FionaM

I didn’t assert that. I only said that they ‘could’ keep the payments in my view, as most of the work was completed before February 2022 events. As Ratmansky himself has said (in the interview with LBC for instance) .. he has his own conscience to deal with about working in Russia in the years leading up to this situation, including being director of the Bolshoi company itself. I hope he writes it off as a different era.

IIRC Laura was coaching Countess Larisch in the recent Mayerling run (as seen in the insight) when she was performing both that role and Mary Vetsera

Tiler has super stage presence and brilliant technique and her group of dancers were all excellent especially Meija, Grant and Lovette. I found the choreography and music choices to be a mixed bag, and was actually bored in parts of the piece with tap, although I enjoyed the percussive and sung music accompaniment. I am getting quite bored with ‘every’ company having a Forsythe Blake works piece lately, not being a fan of repetitive samey James Blake music. However I did enjoy Forsythe’s choreo. The energy the last 4 dancers brought to the final piece ensured the evening ended on a high. It would be good to see more of these dancers.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cpjwz7HLW2Z/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Loving these reviews! FYI I believe Lauren Lovette is freelance rather than retired. She left NYCB to pursued her own projects but continues to dance widely as a guest. I follow her Instagram. She’s inspiring and thoughtful.

My preference would be 26 March cast … Kondaurova and Shklyarov. (Some unusual name spellings in English in the above post)

Slipped Disc do like to sensationalise their headlines. I’ve seen too many from them to have much respect for anything they write. Olga asked for a year’s leave of absence. That is up. Bolshoi terminated her contract and backdated it to the date she left. That is all.

From a legal perspective I am guessing the Mariinsky are within their rights to continue with a production they have already paid for. No doubt Ratmansky would have prohibited them if he could. Or is there actual legal basis for your claim of criminality @Bruce Wall? Ratmansky and whoever else, have their own conscience to deal with by keeping payments for this work that they have substantially completed. It can’t be easy for them, and it is fair in my opinion that they keep these remunerations, as these were pre-war arrangements. (I am assuming like any long term contract that there are upfront, ongoing, and final payments involved. ) It’s unrealistic to expect Mariinsky to go ahead with the production with Ratmansky’s name anywhere … he has decided to be anti-Russian and that is his choice. The Russian state, theatre and audience won’t want to see his name, though the balletomanes will all know about his prior involvement. It will be interesting to see how the ballet is received by audiences and critics. The Mariinsky are doing everything to make it ‘their’ production rather than Ratmansky’s. (Somewhat similar to Royal Ballet making their new Swan Lake ‘theirs’ rather than Liam Scarlett’s after that unfortunate situation. I’m obviously not suggesting the two situations are the same, just that the response to a bad situation, has had a commercial drive to the way it is handled.) It’s naive to criticise the ballet world. I wish this forum would desist. Perhaps it would help to open your eyes to what is happening. For instance, there are many Western companies still operating in Russia despite sanctions … see this recent Financial Times article https://www.ft.com/content/1cea1f08-83ac-4471-9fa4-1cdfcc86fcb0 And there are many more still profiting from selling their products into Russia now via third party countries who haven’t signed up to sanctions. Plus there are products the West relies on from Russia (not only energy) and hence these are exempt from sanctions. The list of ongoing commercial relationships is endless. I think we should refrain from commenting on the pros and cons of the political side of this new ballet production. It would be good to discuss the dancing, choreo (mostly Petipa after all) and production generally.

Alina Somova is in Georgia I believe. Now describing herself as Alina Somova Avsadzhanashvili. She has been performing in new Carmina Burana of Georgian State Ballet created by fellow Mariinsky exile Ilia Jivoy. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkYd-6WDxVL/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Interested in casting for Onegin in Munich… who will be Tatiana? I can’t remember who is still there that has performed it. Maybe Lauretta Summerscales? Osiel Gouneo has performed the title role in Munich and Oslo.

What more to say … except to regret that I didn’t book earlier! yes I’m also regularly checking Barbican for returns.

I’m guessing the new production for Marinsky is largely going to be as envisaged by Ratmansky, irrespective of Candeloro’s subsequent contribution. Being a reconstruction of the original, it cannot be that different! The costumes and sets would have been largely completed for the ‘Ratmansky’ version which was due to premiere in May 2022. And the Mariinsky would understandably not want to abandon a project that must have been considerable cost for them. This seems like a reasonable compromise. Credits for the new premiere: Music by Cesare Pugni Libretto by Jean-Henry Saint-Georges and Maurice Petipa after the story Le roman de la momie by Theophile Gautier Choreography by Marius Petipa The choreographer of the reconstruction is Toni Candeloro Set and costume Designer: Robert Perdziola Lighting Designer: Egor Kartashov A video of the creative process with Ratmansky and designer Robert Perdziola in October 2021.

The Bayerische Staatsballett opens the 2023-24 season on 23 September with Blickwechsel as part of the UniCredit Septemberfest. The two-part evening includes the Grand Pas Classiquefrom Paquita, juxtaposed with a contemporary work from the Sphären.01 series. At the end of November 2023, the curtain will rise on the first premiere of the season: French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj will bring an evening-length work to the Munich National Theatre with Le Parc to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Ballet director Laurent Hilaire opens the Ballet Festival Week in April 2024 with a new modern three-part work combining works by Nacho Duato, Sharon Eyal and a new creation by Canadian Andrew Skeels. A programmatic counterpoint to the dance languages usually seen on the stage of the National Theatre will be presented by the Belgian dance theatre ensemble Peeping Tom with the three-part programme Tryptich: The missing door, The lost room and The hidden floor as part of the Ballet Festival Week 2024. The festival season in July will bring a second work by Angelin Preljocaj, who will curate the young choreographers' programme of the same name at the Cuvilliés Theatre in the summer of 2024 as part of Sphären.02. Christopher Wheeldon's Alice in Wonderland and the classic Onegin by John Cranko will be revived in the coming season. Also in the repertoire are Romeo and Juliet, Tchaikovsky Overtures, Schmetterling, La Bayadère and the children's dance theatre piece How the Fish Found the Sea. In the Ballet extra series you can again look forward to numerous interesting insights behind the scenes. In the coming season, the Staatsballett will also be travelling again: In December 2023, the Comapgnie will be seen for the first time at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. In keeping with the Christmas season, there will be four fairytale performances of Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella. In summer, the company will travel to Spain: five performances of La Bayadère will be staged at the Teatro Real Madrid.

@Nogoat your thoughts are so detailed, and I agree. I too was delighted at sold out audience at the screening I went to. 60+ seats at Watershed in Bristol. It’s the first time I’ve seen a dance movie at this venue. Hopefully they will show more now that they see there is an audience in Bristol!

the cameras are clearly filming very close up, on and around the performers as though the viewer is in amongst the action. I am interested now to re-see the stage version to notice if there are differences in the actual dancing or choreo or whatever.

When I was primary school age in the 60s/70s, my father’s male boss and his male partner were often at dinner parties, BBQs at our house. I understood they were lovers and lived together. A fact, and accepted as such. No problem.

The filming was immersive which added greatly to the harrowing experience of this grim story. This is not your usual proscenium arch film of dance. The dancing and dramatic portrayals by everyone was fabulous. And the music was not too loud (in my cinema at least). CAST Jeffery Cirio as the Creature Erina Takahashi as the cleaning woman Marie Stina Quagebeur as the doctor Ken Surahashi as the Captain Fabian Reimar as Major Victor Prigent as the other prisoner Andres I didn’t feel we needed any of the added film sections, which didn’t appear in the stage version. The multiple views of the same rocket taking off almost every time the dancers pointed skywards, got repetitive and laboured the point. The external scene of a frozen artic landscape and the poor Creature (Jeffery Cirio) freezing out there, were also not needed though they were beautiful in a devastating and expansive way.

wow … is it the first time she has taken on coaching since retiring from the stage?

No Sylvie Guillem?

It’s on 9-11 March

@Emeraldsthere are already two entities producing international ballet galas in Australia 😉 I should think Dubai is a lot cheaper to stage galas in than Australia due to shorter flights for European based dancers. There is a ready made opera house and growing audience of ballet lovers (Russians in exile).

Watershed cinema in Bristol is showing it this weekend .. 24-26 February

Yes I’ve booked. Sat 11/3.

Here is Maina Gielgud teaching Squeaky Door to Maria Khoreva. Filmed by Dance Europe.

@Emeralds Margarita did the variation beginning with the diagonal pirouettes. Steady and neat.