Estreiiita

For a couple of weeks ago I've been in Hamburg to watch several performances during the 48th Ballet days. This ballet event was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of John Neumeier's leadership of Hamburg ballet. Initially it was planned to be his last season in the company but as Demis Volpi can't start as a new artistic director of the ballet before the next year, John Neumeier agreed to prolongate his career at Hamburg ballet for one more year. The first ballet I saw was " The Nutcracker" and I was absolutely charmed by it - to the extent that I've already bought the ticket to see it in December again (partly because I'm not sure it will stay in the repertory of the company once John Neumeier leaves it). Many of ballet lovers know that this ballet doesn't have any connection to the Christmas, but is a ballet dedicated to the ballet, with funny references to some well known choreographic works. I liked especially Olivia Betteridge, initially from Australia, but graduated from Hamburg school as Marie, she danced so well and I'm sure she'll be a star of the company one day. Borja Bermudez was ballet master Drosselmeier and created a very good image of a ballet genius, dedicated to the art but not deprived of some weaknesses. Christopher Evans was a perfect partner for Olivia Betteridge as Gunther, the leader of cadets and then the soloist of the ballet company. I also liked Priscilla Tselikova and Florian Pahl in a bit from " La Fille du Pharaon" and Sivia Azzoni as Esmeralda. The second ballet I saw was " Illusions like Swan lake", a story about the man and madness. Alexandr Trusch was The King, Florian Pahl was The man in shadow, an Evil Genius of the king, Ida Praetorius was Princess Natalia, an angel trying to support and protect the king. Jacopo Belussi was Count Alexander, the friend of the king; Anna Laudere was Odette and Lasse Caballero - Prince Siegfried. Everybody was superb. Then I saw "The Sleeping beauty" with almost the same cast as the last year, except The Thorn danced now by Matias Oberlin and I liked it again. At last I saw " Bernstein dances" but though the cast was great: Alexandr Trusch as Bernstein, Alessandro Frola as Love, Ida Praetorius as Bernstein's wife and many other good dancers, I don't feel like I appreciate this ballet as much as other works, although there were beautiful pdd's and ensemble dances, and two very good singers on the stage, and I liked especially Alexandr Trusch and Ida Praetorius. Then in some days' time I saw "A streetcar named Desire", also in Hamburg but performed by the Czech National ballet. I liked it a lot, especially Alina Nanu as Blanche DuBois, Irina Burduja as Stella, Paul Irmatov as Stanley Kowalski and Patrik Holecek as Mitch. I would love to see this ballet again performed by Hamburg company - maybe I'll come to see it in September. This week I'm looking forward to see " Lady of the Camelias" performed by Stuttgart ballet in Hamburg.

Sorry, I've forgotten the start of pas de six from Billund (girl in green - Emma Riis-Kofoed, in blue - Tara Schaufuss, in red - Stephanie Chen Gundorf, in yellow - Mayo Arii; the guys are Mathieu Rouaux and Ryan Tomash: Oh, and at least have in mind that Denmark is much worth of visiting; besides the performances of the Royal theater you have a chance to see Alban Lendorf also in a "christmas" performance "Dance ballerina dance" and in several musicals ("Dirty dancing" amongst them). It's a good transport connection from Copenhagen both to Stockholm and Hamburg. In July-August we'll have performances of "Verdensballetten" all over Denmark, in the most picturesque sites - I hope to be at one of them!

More videos from the Saturday concert of Summer ballet for those who love Bournonville, this time in Billund: 1) Excerpt from Pas de six : 2) Tarantelle:

I am very much looking forward to watching this programme again tomorrow in Billund, this time with my grandchildren. By the way, there is a morning flight from Stansted to Billund and evening flight from Billund to Stansted, the weather should be nice, so you are welcome to come and see the performance!

I may critisize Nicolaj Hubbe a lot, but I'm willing to forgive him for bringing summer performances of the dancers from RDB to the most remote corners of Denmark. This year the performances will last for two weeks and are free of charge for the spectators. Last Monday, the 5th of June, I happened to be present at the performance of the Royal Summer Ballet in Kolding. Here are the excerpts we could see - please take in account that it's a temporary scene, there's some wind and a lot of things that can distract the artists. I myself am very glad for this opportunity that allows us to see if not the best technical abilities of the dancers, their willingness and joy of performing the beautiful dance pieces for the public that maybe has this only chance a year to watch them. 1) The Swan lake - italian dance: Silvia Selvini, Vitor de Menezes (former dancer at ENB) and Samuel Zaldivar (former graduate from RBS in London) 2) The flower party in Genzano (1858) - pas de quatre: Mayo Arii (former dancer with Hamburg ballet and Houston ballet), Tara Schaufuss (daughter of Peter Schaufuss, former dancer of Queensland ballet, who also got an education as choreographer and next season the Royal Danish ballet will perform her work together with the creations of Tobias Praetorius and Matteo di Loreto in a programme "Koreorama", Guilherme de Menezes ( former dancer at ENB, like his twin brother Vitor), Meirambek Nazargozhayev 3) The Swan lake -the black pas de deux: Astrid Elbo (not only the soloist of RDB but also a talented actress taking part in numerous projects) and Ryan Tomash (former graduate of the ballet school of National Ballet of Canada) 4)The excerpts from "Gotta dance", recent creation of Gregory Dean, RDB's premier: Mayo Arii, Emma Riis-Kofoed, Eukene Saques, Tara Schaufuss, Silvia Selvini, Jonathan Chmelensky, Guilherme and Vitor de Menezes, Meirambek Nazargozhayev, Mathieu Rouaux and Ryan Tomash 5) The dying swan: Stephanie Chen Gundorpf 6) The little nightingale (choreography of Eliabe D'Abadia, dancer from RDB's corps de ballet): Eukene Saques (she was presenting her own work for not so long time ago at Linbury theatre, I believe, as part of young choreographers' programme) and Samuel Zaldivar 7) Napoli - pas de six and tarantel: Mayo Arii, Astrid Elbo, Stephanie Chen Gundorph, Emma Riis-Kofoed, Eukene Saques, Tara Schaufuss, Silvia Selvini, Jonathan Chmelensky, Guilherme and Vitor de Menezes, Meirambek Nazargozhayev, Mathieu Rouaux, Ryan Tomash and Samuel Zaldivar

I consider myself lucky to be able to see the performance of "The Dante project" in Opera Garnier last Saturday, 27th of May. Germain Louvet was Dante, Irek Mukhamedov - Virgile and there were a great many of wonderfully good dancers accompanying them. I liked music a lot, as well as scenography, light design (though a bit too dark sometimes to my taste), costumes and of course choreography. Unfortunately I was sitting in the side lounge close to the scene and though it was the first row, it was difficult to watch as the guests from the neighbour lounge were practically lying upon the rail. So better not to choose these places. For me one of the greatest pleasures was to see Guillaume Diop (Paolo) and Bleunn Battistoni (Francesca) dancing, but there were several remarkable scenes - I liked La Foret des suicides a lot - the girls were stunning! And of course " Les voleurs" (I believe, it means "robbers"). Germaine Louvet was superb through the whole performance and Irek Mukhamedov showed himself as a true teacher, with those precise movements, as if guiding his younger colleague. The first act finished with the dance between Dante and Satan (Valentine Colasante) - though she resembled a snake more than the devil. The second act, Purgatorio: Amour was a pure joy for the eyes and heart with the dance of Dante and Beatrice (Hannah O'Neill), as well as the younger versions of two protagonists (Ines Briki as Beatrice girl and Bastien Galipaud as Dante boy and Bleunn Battistoni as young Beatrice and Loup Marcault-Derouard as young Dante). And at last the third act, Paradise, was utmostly spectacular with all the planets and stars. I especially liked the part where two male dancers made a joint lift of two girls, who swirled around like one of Jupiter's rings. I don't have much chance to visit Paris Opera and I was very impressed by the ability of its company to dance modern choreography, to my mind there are a lot of good dancers there and I'm looking forward to see some of them again the coming weekend in Copenhagen (by the way, the Queen of Denmark will be present at the last performance).

I just had a look at the web page of RDB and found out that the planned premiere of " Napoli" on the 20th of May is cancelled! Now "Napoli" run should start on May 26th but I won't be surprised if there will appear more unpleasant news.

The ballet " Jekyll and Hyde" of the National ballet of Finland recorded on the 24th of April, 2023, can be watched here: https://oopperabaletti.fi/en/stage24/video/jekyll-hyde-recording/ The case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a story about the deep contradictions of the human psyche and its capacity for both good and evil. The ballet, set in Victorian England, travels from the misty streets of London to the horrors of a mental hospital to the elegance of high society. Val Caniparoli’s choreography had its world premiere at the Finnish National Ballet in 2020. CHOREOGRAPHY Val Caniparoli MUSIC Frédéric Chopin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Górecki, Wojciech Kilar, Henryk Wieniawski CONDUCTOR Kalle Kuusava SETS David Israel Reynoso COSTUMES David Israel Reynoso LIGHTING DESIGN Jim French ARTISTIC CONSULTANT & DRAMATURGE Carey Perloff Cast: DR. HENRY JEKYLL Lucas Jerkander, MR. EDWARD HYDE Michal Krčmář, ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Antti Keinänen, NELLIE CAREW Hanako Matsune, ROWENA Rebecca King

Evidently there came some problems with " La Bayadere" as though it was announced as one of the revivals for the next season, one week later it was announced that it's off the coming season and will be substituted by Scotch Symphony + La Sylphide. Not funny, herr Hubbe.

Cinderella of the next season is choreographed by Gregory Dean (he's one of the male principals soon to be retired and has created several ballets for RDB, this Saturday his last ballet, Gotta dance, has premiere). Alban Lendorf practically doean't appear on the scene as ballet dancer, but it's possible to see him in musicals and drama performances. I saw him as Jean in Strindberg's " Mademoiselle Julie" and he was superb. I wonder if there wiill be some problems again with staging of, for example, La Bayadere or Raymonda - though Hubbe has already changed or "modernized" some of the characters and plot twists.

I was also lucky to see "The Swan lake" in Amsterdam on the 7th of April, with Anna Tsygankova and Giorgi Potskhishvili (it was his debut as Siegfried and he was promoted to second soloist rank immediately after this performance). From the very first appearance of Anna Tsygankova on the scene, I (and many other spectators)was mesmerized by her interpretation of the Swan Queen, everything was exceptional, her gentle movements followed every sound of music, her artistry and technical abilities were superb. Giorgi showed himself as a great dancer and partner - his jumps were excellent, his landings impeccable and all liftings seemed to be easy. The interaction of the two protagonists during the whole performance was indeed perfect. Von Rothbart was danced by Conor Walmsley and he also was very good. In this version the 3d act (the party in the castle) seemed to be very different to me from the versions I saw before: Von Rothbart and Odile were present at the party from the very beginning; there were 6 brides-to-be dancing and hoping to win the heart of the prince; no russian dance; there were spanish dance, then pas de six, then neapolitan dance, then a piece called Provocation where Koyo Yamamoto danced beautifully accompanied by 5 male dancers; then hungarian dance. Von Rothbart was quite active, dancing with one of the girls and even playing the violin. The 1st act reminded me a bit "Giselle" as there were not only court members present, but also peasants and it was a pleasure to look at the pupils from the Dutch National Ballet Academy. In the 4th act two big swans also reminded me of "Giselle" as they treated Ziegfried almost as Zulma and Moina. Oh, and Ziegfried's friend, Alexander (Edo Wijnen) accompanied him everywhere, witnessing also his meeting with Odette - and he danced pas de trois with Khayla Fitzpatrick and Naira Agvaneyan very well. I'm also very glad I could see this version of "The Swan Lake".

Oh, what a pity! A great person and a great choreographer! I saw him at the premiere of "The red and the black" and even had a chance to speak to him and get his autograph. His legacy will continue to live.

I can't unfortunately shed a light on this decision, but I'm very disappointed by it, as I had a ticket to see " Jewels" on the 19th of April, and as I live far away from Copenhagen, I also bought the train tickets to be able to come to the theatre and all in vain as we know now. To say the truth, RDB offered instead a pre-run meeting with Gregory Dean, whose new work, "Gotta dance", will hopefully have a premiere on the 22nd of April. But - storytelling by Gregory Dean or ballet by Balanchine - I'm not sure it's an adequate offer. In general, I am quite dissapointed with Nikolaj Hubbe as a leader of the ballet company during the last 3 years. I wonder if the coming season will go on as it soon will be announced or if there again will be any changes? In 2021 RDB wanted to stage " Frankenstein" , but some dancers objected it and the idea was declined, in 2022 "Othello" was planned and our three not-white dancers (Ryan Tomash, Sebastian Pico Haynes and Liam Readhead ) were supposed to dance the leading part, and I myself doubt very much they willingly refused to dance it, but again somebody withstood the project - I actually would like to know exactly, who was it, as in the documentary of Danish television on this subject the only representative of the dancers who expressed the thoughts about the situation was Astrid Elbo, a white female. What was a problem for those directly involved in the discussion to express openly their arguments, I wonder? Nikolaj Hubbe also was filmed in this documentary but he just seemed to be very upset and insecure about the whole sad situation with the conflict between him and John Neumeier. For about 2 months ago there was an article on danish website " Kulturmonitor" (https://kulturmonitor.dk/scene/art9224171/Nikolaj-Hübbe-løj-over-for-stjernekoreograf-og-kaldte-sine-dansere-ømskindede - sorry, it's in Danish) saying that Nikolaj Hubbe wasn't honest to John Neumeier saying that it was a theatre committee that decided against staging "Othello" - there's no such committee in the theatre. At the same time it was said that in some emails and other messages Nikolaj Hubbe called the dancers of his theatre "soft skinned". By the way, in the above mentioned documentary he made clear that he intends to leave his position in three years and to say the truth, it would probably be for the best.

Well, I'm not sure how proper it is, maybe you can find some information here: https://kglteater.dk/en/whats-on/season-20222023/ballet/napoli

For those interested in visiting Copenhagen, the weekend of the 3d-4th June could be especially attractive as it's possible to see both "Napoli" of RDB ( https://kglteater.dk/en/whats-on/season-20222023/ballet/napoli?section=top ) and Gala of the POB dancers: https://kbhdanser.dk/en/paris-opera/ This Gala is a part of Ulrik Birkkjær's baby, the festival " København danser". Copenhagen is extremely easy to visit as there are no strikes, good transport possibilities (you can find your way around using this site: https://rejseplanen.dk/webapp/?language=en_EN#!P|TP!histId|0!histKey|H978069 ) and everybody speaks English. So - please come!

There will be free concerts of RDB at the open air all over Denmark in June. The only problem is that if there is rain (even few drops ), the concert is cancelled. https://kglteater.dk/det-sker/sason-20222023/ballet/kongelig-sommerballet If you press +, you'll see the places where the dancers perform. Unfortunately the information is only available in Danish, but you can see the dates and places - last concert is in Copenhagen.

I would especially love to watch " Bovary" and a double bill of Marcos Morau and Crystal Pite. I saw " Carmen" of Marcos Morau at RDB theatre for some years ago, and it was an outstanding performance - to start with, I couldn't decide if I hated it or loved it, but in the end I was absolutely won by it! I remember it was clear that the dancers enjoyed the performance - as well as the spectators! Definitely crazy (IMHO) but fascinating! I'm glad Iana Salenko stays, she's a huge magnet for my visits to Berlin, but a pity Krasina Pavlova and Arshak Galymyan will have to go as well as other very good dancers - I imagine, it often happens when a new leader joins the company.

Probably it's painful for mr.Ratmansky to know that the ballet he had once been working upon was successfully staged by the other choreographer. Personally I don't think Putin's war is paid by taxes of the foreign choreographers/dancers working in Russia, in my opinion it is mainly paid by money our countries still pay to Russia for oil and gas - as I understand, it's still huge amount and it's shameful, but the ballet forum isn't a place to discuss it. For me, any action that helps to divert russian money from producing/buying more weapons and escalating the war, it being, for example, the staging of the new expensive ballet, is already a good cause. Well done, Mariinsky! I hope the new ballet will get a long life on its stage and I certainly wait for the opportunity to watch it - in St. Petersburg, London or elsewhere!

And thanks to Sabine for reminding me that I saw Iana Salenko as princess Aurora in Berlin in February 2015 in Nacho Duato's " Sleeping beauty" when she was accompanied by Leonid Sarafanov. I liked her enormously in that role and she danced beautifully. I think I also prefer tiny ballerinas dancing Aurora - after all, she's very young. I enjoy Iana's performances, she does her best every time, even if it's only a short number from the summer concert of Verdensballeten - for example, " The dying swan" in 2019: And when she has a perfect partner as Steven McRay, what a joy to watch them (July 2022 ) : And last year I liked a lot the final number with somewhat comical interchange between Steven McRay and Marian Walter. And Anne Rose O'Sullivan was there as well - together with Xander Parish, I liked her so much:

In early January, I managed to attend two performances of Berlin Ballet: on January 3d, there was the last Sleeping Beauty of this season staged by Marcia Haydée , a very beautiful and picturesque ballet, lasting 3 hours 10 minutes, with one break. The role of Princess Aurora was performed by Aya Okumura, and Prince Desire by Murilo de Oliveira; Arshak Galumyan played the role of Carabosse, and beautiful Krasina Pavlova danced the Lilac fairy. In the prologue, the fairies, their cavaliers and servants charmed the spectators with a variety of dances. Carabosse was very sinister, and the Lilac Fairy - consolating and pacifying, it was interesting to see their duet. The main person of the 1st act was surely Aurora, this role suits tiny Aya Okumura perfectly. The rose adagio went very well. All the princes were superb though I liked Konstantin Lorenz (prince from the West) more than the others. In the second act the attention went to Prince Desire who surprisingly had a fiancée but left her to go hunting. The forest nymphs were beautiful, Carabosse was defeated and Aurora united with the prince. The third act was perhaps the most colorful due to the divertissement, where all the princes and various fairy-tale characters were present: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Ali Baba (Gregoire Duchevet) and the treasures he found: Amethyst (Eloise Sacilotto), Sapphire (Liza Avsazhanishvili), Ruby (Bruna Cantanhede), Emerald (Julia Golitsina), White cat and Puss in Boots, Little Red Riding Hood and Gray Wolf. Princess Florina (Evelina Godunova) appeared with the Blue Bird (Alexander Bird) as well and left a very good impression! On the 4th of January I saw the most interesting Swan lake staged by Patrice Bart. He took the action to the early 20th century with blazers and trousers for men and flowing dresses for ladies. However the swans were still in tutus. This version's corps de ballet reminded me more than ever of a flock of swans. A very large role was assigned to the dowager queen ( Krasina Pavlova), but the real star of the evening was Iana Salenko as Odette/Odile. She's one of my favourite ballerinas. She has a perfect complexion for a dancer: miniature and surprisingly harmonious, with long legs (for her height), which is rare for small ballerinas. You can never tell that she's a mother to three boys. Iana's Odette turned out to be tender and caring, surrending to love with the knowledge that the price to pay would be too high. Her Odile used the whole set of seducing tricks, skillfully copying her rival - nobody could have resisted! And the fouettes caused a lot of applauses! Her partner, Dinu Tamazlacaru (Prince Desire) had no difficulties elevating Iana and they both looked like a perfect dance couple. I was pleasantly surprised by the large number of young people in the theatre, including young men. So the both ballets were a pure pleasure and I only hope that the company will be even better under the guidance of a new leader.

And maybe another clip - from the same performance; Alexander Bozinoff was James and Christina Michanek was Madge:

I saw Neumeier's " A Midsummer's Night Dream" in Copenhagen on the 6th of November where Stephanie Chen Gundorf danced Hippolyta/Titania and Ryan Tomash - Theseus/Oberon and I was very much impressed by her dancing and my thoughts were that it's a dance worth of a prima ballerina! So I'm also very glad for that well deserved promotion; Here you can see her in " Sylfiden" - recording is from a year ago:

Rikako Shibamoto has spent a short time until the end of the previous season as a member of the corps de ballet of the RDB and I liked her very much for her musicality and graciousness. Luckily for her she was invited as a solist to the Royal ballet of Sweden. Great to know that she shows her talent there as well!

Well, also "Carmen" of different choreographers can be used as a good example of a violence against women but then again, it's not a classical ballet. Wow, indeed, almost every ballet has some scenes of if not violence, then bullying of women/girls, even " The Nutcracker"!

Watching " Mayerling" wasn't the only aim for my visit to England. I adore Matthew Bourne's works since I saw " The car man" in Sadler's Wells theater and try to see them whenever it's possible. Actually I was surprised not finding any reviews her of his last creation " The midnight bell" which I was lucky to see in Brighton last year. Well, however, seeing that his company would perform " The Sleeping Beauty" in Plymouth precisely during the days I'm in Britain, I didn't hesitate to buy the tickets. And only afterwards I looked at the map to see where exactly is Plymouth located. Well, I found out that my knowledge of geography has faded substantially since I'd finished the school, but done is done and the only thing we could do was to find the less expensive bus/train tickets from London to go to this beautiful coastal city worth of visiting even without Matthew Bourne's company. Well, we weren't dissapointed. Matthew Bourne combines the classical dance with modern movements and interesting twists of the plot like no one else. We were lucky to have Ashley Shaw as princess Aurora, Andrew Monaghan as Leo, the royal gamekeeper, Paris Fitzpatrick as Carabosse and Caradoc, and Dominic North as Count Lilac, the king of the fairies, and they and the rest of the dancers indeed made the evening unforgettable. Even though I got somewhat confused about the vampire/Dracula scenes in the performance, but I suppose, that's why it's called "A Gothic romance". It was the first performance of the 2022 remount but it didn't look like one, everybody was acting and dancing with a great precision and joy, so easily, and effortlessly, that we couldn't but enjoy every moment of this wonderful evening! I caught myself on the thought that the next time I probably won't bother again to look where is the town the New Adventures perform - I'll surely just buy the tickets again first!