Don Q Fan

Thank you everyone for the reports of the gala which I was not attending this year. I was under the impression Ballet Imperial as also danced? Any good? What I've seen of it on social media looked lovely.

I am pleased to hear of Salenko's successful debut in Bayadere the production is great as I saw it last year. As I see they are doing Swan Lake instead of SB I will probably go for the weekend with 2 Bayaderes and one Swan Lake as I quite like their Swan Lake. I had not known Salenko had problems with her pregnancy, poor woman she seems so "on top of it" on her Instagram posts! Kudos to her anyway for such a speedy return to work. O very much hope I will see her on one of the Bayaders but in the meantime I have her Diamonds to look forward to in October!

Thank you for the unfortunate news about Berlin's SB I had hoped to do the weekend where SB and Bayadere are both on. Hmm will rethink.

I'm very glad to read so much enthusiasm for Esmeralda. I don't remember the detail of the performance I saw in Berlin apart from knowing I enjoyed it very much and as I said before they had live goats!!

And Esmeralda .... I saw that at StaatsBallett Berlin which was the Bolshoi version and I really enjoyed it, real live goats and all👍

Assoluta - please could you expand about the pointe shoes as I am interested to know about this - are today's dancers not wearing proper "traditional" pointes? Interested to know what has changed and what I should be looking for.

A few goodies in Rome!! I have been wanting to visit Rome for a while and now I have several excuses!

Thank you for the Anna and Ana info. If the Mariinsky can't come to London in 2020 what about the regions we'd love to see them "up north" same goes for the Bolshoi it's yonks since they both came to the The Lowry, for example. There IS life beyond London.....and probably cheaper tickets too!

After seeing 5 performances this Bolshoi Season my overall emotion is one of feeling underwhelmed. As I have said before this was not the Bolshoi that I know and love. I saw 1 Spartacus, Swan Lake, Bright Stream and 2 Don Quixotes. Of them all The Bright Stream was the one closest to the "old" Bolshoi and the one I enjoyed the most - I have long since forgotten the Swan Lake as nothing sticks in my mind from that apart from being annoyed at a short set of fouettes(!), Spartacus was reasonably good and Don Q was good but not the previous version I prefer. I think , for me, based on this tour. the Bolshoi brought dancers from the "old guard" - Zakharova, Krysanova, Shipulina, Nikulina, Skvortsov, Chudin, Loparevich, Rodkin - who we have seen quite a lot of in recent years and they are very experienced and always give a good show, but then we have the "new guard" a lot of youngsters, with the emphasis on "young" - lots of corps dancers as well that I am not familiar with, this time around. Then there are the "in betweeners" but sadly they just were not used well enough in this run - here I am thinking of the woeful underuse of Anna Tikhomirova, who would have made a fabulous Odette or Kitri, Ana Turazashvili I am sure could do the main roles too and so it goes on.... Artemy Belyakov was given main parts which was good to see and it was great to see David Mott Soares as well who at 22 managed Basilio very well. I do feel that sometimes the Bolshoi treats London as a slight experiment - they will try out younger dancers on us before they launch them on the Russian audience in Moscow. Margarita Shrainer being a case in point having been launched here in 2016 and this year Eleonora Sevenard - I have to say that Sevenard was actually pretty good. So overall 7/10 3 stars for this run, but for Bright Stream I'd give that 9/10 or 4.5 stars.

Well, as my pen name suggests Don Q is my favourite ballet. This latest version of DonQ from the Bolshoi (which they first brought in 2016) is not as good IMHO as the previous version which was much better as that lacked the rather incongruous jig dance which is possibly better suited to Corsaire or a panto. That aside I enjoyed both Friday night (Krysanova/Soares) and Saturday matinee (Sevenard/Belyakov). My only gripe for the matinee was the Queen of the Dryads did not dance any Italian Fouettes - technically really hard so I guess they were beyond the capability of Alexandra Trikoz - even then those that were danced on Friday by Olga Marchenkova were not perfect. Really in my experience the Queen of the Dryads is a Principal or strong First Soloist role. I know the Royal Ballet dancers struggled with this in the first run they danced of DonQ but the last run they seem to have it sorted. Krysanova's fouettes were absolutely amazing, with triples thrown in, and Sevenard managed her set well too. I really enjoyed seeing Soares and found him to be a very elegant dancer. Artemy Belyakov is, I think, a natural Basilio he really suited the role and gave a strong performance yesterday afternoon. The Grand Pas variations danced on Friday by Anna Tikhomirova and Ana Turazashvili were lovely and those 2 ladies are really great dancers and I always love seeing Anna and Ana. I found both Espadas enjoyable (Biktimirov on Friday and Alexeyev on Saturday) but Vitaly Biktimirov will always be a favourite if I can't have Andrei Merkuriev! The matinee was also the first time I have ever seen the Bolshoi Don Q with a different DonQ! Nikita Elikarov made a great job of the role and has clearly been well tutored by the usual Don, Alexei Lopaervich, but then he has improved on what I already thought was perfection, so the role is safe in his hands as retirement (or fewer shows) must surely be looming for Loparevich. A spirited young dancer Elikarov was too when I met him at the stage door after and he must be one of the tallest dancers in the company. I have enjoyed the Bolshoi Season, but I must lament the woeful under use of Anna Tikhomirova, how I would have loved to see her dance Kitri! I agree with the post above that nothing will ever quite compare to "that Friday night" at ROH (was it 2009?) when Osipova and Vasiliev wove their magic and brought the house down with their electric performance. They did the same again on the Sunday matinee of that run too. However, the Friday was the show that really was an extra special performance, it is one that lives long in the memory and probably I will never see the likes of again in my lifetime. Wow that was a night to remember and no, nothing else comes near it! A few photos from Friday and Saturday Matinee:- Krysanova/Soares Vlashinets/Biktimirov Krysanova (as the Dream Scene's Dulcinea) Anna Tikhomirova and Ana Turazashvili From Saturdays Matinee Sevenard/Belyakov Kristina Karasyova and Ivan Alexeyev Erick Swolkin, Daria Bochkova, Nikita Elikarov, Eleonora Sevenard and Artemy Belyakov

Thank you - yes it was a very "sunny" ballet - hope you are recovering fromyour accident - sounds nasty!!

They should be there onscreen as they uploaded OK from my end. Try refreshing your screen?

Here are some Curtain Call photos from Thursday 8th August - the 2nd performance of Bright Stream - apologies for the number but there ARE rather a lot of characters in The Bright Stream and all deserve accolade:- Ekaterina Shipulina and Ruslan Skvortsov Anna Nikulina and Semyon Chudin Maria Mashina and Denis Savin Ekaterina Zavadina and Alexei Putintsev Kristina Karasyova and Alexei Loparevich Ensemble Nikulina/Chudin/Shipulina/Skvortsov Mashina/Savin/Putintsev/Zavadina

That would be great, they were in Paris a couple of years ago and their Ratmansky Sleeping Beauty was great. I'd love to see them here again maybe the Dollar being so strong v Sterling may encourage a visit? Likewise I am desperate for The Mikhailovsky to return, it's 2013 since their last visit I think.

It is for Thursday only