SusanR Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Did anyone see this gala on Sunday? I was there & enjoyed it. My only disappointment was that my favourite dancer, Farouk Ruzimatov did not appear Susan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackdove Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Yes I was there Susan and thoroughly enjoyed it.Thought Ilze Liepa who I adore was fabulous and I was thrilled to bits to see her do something from Pique Dame.Hard to believe she will be 49 later this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I was particularly impressed by the finesse of both Whitney Jensen and Paulo Arrais, both soloist level at the Boston Ballet. I thought they performed admirably 'through' the music - was was especially keen on the choreography by Mr. Arrais to the Glass segment (also used by Robbins in 'Glass Pieces'). The latter seemed too to be the audience favourite. Overall, a very good outing ... Bravo Andris for pulling this all together ... Certainly a VERY refreshing change from the relative depression of the week previous ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Glad to hear people enjoyed it. After looking at the schedule, and realising how much it would eat into my vital Sunday afternoon (especially having to travel early to make allowances for possible Olympic spectators), I'd decided not to bother going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I've moved the posts about the actual performance from the news thread to here. I'd love to hear the views of anyone else who went, including details of what you saw. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 (edited) Programme -  Act I  A moving tribute to his father curtain front by Andris ... with a warming (and not too long) video tribute to Liepa ... Well cut to hold the interest ...  Sayaka Takuda, Andrey Batalov (HE was very good) - Le Corsaire Pas de deux  Whitney Jensen & Paulo Arrais (Boston Ballet soloists) both very fine in Harlequinade Pas de deux (Saw Dame Monica applauding this enthusiastically) Paulo went to both ENB and Royal Ballet Schools - sad he didn't end up here ....  Mikhail Lobukhin - very fine - in All is Going Wrong - Choreography Morihiro Ivata - All seemed to go right in a piece that would have very much appealed to Maris Liepa one might think  Maria Semenyachenko and Denis Rodkin in (a rather ordinary from my perspective) White Swan pas de deux. Interesting to note that Tsiskaridze IS Rodkin's tutor as the young lad carries himself very much in the fashion of his master.  Ilze Liepa blazed dramatically opposite a very telling Dmitry Gudanov in The Pique Dame - which seemed much more balanced than it did in the Bolshoi's entire outing with the above mentioned Tsiskaridze. Thought Gudanov made much more sense of the dramatic whole - You can see WHY he so appealed to Chris Wheldon.  AN INTERVAL TIMED TO 20 MINUTES - PLEASE TAKE NOTE ROH ... (thank you) ...  Act II  A wonderfully dramatic whole of a piece created for the screen for the SUBLIME Maris Liepa (as fine a dancer as an actor as reminded by his son) in the 60's or 70's was shown .... One remembered just HOW glorious he was ... and just what we were there to celebrate - WITHOUT SENTIMENT. This is so important for the young people in the audience - otherwise it is just chat - and rather meaningless chat at that. No commentary was needed here (so refreshing) ... You could SEE ALL through the dance .... This WAS the sum of its very fine parts. GLORIOUS ... The audience responded in grateful appreciation.  Sayaka Takuda and Andrey Batalov (He again = VERY good) in The Nutcracker pas - Choreo: Vasily Vainonen  Maria Semenyachenko in a solid piece called Sad Bird with Music by Ravel and Choreo by Golezovsky - She seemed much more at home with with this than the demands of the Petipa.  Whitney Jensen and Paulo Arrais in a fine piece called WORK IN PROGRESS with Choreo by Arrais and music by Glass. The audience clearly felt this was the highlight of the evening. I agree. It effectively began in silence and had some very effective/musical partnering. Think the Royal Ballet should invite Mr. Arrais back to do a developmental piece in one of their workshops. Certainly worth exploring/worthy of the subsidy ... and what a fine and wonderfully musical/dramatic performer he is and she gloriously musical/precise as well.  Dmitry Gudanov in a solo piece by Ratmansky to a variety of Japanese musical artists. T'was telling ... would I for one would certainly like to see more of this ... Well executed by the very talented Mr. Gudanov  Ilze Liepa obviously enjoying a split personality/burlesque piece choreographed for her by J. Smoriginas to Michel Legrand called THE MEETING ... A good humoured 'turn'  The EXCELLENT ludmila Konovalova and the very talented Mikhail Lobukhin came zealously together in the Gorsky version of the Don Q pas de deux .... She showed wonderful musicality and clean, clear feet. He did not over-extend in either his partnering or variations which was refreshing to see.  A fine programme over all ...NO QUESTION ... Bring on the next ...  Saw Ms Gielgud and Mr. Eagling applauding joyfully throughout Edited July 31, 2012 by Meunier 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanR Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Oh, Meunier, I agree with everything you say. Loved all the dances, particularly Work in Progress. What wonderful choreography. Eat your heart out Wayne McGregor! I've always liked Mikhail Lobukhin ever since I saw him in Prodigal Son. It was a pleasure to see him again. I also thought it was a delighful end to the evening when Andris placed a bouquet in front of a photo of his father & all the dancers bowed to Maris. Very touching. Would love to see more programmes like this. Susan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Bought tickets ages ago lured by the promosed roster. Sorry to hear before going that certain dancers would not be there. Disappointed to learn on arrival that two more would be missing. Took seats somewhat grumpily in view of this. Soon won over. New pieces much appreciated. Gudanov (of whom London sees too little during Bolshoi tours) superb. A lovely evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim b Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Tku Meunier for the report - a real boon as I'm afraid I was too mean to buy a programme (I have far too many already anyway) - does anyone happen to know whether Ms. Semenyachenko is ?daughter of the great Semenyaka - I am not well up on Russian ?patranomics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 I have no idea as to the patrality ... but Semenyaka - who I SOOOOO admired as a dancer - was Osipova's first coach --- and you can see that artistry built into her DNA even now .... The world it does turn for all of our benefit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 I didn't get to to go to the gala but am delighted to hear that Ludmila Konovalova was dancing- I saw (and met) her in Berlin a few years ago before her move to Vienna and I thought she was fabulous dancer then. Would have loved to see her here in the Don Q pdd! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now