annamicro

Really? Honestly, I have difficulties to pick out the ones where she would not be a natural guest! Anyway from this very long one, I have a shorter personal list of ballets in which I'd really really love to see her : I'm crossing my fingers!!!

The detailed calendar is not available yet, but here is the amazing program of Johan Kobborg's first full season as Romanian National Ballet director La Fille mal gardee – Frederick Ashton (company premiere) Classical Symphony – Yuri Possokhov (company premiere) Petite Mort – Jiri Kylian (company premiere) Marguerite and Armand – Frederick Ashton (company premiere) Giselle – Johan Kobborg/Ethan Stiefel (company premiere) The Lesson – Flemming Flindt (company premiere) Choreographic Evening – Company Artists Le Corsaire – Vasili Medvedev Tango – Edward Clug Radio and Juliet – Edward Clug La Sylphide – Johan Kobborg Swanlake – George Iancu Femei – George Iancu Don Quixote – Jaroslav Slavicky Snow White – Cornel Trailescu La Bayadere – Mihai Babuska Napoli Act 3 Divertissement – August Bournonville (company premiere) Voices of Spring – Frederick Ashton (company premiere) Manon Bedroom pas de deux – Kenneth MacMillan (company premiere) Les Lutins – Johan Kobborg (company premiere) Rhapsody pas de deux – Frederick Ashton (company premiere) Season will start on the 6th of November and finish on the 28th of June. BTW: not just an interesting ballet program: Bucharest is a beautiful town and is well worth a visit! see you there! ;-)

http://www.kulturkurier.de/newsletter_last_7284.html#inhalt_117383 Alina Cojocaru is dancing Neumeier's version of Giselle on the 21st, 26th and 27th of September with Hamburg Ballett. Her partner will be the young Alexander Trusch, making his debut as "Albert"; he and Cojocaru have already danced together as Günter and Marie in The Nutcracker but this is their first proper "full length" partnership. My withdrawal syndrome from Giselle is going to end soon... ;-)

The video is even the worse than the ballet: clearly an hard task to present it as appealing. Anyway there are many other good reasons to dash to hamburg! ;-)

Row 11 is the first raked one. I was sitting in row 10 for the Nijinsky Gala, ready with the pillow; I was lucky because I was sitting behind two shortish ladies...probably football fans, since they left at the first intermission, making my view nearly perfect. :-) I saw Azzoni and Riabko in their first two performances in December 2012 and they were already fantastic, I can only try to imagine how they have matured the roles, being great actors and artists. We were lucky to have the final pdd in The Gala program as a late addition, since Azzoni wasn't sure to be able to dance Tatiana, having been off for a few weeks for a medical problem. They were among the absolute highlights of the evening and you have been lucky to see them in the whole ballet, even if with Silvia maybe not at real 100%. Thiago Bordin is absolutely fantastic as Lensky: his adagio in this role is one of the things I'll miss more now that he is quitting with ballet moving to NDT. It has been a long farewell: he was crying and crying in Vienna in May after his last Armand, but he was more able to contain his emotion in the last regular show with Hamburg Ballet (as a side dancer in Riabko's Vaslaw) and his very last show with Hamburg Ballet the day after, in the Gala. He is not only an fantastic artist but also a lovely boy and he will be really missed in Hamburg. A pity you have not had Leslie Heylmann as Olga: she is great, despite not looking naturally young she has such an energy and freshness that she results perfectly credible and ideal for the role. Chinellato is naturally young an probably she has been good too, but I've never seen her. You were very lucky to have not Carsten Jung (the worst Gremin I've seen) but Dario Franconi as Prince Gremin: he was fantastic in Cojocaru cast in March, the closest I've seen to the unique "Prince Bennet Gremin Gartside". I remember that usually in the ballet Gremin is more or less the same age of Onegin, even if some companies, like La Scala, often use for the role relics difficult to use in any other thing. If I remember well there are 10 years in the ballet between the first and the last part, less in the poem. As a bonus you also had the great Anna Polikarpova as Madame Larina: one of her last performances, she was the queen of the Nijisnky gala, her very last show. A great seat and a great cast: you cannot ask for more! ;-)

I'm selling a ticket for this gala: parkett, row 15, seat 14, 166 euros. An opportunity to not be missed: if somebody is already in Hamburg or thinks can jump on a plane to be here tomorrow, contact me.

I read only the English reviw and unfortunately I have to agree about almost everything. I was very bored. Even if able to create suggestions and ethnic atmosphere the music is almost impossible to be used for a ballet being unable to mark significant points, but Neumeier had little immagination and everything seems disconnected from the score, bad pdds and repeated side by side dancing (one really want to shoot one of the two dancers or maybe both of them), everything seems overlong as not choreografically worked out enough: maybe it will improve cut after cut, but you have to be brave to be back. The carachters don't really emerge, Onegin is quite dull, Lensky dominated by frenetic silliness, Tatjana doesn't grow and is married with a super sweet super smiling gawky peasant wearing an uniform, at least Olga is Olga. Being familiar with the poem and other derived works, I was disappointed especially by the 2nd act, where Pushkin was totally diminished or maybe absent. :-( At least the sets were very good (but the costumes terrible). Only Alina Cojocaru, sitting yesterday in the first row at the side of Neumeier, could force me back, but I really hope that she will be busy elsewhere when the work will be repeated the next season. Cojocaru will be Juliet tonight in Neumeier Romeo and Juliet: a great actress and great music and a wonderful masterpiece by Hamburg Ballet director, the best to forget and forgive Tatjana.

I saw the show two days ago in Hamburg and loved it. It was very well received by the audience, a principal if Hamburg Ballet even said to have been brought to another world and touched so deeply by Schmetterlig to be in tears. Considering the "modern" stuff proposed on ROH stage by some resident pseudochoreographers, hyperexpensive, repetitive, danced without fluidity and plasticity, I don't understand such an attack against NDT coming from London: they are lightyears ahead.

Thank you: your list is something I was hoping for. I've not read any review so far and I'm watching Tatjana later this week: I'll come back here to compare my personal impression with the critics one.

I was writing "never" too, but didn't want to seem too tragic :-)

Quite late, but here are some impressions on the shows I saw: I’ve been lucky to see the first three casts on stage and the quality was so high I’d have loved to see also the others. I’ve seen very little of Daria Klimentova in the past and I regret this. Her Juliet was very credible as an innocent and than a passionate girl and her dancing excellent, fluid and eloquent. She looks such in top form that it’s almost incredible that she is quitting with dancing: what a pity! Vadim Muntagirov was an ideal partner for her and an ideal Romeo, he is very young and so is his superb dancing, fresh and energetic. His Romeo was the more enthusiastic when offering himself on his knees and with open arms in the balcony scene. Klimentova and Muntagirov were lovely together, a beautiful partnership. I wish I had seen more of them. Juliet is one of those roles able to make Tamara Rojo run free on stage. One of those dramatic roles that make her forget of technical tricks and of acting: only spontaneity and passion are left. One of her “magic” roles. She is in great form and her acting is natural and fresh: her Juliet is forever 20 on stage. Carlos Acosta is a great dancer, but I’m not sure he is a good actor neither that he has ever been a good Romeo. His dancing has lost part of his energy, not counterbalanced by an artistic improvement. Compared to the other two Romeos I have seen and to his Mercutio and Benvolio, he looks heavy and static: the run all around the stage doesn’t looks exactly the same when done by Acosta or by Muntagirov and Vogel. Still he is a very good partner for Rojo, they have real understanding of each other and a technical compatibility; they look good together, but I’d love, one day, to see Tamara dancing with a partner able to match her dramatically and able to fully share and enhance the emotions she creatse on stage, something I’ve very rarely seen so far and this is a sad misfortune in such a magnificent career. Alina Cojocaru and Friedemann Vogel, especially in their second show, were fireworks. The enthusiastic reports from La Scala tour in Tokyo, when they danced together for the first time in MacMillan Romeo and Juliet were not an exaggeration: they have a surprising and exciting affinity and their dancing exudes the joy to be on stage together. I’ve seen Vogel rarely live (amazingly my first time was in my only previous visit at the RAH, for an ENB Swan Lake few years ago), but I’ve seen Cojocaru dozens of time and with more than 2 dozens of partners and I’m delighted to have seen this rare magically instinctive relationship explode on stage. It’s something different from the deep and warm connection that Alina has with Johan Kobborg, it has not that sense of trustful abandon and complete comprehension and condivision nor its subtlety, but, on the other side, this one has exuberant freshness and dynamism and conveys an excited and exciting sense of discovery that works incredibly well especially in this ballet. Vogel is in his full maturity (I think he is 34), but his Romeo has boyish impetuosity and explosive energy, the dancing is clean and aerial. Cojocaru is in a top form physically and artistically. In the last 11 months she has danced 4 different Juliets (Moricone, McMillan, Neumeier and Deane) and I’ve seen 7 of those10 shows. Her first act has become more natural with the artistic growth and the personal maturity: when younger she sometime was looking as trying to act as a young person, when at the same time she was full at ease and natural, projecting with great power and intensity, in the more dramatic part. Now she is also able to BE young on stage. Her first act shows here a girl surprised by the world and eager to explore it, every moment is a new discovery. Every moment is a new emotion ad all of them can be read on her face. Cojocaru dancing is eloquent, has a rare luminosity and an extreme and personal musicality, but I really think that all those people that are watching her dancing without seeing her eyes are missing half of the show: the “stream of consciousness” flowing readable in her pupils is an imprescindible part of her artistic expression. It’s something that has always been present in her characters, but I think it has been enhanced by the work with John Neumeier: she said that never would have been the same after having danced Die Kameliendame and probably it’s true (and it’s true also for the Dame “herself”, not just for Alina). Her performances as Neumeier’s Juliet were so good to be shocking; the character and the story are a little bit different and, after so many “traditional” Juliets, it was a serious artistic challenge for her, resulting in an extraordinary success: I think it was the best I’ve seen from Alina in this wonderful and successful ballet season. In the MacMillan version Cojocaru’s most amazing peculiarity is the ability to change rapidly and continuously the way to dance, the rhythm, the physical approach when facing the other characters on stage, according to the kind of relationship Juliet has with everybody. But she had to add something to that: Neumeier works are often characterized by a cinematographic structure e and require a strong method acting; becoming his Juliet, Cojocaru was able to show all her emotions, thoughts, feelings on her face as passing from light to shadow as the sun in a clouded windy sky. Especially in the pdd of Juliet with Paris and the mirroring couple of Lady and Lord Capulet you can see on her face all the angst, the fear, the despair and every second of the future life that she is refusing but she is expected to have, following the example of her glacial and impossibly beautiful mother, dancing at her side (compliments to Alina and to Anna Laudere, but the GENIOUS here is Neumeier!) or when dancing with the dead Tybalt just after having danced with the departing Romeo. As beautiful, moving and interesting were the performance of the dancers on stage, I think that Deane Romeo and Juliet (truly enjoyable in some aspects) is too simply in structure and too traditional to push the great Juliets ENB has demonstrated to have out of their comfort zone, challenging them to explore and develop new sides of the character and further deepen others; I think also that the Royal Albert Hall is not the best space to fully appreciate the dramatic qualities of the artists on stage, so relevant in this tragic story: the stage space has been cleverly used, but one of the best moment in Cojocaru’s first show was her face when seeing Romeo for the first time, the same for Rojo; in Klimentova show and in Alina’s second one in that moment I was watching their bottoms. I agree that in some case bottoms are equally or even more expressive than faces, but, trust me, with artists of this level this is not true. Let’s wait to see what is in the future: EBN has a Director with a wide and at the same time focused artistic vision, the hope is she will have also the instruments to make this vision become a reality. Fingers crossed and good luck! For the moment, than you to all for the beautiful shows!

Sky TV (italian version) is presenting tonight (21.45 Italian time) a documentary about this shows (the cast should be Cojocaru-Bonelli), on Sky-Classica.

Katherine, your intention wss great. The list of dancers is now there, but in the past it was not clear that some name repoerted on the site weren't dancing this year. Anyway, for sure Cojocaru and Kobborg are not Royal Ballet Soloists ;-)

"There are a series of open air performances in Denmark in July, featuring the following dancers: Johan Kobborg, Alina Cojocaru, Steven Mcrae, Roberta Marquez, Federico Bonelli, Hikaru Kobayashi, Thomas Whitehead, Francesca Hayward, Marcelino Sambe. Performances in the following places: 10. juli: Gavnø Slot, Næstved – Billetsalg: billetnet.dk 11. juli: Møllerup Gods, Aarhus – Billetsalg: billetnet.dk 13. juli: Kulturhuset Blokhus – Billetsalg: Kulturhusetblokhus.dk 14. & 15. juli: Den Tilsandede Kirke, Skagen – Billetsalg: skagenbilletten.dk more info here: http://www.verdensballet.dk/" Katherine, that cast seems unlikely: Alina Cojocaru is dancing Juliet in Hamburg on the 11th and the Nijinky gala on the 13th. And as far as I know also Kobborg won't be there. Are the shows really advertised with their names?

"who Τερψιχόρη was or, at the very least, how to pronounce her name correctly. Sadly that is not the case today for I am often introduced or referred to as Terpsi-core. For future reference there is a useful pronunciation guide (albeit with an American accent) on ." I think that the English Terpsichore is more likely to come from the Latin Terpsichore than from the original Greek. This seems confirmed by the fact that the link is using the Latin accent and not the Greek one (as common also in Italian with that kind of names and I suppose in English, thinking also to Oèdipous, that in Greek is Oedìpous); but at the same time they seems to pronounce the final "e" as some would pronounce the eta, but for sure not a Latin "e". It seems an odd confused mix.

Alessandra Ferri on the 6th, Viviana Durante on the 8th...not a Ballerina, but we can add also Valentino Zucchetti on the 23rd.

Neumeier's Tatjana cast is still not on Hamburg Ballett web site, but it's printed on June programme available in the theatre: Onegin: Edvin Revazov Tatjana : Helene Bouchet Olga: Leslie Heylmann Lensky: Alexandr Trusch Prince N.: Carsten Jung it seems the same for all the performances...

and thank you to me for uploading that clip! :-))))) Happy birthday to Osipova...even if it's already the 19th, so Slava Samodurov birthday :-)

As Naomi wrote (thanks for the link) Thiago Bordin is joining NDT. He is not ending his career, but he is stopping dancing classical ballet and that's for sure a pity (I had the news after watching his magnificent Lenskij and that sublime solo! ). His plan is to dance for 5 years more (I hope he will change his mind about this since he is just 31) and then have a career as a choreographer. A huge loss for Hamburg Ballet: even if Alexander Trusch is growing well, Thiago Bordin and Sascha Riabko were by far the technical and artistical top of the company, IMO. Anyway, good luck to Thiago, not only a wonderful dancer and artist but also the most adorable person. It's funny that he is leaving from Gemany soon after having become a German, it happened just...yesterday!

Exactly, even if I didn't notice the first one (a big big artistic loss, but more natural) and I was referring only to the one I knew is leaving: a sort of personal tragedy for me! Not trying to be misterious, but I cannot find anywhere else this new, so i don't know how official it is. Due to recent incredible anticipations, I don't trust that much in Hamburg Ballet Brochure attention to confidentiality .

you sent it to page 94 of the pdf, but brochure page 94 results as 95 in the pdf...

I've not seen many of those ballets, so I'm happy with the season :-) and also with Alina Cojocaru confirmed guesting (hoping she will have decent partners...). The "main surprise" (even if not a surprise at all) is for me at page 94 of the brochure. Unfortunately. :-(

Hamburg Ballet Kameliendame casts for the 18th of May are finally available on the company web-site: Matinee Marguerite Gautier: Laudere, Armand Duval: Revazov Manon Lescaut: Agüero, Des Grieux: Trusch Prudence Duvernoy: Ríos, Gaston Rieux: Ballone Olympia: Chinellato, Count N.: Tselikov Mr. Duval: Franconi, Nanina: Vracaric, The Duke: Clark Evening Marguerite Gautier: Alina Cojocaru as Guest, Armand Duval: Riabko Manon Lescaut: Azzoni, Des Grieux: Bubenícek Prudence Duvernoy: Heylmann, Gaston Rieux: West Olympia: Chinellato, Count N.: Tselikov Mr. Duval: Jung, Nanina: Vracaric, The Duke: Franconi

Daily Mail article on line today helps: Alina Cojocaru puts the bowl among "her treasures to share" :-) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2590794/English-National-Ballet-dancer-Alina-Cojocaru-shares-treasures.html

It has already happened, called Reflections and organized by the same Ardani, with Maria Kochetkova (San Francisco Ballet) Yekaterina Krysanova (Bolshoi Theatre) Olga Malinovskaya (Ballet Estonia) Natalia Osipova (Bolshoi Theatre) Polina Semionova (Berlin Staatsoper Ballet) Anastasia Stashkevich (Bolshoi Theatre) Yekaterina Shipulina (Bolshoi Theatre); "Supported" by Ivan Vasiliev Alexander Volchkov Vyacheslav Lopatin Denis Savin "The initiator of this unique ballet evening is producer Sergei Danilyan (Ardani Artists) who was responsible for the sensationally successful (already in several series) parallel male Kings of Dance project" http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/about/press/articles/2011/1535/ I feel there is little art in these things (even if Kings first edition was better constructed, IMO) and since my answer to your other question "As for "pryotechnics" - is that what we go to see?" is NO, especially when it comes to performing Ladies, I'd say I can survive happily without self nominated Queens and Kings. :-) (BTW: lokking at Review – Kings of the Dance, London: GJ Dowler, Classical Source It should also noted that Kings of dance took place not just in the US but also in Russia.)