Mikhailovsky at the London Coliseum, March 2013

[Don Q Fan]

I saw Giselle on Friday with Novikova and Sarafanov - a lovely Giselle indeed.  Leonid did 34 entrechats and the last being as good as the first OMG!  Fantastic!  I agree that Osipova and Vasiliev have kind of stolen the limelight here.

I saw all 3 Don Quixotes.  The 2 Osipova/Vasilievs full of flash and bravura as expected but not quite as many fireworks as their last 2 performances with the Bolshoi at ROH in 2010.  For a more "pure" performance the matinee was just the ticket with Oksana Bondareva and Denis Matvienko.  I have seen Denis many times but Oksana was new to me and what a delightful young elegant dancer she is.  Fouettes were mentioned - yes Natalia whipped them off in fine style, but equally so did young Oksana with beautiful triples and doubles thrown in- absolutely gorgeous.  I really liked the production and costumes and the rest of the company were great too.

Just a couple of points of detail I wonder if anyone can help me with - the Queen of the Dryads on Saturday evening - was that definitely Kosheleva?  I didn't think she looked the same on Sunday night?  For the Matinee we were treated to Borchenko, very nice.  Also on Sunday evening Kosheleva I didn't think she did any Italian fouettes - as I think they were not very good on Saturday night if it was her dancing then too so I think she changed the steps - did anyone else notice?  Borchenko had no such problem with her Italian fouettes.  I was very sad not to see Sabina Yapparova dance Cupid on Sunday - she was replaced at the last minute Viktoria ??? as she is lovely dancer but I did enjoy her as one of Kitri's friends in the first 2 performances.

I went to stage door after the Saturday performance - no large Police presence when I arrived - 2 Bobbies walked past, and  the mounted division were around earlier in the evening when I was going to the show, there was just a small group of ballet fans - it was so cold we were allowed inside the foyer of the Coli and we were rewarded with signatures and photos by Natalia and Ivan well worth the wait and no bun fight like at ROH in 2010.  Yes there was drunken man shouting what were people waiting for but he was moved along and disappeared into the night, thankfully.

 

------

As regards the RB forthcoming production I would like to see Roberta Marquez with Steven Macrae as K & B I think they would be great and Marianela with Thiago surely?  Alina has danced Kitri with ABT so she would be good, presumably with Johann?  However of the upcoming dancers I think Valentino Zuchetti could be given a chance he has the character to be a good Basilio I reckon.  He was good in Voices of Spring and loves to jump so the role of Basilio is possibly right up his street.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Don Q Fan

[aqualia2008]

The Queen of the Dryads on Saturday evening was Ekaterina Borchenko.

 

http://londondance.com/articles/reviews/mikhailovsky-ballet-don-quixote-london-coliseum/

Edited April 2, 2013 by aqualia2008

[johnross]

This time we were only given the Act 2 of Laurencia but there was lots of action and drama to record. A couple of pictures to give you an idea.

 

 

Natalia Osipova - Laurencia and Ivan Vasiliev - Frondoso 

 

 

Laurencia - Natalia Osipova and Frondoso - Ivan Vasiliev with vilagers 

 

More pictures on www.johnrossballetgallery.co.uk

 

[aileen]

Unsurprisingly perhaps, the level of excitement at last night's Laurencia was nothing like that at Saturday night's Don Q. I felt that there was much less for the two leads to do and I found Ivan's dancing rather untidy and, dare I say it, verging on the vulgar. I felt that he was a bit below par generally although he did perform some astonishing "corkscrew" turns in the air towards the end of the ballet. Other people have sneered at the story but I felt that there was a truthfulness about it, being rooted in the reality of what life was like for peasant/feudal communities for hundreds of years. There were some very moving scenes when Jacinta (lovely dancing by Oxana and later Laurencia herself returned after their attacks. The storming of the castle when around 60 dancers streamed onto the stage was really exciting. Pascuala was attractively danced by Sabina Yapparova and Mengo was charmingly played by Denis Morozov. The sets were very good. The backdrop for the scene in the forest was particularly lovely.

[capybara]

I am glad that Alison has been brave enough to "tell it how it was" in relation to ivan's dancing. Aware that he may be in pain, I am reluctant to be too critical but I thought he rather lumbered around and his fancy leaps appeared gratuitous and often ugly. Natalia, on the other hand. was wondrous to behold. The story, such as it was, was surely representative of its time and the ballet, therefore, might once have been ahead of its time.

 

I was glad to have paid only a standby price for the 70 minutes of mainly ensemble dancing that Laurencia comprises. The Mikhailovsky should, perhaps, have combined it with a short 'opener'. After all, the majority of the audience had paid around £1 a minute for the show.

 

As far as the season to date is concerned, the beauty of Olesya Novikova's Giselle and Leonid Sarafanov's Count will be the abiding memory for me - not all the flashy stuff.

[Amelia]

Thank you, Ross, for the photos.

Here are more photos of yesterday's 'Laurencia' from Dance News:

 

http://balletnews.co.uk/ballet-news-reviews-the-mikhailovsky-ballet-laurencia/

Edited April 3, 2013 by Amelia

[alison]

I am glad that Alison has been brave enough to "tell it how it was" in relation to ivan's dancing.

 

T'weren't me, t'was aileen   Unless, of course, you're counting my earlier wondering whether he'd fully recovered from the back problem of a few weeks ago.

 

Other people have sneered at the story

 

 

Have they?  I'm surprised, because Fuente Ovejuna, on which Laurencia is based, is a very highly-regarded work of Spanish literature.

[MAB]

Quite right Alison, Fuente Ovejuna was written by Lope de Vega, the Spanish Shakespeare in many respects, they were roughly contemporaries I think. I saw it many years ago at the NT and it is a very gritty play.

 

Regarding Ivan Vasiliev, I think he is bravely dancing through an injury and that fact needs to be taken into account when watching his current performances.

 

The Novikova Giselle has been the highlight of the season for me and this is one of the dancers largely ignored when it comes to big roles at the Kirov.

[Ian Macmillan]

Enter the curmudgeon.  My minutes last night probably came in at about £4 a pop, thanks to severe traffic tailbacks out East that meant we arrived as the Interval began.  For that we got an outdoors Spanish scene with Osipova and Vasiliev leaping, a peasant revolt with some quasi-Eisenstein film projection, something of a reaction, it appeared, to a chap who seemed to feel much as I did at that point in that he kicked over a mug during his entrance, and than another brief indoor Spanish scene with more leaping.  Given her background, my wife was most appreciative of the leaping and the technique on display - I was less so, but there you go.

 

And, by the way, Mrs Lincoln, thanks to a road closure, we then had an interesting diversion on the way home, but I quite understand that you had a worse night than I did.

[Irmgard]

Having been put off by the Mikhailovsky’s very raggedly-danced “Giselle” a couple of years ago, I did not book for “Laurencia” until the half-price offers were suddenly announced on the Easter weekend which made the combination of being able to see this curiosity for the first time and to see it danced by Osipova irresistible.
 

The feel-good choreography makes the story of “Laurencia” almost inconsequential, being the uprising of a Spanish village against the evil Don who has tried to exercise his “droit de seigneur” against two of the village girls, including Laurencia (this happens offstage and is shown by both girls returning to the village with messed up hair and dirty dresses so the ballet is fit for family viewing) but must have resonated with the still young communist state at its premiere.  It was choreographed by Vakhtang Chabukiani in 1939 for himself and the effervescent young star of the Kirov, Natalia Dudinskaya (who grabbed the young Nureyev for her partner almost twenty years later) and is a feast of bravura dancing from start to finish, with colourful sets and costumes and (what a delight) bright lighting .  From my “Giselle” experience, I did not expect the immaculate ensemble dancing of English National Ballet and there were some particularly rough moments in the big corps de ballet numbers but the whole company threw themselves into it with great panache and it seemed to me they were having a competition to see who could get their head closest to the floor in the backbends that proliferated in the choreography.  The ‘acting’, such as it was, consisted of superfluous arm gestures and much ham from the leading character artists so that the darkness of the story was treated by the audience as pantomime to the extent that the Don and his henchmen were booed at their curtain call (and one hopes they did not take offence at this peculiarly British practice).  Ivan Vasiliev, with his long torso and short, stocky legs, pulled off feat after feat of technical virtuosity although it would have been nice if he had stretched his feet a bit more and had a more attractive run.  Osipova was simply stunning, outdoing Vasiliev’s virtuosity, all the while holding the audience in the palm of her hand with her vivacity.  Her friends, danced by Sabina Yapporova and Oksana Bondareva, were also a delight.  The music, by Alexander Krein, is a pastiche of various Spanish and French composers and, of course, the ubiquitous Minkus with a rewriting of the cabriole variation from “La Bayadere” for one of the male solos.  It was played with great gusto and commitment from the excellent orchestra (I did not buy a programme so I do not know if it is the company’s own orchestra).  The company received a prolonged and rousing ovation at the end of the show (which lasted less than two hours).  If you can get a deal on a ticket for this evening and are looking for something with a definite feel-good factor, I would recommend this but don’t expect any more high art than you would get in a ballet gala with everyone showing off their party tricks.

 

Edited April 3, 2013 by Irmgard

[MAB]

Irmgard, I saw the two different casts last time around and I remember they brought more drama to the ballet than last night which was for me little more than gratuitous bravura. There were clips of Nureyev dancing this on TV a week or so ago and he was both elegant and more exciting in my view. Perhaps it is all a question of approach.

 

Glad you mentioned Sabina Yapporova (I love that girl) and Oksana Bondareva as both danced quite beautifully, even with such strong competition as Osipova on stage.

[aileen]

Irmgard and MAB, I agree with you about Sabina Y and Oksana B (I'm not sure what happened to my "B" in my earlier post!). They really stood out even in the midst of all the bravura dancing.

 

Alison, various people - in reviews and on Twitter - have expressed the view that Laurencia has a daft or thin plot. I think that the plot is a perfectly good one and is certainly no worse than many others. I suppose that what people might find unsatisfactory is the rather jarring contrast between the jolly village scenes and the dark story of the abduction and assault of young women by their overlord and his men.

[Don Q Fan]

The Queen of the Dryads on Saturday evening was Ekaterina Borchenko.

 

http://londondance.com/articles/reviews/mikhailovsky-ballet-don-quixote-london-coliseum/

Ah thank you Aqualia I thought Saturday's Queen looked more like Borchencko and as the review says it was an unannounced cast change. 

[Don Q Fan]

So pleased to hear from MAB and Aileen that Sabina Y and Oksana B were good in Laurencia both lovely dancers!

[lartiste]

I attended the performance of Laurencia on Tuesday evening, I had a seat front row centre in the Orchestra stalls and the view was fantastic! This was an incredible treat to watch; Osipova and Vasiliev set the stage on fire and the corps danced their hearts out I was transfixed from beginning to end. The transformation of Osipova from victim to leader of a revenge force in the final act  was mesmerising she exuded wrath and commanded the stage. This was a heroine who would quite happily tear out her attacker's liver and crow over his misfortune as vengeance was claimed. From her far reaching line to her very -almost demonic- eyes and expressions she was not someone to be messed with lightly and her role was beautifully played. It is a challenge to put into words the charisma with which the final act was delivered I only wish there was a recording to demonstrate in images the expressiveness of the action on stage!The dancer who played Jacinta also gave an exceptionally emotive performance.

 

I have to say of the three ballets - Giselle, Don Quixote and Laurencia - that I was fortunate to see from the Mikhailovsky season I enjoyed each and every one.

[johnross]

The fourth presentation of The Mikhailovsky Ballet was Act 2 of Multiplicity: Forms of Silence and Emptiness.. It was very very dark as you can see.  A complete contrast to the classics that have gone before.

 

 

Polina Semionova the Lady in the Mask

 

 

 Rishat Yulbarisov, Victoria Zaripova and Bach - Marat Shemiunov 

 

More on www.johnrossballetgallery.co.uk

 

[capybara]

I thought that this ballet was advertised as featuring Sarafanov and Semionova. Please could someone report on the casting and the performance?

[zxDaveM]

Here are a few more pics. As John says, a bit of a gloomfest, but a fascinating ballet nevertheless

 

 

Mikhailovsky Ballet - Multiplicity (Oksana Bondareva)
© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr



Mikhailovsky Ballet - Multiplicity (Marat Shemiunov, Sabina Yapparova, Polina Semionova)
© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr



Mikhailovsky Ballet - Multiplicity
© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr


See more...

Set from DanceTabs - Mikhailovsky Ballet: Multiplicity
Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

[Fonty]

Just a couple of quick points on Laurencia, which I went to see on Wednesday evening.  I found it a bit of a curate's egg. 

 

I had no problems with the story, the music was lively, the orchestra played with great zest, and the costumes were attractive.  There was some fabulous dancing. 

 

However, I've never seen  Osipova and Vasiliev before, and although they performed their party tricks brilliantly, that was all it appeared to be.  I was in the cheap seats right up in the roof, and none of the intensity and drama mentioned by others came across.  Instead, when not setting out to dazzle, I found Vasiliev slightly lacking in stage personality, and I also found his enormous thighs and huge bottom a bit off putting, especially in white tights.  Osipova looked wonderful, but although I could see she was technically brilliant, I really wish I could have seen her in something classical like Giselle.

 

The last scene, where the peasants storm the castle and kill the Grand Commander was one of the silliest I have seen.  The still shots projected onto the backdrop while they changed the scenery looked amateurish, and having set up the stage to show the interior, It would have helped if the choreography had at least attemepted to show some serious fighting.  Instead, the baddy and the two rather inept soldiers who seem to be his entire staff did a bit of feeble parrying with their weapons before being easily overcome by the mob.  Finally, after launching straight into some joyous celebration dancing, (presumably taking care not to slip in the blood of the still twitching corpse) there is a rousing call to the masses to take up the revolution and overthrow the oppressors.  I half expected the orchestra to launch into a version of The Red Flag.   

 

Overall, I would say I enjoyed the evening, but i never want to see it again!

[GTL]

Well, it is an old-fashioned, propagandistic, Soviet-era ballet.   I thought the projections before the last scene and, at the very beginning, the front-cloth spelling out Laurencia (Лауренcия is the nearest font I can find here) in the style of that era, served to set the piece in its historical context without labouring the point.   I was glad of the opportunity to see it and commend the Mikhailovsky for presenting it rather than a lucrative crowd-pleaser like Swan Lake but yes, once is probably enough.

The crowd advancing menacingly towards the audience in the last moments reminded me of the ending of The Flames of Paris: does anyone know whether it featured in the original staging of Flames and was emulated in Laurencia, or does the reconstruction of Flames of Paris we see nowadays pick that up from Laurencia?

[lartiste]

Wonderful review in the Guardian today for Osipova and Vasiliev

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2013/apr/07/quixote-laurencia-osipova-vasiliev-mikhailovsky

 

I quite liked the projections I thought the Mikhailovsky were pushing the envelope by being willing to try something a little bit different as they were in the set design of Giselle with the moving foliage and the sparklers and the veils being whisked away for me it made the experience more memorable. But I think it's a bit of a marmite addition as the reaction so far has been you either love it or you hate it lol!

 

Act II Laurencia also reminded me of Flames de Paris I'm not sure of the provenance of the two ballets but there does appear to be some interplay between the two.

[johnross]

The last of the offerings by the Mikhailovsky Ballet at the Coliseum. Sadly I had the wrong timings and missed the Without Words piece but managed to see the Prelude with wonderful music. Those who managed to get to today's matinee might give their impresions.  Here are a couple of pictures.

 

 

Artists of the Mikhailovsky Ballet 

 

 

 Artists of the Mikhailovsky Ballet 

 

More on www.johnrossballetgallery.co.uk

Edited April 7, 2013 by johnross

[Spax]

I thought Natalia was so good in Don Quixote. She was enjoying it so much that the audience felt it to. My ds enjoyed it too...he was the little chef with his friend in act 1 and a puppet in act 2. He loved Jimmy the donkey!!!

[zxDaveM]

Here are a couple of photos from the stunningly beautiful Nacho Duato pieces (Without Words, and Prelude) we got to see (sadly no time for Nunc Dimittis). Of all the Mikhailovsky pieces I saw, think these were my faves.

 

Mikhailovsky Ballet - Without Words (Nacho Duato)
© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr



Mikhailovsky Ballet - Without Words (Nacho Duato)
© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr



Mikhailovsky Ballet - Prelude (Nacho Duato)
© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr


See more...

Set from DanceTabs - Mikhailovsky Ballet: Nacho Duato triple bill
Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

[Amelia]

When after his successful performances with Mikhailovsky Ballet in London Denis Matvienko returned to Kiev he learned that he had been relieved of the Artistic Director's duties and is now just a Soloist in the company.

Ironically, it happened after he successfully produced Natalia Makarova's 'La Bayadere' in Kiev.

I listened to Matvienko's press conference and couldn't help feeling sorry for him. 

The good thing is that he is a brilliant dancer and the best theatres want him.

 

http://www.gramilano.com/2013/04/denis-matvienko-is-fired-as-artistic-director-of-the-kiev-ballet/

[rowan]

Multiplicity... Hmm. Lots of ideas about the evolution of the creative process, and its growing complexity, based on Bach's compositions.  But it was too dark!  As we've mentioned before on this forum, I felt there was a problem with the lighting. I was halfway towards the back of the balcony and it was very difficult to see. Dancers' feet were often shrouded in shadows, too. The all-black attire didn't help either. Polina Semionova was hard to see, too - literally - as she wore a mask and voluminous skirts throughout. However, the main problem was that I thought the corps weren't sufficiently in sync. The piece really demanded absolute synchronicity and dancers being more, or less, in time with each other just didn't cut it for me. Just a bit frustrating, really.

[aqualia2008]

About Nacho Duato's Tripple Bill. A footage with Ekaterina Borchenko and Leonid Sarafanov. 

 

Edited April 11, 2013 by aqualia2008

[Bruce Wall]

Here is a brief film of Sarafanov .... What a dancer he is .... That Giselle the week before last with his stunningly beautiful wife, Novikova (a soloist with the Mariinsky) was supreme.  He has the most wonderful feet and placement.  If the Royal was really on the hunt for world class men if would, I think, be hard to do better than this.  

... plus the fact that he has partnered Osipova before a goodly number of times.  

 

And - a special treat - the two of them in the Tchaikovsky Pas de deux - Stunning.  

Edited April 11, 2013 by Meunier

[capybara]

Here is a brief film of Sarafanov .... What a dancer he is .... That Giselle the week before last with his stunningly beautiful wife, Novikova (a soloist with the Mariinsky) was supreme.  He has the most wonderful feet and placement.  If the Royal was really on the hunt for world class men if would, I think, be hard to do better than this.  

... plus the fact that he has partnered Osipova before a goodly number of times.  

 

 

 

 

Absolutely agree. He is, I think, aged about 30 but looks far younger and would add a real touch of stardust to the Royal Ballet. He was reported as leaving the Mariinsky in search of a wider repertoire - and where better to find that than at the RB. [but, alas, I did not spot Kevin O'Hare in the audience for that wonderful performance of Giselle on 29th March.]

 

[Apologies, I do not seem to be able to quote Meunier without repeating the clip.]

Edited April 11, 2013 by capybara

[billboyd]

There is a wonderful DVD of Leonid Sarafanov and Olesya Novikova dancing Don Quixote with the Mariinsky. Andrei Merkuriev is a great Espada - and Anton Lukovkin (now with ENB) a great Sancho Panza.

[MAB]

I can't get that performance of Giselle out of my mind, totally unique, not like a performance at all more like watching an actual tragedy being played out.  Novikova was so unearthly in the second act and her balon made it seem as if the stage was a trampoline.  Sarafanov was superb all through and the final moments as he lay beside her grave beating his fists on the ground in anger and frustration at his loss........... what an artist!

 

He would be a great asset should the RB care to consider him, but Novikova too could bring a lot to the company and don't forget they are two female principals down at present.  She is not among the 'favoured few' at the Kirov, but if I wrote here about how I consider the company to be seriously mis-managed I would probably earn my first public warning!

[annamk]

I can't get that performance of Giselle out of my mind, totally unique, not like a performance at all more like watching an actual tragedy being played out.  Novikova was so unearthly in the second act and her balon made it seem as if the stage was a trampoline.  Sarafanov was superb all through and the final moments as he lay beside her grave beating his fists on the ground in anger and frustration at his loss........... what an artist!

 

He would be a great asset should the RB care to consider him, but Novikova too could bring a lot to the company and don't forget they are two female principals down at present.  She is not among the 'favoured few' at the Kirov, but if I wrote here about how I consider the company to be seriously mis-managed I would probably earn my first public warning!

MAB you may know this anyway but (if you don't you will find it interesting) there's a long thread about the Mariinsky - casting etc on this US site http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/forum/63-kirov-mariinsky-ballet/

[capybara]

I can't get that performance of Giselle out of my mind, totally unique, not like a performance at all more like watching an actual tragedy being played out.  Novikova was so unearthly in the second act and her balon made it seem as if the stage was a trampoline.  Sarafanov was superb all through and the final moments as he lay beside her grave beating his fists on the ground in anger and frustration at his loss........... what an artist!

 

I agree. Still re-living that performance 2 weeks after the event. Novikova's airiness was all the more exquisite because it wasn't tricksy, just totally other-worldly. I have long believed that the Royal Ballet should 'go quality shopping' in Russia and am very pleased indeed that Kevin O'Hare has made the first move with Osipova. If only he had seen Sarafanov and Novikova.......!