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VickyPage

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Everything posted by VickyPage

  1. If you're not bored of watching Don Q, then I'd recommend Tereshkina's Kitri. Or her Nikiya actually. And if you want a Swan Lake then you can't go wrong with Kondaurova. (And yes, the Bolshoi were not good for my bank account!)
  2. Thanks; I thought it might be that, but I thought she might have come back by the time of the tour. Maybe she doesn't want to over commit...
  3. Does anyone know why Alina Somova isn't on the list of principals likely to be attending? (I'm sorry for disappearing for so many months! I've been rather busy, but as the spring season is starting I'll be here to stay.)
  4. Speaking as someone who was there in the theatre on the night, were the accidentally dropped program and the loud ringing phone obvious in the live stream? I remember thinking perhaps the program was actually a passionate fan letter to Osipova that someone had dropped as she neared their corner of the stage... Whatever it was, it would be worthwhile knowing how distracting it was before I buy any DVDs that may or may not be forthcoming.
  5. Yikes, this is so brilliant I can't possibly stop myself. I hope none of my friends want Christmas presents this year!
  6. I think I'm on the left in AA 4 or 5, so that shouldn't be too bad. Thanks for the reassurance! I didn't want to miss anything crucial...
  7. Where in the Slips were you, Tatiana? I've got tickets for the Upper Slips on Wednesday, so I'm nervous now that I'll miss an important part.
  8. She said at the stage door that she would be dancing Coppelia with Alex in Spain soon. (I didn't ask her, because I thought it might be a bit invasive, but I was right next to someone else who did.)
  9. Me too, Tatiana! And I'm seeing her in Anastasia next week, so it would have been a blow. Re: The Mariinsky - Do we know when this will be officially announced? It's crucial to my bank balance that I know what ballets they're doing...
  10. Not sure if I can add much to the richly deserved praise of Marquez and Campbell last night. The whole experience was completely joyful, and Roberta thoroughly deserved the carpet of flowers she received at the end. Alex really shines in the partnering I've noticed; his future partners will be very lucky ladies. Peregrine even behaved himself perfectly! It felt as though the audience was in a particularly good mood - they seemed more open to laughter than on the 5th, although that might just have been an impression.
  11. I was also there last night, Penelope, and although I wasn't quite as badly disappointed as you, I was not as wowed as I expected to be. It was good, but it wasn't quite the revelation I thought it might become. I originally talked myself out of buying tickets, because I had a busy autumn ahead of me and I wasn't sure I would enjoy a modern reworking of one of my all time favourite classical ballets. However, I read so many positive reviews, and a friend of mine (whose opinion on ballet I value) told me it was excellent, so I eventually snatched up one of the few remaining tickets for Bristol. I didn't buy a program until after the first act, which may have changed my opinion slightly, but in general, I think you should be able to follow a ballet without a synopsis. I had read reviews and the aforementioned online summary, but I still didn't think the storyline was clear on stage. The group dances, as Penelope said, were absolutely gorgeous, and I actually liked the score much more than I thought I would. However, I can't help but wonder if Khan was suffering from the same misconception as a lot of dancers and fans have about the classical ballet: that Act I is just a mechanism to get through to Act II. He certainly appeared to be fulfilling that idea in his realisation anyway. Alina's acting and movement was lovely; since the score was my favourite thing about Act I, it was of course crucial that she is such a musical dancer, but I confess I came out at interval feeling confused. It was good, but it was hardly a masterpiece yet. I did enjoy Act II infinitely more than Act I, which changed the evening from a disappointment to a pretty lovely experience with some interesting ideas, but not quite as shockingly brilliant as I was led to expect. Hernandez was gorgeous in his rebellious solo against the landlords and I absolutely loved the idea of Giselle's discomfort with her identity as a Wili, and how Myrtha had to teach her to stand en pointe. The brilliant use of the sticks was almost kendo-esque in the killing of Hilarion, and I hope Stina Quagebeur was wearing her comfiest shoes, because she spent absolutely ages en pointe during the pas de deux between Albrecht and Giselle. I absolutely loved Act II and some of the ideas it put forth, I just wish that the whole ballet had been that good.
  12. Sounds like there will be tons of us there on the 18th! We should all have some kind of meet up at interval.
  13. I missed them in R&J too, Anna, so I'm also very excited about the 18th. Not sure if I should book Hayward/Campbell as well, but I'm definitely considering it. I think Frankie would be a lovely Aurora.
  14. Don't worry, Don Q Fan, there looked to be quite a lot left for the SBs when I got in on student booking today. I had to get one of the Naghdi/Ball matinees, of course!
  15. Vis-a-vis costumes, although I have a great deal of fondness for Anthony Dowell's disco production, I wish all companies would leave off some of the glitter on Siegfried. I was nearly blinded in July/August by the Bolshoi's glittery shirts, and I'm not that much more impressed by the gold puffs in the Dowell production. I know it seems a trivial complaint, but it can be very distracting, not to mention not period typical, whether the setting is meant to be medieval or 19th century.
  16. I actually agree with capybara to some extent. Obviously I did really enjoy it, but as I said to a friend earlier I don't think it was helped by the short running time, which meant they omitted various key points (for example, the divorce of his parents was upsetting, but they had actually already divorced and remarried before the point shown in the film). Also, the timeline for filming meant that they had to put in various 'fake' scenes, filmed after the event and clearly at least semi-scripted, such as the one where Sergei asks Cristofi to choreograph Take Me To Church for him. The film also implied Sergei chose the song, even though afterwards he pointed out that David LaChapelle actually chose it. Things like this weren't necessarily hugely offensive on a first time watch with the excitement of a cinema viewing, but I worry that they might mislead fans and start to annoy once the DVD comes out.
  17. I saw it this afternoon, and Sergei sweetly showed up for a Q and A at the end with the director, even though only the director's presence had been mentioned on the website. I actually really enjoyed it, although I've heard some negative reports from others. I thought it was well cut, well assembled and very moving. There was certainly some footage I've never seen before, and there was a lot of hilarity (Valentino Zuchetti's story of shaving off one of Sergei's eyebrows while he was sleeping comes to mind!) as well as sadness. By the way, I seem to recall someone said that Natalia did not make an appearance in the actual film, although I can't seem to find the post currently. She is actually in it (although you need to be quite eagle-eyed to catch her). At the end, there's some footage of a performance Sergei did in November 2015 of various Jerome Robbins works (the one I remember is Other Dances) with Natalia. You see her from behind at one point and also in the wings adjusting her shoe ribbon. One of the reasons I point this out is that he said in the Q and A that it meant a lot to him that she was there when he was reunited with his father, mother and grandmother backstage.
  18. After reading all these reviews, I'm certainly regretting not booking for one of the Hayward/Sambe nights. My philosophy was that they'll reprise the roles, because they're young dancers, and I can see them again, but there is something quite special about seeing a debut, so I wish I had chosen differently now! Also, on the subject of Peregrine, he did behave himself perfectly on the night I saw it, even though the dancers themselves had some minor mishaps.
  19. I hope whoever decided to stream on Facebook rather than YouTube this year is feeling guilty, as they have made today very unhappy for us all. I was lucky enough last year to have a day off, so I got to watch all of it live and I had a great time with the people on YouTube being very silly and excited. This time, despite making time in a busy day to watch some of it, I not only didn't get the YouTube chat experience, but I also didn't get to watch more than the lovely RB company class before, like everyone else's, it started jumping all over the place. I've tried on my phone, iPad, laptop, work computer, friend's computer... It's obviously an international issue. I blame the problem on trying to stream such a large mp4 file on Facebook, which is obviously not used to handling videos of that length.
  20. I'm still having issues with it going back a percentage of the video every minute or so! It's nice to know I'm not alone, but it's still very frustrating after last year's livestream worked so well. I hope they upload it to YouTube, because I had to miss both the Fille and most of the SB rehearsal because of this.
  21. Well then, I think the universe is right about the choreography! And yes, it was opening night. I think it's generally agreed to have been a bit disappointing all round.
  22. This has certainly been my experience! I have loved some dancers at first sight, and with some it has taken a lot longer. Some dancers work better live on stage, and some work better on film. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has to revise their opinion sometimes! Lexy - I have to agree with you about the Queen of the Dryads - it's a tough variation and can make even the lightest of dancers seem stodgy and tired. I'm not going to argue about Tikhomirova, because I think she's a marmite dancer and we've had enough arguing for one topic. I just want to say that, I would never call any dancer 'unmusical', because I myself am not at all musical. I like listening to music very much, but I'm sure dance examiners up and down the country can tell you that I've always scored lowest when it comes to musicality. I am, therefore, a terrible judge. I thought your idea about Stepanova starting movements late, but ending at the right time was an interesting one actually and I'll definitely consider it next time I see her.
  23. Wow, I am really sorry if my slightly off-hand criticism of Stepanova helped to start this argument. It might be worth remembering that most of what we post in this forum is personal opinion, and although we all have sensible reasons for our opinions, they are mostly based on personal taste and personal perception. As capybara pointed out, many of us are poor hapless Brits, who are reliant on Bolshoi tours, YouTube and DVDs for information. fillebiengardee - Thank you for the videos! (And I love your story about Tikhomirova's Gamzatti! She definitely dominated as the Spanish Princess in Swan Lake and the Street Dancer in Don Quixote this summer, so I confess I'm not surprised that she had a similar effect in Bayadere.) I actually did really enjoy Stepanova's Nikiya (a role I can be picky about, as that solo is one of my favourites) so thank you for sharing. It seems like she just wasn't at her best in London. My policy tends to be not to write off a dancer at first glance, as I've had many changes of opinion over the years. Most people have good and bad moments and good and bad roles.
  24. That's a very good description of Tikhomirova; she has an excellent stage presence. It's true that I haven't seen Stepanova in a lot of things, and it can be easy to get the wrong impression of a dancer if they happen to be having a bad night. What roles in particular would you recommend I look at?
  25. Thanks for the info, Lexy. To be honest, I'm really disappointed about Stepanova's promotion over dancers like Tikhomirova. When I saw her in London in July, I thought she was wooden and had almost a 'heavy' quality on stage, despite being a very slender girl.
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