowly along a country lane is the most recent effort. (You will also see that his new huge paintings are constructed in the same manner.) He has also created various activities set to music (stage lighting, drives along the LA hills, etc.) I may be able to write some more about this. In any case, if you look through the book, it is talked about. Someday he may wander over the Royal Ballet ( my idea) and have a chat with Wayne McGregor, resident choreographer. Or maybe.... The sky seems to be the limit unless he goes beyond that.

Being unable to further edit my above post, I really have to add this. David Hockney Exhibition Vital Art History In The Making -- Right In Front Of Our Very Eyes !

Great exhibition ! The man is amazingly talented and accessible ! Possibly one of the greatest artists ever ! The dance section is about ten minutes long and it comes at the very end of the film which is maybe a half hour total. I had no idea that it was Steven McRae and Roberta Marquez that I watched about five or six times. Thanks for the info. I loved them. By dividing the screen into nine x 2 slightly differently viewed, but unified, images, he showed dance in a context that gave a completely new way of perceiving it (progression through partly segmented images, speed changes from one 'box' to the next by filming from different angles, etc.) He seems to be able to do this with everything. Even the landscape films danced. I went over to Hatchards (possibly the greatest bookstore in the world!) and bought the more expensive hard cover exhibition catalogue (better quality pictures, usually) and "A Bigger Message -- Conversations with David Hockney ", which I've been reading and looking at (fine pictures included) ever since. I grew up in the part of LA, where he moved for quite awhile, and he gives new, beautiful imagery to my childhood dreamworld, in particular through his landscapes. I was five days in London and I spent two of them at the exhibition. About four hours the second day. Might have gone back again except for my anticipation of weekend crowds. So Sunday I went to the Tate Modern. Kusama room of changing lights at the end of her exhibition, definitely recommended, but a ticket will cost about five pounds. When I left it was dark and I noticed a remarkable apartment building with huge windows to the west, each apartment being lit up differently inside like beautiful stage sets. David Hockney Exhibition -- Highly Recommended !

Maybe even a better vision.

Thanks for your heartfelt honesty, afds. Keep loving and enjoying what is beautiful to you.

afds and Alison thanks for your insights. This is totally personal, but I go to the ballet to enter a dreamworld, to be Uplifted and made to feel Good. Everyone has their own ideas about these sort of things, (authenticity, purity of technique, the value of critical analysis, message, etc.), and for that person this is what really matters. If Alessandra Ferri, Roberta Marquez or Marcelo Gomes can make me feel Uplifted and Good, than more power and thanks to them, from my personal appreciation of what they are doing anyway.

I didn't know that Herman Cornejo was injured, Alison. If so I wish him the speediest of recoveries. A few more words about Marcelo Gomes, because I think that he is great ! He is a rock solid partner, which is very important for the taller ballerinas like Veronika Part. They are totally secure with him and can let go in total confidence. While doing this he is completely unobtrusive, like any great male partner. He is very supportive psychologically as well. The ballerina has all the space that she needs, mentally and physically, to express herself to the maximum. By himself, he is very entertaining. He indeed can command the stage. He can accomplish feats with a flourish. I would call him a personality dancer in the finest sense. He has a heart of gold. No matter whom he is portraying, he will probably make you smile, and this I think is great !

For those who enjoyed these performances as much as I did (I was at the February 8 & 9 evenings) could I recommend the following video. It's the ABT version of "The Dream" with Ethan Stiefel, Alessandra Ferri and Herman Cornejo. I think that it compares very favorably with what I saw last week and makes a delightful souvenir and compliment to the wonderful London performances. Alessandra Ferri as Titania is a gem and a beautiful compliment to Alina Cojocaru's outstanding Titania. Ethan Stiefel as Oberon is charming and Herman Cornejo at his prime as Puck is not to be believed ! In regard to Marcelo Gomes, those who may have been fortunate enough to see him dance ABT's "Swan Lake" in London several years ago with Veronika Part will have seen him at his finest. I've seen him many times and he is usually Electric ! He was when he danced "La Bayadere" twice with ! Veronika ! two weeks ago in Washington DC. He had to cover a lot of ground last week to be in London in a completely different setting. If you see this man when he is in top form, which is almost always, and in a 'magical' partnership, such as his many with Veronika Part, you will be in for a super treat. I loved Alina ! I always do ! Her "Giselle" at the Mariinsky Festival last year was a performance never to be forgotten ! Thought that Roberta Marquez was absolutely charming as Titania. LIked all the featured women in "Song of the Earth" very much. Carlos Acosta and Steven McRae were very good. I'm particularly interested in following Carlos Acosta as he moves more into different dance forms. I think that he will be remarkable ! Thought that the women of the Corps de Ballet were Wonderful in both "The Dream" and "Song of the Earth" . All in all a Wonderful two evenings !

Hi Kevin, I too was greatly looking forward to seeing Balanchine's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", especially the magnificent Act II Divertissement duet which the Mariinsky could do so beautifully. The Bejart will be interesting. I was wonderfully surprised by Angelin Preljocaj's "Le Parc" at last year's Festival so let's see what happens.

The Bolshoi site continues to post only in russian for the time being. Of possible interest is that the very young and highly talented Olga Smirnova, just graduated from the Vaganova Academy, is already dancing such important parts as the Lilac Fairy from The Sleeping Beauty (January 12 and 14). Like some of you, I saw her at the London gala in honor of Galina Ulanova last year, and I believe that she has a remarkable career ahead of her. Also Svetlana Zakharova along with David Hallberg once again danced together in The Sleeping Beauty, January 13 and will be dancing Swan Lake together at this very moment on Thursday. http://www.bolshoi.ru/timetable/