sybarite2015@

Since this topic is related to meeting dancers after their performances does anyone know which nearby cocktail bars/pubs/wine bars/restaurants/cafe's (have I covered everything?!) the dancers hang out at?

Thanks for the help Amelia. Unfortunately my visit to Russia didn't happen but it is still useful to know for future trips. Talking of stage doors has anyone ever had a bad experience there as in you've waited to meet a famous ballet dancer or ballerina and they've been really obnoxious?!

I enjoyed the shows I saw but was saddened by missing out on seeing Lopatkina and now I've read online she has retired  

She was perfect as a dancer -- though not as ravishingly beautiful as Zakharova -- I think she was more refined and a better dancer, just. When a ballerina retires does that mean she stops performing entirely or do they still do the odd gala here and there?

Yes, Baden-Baden is a sumptuous town and I hope to see the Mariinsky there in December but I have to be honest most of the big names at the moment are in the Bolshoi...

though I prefer the Mariinsky's more refined style.

Anyone know of any up and coming future stars at the Vaganova academy?

Has anyone waited at the stage door for Osipova since she's joined RB? 

Also -- since I might be going to Moscow/St. Petersburg for business --is it possible to go to the stage door at the Bolshoi and Mariinsky?

Thanks in advance. 

(I hope to meet Vishneva and Skorik too during the Mariinsky's London season in July/August.) A question about bouquets: I don't want to be holding a bouquet (or single rose!) during the performances so what is the etiquette? Do I give them to reception and ask them to give them back to me after the performance so i can give them at the stage door?)

I plan to see a lot of the Mariinsky ballets in London and it looks like it'll be expensive but so excited. I am more familiar with the Bolshoi ballerinas/danseurs except for Vishneva, Skorik and Lopatkina so the post by Birdsall was very helpful...

Isnt Uliana Lopatkina with the Mariinsky? Why isnt she touring?

I am Joe Public (for now) so have to wait till tomorrow to buy tickets. I think I should become a Friend...

I saw it from the Dress Circle and overall really loved it although a few pieces were merely okay. Finally saw the Dying Swan live! Light Rain was brilliant and also many other pieces...

I wish Lopatkina and Vishneva and Osipova had been there but still I had a great evening...

Delighted to find out that Zakharova is performing 3 new pieces at the ENO Coliseum:

https://londoncoliseum.org/whats-on/amore-svetlana-zakharova/

ticket already booked

I'll try to go to each of the ballet's at least once. I'm disappointed Lopatkina isn't coming as she's imho the greatest ballerina currently in the world (even though I adore Zakharova)

and her The Dying Swan is peerless.

I've also read the latest memoir /erotica by ex NYC ballet dancer Toni Bentley entitled The Surrender. It is a beautiful and deeply philosophical book. 

I'm also reading her Winter Season, A Dancer's Journal 

& White Swan, Black Swan by Adrienne Sharp (short stories set in the world of ballet) and still ploughing through the mammoth Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet by Jennifer Homans!

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Someone also mentioned to me a new documentary about Sergei Polunin called, I think, Dancer which I can't wait to see.

I recently finished a very good novel based on the life of Nureyev called Dancer by Colum McCann which I highly recommend. An excellent and engaging novel about the great Russian dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, which has some truly beautiful passages of writing including an astonishing 30-page long sentence! From his early childhood in Ufa to his death of AIDS in Paris this novel covers it all but omits a lot as well and tends to focus on his inner life more than the bare facts. It also brings life in Soviet Russia wonderfully to life and makes Nureyev come more to life than the mammoth biography by Kavanagh. It makes a wonderful companion piece to that book. Highly recommended.

Hi

I just browsed through the performances for the rest of the 2016/17 season till July 2017 and I can't find Osipova in any RB performances? Or have I overlooked something?

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And my second question: are the Mariinksy coming next summer to London (2017)?

Skorik is indeed a wonderful dancer; i saw her in Swan Lake with the Mariinsky. I haven't yet seen Lopatkina but can't wait to do so. From what I've seen of her she is the most exquisitely beautiful and classical dancer in the world with perfect lines. I adore Zakharova but think in Swan Lake Lopatkina is better.

i'd imagine in the years when Nuruyev was at his pomp, there must have been hundreds of adoring females at the stage door?

I’ll start with an unashamed apology that this is most definitely a fan-boy write up. I didn’t go to see Swan Lake last night, I went to see Svetlana Zakharova (for the first time). She was fabulous, I’d love to be able to describe her the way Bruce Wall would but I don’t have the words. Every movement, every pose was sumptuous, her arms truly rippled, her face was expressive. Sinuous as a snake are the words that sprang to mind when watching her – not terribly flattering words though .

 

I was sitting in the front left hand corner of the OS and what I hadn’t really appreciated beforehand is that a lot of SL is Odette (and others) moving from back right across the stage to front left – this meant they were coming straight at me, loved it  .

 

Anna Tikhomirova has clearly become an ROH favourite with a ripple of applause when she came on stage as the Spanish Bride (only Zakharova and Tikhomirova got this ‘appearance’ applause).

 

All the Brides were good with Yulia Stepanova as the Russian Bride as my favourite. (Any Russian bride would be my favourite, I love that Russian Bride music).

 

Svetlana Zakharova’s black swan was wickedly delightful (fashion note: no black feathers for SZ, just a lovely little crown). I had to count and she did exactly 32 perfect fouettes – ever the perfectionist.

 

I’ve seen three Bolshoi SLs this time round and none of them moved me emotionally which tells me this is not a good version of SL (I think we knew that). Zakharova came the closest in the first white act when her facial portrayal of Odette and her little shudders and ripples told of her sorrow and the sadness to come – but I couldn’t stop grinning  because I was enjoying  Zakharova so much that I forgot Odette.

 

Rodkin/Belyakov/Lopatin were tremendous to watch as Siegfried/Evil Genius/Fool. The interplay between Prince Siegfried and the Evil Genius is probably the best ‘new’ thing in this SL version but it is nowhere near enough to make it a good SL.

Timmie, I couldn't have put it better. After 5 years of trying I finally got to see SZ and she was every bit perfect as I'd imagined and seen on YT videos and in the cinema broadcasts. I was in the OS in row B also in the corner...great Swan Lake (I also saw Smirnova's but I think SZ was better. )

Thanks to all those who told me how to find the stage door. I plucked up the courage to wait outside the Stage Door after the Swan Lake show last night for Zakharova and, after an hour, was rewarded! There was quite a crowd waiting for her. In the end she sat in the booth inside and security let us in a few at a time to meet her. I managed to get a signed program and a little conversation and she let me video it on my phone. Such an angel! I was surprisingly not as nervous as I thought I'd be! God, she's perfect.

(On an aside it was interesting to see how tiny and slim the ballerinas are as the ballerinas of the CdB came out whilst we were waiting for Zakharova; and also how different they look in their street clothes. I was more surprised by how tiny they all were! Rodkin also got mobbed by lots of girls and was kind enough to take selfies with all of them and he got a round of applause to which he theatrically bowed with a flourish. i'm not gay but he is gorgeous! It seems they all shrink to become human once off stage!)

A great experience. Next persons to meet I hope: Lopatkina, Osipova and Obraztsova and, I hope, Tsiskiradze and Vasiliev too. I will also remember to take a bouquet of flowers next time I meet any of them (including I hope Svetlana again!)

So since tomorrow is the performance of Zakharova for Swan Lake...anyone else want to join me in meeting her at the stage door?

I hope I can get the courage to do it!! 

Where is the stage door again and is it ok to ask one of the ROH staff to show you where it is if you can't find it?

Hi

Just returned from the opening night of Swan Lake with Olga Smirnova and Denis Rudkin. It was a different experience to the last Swan Lake I saw with the Bolshoi a few years ago but still enjoyable. Smirnova was so elegant and the Corps were amazing. I was in Row M of the Orchestra Stalls and the experience was different to being in the first rows as I normally am.

Lots of curtain calls for Denis and Olga.

Did anyone else from here go? What did you think?

p.s. The smoked salmon sandwiches were nice but not worth 11 quid!

p.p.s. The Black Swan Champagne cocktail was definitely worth it!

Yeh Osipova was brilliant in Le Corsaire (along with Vasiliev) last time I saw them with the Bolshoi in London.

Why the sudden change?

I have a slightly silly and embarrassing question: I've been to the ROH quite a few times but always had to wait for ages during the interval in the queue to get some food and drinks. I noticed some people have their orders ready to pick up immediately. How does one do that?

Also I notice no Evgenia Obraztsova? Pity, she's one of my favourites too. I guess you can't bring all your primas on tour - or can you?

I'm going to wait a few weeks and hopefully there will still be some tickets left for Don Q and Flames...I'd like to see all the shows if i can...

Why is Svetlana only doing 2 shows in the entire season? She is THE main star of the Bolshoi so I don't get that?

Ok, So I've managed to book tickets for Swan Lake twice! Once on opening night (145 GBP tickets in the stalls) and once again for Zakharova! I'm now going to have to live on a budget for rest of the month!!!! (If anyone wants to swap the opening night ticket for one of the Don Quixote ones PM me!)

Does anyone want to swap? I got Smirnova for Swan Lake but really wanted Zakharova!