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Beryl H

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Everything posted by Beryl H

  1. Just a quick posting before I set off again, who needs sleep? can't wait to see different casts, Flames was everything I expected and more, I'm sure that O and V were even better than on the DVD! The characters were so brilliantly acted too, Louis 16th was outstanding, look forward to knowing who he was, could it have been Tsvirko?, and Artem Ovcharenko in the Actor role also shone, his bored expression whilst dancing for the court was priceless. Fabulous dancing all round.
  2. I wrote down Alexei Matrakhov, he was very much in character wasn't he? although I dislike jesters those spins are fantastic and get the most applause in act 1. After seeing Smirnova and Chudin twice in Diamonds and once in Bayadere, I was just the tiniest bit disappointed last night, not with Chudin who has to be my new favourite male Bolshoi dancer, there was too much "arm rippling" from Smirnova, though I often find this with Russian dancers, otherwise her technique was amazing (I wondered how she would cope with the Black Swan), many thanks to the Bolshoi for letting us see this beautiful young dancer!!! Also think there were more Swan Laker's than ballet fans in the audience, the response was more muted after the rapturous receiption for Diamonds, I only went to see Olga Smirnova so didn't care too much about the production, this might be one of Clement Crisps' "vile traducings", not really worse than so many others!
  3. Although I have seem some wonderful performances over the last 3 weeks, I think the best is to come tonight and tomorrow
  4. Am still pleasantly shocked after seeing Sergei Filin on the stage last night, they kept that quiet, last night now becomes part of the history of this very sad affair, so pleased he felt able to make it! The Russians certainly seem to love dancing Jewels, the Mariinsky performance was the previous best one I have seen until now, standouts were Obratsova, Lantratov, Krysanova (on a roll, her Odile was brilliant on Saturday, bodes well for the last night), Tsvirko in the pas de trois in Emeralds and the dark haired girl, and my new dream couple, Smirnova and Chudin. This is still an early stage of her career, what wonderful talent! I think Semyon Chudin looks like Wayne Eagling, with sometimes a hint of David Bowie
  5. The Bolshoi website is showing Artem Belyakov as Evil Genius for Wednesday and Thursday, shame as I was hoping to see Lantratov again on Thursday, he was superb on Saturday!
  6. I thought Ekaterina Krysanova was even better last night, like Buddy I was reminded of Alina Cojocaru, strong technique (definitely no falling off pointe) but light and soft too, Semyon Chudin seemed a perfect partner for her both in height and style, I like his expressive face too. I was pleased to see Artem Ovcharenko as Bluebird too, noticeable that the men got more applause than the women, this also happened on Monday, but I think it's what the audience expect of the Bolshoi, men leaping across the stage!
  7. Debra Craine of The Times praises Svetlana Zakharova very highly on Tuesday, also Olga Smirnova's " most poised and happy performance", proving, if it needed to be, that we all see things differently! Only 3 stars for the production though.
  8. Andrei Merkuriev is dancing Jerome(?) on Friday only with Denis Savin both performances on Saturday, if my reading of the Russian alphabet is correct The third man is Artem Ovcharenko on Friday, Denis Rodkin at the matinee and Ruslan Skvortskov in the evening.
  9. Last week I bought the Bolshoi Bayadere BluRay prior to seeing it and was just trying it to see if it worked okay, and Lantratov's first entrance gave me goosebumps, the jetes across the stage, funnily enough I didn't get them on Saturday watching it live! I regularly get them watching the last scene of Manon.
  10. Release date for the Ashton triple bill DVD/Blu is now 2nd September, according to Amazon.
  11. Glad I'm going again tomorrow, hope I see some of the exciting cast changes mentioned, Ovcharenko's Bluebird, Tsvirko's Carabosse in particular. Interesting to see how Olga Smirnova copes too. I have the Blu-Ray and did wonder what the floor would look like live, now I know, from the amphi it was horrible and got me fiddling with my opera-glasses, the reflection made Aurora in particular (the pale costume) look blurred. About the insipid choreography, I always notice this in Russian productions, there are lots of changes, and we see Ashton's solo for Aurora in the vision scene which is beautiful, the biggest change I suppose is in the Rose Adagio where Aurora merely swaps Prince's hands quickly instead of raising her arm up to join the other one, and balancing. And the Wolf, it was the first time I've ever really looked at him on Monday, Denis Savin was brilliant, the way he licked his lips
  12. I knew something would be announced after I left for London yesterday but I decided to just go ahead and book rail tickets for Thursday and Saturday anyway. Happy to see Krysanova in SL on Saturday, and she was lovely last night as Aurora so don't mind too much repeating on Thursday, just hope Semyon Chudin and Olga Smirnova are still dancing their roles, and of course Lantratov as the Evil Genius on Saturday, thought it was too good to be true to see him as the Bluebird last night!
  13. Yes, it was ridiculously hot in the afternoon, but when I returned to the auditorium about 7pm it was freezing!
  14. I'm too tired to post anything much at the moment, but I saw the 3 performances and happily each one got better, so many exciting dancers new to me, but Olga Smirnova was out of this world, for once all the hype was lived up to and surpassed
  15. Agree with this, a break would have ruined the atmosphere and personally would have stopped me seeing Act 3, which apart from some wobbles in the corps was spectacularly good, thought everyone did well to continue in very difficult circumstances, so sorry to see Maria Alexandrova out for the Season, the Bolshoi's troubles continue.
  16. Interesting to read about the air-conditioning, as already said last night it was sweltering for the first half and quite a cool blast right through the second, take your pick! What an exciting show, dancing of the highest quality, Carlos was awesome throughout, Leanne Benjamin has told him her secret as they both are looking even younger and better each time I see them! The idea of having a joyous lyrical first act and then a much more sombre second half worked, who would believe you could open with the last scene of Mayerling! And the Coliseum must love Carlos Acosta, the only dancer able to sell out 5 shows!!!
  17. The Times gives Svetlana Zakharova a very good review today, just to balance things up a bit!
  18. Saw last night's, thought Petrushka was a little underpowered (especially after Russian Seasons last week) what wonderful designs though, must be hard to breathe life into this nowadays, shame there are so few performances. I'm not being funny but I thought whoever danced the bear was good, very realistic. I liked Songs of a Wayfarer more than I remember from the past, probably due to exceptionally beautiful dancing from Vadim Muntagirov, he dominated the ballet as did Nureyev. Always love Raymonda, (there's a photo in the programme of Rudolf Nureyev and Doreen Wells who I saw in 1965 at the Apollo Victoria in the full length ballet, that brought back happy memories) Tamara Rojo and Yonah Acosta look good together, wonder if Carlos was in the audience? So for me it was an evening of memories, including the excellent film at the start, good quality too, including rehearsal footage of the current productions.
  19. This is brilliant (until it changes again) I have the 5th and 8th and really wanted to see Krysanova, and am very happy to see Alexandrova instead of Kaptsova, also glad the Princes haven't changed. As I said, until it changes again!
  20. Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella danced by the Dutch National Ballet is being released on 29th July, Amazon £17.14 for the DVD and £20.89 for the BluRay.
  21. I think this had to happen, apart from the huge loss of money involved in moving people down to the Upper and Dress Circles, the Coliseum staff must be sick and tired of all the extra work. I've looked and some of the prices are lower than usual for BRB, they have to be or they will lose some of their regular ballergoers, I think you can get into the back of the Upper Circle for £15, but I too don't like it, the last 2 occasions I was moved down I had to change seats to get a decent view! In fact many is the time I've sworn never to go to the Coliseum again but I always relent!
  22. I'm glad I went to last night's performance, it was so much more enjoyable than the opening night although the dancers themselves have been excellent, everyone smiled more and after sincere apologies for the lack of Cleopatra, Andris Liepa relaxed and was asking us if we were enjoying ourselves and picking out his Mum in the audience! Sadly the Balcony was closed and I was in the Upper Circle, okay seat as I was able to play the musical chairs game that seems a part of the Coliseum now, the sound though was much worse than from the Balcony, although Scherezade was better quality. Mikhail Martynyuk was good in the Polovtsian Dances, but I would like to add to the congratulations for Xander Parish, and Yulia Makhalina, don't know what the Season would have done without them! The Ballets Russes continue with Petrushka next week, funny thing to be watching in a heatwave though.
  23. I'm looking forward to seeing Carlos Acosta and Marienela Nunez dance the pdd from Sheherazade in two week's time at the Coliseum. The Isabelle Fokine and Andris Liepa reconstructions of Firebird and Sheherazade are in the repertoire of the Mariinsky, I like the designs for Firebird, especially the epilogue where the city of domes appears on a moving backcloth, couldn't see any of that from mid Balcony on Tuesday, did it happen?
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