Bolshoi Ballet: La Bayadère, London 2013

[annamk]

I don't think Obratztsova was on poor form at all on Saturday. She fell out of all 3 pirouettes in the scarf pdd that's all - yes it looked slightly messy but these little things happen to the best dancers from time to time. In every other respect her performance was lovely.

[Dancefan]

Phew! Thank you, keen to see that aurora

 

Apparently lantratov now injured too.... Very bad news.

[Coated]

Volchkov was just replaced on the ROH website (today, I think, checked quite recently) with Lantratov for the Sat matinee for Flames of Paris. Guess they might need to do a few more switcheros.

[Sim]

I don't think Obratztsova was on poor form at all on Saturday. She fell out of all 3 pirouettes in the scarf pdd that's all - yes it looked slightly messy but these little things happen to the best dancers from time to time. In every other respect her performance was lovely.

Good, I'm also seeing her Aurora on Wdnesday!

[Coated]

It looked more like a temporary equipment issue than Obratztova being off form. She kept stumbling only during the scarf pdd, went off stage for the scene change, and was completely sure footed after her return. Change of shoes?

[mijosh]

Obraztsova's problem was that she tried to do three pirouettes instead of two,which meant that in order to keep up with the music she had to do them very fast and she just lost control. I hope she learnt her lesson.

 

Maybe she was punished for her recklessness, because I was expecting to see her last night in Sleeping Beauty but she was replaced by Krysanova.

 

Not very impressed by the production. Lovely to look at but not delightful to know. Very unexciting,choreographically muddied and tampered with, and lacking any dramatic impetus or emotional involvement. Sadly Grigorovich's fingers are all over it. He really needs to be put out to pasture.

[annamk]

 

 

Maybe she was punished for her recklessness, because I was expecting to see her last night in Sleeping Beauty but she was replaced by Krysanova.

 

 

The casting for last night's Beauty was changed to Krysanova about a week ago - it was on the Bolshoi website but not on the RoH for some reason.

[Quintus]

mijosh, interestingly when I saw her practising in the studio in the morning, she was doing fast pirouettes, was not landing cleanly and was not looking too happy (though I'm not competent to tell whether this was exactly the same move that she stumbled on in performance) - I wonder whether it was her call to try and push the boundaries by going for the three or had been directed to do so..   It didn't bother me too much, felt more disappointed for her.

[Buddy]

Ah, yes.

 

At his most eloquent -- Clement Crisp

 

Olga Smirnova

 

"….the ravishing qualities of her dancing, notably in the unaffected beauties of her upper body, with an exquisite dialogue between head and shoulders and the placing of the arms."

 

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/570c3c64-fdbf-11e2-a5b1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2bCNt3DwV

 

Last autumn she inspired him to write one of the most poetic descriptions of ballet technique that I've read.

 

"In ballet, épaulement denotes the dancer's ability to turn, bend and shape the placing of the trunk, shoulders, arms, neck and head to produce the subtlest contrasts and oppositions. In Italian art it is contrapposto, and this is what gives life, veracity and power to a drawn or sculpted position. In classical ballet it turns the academic pose into the beautiful, the fascinating."

 

 

He added:

 

"Smirnova’s radiance, the unaffected nobility of her manner and the charm of her means make the role["Diamonds"] hers. She creates something magical and it touches the spirit. Not since the earliest performances by Altynai Asylmuratova have I seen so luminous a debut. We have much to hope for."  

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/f16dc240-06f4-11e2-92ef-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2bCNt3DwV

 

 

In this current review of La Bayadere he also writes:

 

"The trio of Shades – Anastasia Stashkevich, Daria Khokhlova, Chinara Alizade – were vaporous divinities."

 

Hopefully the Bolshoi (and Mariinsky) will grace the London stage for many years to come, if only to inspire Clement Crisp to ascend newer and loftier Shakespearian summits. 

 

Well, she was just seventeen, 
You know what I mean, 
And the way she looked was way beyond compare. 
So how could I dance with another, (Ooh) 
And I saw her standing there.

 

(by some guys from Liverpool)

 

Edited August 6, 2013 by Buddy

[Buddy]

In the For What It's Worth Department.

 

A few posts back I wrote that I wondered if we're eventually going to see a sort of Galina Ulanova/Maya Plisetskaya 'duality' occurring between Oxana Skorik and Olga Smirnova.

 

I would really like to see a wonderful similarity between the two rather than a marked contrast. I'm very fond of Oxana Skorik's Essence of Lyrical Refinement. Olga Smirnova comes from the same background. Perhaps someday we'll see an Oxana Skorik who is slightly more 'Mariinsky' and an Olga Smirnova who is slightly more 'Bolshoi', but both being essentially the same and equally compelling in their 'Ethereal Essence'. 

 

[Anjuli_Bai]

In the For What It's Worth Department.

 

A few posts back I wrote that I wondered if we're eventually going to see a sort of Galina Ulanova/Maya Plisetskaya 'duality' occurring between Oxana Skorik and Olga Smirnova.

 

I would really like to see a wonderful similarity between the two rather than a marked contrast. I'm very fond of Oxana Skorik's Essence of Lyrical Refinement. Olga Smirnova comes from the same background. Perhaps someday we'll see an Oxana Skorik who is slightly more 'Mariinsky' and an Olga Smirnova who is slightly more 'Bolshoi', but both being essentially the same and equally compelling in their 'Ethereal Essence'. 

 

 

Why would you like to see a similarity rather than a marked contrast?

 

Was it not the quality of contrast which made the Ulanova/Plisetskaya era - especially when they danced in the same ballet - actually partnering one another and playing off one another such as in the "Fountains of B....." a never to beforgotten performance?

 

I don't mean to take this thread off topic - I didn't know if I should start a new thread - if there was enough interest.

[Buddy]

Why would you like to see a similarity rather than a marked contrast?

 

Was it not the quality of contrast which made the Ulanova/Plisetskaya era - especially when they danced in the same ballet - actually partnering one another and playing off one another such as in the "Fountains of B....." a never to beforgotten performance?

 

I don't mean to take this thread off topic - I didn't know if I should start a new thread - if there was enough interest.

 

Just my deeply felt preference, I guess.

[MAB]

Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya are legends.

 

Olga Smirnova and Oksana Skorik  are a pair of expressionless contortionists.

[zxDaveM]

 

Olga Smirnova and Oksana Skorik  are a pair of expressionless contortionists.

 

 

in your opinion of course (rather than a bald fact); others may disagree...

[Anjuli_Bai]

I was reading some of the newspaper reviews in the Links section of the Forum which led me to read some of the comments of readers of the various newspaper reviews.  Many mentioned finding the blacked up makeup of the dancers offensive. 

 

It surprises me that this is still being done in Russia as well as on tour in the UK.  I say this because when I saw the Bolshoi's La Bayadere in 2002, this face blackened make up was abolished for its tour of the United States. .

[Scheherezade]

As I haven't posted before, hello to everyone and thank you all for your informative comments and debate upon so many performances.

 

I shall be watching Jewels and Flames of Paris next week and shall be interested to share everyone else's views.

 

As an aside, and for anyone who may be interested, the Zakharova/Alexandrova/ Lantratov Bayadere cast can be seen uninterrupted via Medici TV's free subscription service (as opposed to the piecemeal YouTube option).

[Jan McNulty]

Hello Scheherezade - thanks for coming out of the lurking shadows and posting!  We will look forward to hearing your views.

 

I'm seeing my one Bolshoi performance on 17th August when I am seeing the matinee of Flames of Paris!

[LinMM]

With reference to MAB above comment the trouble with dancers when they reach legendary status is there are not that many people left who have actually seen them!! I have no doubt the two dancers mentioned were wonderful but it's easy to get a bit superior about this if you are not careful.

 

For me it's probably Fonteyn and Nureyev. There are many much younger people who have never seen them dance so I don't overdo my comments in their company and can save this for reminiscing with friends or people of similar age.....I would never put down a current dancer like this as many "legends" were at their best in latter half of careers.

 

I can say for example that Ive never seen a dancer since Nureyev who can just walk onto a stage and immediately command your attention.....you wanted to see HIM dance.....whether he had the best technique of course is debatable but I wouldn't go on about him in the presence of people I know had never actually seen him and write off dancers still in the process of development.

[Bruce]

in your opinion of course (rather than a bald fact); others may disagree...

Yes.

[Scheherezade]

Thank you, Janet, I shall be book-ending the working week with Jewels on Monday and Flames of Paris on Friday. It will be interesting to compare Jewels with the RB version and Flames of Paris will be a first for me.