Vladimir Vasiliev's 80th birthday

[Amelia]

Vladimir Vasiliev is 80 today. 
The choreographer Kasyan Goleizovsky remembered:
    “I saw the wonderful Sergei Legat. I saw Mikhail Mordkin, a dancer of transcendent loveliness, harmonious, with a fiery temperament. What a charisma! I saw Alexandre Volinin - this was ultra-poetry. I saw Nijinsky, who enthralled me. I was at school with him, he was 3 years older, therefore, I literally worshipped him at that time.

But I have never met such a dancer as Volodya Vasiliev! Sometimes I ask him: 'Volodya, how do you do it? How do you manage to rise off the ground like that? It is absolutely imperceptible …'

At rehearsals he always gives his best, he is so creative. It was not the same with Nijinsky and others...."

 

Did any participants of the Forum see Vladimir Vasiliev dancing on stage?

Here's a tribute from the Bolshoi. It is in Russian but generously illustrated with videos of performances and rehearsals.

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Amelia
changed layout

[capybara]

4 hours ago, Amelia said:

Did any participants of the Forum see Vladimir Vasiliev dancing on stage?

 

Yes - the greatest possible ballet-going privilege was to be around to catch him dancing live..

I'd loved ballet as a child taken to watch and to lessons by my parents and, then, as as adult. But  some years later, I saw Vladimir Vasiliev on a videotape............. and I DISCOVERED  ballet. He was beyond amazing!

Thank you for posting this, Amelia. THIS IS THE VERY BEST OF ALL THE ONLINE OFFERINGS AS FAR AS i'M CONCERNED,

 

 

 

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by capybara

[now voyager]

Did any participants of the Forum see Vladimir Vasiliev dancing on stage?

 

Many, many times (though not as many as I'd have wished), and each time was unforgettable.

[Pas de Quatre]

I saw him dancing the Spartacus pas de deux with his wife Maximova at a summer gala in the Roman amphitheatre above Nice. A truly magical experience

[Shade]

Thanks for highlighting this tribute - I watched the film and birthday video. Lovely to see, Carlos and his sweet daughter looks so like her dad.

[Bruce Wall]

7 hours ago, Amelia said:

Vladimir Vasiliev is 80 today. 

 

Did any participants of the Forum see Vladimir Vasiliev dancing on stage?

 

Quote

 

 

Many happy returns to Mr. Vasiliev.  

 

I only saw him dance live twice - and only in one full length.  Both were with his wife.  Together and apart they were mesmerising.  Total artists both.  I saw them together in Giselle.  Totally enchanting they were; employing the simplest of dramatic means to make the arc of their story soar.  I also saw them in a gala alongside many other now legendary dancers (the vast majority sadly long gone) do the Bluebird PDD.  Mr. Vasiliev remains the finest Bluebird I have ever seen.  He literally flew.  Certainly he dazzled.  I also watched him rehearse a production of Don Q.  He was delightfully witty, replete with an effervescent smile.  

 

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Bruce Wall

[SheilaC]

Thank you, Amelia, for the link, it made my weekend.

 

Yes, I saw him, and to me he's the exemplar of what ballet as a performance art can be.

 

I saw him in Spartacus, in London, and have a DVD and video of the film of him dancing it (unfortunately Maximova isn't in it, it is Natalia Bestmertnova as Phrygia; there were times when they didn't dance together. But I do have a video that includes them dancing the pas de deux at a gala). The choreography of Spartacus demonstrates what a brilliant dancer he was technically, his speed and amazing jumps, his stamina, his partnering skills. The Bolshoi tribute shows the power of his dancing. But what it doesn't show, in my opinion, was what made him a great artist, the compelling dramatic truth that infused every performance. This is what makes his Spartacus the greatest ever, even better than Irek or Carlos, although they were heroic, too; in Spartacus his moral passion for freedom and justice is overwhelming and mitigates the melodramatics of that ballet. In the 1990 French DVD 'Katia et Volodia' (still available) they both talk of the importance of being true to the role, not just dancing for bravura alone, and constantly reinterpreting familiar roles to find their truth.

 

The most powerful and moving Giselle I ever saw, despite many other truly wonderful performances, Alina, Osipova, Fonteyn, Anette Delgado etc, was Vasiliev and Maximova in Paris, guesting with the Kirov, at the Palais des Congres, scarcely a suitable setting. It was in January 1979, the same week that Rudy introduced Sylvie to Covent Garden, also dancing Giselle. In Act 2 Maximova had an exquisite Romantic style, and like Alina she conveyed frailty and vulnerability despite her superb technique. I have never seen a performance where the two so moved as one, they were so much more than just dancing together. His expressiveness was infinite, the way he bent his back spoke volumes of his grief and despair-  to this day I partly measure an Albrecht by how expressive his back is! And his acting.... in a good performance you feel their emotion but it's the only time I have even felt that I could read a dancer's thoughts as the character. At the end of the ballet, after Giselle had returned to the grave, Vasiliev danced out his grief and remorse by passionately leaping round the stage instead of walking slowly to the front.The next day we went to the ballet bookshop, the equivalent of Dance Books but in Paris on the Right Bank (and like Dance Books, long since gone) and we met the owner, a well known ballet critic, and she was in rhapsodies about the fabulous performance (she also raved about his legs!- he always wore very fetching blue tights, not black, for Act 2).

 

A few years ago I was lucky enough to meet him in Havana. He was guest of honour at the International ballet festival as he had partnered Alicia Alonso, one of the great Giselles, I have a DVD of them dancing Giselle in 1980. Unfortunately I have no DVD or video of Katia and Volodia dancing the full Giselle, although Peter Schaufuss included a long excerpt of them dancing the Act 2 pas de deux, in his excellent BBC series that Jan mentioned some weeks back; it also includes excerpts of some of Vasiliev's choreography with him performing his version of Macbeth.

 

One final, trivial, thought. I have often noticed that some of the greatest dancers of the last century were born in a bunch of years close together. Maximova was born in 1939- so were Lynn Seymour, Antoinette Sibley, Marcia Haydee, Alla Sizova. Vasiliev was born in 1940- so were Soloviev and Makarova. Other great dancers were born in years close to those dates- Nureyev and Gabriella Komleva in 1938, Maris Liepa in 1936, Merle Park in 1937, Natalia Bessmertnova in 1941, Patricia McBride in 1942, Anthony Dowell and Elaine McDonald in 1943, Suzanne Farrell in 1945, Baryshnikov a bit later, in 1948. Quite a thought, especially when you think of the physical derivations of the years during and after the war.

[Ballet448]

SheilaC, I too was present at that Giselle in Paris in 1979 (saw both the shows with Vasiliev and Maximova).  I can't agree with you more as to how moving it was - Maximova was past her best technically, but to watch her strive, with every fibre of her being, to dance the steps as they should be danced, was in itself extraordinarily poignant, let alone the power of her acting.  

 

I also had the great good fortune to see them twice in Giselle many years earlier - and above all, to see them together, with Timofeeva (although sadly for me, not Maris Liepa) in Spartacus.  For 50 years (gulp!) I've believed Vasiliev's Spartacus to be the single greatest performance I've ever seen by a dancer (if you really twisted my arm and made me choose).   Like Capybara, that was what really made me fall in love with ballet! 

 

I also have the DVD of the filmed Spartacus with Vasiliev, Liepa and Timofeeva, with Bessmertnova instead of Maximova (apparently, according to a recent Russian interview I saw with Vasiliev, they had started filming with Maximova but she was injured so they had to re-shoot everything with Bessmertnova - interestingly, the choreography was supposedly actually created on Bessmertnova and Mikhail Lavrovsky, although Vasiliev and Maximova danced the first night and the role of Spartacus became so identified with Vasiliev).

 

However, the DVD is unsatisfying in that a large chunk of the ballet was cut (it was originally a film released for cinemas, so presumably they thought the full 3 acts was just too long). After watching the YouTube broadcast of the current Spartacus on Sunday (which I much enjoyed), as I was idly browsing YouTube I stumbled across a treasure - something I didn't think existed: a complete recording of the original cast (Vasiliev, Maximova, Liepa and Timofeeva) done by Soviet TV in1970.  It's black and white, not terribly well filmed but it is still an invaluable record of 4 extraordinary performances - and it confirmed to me that I wasn't wrong about Vasiliev: nobody has ever made Spartacus so intelligent, so noble or so moving.  And for Spartacus afficionados it's interesting to see some changes to the choreography, in particular Spartacus's second solo in the shepherd scene in Act 2 is completely different - I remember first seeing Mukhamedov do it as it's done today (series of barrel jumps with a super-duper twisty one at the end) and being bemused as I was sure it wasn't there before (it's spectacular but a bit too close to circus), so it was nice to be proved right!  Here's the link - enjoy!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc-w1Zgl4dU

[Amelia]

The celebration of Vladimir Vasiliev’ jubilee that was planned at the Bolshoi Theatre has been postponed due to quarantine. Here is the video with greetings to Vasiliev from:
Vladimir Urin, Julio Bocca, Ilse Liepa, Carlos Acosta, Natalya Ledovskaya, David Hallberg, Svetlana Zakharova, Yuri Fateyev, Lilian Hochhauser, Nina Ananiashvili, Vladislav Lantratov & Maria Alexandrova, Tatiana Chernobrovkina, Denis  Rod’kin and Bolshi Ballet School in Brazil - - with English subtitles.

 

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by Amelia
typo

[SheilaC]

Ballet448, thanks so much for the link, I have really enjoyed seeing the performance. I fully agree with you about the film, it is too abbreviated but it is quite well filmed- and better than nothing! I, also, saw both of their performances of Giselle in Paris although I didn't mention it earlier, plus other Kirov performances, another Giselle (which included the peasant pas de deux, unlike the Maximova/Vasiliev performances) and some Vinogradov ballets .

Last week, after watching one of the streamings from Perm, some Russian documentaries popped up as options, including one on Vasiliev. I don't speak Russian but there was a lot of interesting archive film. There was another documentary on the wonderful Ulanova, a lot less archive film but there was quite a lot about the famous Covent Garden season in 1956.

[Two Pigeons]

May I say that my greatest regret from my years of ballet going was that I never saw him dance.  I saw Maximova a few times but never Vasiliev.

 

I know he is Sheila's favourite male dancer and she is someone whose opinion I hold in the highest respect.  We are in total agreement in our adoration of Nicolas Le Riche so I am certain I would have cherished and opportunity I would have had to see and admire Vasiliev.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Two Pigeons
Spelling!

[SheilaC]

Yes, Two Pigeons, I regard Nicolas Le Riche as being in the same mould, and almost as good as, Vasiliev. On the female side I think of Lynn Seymour as the same type of dancer. People forget what a wonderful dancer she was, not just a tremendous actress.

[now voyager]

On 20/04/2020 at 10:59, SheilaC said:

 

 

 

 

The most powerful and moving Giselle I ever saw, despite many other truly wonderful performances, Alina, Osipova, Fonteyn, Anette Delgado etc, was Vasiliev and Maximova in Paris, guesting with the Kirov, at the Palais des Congres, scarcely a suitable setting. It was in January 1979, the same week that Rudy introduced Sylvie to Covent Garden, also dancing Giselle. In Act 2 Maximova had an exquisite Romantic style, and like Alina she conveyed frailty and vulnerability despite her superb technique. I have never seen a performance where the two so moved as one, they were so much more than just dancing together. His expressiveness was infinite, the way he bent his back spoke volumes of his grief and despair-  to this day I partly measure an Albrecht by how expressive his back is! And his acting.... in a good performance you feel their emotion but it's the only time I have even felt that I could read a dancer's thoughts as the character. At the end of the ballet, after Giselle had returned to the grave, Vasiliev danced out his grief and remorse by passionately leaping round the stage instead of walking slowly to the front.The next day we went to the ballet bookshop, the equivalent of Dance Books but in Paris on the Right Bank (and like Dance Books, long since gone) and we met the owner, a well known ballet critic, and she was in rhapsodies about the fabulous performance (she also raved about his legs!- he always wore very fetching blue tights, not black, for Act 2).

 

 

 

SheilaC (and Ballet 448), I saw both their Giselles with the Kirov in Paris, too!  But the performances I saw were in January 1988, and I think those are the performances to which you refer (among other things, Guillem would have been about 13 in 1979).  It was my first time seeing Maximova's Giselle, and I found both those performances extraordinary.  I need to add a special word for Tatiana Terekhova's Myrtha, the best I have ever seen.

Edited April 26, 2020 by now voyager

[capybara]

49 minutes ago, now voyager said:

I need to add a special word for Tatiana Terekhova's Myrtha, the best I have ever seen.

Can’t resist agreeing, although I know it’s off topic.

[Two Pigeons]

28 minutes ago, capybara said:

Can’t resist agreeing, although I know it’s off topic.

 

 

I agree too.  I was staggered when I saw her in the street by the Hippodrome and she was absolutely tiny.  Like Marion Tait she had a stage presence which belayed her small stature.

Edited April 26, 2020 by Two Pigeons
Spelling!

[SheilaC]

Now Voyager, thank you so much for the correction -  fancy being a decade wrong! I never checked my programme or diary,  just recalled that we took our daughter when she was in the sixth form (the only time we ever took her out of school in term time- we got well and truly reprimanded). Six weeks of isolation have obviously impaired my arithmetic!

I fully agree about Terekhova, she was amazing in whatever role she danced.