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As I understand it Mr Maillot's idea is to combine the choreographic vocabulary of classical ballet with that of contemporary dance. He also likes to please the audience. So far so good. It all sounds very commendable and totally above criticism. The dance equivalent of motherhood and apple pie. However when the theory was applied to creating a narrative work or is it a work framed by a narrative which is intended only to set the scene and justify the stage action it turned out that what this produced was a stage work which seemed like a melange of Petit and Massine. It was all very clever and very chic and completely devoid of effective storytelling or mood creation and contained little of real choreographic interest.

 

Perhaps it is very much better in the flesh but I am not sure that I shall bother to find out For me it was one of those occasions when I realise how very wide the Channel is and how narrow the Atlantic is when it comes to questions of choreographic taste.

Edited by FLOSS
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Anybody see Spartacus yesterday (recorded in 2013 but I don't remember it being broadcast till now)?

Yes, I saw it today (not seen it before). I loved the dancing and well-acted leads- especially Lantratov's Crassus- the eyes were pure evil! The subject matter on the surface not my cup of tea really but as with Ivan the Terrible I found the treatment of the theme of power very interesting. I especially liked the way in which the solos of all 4 main characters had the feeling of a Shakespeare soliloquy. The goose-stepping of the Romans felt slightly ridiculous- or maybe that was the intention to show them with no redeeming features and ridiculously bombastic? Also very interesting to hear Kachaturian's Adagio in context- I found the Roman's recurring musical theme hypnotically powerful- and loved the slow and emotional sections of the music- I did feel it drifted musically and perhaps choreographically in a few of the ensemble sections. very impressive lighting and sets I thought- it was interesting how the abstract notion of of keeping Spartacus's memory alive was conveyed largely through lighting at the end.

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I know - those eyes really were tremendous, weren't they? Ironic though, I thought, that 2 out of the 4 leads in the Bolshoi's calling card were in fact played by ex-Mariinsky dancers :) (I seem to remember this was the run in which Ivan Vasiliev was guesting, so they probably wouldn't have wanted to use him.)

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Well, I've seen the Bolshoi cinema 16-17 trailer twice now, and am still none the wiser as to what's going to be on next year (it might help if I knew what the schedule was, of course). Apparently the *real* announcement will be on April 25th.

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You were lucky, I had to sit through the trailer 4 times! Although, I think I sort of liked it :)

 

I've got a big itchy lump now. I'm sure it's a flea bite! Local flea pit! Was worth it though, what perfect casting, Ekaterina Krysanova as Kitri.

 

I do find watching the Bolshoi exhausting though. They dance as if they might be taken off to the Kremlin if they give anything less than 100% I feel like I danced all three acts myself.

Edited by cavycapers
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I do find watching the Bolshoi exhausting though. They dance as if they might be taken off to the Kremlin if they give anything less than 100% I feel like I danced all three acts myself.

I agree, it all seemed a bit manic. I guess I'd only watched excerpts before and loved them but the whole thing was exhausting and got a bit tedious at the end. It's possibly put me off seeing it live.

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And whilst watching them all warming up in their little tracky bottoms backstage during intervals is lovely, it does rather interfere with the mood of the ballet. They did it during Giselle, and all the Wilis had lumps in the back of their tracksuits where their wings were stuck out, which was rather sweet.

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I do find watching the Bolshoi exhausting though. They dance as if they might be taken off to the Kremlin if they give anything less than 100% I feel like I danced all three acts myself.

 

I know what you mean. I loved the pace and verve of the orchestra (especially after Yates' pallid version for the RB) and the technique and attack of the dancers was amazing. But all that 'going for it' didn't include much characterisation that I could discern. And I wasn't sure that the new designs showed off the actual dancing to best effect against so much (too much?) busy business behind. Add to that Katya Novikova's linguistically skilled but relentless introductory commentary and interviews and it all felt 'a bit too much' for my liking.

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It was certainly exhausting to watch, but thought this was the Bolshoi at their best, fast and furious, liked the new costumes but not sure about some of the scenery, also the scene of Basilio's fake suicide comes at the beginning of act 2, isn't it usually later? I think this production follows episodes from the book more than usual, with a Royal party finding Don Quixote after the vision scene and taking him back to the Palace for act 3.

 

The dancing is the thing though, Ekaterina Krysanova and Semyon Chudin were a surprisingly good partnership in this ballet, very fast and risky dancing, plus all those wonderful expressive Spanish and gypsy solo's.

 

Miss Novikova is exhausting too, but enjoyed seeing Alexei Fadeyechev, and the new Director of 3 weeks, wonder now who will dance the opening night at Covent Garden?

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Krysanova was sensational, and it was great to see Chudin in a starring role, he is such an exciting dancer and was flawless today.

 

It was the fastest and most athletic dancing I've possibly ever seen: how they kept it up, heaven knows.

 

I'm feeling rather sad it's the last of the season -how it has brightened up many Sunday afternoons-but it's been a marvellous season - can't wait for the next one.

 

The trailer is gorgeous! Can't see it often enough. ......anyway, new season announcemenet to come on 25th April.,  they said.

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I've got a big itchy lump now. I'm sure it's a flea bite! Local flea pit!

 

Ow.  I went to the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square once (before it was renovated), and was wearing a skirt that must have been sufficiently short for my bare legs to have been touching the bottom edge of the seat.  The next day, I had a nice little row of red lumps just below the point where my skirt hem ended :(

 

The dancers in 30's costume were dancing the tango from The Golden Age. That was scheduled last year and then cancelled, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.  Haven't got a clue about the rest though.

 

That was what I was assuming.  I was also assuming Cinderella, if that makes sense, but trying to work out the harem pants outfit.  We've had Legend of Love already, haven't we?

 

Also, there were so many people on stage, so many different costumes and the movement from those in the background hardly stopped in the first act, which made it hard to focus on kitri and basilio.

  

But all that 'going for it' didn't include much characterisation that I could discern. And I wasn't sure that the new designs showed off the actual dancing to best effect against so much (too much?) busy business behind.

 

Agree with you totally there, capybara.  Plus I thought the set might have been borrowed directly from a production of Napoli.

 

It was certainly exhausting to watch, but thought this was the Bolshoi at their best, fast and furious, liked the new costumes but not sure about some of the scenery, also the scene of Basilio's fake suicide comes at the beginning of act 2, isn't it usually later?

 

Not in the Bolshoi production, I don't think.  Also, I meant to ask, were the girls and sailor in the last Bolshoi production?  I know I've seen them somewhere recently, so if it wasn't there, I think it must have been in the Siberian version (the one which is lacking the dream scene).

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I'm afraid I hated that irritating trailer with the awful music and the fact they kept repeating it while giving no information at all was exasperating. having said that I loved the ballet as always. Thought  the sets and costumes very colourful though I do think there were often too many people on stage and yes, the set with the bridge did remind me of the final act of Napoli. Thought all the principals were excellent though did feel some nostalgia for Vasiliev and his spectacular leaps, Osipova's back bending jumps and Merkuriev as Espada. (Incidentally, why did the cast sheet not name Espada?). Does anyone know the name of the first 'fill in' dancer in the final pas de trois.? I thought she was excellent. Was she one of the flower girls? the cast at the end went so quickly I couldn't make out her name. My only quibble was the way the filming totally messed up Basil's 'death scene' by taking the camera off him. So we'll have to wait until July to see if he still does the business with the handkerchief Vasiliv used to do so wonderfully. Anyway, a brilliant way for us to celebrate our wedding anniversary!

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That was what I was assuming. I was also assuming Cinderella, if that makes sense, but trying to work out the harem pants outfit. We've had Legend of Love already, haven't we?).

I wasn't able to attend the cinecast, and so did not see the trailer, but I believe that Yuri Possokhov's Hero of Our Time, which premiered last July to considerable acclaim, is slated for a cinecast next season; in the first section, "Bela," the ballerina wears harem pants--if it was Olga Smirnova in the trailer, that's probably what it was.

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It is good idea when you don't understand something at least to don't insult it! OMG!!

 

 

The post was not an insult.  We have had discussions in the past about claque-style clapping and that was what the post related to.

 

I myself commented on what I saw as unnecessary clapping (not claque-style) during the Royal Ballet streaming of Giselle.

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It is quite insulting to call the way of people showing their appreciation "dreadful". I don't know what is OK for the british public, but we (the dreadful clapping people) usually don't comment the ways of others.

 

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 Does anyone know the name of the first 'fill in' dancer in the final pas de trois.? I thought she was excellent. 

 

If you mean the first variation which comes within the pas de deux, it was Anna Tikhomirova. She had played the Street Dancer earlier. I agree that she was outstanding.

 

Espada was named by Katya Novikova at the beginning but there was a lot of noise in the cinema and i may not have remembered it correctly. Was it Ruslan Svortsev?

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I saw this at the Dudley Showcase and what a mess. They started off with no sound and the picture was projected to fill the entire wall of the cinema. The picture wasn't too much of a problem when they were showing the interviews with the dancers at the start but it was obvious that it would be a problem later. My thanks go to the chap who went to complain. Anyway, they managed to turn the sound on during Novikova's intro, although the picture was still too big. This meant that once the performance started, there was a big black bar (the bottom of the screen) at dancers waist height, and their legs were projected onto the wall below, which is blue and fluted - made for an interesting viewing. God bless the chap went to complain again, and they adjusted the picture. Now they were projected onto the black bar, so we missed out on seeing the dancers feet for the rest of the first act. During the first interval, they finally managed to sort the picture to the correct size. Finally, when it was all over, they forgot to turn the lights on, leaving us to grope our way out.

 

There are never many people at these screenings, so I was in my usual place. Sure enough a group decided to come and sit directly behind me and start munching popcorn and nosily slurping drinks. :wacko:  I thought, this is going to go on throughout, so I moved, Sure enough, in both intervals they went out for more sweets, drinks, ice cream, etc. A happy consequence of this, is that I've identified a better place to sit and nobody can get behind me.

 

As to the actual ballet, I haven't seen Don Q live very often. It's never going to be my favourile ballet. I like the first act, but the second act is bonkers and the third pure circus. It's a story that I don't think translates well into ballet. Still you can't deny the dancers are amazing and inspite of there being a couple of slips, it was extremely well danced. I especially liked Tikhomirova, although it's a shame we couldn't enjoy the dagger dance properly (owing to the cinema's incompetence).

 

The music used in the trailer was annoying.

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It is quite insulting to call the way of people showing their appreciation "dreadful". I don't know what is OK for the british public, but we (the dreadful clapping people) usually don't comment the ways of others.

 

 

 

We've got a very long thread on audience behaviour.  I have to say that constant clapping throughout a performance is not to my taste.  It is distracting and I find it insulting to other members of the audience who are appreciating the performance without the need to show that appreciation till appropriate places.

 

http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/1654-audience-behaviour/

Edited by Janet McNulty
edited to add link to audience behaviour thread
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It's tedious for the dancers too,   I remember at a performance in Russia the leading dancer stepping forward to make a gesture to shut them up.  In the UK we luckily don't suffer claque led exhibitions of fake enthusiasm, but that ghastly rhythmic clapping is starting to raise its ugly head here now.

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I enjoyed Don Q yesterday although, as others have said, the scenery was a bit busy in the first act & it was difficult to see Kitri & Basilio clearly. Initially, I wasn't keen on the idea of seeing Krysanova but, boy, she bowled me over. Such fast, precise footwork & I enjoyed Chudin's performance too. Unfortunately, in the last act, you couldn't see his legs because of the background. I do find it irritating that the dancer's constantly stop to take their applause, it stops the flow of the Dancing.I was pleased to see Vitaly Biktimirov dancing the Bolero. I noticed him when the Bolshoi came to London a few years ago & I have a soft spot for him. New costumes are very pretty & the dream scene beautiful but I'm not sure if I prefer it to the previous version.

Susan

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I had to miss the Don Q yesterday due to being at Dutch National Ballet anyone know if they do encores of Bolshoi cinema relays I can't find anything locally.

 

There have been some repeats in the past but, unlike the RB, usually some time after the live showing

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claque led exhibitions of fake enthusiasm

 

And how exactly do you know if it is fake? Some special algorithm for calculating other people emotions

Also to judge how the russian dancers are feeling about their own public- wow, it amazes me!

 

Janet, to have a tread discussing behavior of British public (from which you are part) is one thing, but to throw some low level comments about behavior and traditions for which most of you know next to nothing- completely another. And just one thing- Bolshoi is a russian theater, which performs first and most important for russian public. And this public has the complete and basic right to behave as they pleased and as common for the country; so all people watching it secondarily in cinemas must accept the traditions and habits of the theater. Or if it is so irritating, nobody puts a gun to nobody's head- watching cinema broadcast from russian theater is not obligatory. What is obligatory is some level of good manners in voicing one's opinion. "Ghasty" is not it, neither "fake" or "dreadful".

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And how exactly do you know if it is fake? Some special algorithm for calculating other people emotions

Also to judge how the russian dancers are feeling about their own public- wow, it amazes me!

 

Janet, to have a tread discussing behavior of British public (from which you are part) is one thing, but to throw some low level comments about behavior and traditions for which most of you know next to nothing- completely another. And just one thing- Bolshoi is a russian theater, which performs first and most important for russian public. And this public has the complete and basic right to behave as they pleased and as common for the country; so all people watching it secondarily in cinemas must accept the traditions and habits of the theater. Or if it is so irritating, nobody puts a gun to nobody's head- watching cinema broadcast from russian theater is not obligatory. What is obligatory is some level of good manners in voicing one's opinion. "Ghasty" is not it, neither "fake" or "dreadful".

 

 

Hi Joy, I agree with what you are saying. This topic is mentioned in many areas, has divided opinion, and caused lots of discussion about the terms used.

 

Here is an example of the debate where I tried the same argument, which actually now I read it, also is interesting when looking at the ROH Giselle Cinema discussion : http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/11397-clapping/?hl=bolshoi

 

Joy, I think in terms of a person's own sanity, and to enjoy a forum that has lots of very interesting and creative debates, it is best to leave this one alone ;) 

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