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Bolshoi, Mariinsky, Mikhailovsky


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I really like Zakharova, though I do get the ice maiden comments.  Never seen her live but love her Odile on dvd and her Fille du Pharaon is one of my most watched recordings. I only managed to get an amphitheatre seat for her in Swan Lake, so look out for the guy with a Svetlana t-shirt and a large telescope ;)    Also looking forward very much to seeing Obraztsova in Bayadere, this time from a decent seat.  She has a lot of charm, which is an elusive quality; had I been able to sell a kidney in time I'd have booked another performance too.

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Oh yes - I'm definitely going to see her (in sleeping beauty with hallberg and smirnova as lilac fairy).

But I had an expensive ticket to her swan lake too and wanted thoughts about just how special that was... Her aurora is good too, right?

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I think I have said this before on this or another thread, but I certainly wouldn't spend big bucks to see the Bolshoi's Swan Lake. I find the sets and costumes dated and ugly, the choreography boring, and the wigs so horrendously bad as to be a distraction. (This is not just my opinion about the wigs; I said so to someone before the Bolshoi came to Toronto, and her reaction was "How bad can it be, really?" but then when she saw the production she agreed wholeheartedly). I would go and see one of the other programs that you wouldn't otherwise see in London (e.g. Flames of Paris), or La Bayadere, if you can make it past the cringe-inducing racist stereotypes.

 

Pretty much my reaction too, from what I remember of it (and precisely why I didn't bother booking SL).  In fact, I'd far rather go and see the Maryinsky's (and I don't like *that* one)

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I have the Blu-Ray of Zakharova and Hallberg in SB and they are technically superb, they dance with rarified elegance and are a good matching couple, they don't act very much though, this doesn't bother me when faced with such perfection.

 

As for SL, I'm only going for the dancers, Maria Alexandrova, who is my favourite Bolshoi ballerina, and Olga Smirnova who sounds very special, hope to see her also in Bayadere and Diamonds.

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I know, but youtube just doesn't have the same magic of real performances....

Of course, Dancefan, live art is irreplaceable. I didn't mean that you should restrict yourself to watching youtube. I gave this SB link just as an answer to your question on whether Zakharova's Aurora is good.
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Don Q Fan

 

You'll be pleased to know that Ekaterina Shipulina is now a principal. She was promoted, I believe, in 2012.

 

James

I hope she is - but the Bolshoi website has her listed initially under Principals but when you click to go to her page then it says "Leading Soloist" and no mention of a promotion on her biography.   The other dancers have "Principal" on the heading of their pages.  Maybe the website is out of date?

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It's strange how all the controversy over the Bolshoi that swims about these pages drips over now into other avenues of one's life.

 

I was at the Globe's production of MACBETH yesterday afternoon and suddenly thought of the Bolshoi when I heard these words uttered by Ross in the English scene:

 

Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend the air
Are made, not mark'd; where violent sorrow seems
A modern ecstasy

 

As ever, Shakespeare (whoe'er he/she/it may be) seems - somehow - to SAY IT ALL!!

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