Jeannette

Oh, it will be traditional, as per the ENB designs. I’m not sure that it will be THE December 2019 recon/historical staging that AR staged for the Bolshoi Ballet…unless the Bolshoi doesn’t own the rights. I suppose that a few bits can be altered, to get around the legalities?

Fascinating! I agree with earlier posts above that this is most likely NOT AR’s late-2019 reconstruction for the Bolshoi but, rather, something entirely new. Perhaps a total reimagining…set in a village in Ukraine’s Donbas region, with Graf Albert a Russian, falling for Ukrainian farm girl? Instead of dying, Giselle goes away to join an all-female resistance army? Naw…forgive my imagination running wild on a lazy Saturday morning. ☕️ 
 

(I read that the sets/costumes are being borrowed from BRB so AR can’t change the story too much.)

Somewhat related to the competition:

Many of the Junior-level medalists returned to St Petersburg to take part in the latest Vaganova ARB graduation performances, including this one on June 18, 2022:

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IqbT9uz5Vtg

 

Numbers and casting, according to a friend who attended:

 

1. GIOCONDA Dance of the Hours (Tsiskaridze-aft Petipa/ Ponchielli)

 

Maria Koshkareva

Luca Dobosh

 

2. FLOWER FESTIVAL IN GENZANO (after Bournonville/Helsted & Paulli)

Polina Tsaitseva

Miroslav Arbatov

 

3. CLASSICAL SYMPHONY (Lavrovsky/Prokofiev)

 

mvt1 - Yaroslava Krupina

            Glen Asadchenko

 

mvt 2 - Maria Koshkareva

              Georgi Khrebtov

 

mvt 3 (not in the above film but elsewhere on YouTube, from another fan) -  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e2qMc5LURT4

             Maria Sheveleva

              Luca Dobosh

 

mvt 4 - all

 

 

4. RAYMONDA ACT III (Petipa/Glazunov)

 

Raymonda - Sofia Valiullina

Jean de Brienne- Ruslan Steniushkin (member of Mariinsky, ARB class of 2017)

 

Solo female variation - Polina Tsaitseva

 

Male pas de quatre - Taiga Kodama-Pomfret,  Luca Dobosh, Nikolai Didenko & Musa Sultanov

 

Polish leads- Maria Vetchaninova & Yevgeni Pereverzin

 

Hungarian leads - Anastasia Zinchenko & Georgi Klovtsov

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ohhhhkay… 🤔 I guess that they were the best-kept secret in Varna, while all of those international ballet competitions were going on. Or maybe they disbanded during summer months. 

I noticed, too. Her latest Instagram photos show her in Berlin, at the wall (7 days ago). Perhaps she’s making the rounds, auditioning? 🤞 

 

 

 https://www.instagram.com/lizzkaavs/

 

She graduated in June 2020, just after the COVID shut downs. Bad luck in timing, as she had (has) such a promising career ahead of her at the Mariinsky. Maybe we’ll get to admire her art with another company. I’m hoping the same for Michael Barkidjija of the USA, who graduated a year or so before Lizi…also at the top of the class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This must be a hastily arranged pick-up group (profit). I went to the ballet competition in Varna, Bulgaria, a few times and was not aware of any permanent ballet company or opera house in that resort city. There’s a theatre with a permanent ballet troupe in the capital, Sofia. This is different. I hope that it all goes well.

It’s even worse in the USA with public TV (PBS) rarely scheduling traditional classical arts programs, in favor of commercialized “diverse audience” offerings. The miracle is that we traditionalists are thrown a classical bone once a year with the Vienna New Years Day show! 

The NY Times’ Gia Kourlas loved Of Love and Rage…crazy story snd all!

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/21/arts/dance/review-ratmansky-of-love-and-rage.html?smid=url-share

 

Hopefully all can read this. As I’m a NYT digital subscriber, I can share a few articles each month. Fingers crossed!

 

(It will also be in our Links soon  )

3 hours ago, miliosr said:

Yes - you could use it as a door stop!

I forgot to add: 497 pages before the 100+ pages of appendices, notes, & bibliography!

Thanks for beginning this thread, Miliosr. I received my copy of La Nijinska last week, just in time to bring it along on a working trip to Bogotá! It’s a biggie - all 497 pages - the product of many years of meticulous research around the globe, including the main Nijinska archives in the US Library of Congress (Wash, DC). Just two chapters in, it’s a fascinating read so far. 

Bumping up this thread, as ABT prepares to  FINALLY premiere OF LOVE AND RAGE (Ratmansky/Khachaturian) in NYC…a full two years + three months after I witnessed those magical preview performances in California! It will be interesting to finally read professional reviews… beyond that by Robert Greskovic of the Wall Street Journal who seems to have been the only “regular” to have made the trip from NY to Calif back then.

 

Scroll up to my 10 March 2020 post above, for a play-by-play refresher on the corps scenes…and earlier for the soloists and overall thoughts. How will the ballet fare tomorrow/next week? Has Ratmansky made alterations? Will the A2 “Dance of the Six Babylonian Guards” stop the show in NY, as it did in Costa Mesa? One sad truth: James Whiteside - nearly stealing the show in the role of Dionysius in 2020 - won’t be dancing this time, due to a serious injury. 😢 

Toi, Toi, Toi to all in this exciting NYC premiere!

 

 

 

 

 

On 16/06/2022 at 05:41, alison said:

Just to clarify that the documentary is also available to stream, here: In Balanchine's Classroom - Home (inbalanchinesclassroom.com)

Also available to purchase on DVD, such as (US Amazon):

https://www.amazon.com/Balanchines-Classroom-George-Balanchine/dp/B09FC9J3L7/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1HLSMMBXCZ3M1&keywords=Balanchine’s+Classroom+dvd&qid=1655487923&sprefix=balanchine+s+classroom+dvd%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-1

…for we who still love to see our treasures on shelves…touch and coddle them every now & then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 hours ago, Buddy said:

 

Is that a polite way of saying that the Mariinsky or the Bolshoi might not be interested ? *   🙂  

 

…

 

Not really, Buddy. It’s that her diminutive size and gentle style fits in perfectly with the Perm aesthetic. Same thing happened with Maria Menshikova, who was featured in the documentary A Beautiful Tragedy, along with Oksana Skorik. I was hoping that Maria would also move out of Perm but she stayed (& became a prima there). By the way, Maria Menshikova - the magical name Maria! - stars in this film of the uber-rare full-length Soviet ballet Fadetta:

 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8nkhTvB3ySA

Yes, Leonid Lavrovsky used the music of Delibes’ Sylvia in his 1934/36 Fadetta…which Nikolai Boyarchikov reconstructed for Perm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOL - Nothing wrong with a little crafty marketing to sell tickets! 😉 

 

The benefit events in Orlando & Japan - cited in the above post - appear to be THE national company…the one in which the fabulous ballerina Nataliia Matsak dances.

 

All of this reminds me of the various “Moscow Ballets” / “Russian Imperial Ballet” / “Stars of Bolshoi” / “The Great Russian Nutcracker”, etc  that popped up in the early 1990s, touring all over the place. Many in the audience just assumed that they were watching THE Bolshoi.

 

Come to think of it, something similar happened in the 1930s with the name “Ballets Russes” after Diaghilev’s death.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ah, so it’s a private group. I’m sure they’re wonderful.

 

The main national ballet troupe that’s based in the large opera house in Kyiv toured the US in 2018, including performances of The Sleeping Beauty here in Wash, DC, at the National Theatre, starring Sarafanov. Absolutely first rate.

This really saddens me.

I remember trips to London with my grandma & mom in the ‘80s & ‘90s…Cecil Court and Dance Books at the top of my must-do list…lugging heavy suitcases back to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

After the physical shop closed, at least we had the opportunity to order by post. Now that’s ending. Farewell and Thank You, Dance Books. 🥲

I have a truly dumb question:

 

Is “Kyiv City Ballet” the same as the ballet company based at the main national opera-ballet theatre in Kyiv? Or is this a private touring group…with or without some dancers from the national troupe based in the capitol’s opera house)?

1 hour ago, Naomi M said:

 

John Cranko School is in Stuttgart. …

Of course it is. Thank you for the correction, Naomi. 

5 minutes ago, Buddy said:

 

Thank you very much for this list, Jeannette. Some of these names come as a surprise.

 

Do you have an answer to Fiona's question ?

 

"From what I’ve seen the Bolshoi hires graduates from both the Vaganova and Moscow Academies.  But does the Mariinsky hire graduates from both?"

 

….

I don’t, sorry. Not recently, that I recall.

 

On your Q about Kuznetsova: Her Odette at the competition gala was impressive. However, I suspect that Perm might want to keep her.

Quite a few Mariinsky dancers were trained in schools other than the Vaganova/ARB. Beside Skorik and Shirinkina…

 

Timur Askerov in Baku, AZ

Kimin Kim in Korea

Danila Korsuntsev in Tashkent, UZ

Nadezhda Gonchar in Kyiv

Nikita Korneev in Hamburg Cranko School

Camilla Mazzi from Moscow

Ksenia Ostreikovskaya from Perm

Islom Baimuratov from Vienna

 

Surely a few from the corps de ballet.

 

By the way, Maria Khoreva is now principal…just saw it but I may have missed an earlier announcement.

Sorry - my mistake! Still First Soloist!

https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/soloists/

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, Angela said:

Whatever the reason, it is on very short notice - six weeks and she'll be gone. Poor Laurent Hilaire, who just signed his contract at Munich some weeks ago...

I was thinking the same about Legris,  at La Scala for not so long. Oh darn.

 

Eric Vu-An…for a little diversity? Still the head of the company in Nice (12+ yrs)?

p.s. I had forgotten that Amanda Gomez (or Gomes, in Portuguese) had already won the gold medal at the 2016 Varna IBC.  She’s been a prima in Kazan, Russia, for several years already…so why compete and risk a “demotion” of sorts this year? Very odd. Maybe she was asked to do it to bring focus on the international character of the event.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l8vdqIR7V3w

 

The Varna IBC no longer exists, last contested in 2018; 2020 was canceled due to lack of sponsors…although it was also the height of COVID. Never rescheduled. Moscow IBC reemergence this year (first since 2017), after all that’s happened, is a mini-miracle.

The competition in Jackson, Mississippi, still exists…summer 2023, I think. The one in Helsinki took place earlier this month.

 

All of these UNESCO-supported IBCs from the 1960s & 70s seem to have been displaced by the YAGP series, for pre-teens and teens. Prix de Lausanne also strong, also emphasizing pre-professionals/teens. More practical, I suppose; less old-style Cold War messaging. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t believe that Daniil Simkin is still dancing Les Bourgeois after all of these years! 😂  Ok - ok…he’s made it his own…a calling card of sorts.

3 hours ago, Buddy said:

 

Estreiiita, Anastasia Smirnova is very good in the two videos that I've seen and  I do agree with you about the quality of Valeria Kuznetsova from the Perm Choreography School. She's absolutely lovely !

 

……

Me “three”…on Valeria Kuznetsova’s extraordinary Odette!

 

I just had time to watch the full gala. While there’s lots to admire in all medalists…I would’ve given golds to different dancers in almost all categories. Bear in mind - I’m basing this only on the gala.

 

Jr girls solo - I agreed with the gold medalist in  this category (and in Sr Men solo). Totally love Maria Koshkareva’s lightness and musicality! Perfect Shirin in Legend of Love.  (So much Yuri Grigorovich…Was there a bonus for selecting his choreography? LOL!)

 

Jr girls duet - Agree that Kuznetsova was the best in this category but I would’ve given her gold, not silver.

 

Jr boys solo - Lucas Dobos (Romania) danced Frekhad (Legend of Love) so fiercely! He looks a bit like Mukhamedov.

 

Jr boys duet - Only one medalist - a silver - in this category. Roma Hudzeleu of Belarus danced his Bournonville Flower Fest solo admirably.

 

Sr women solo - As much as I enjoyed Smirnova’s oomph as Gamzatti…I absolutely adored Yumin Kim’s (Korea) Aurora A1 solo, full of finesse. Exquisite. So delicate and controlled diagonal of triple pirouettes! I would’ve given her the top spot in this category. 
 

Sr women duet - With all respect for beautiful Iliushkina…for me: clear winner AMANDA GOMEZ (Brazil)!!!!! Absolute STAR POWER!!! Hands down, my Favorite of the entire event.  Gorgeous Phrygia-Spartacus. A young-Vishneva face! Wow Wow Wow! Get her to a top-five company now.

 

Sr Men solo - I agree with Dmitry Smilevsky’s gold medal. Wonderful elevation and gorgeous feet in entrechats, in his Paquita solo!

 

Sr Men Duet - Kubanich Shamakeev of Kyrgyzstan in the very first number of the gala, the Don Q pdd. OMG OMG OMG!!!! This guy dances well enough (enormous cabrioles…balón)not perfect…but it’s the performance factor that wowed me. What FIRE! THIS GUY MUST DANCE! He deserved much higher than a tied bronze. Biggest steal of the night.

 

AMANDA GOMEZ of Brazil and KUBANICH SHAMAKEEV of Kyrgyzstan are the two who I’ll remember for a long time. I’ll be seeking out their competition performances. Hope to see both of them in-person some day.

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Buddy said:

 

Thanks for your very concise explanation and in my opinion very correct assessment, Fiona.

 

I'm not sure what the qualifications and age limits are for this competition, LinMM. It only happens once every four years and its Russian, which makes it quite prestigious, I guess. It seems that the Senior level is dominated by already fairly well established professionals and the Junior level by aspiring, high quality young students. The goal appears to be for added recognition, not monetary reward or immediate career positioning.

 

It's easy for us to get confused, LinMM. First, there are so many extremely good dancers and new ones are appearing all the time, such as the very young Maria Koshkaryova. Secondly, Russian last names can be very long, not easy for an english speaking person to pronounce, and can be translated into english either literally or phonetically (literally  Koshkarёva, phonetically Koshkaryova).

 

I follow the ballet from Russia fairly closely, but generally concentrate on my favourite ballet excerpts and dancers, so I get lost all the time, as well. If you want to ask someone with an encyclopaedic knowledge, turn to BalletcoForum's Jeannette.  🙂

 

Some dancers draw attention immediately and are accelerated to the top, such as the Vaganova graduates, Olga Smirnova (formerly Bolshoi, now Dutch National Ballet), Maria Khoreva (Mariinsky) and Alena Kovaleva (Bolshoi) and the Moscow Academy's(?) very young Eva Sergeenkova (Bolshoi). Others, such as the Mariinsky's Maria Iliushkina, older than the quickly recognised Maria Khoreva, remained in the Corps de Ballet. Maria Iliushkina, a personal favourite, had, for a year or two, the unusual and remarkable distinction, of being the Mariinsky's 'go to' Odette/Odile (Swan Lake) while still at the Corps de Ballet level. 

 

If I could be allowed to post my 'Greatest Hits List' for the moment of the 'youngerish' generation, it would be....

 

Oxana Skorik (Mariinsky) (purely beautiful dance)
Olga Smirnova (formerly Bolshoi, now Dutch National Ballet) (remarkable expression) 
Alena Kovaleva (Bolshoi) (beautiful dance)
Maria Iliushkina (Mariinsky) (beautiful and proficient dance)
Eva Sergeenkova (Bolshoi) (exceptional expression and versatility, especially for her very young age, probably the Bolshoi's next Principal)
Maria Khoreva (Mariinsky) (wide range of qualities, always, for me, performing even better than my high expectations) 

 

This is a fairly noncontroversial list, but the order is often changed based on everyone's personal preferences.

 

I would now probably add Maria Koshkaryova (Mariinsky Trainee). She's quite new to me, but there seems to be little doubt that she'll be a Star. From a personal standpoint I'm also very much liking the Mariinsky's young Anastasia Plotnikova, two years in the Corps de Ballet, because of, for me, her lovely and recognition-wise resemblances to Maria Iliushkina.  

 

   
 

Thanks for the kind words, Buddy! 😉 

I wish that I knew more right now but circumstances keep us far from the land that we’ve loved for so long. Understandably and sadly. 
 

A few years back, then-Mariinsky soloist (now Bolshoi prima) Evgenia Obrazsova competed as a senior to try to raise her standing at the MT. She won Sr Gold…then had to jump on a flight to DC to dance an Odalisque in Corsair at the Kennedy Center!

 

I completely share your enthusiasm for all of these 2022 prize winners.