Bolshoi Ballet: Sleeping Beauty, London 2013

[John Mallinson]

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[zxDaveM]

ha yes pointes squeaking... well they probably need the colophane to feel safe on the ROH surface

 

Its their flooring surface, on top of the ROH stage, I would have thought.

[Sim]

Last night's SB was my first sight of the Bolshoi this visit, and just as I was heaving a sigh of relief that they have finally ditched those awful, noisy, clonky pointe shoes they used to use....the squeaking started, which was very distracting at first! I then managed to banish it to my subconscious so it just became white noise.

 

Will try and post more thoughts later, but I would agree with the 3-star ranking given the production by some of the critics. Despite the opulence of the set and the costumes, I was distinctly underwhelmed by the dancing, the choreography and the interpretation of the music. I found this especially so in the Bluebird pdd; for me, this should be played at a snappy speed as that's what birds do: they fly, they twitch, they twitter, they beat their wings; these movements are usually snappy and quick. The pdd was played so slowly last night that I was expecting those birds to just slowly roll off their branch and onto the ground below without even noticing! I couldn't help comparing this Bluebird with past performances by Steven McRae....and Steven won out each time.

[Buddy]

 

Well I haven't read Clement Crisp's review yet but am really looking forward to seeing Ekaterina Krysanva again tonight with a different Prince, Semyon Chudin.  Do you have the DVD of Flames of Paris? she is so enchanting in the Amour dances, gentle loveliness indeed!

 

 

 

No, I don't have that DVD, Beryl, but I'm so glad that you are enchanted by Ekaterina Krysanova's -- "gentle loveliness". It's possibly what I Love most about her.

 

Hope you had a great time at yesterday's performance !

 

 

Added comment:

 

At her Cinderella performance from maybe six years ago, that is perhaps my favorite, there were two little girls sitting in front of me in beautifully designed identical dresses -- 'Our Cinderella dresses. Mother got them especially for tonight.' These two little girls were 'enchanting'. I kept thinking that Ekaterina Krysanova, with her airy innocence, could have been their older sister.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Buddy

[Clarissa]

The article I would recommend is this one, by Graham Watts. It is surprisingly approving, written about the 5th of August performance. http://londondance.com/articles/reviews/bolshoi-ballet-the-sleeping-beauty/#.UgJQ-7lULQs.twitter

[Dance*is*life]

I'm afraid I just missed the Bolshoi on my trip to the UK, , so have no comments on that, but someone mentioned a ballerina who could give lessons on how, in your thirties, you can portray a sixteen year old convincingly and it made me think of Ekaterina Maximova. I saw her as Tatiana in Cranko's Onegin when she was 50, and if I hadn't known she was 50 I would have thought that she was indeed a young girl. She was amazing and I have never forgotten that particular performance.

 

It seems to me, reading between the lines of the criticisms above, that what is missing from the performances is that elusive thing - soul. There have been so many posts on the ballet boards about technique and pyrotechnics taking the place of artistry and acting from the soul - am I right in thinking that that was lacking in these Bolshoi performances, or am I misunderstading something?

[Coated]

I think that's spot on for the overall productions so far, especially Swan Lake. There are moments where some of their Dancers overcome the production and insert a bit of that elusive thing, but it's a bit of an uphill battle.

[simonbfisher]

After my second Sleeping Beauty : random thoughts

 

- The floor is awful. Noisy and squeaky, with a loose section downstage right last night. Very distracting patterns and the golden reflection upwards seemed tonight to clash wwith the Lilac costume so that Smirnova was wearing white knee-length socks. (She was wonderful, though! Fisrt time I'd seen her, won't be the last!)

 

- The music is treated very cavalierly as per post nr 36 above I felt that the bluebirds , and also the intro to the Act 4 odd, were woefully slow, whereas other parts (incl the overture) were amazingly fast.

 

- Someone fell off their points at the same time and in the same place during the maids of honour dance on both nights. Is this becoming a tradition . . ?

 

- Krysanova was accurate but warm, disciplined to a fault yet melting at the right times. She and Chudin seemed a good partnership.

 

- Chudin has a lovely bounciness and silent landing; really reminds me of someone in the RB but I'm darned if I can think who. (whom??)

 

- Lunkina and Medvedev stood out for me on Wed; Litvinova and Tsvirko were not as satisfyingly catty tonight. 

 

Too tired to continue now, but I'm glad I got a ticket to see it again, despite promises (to bank manager) to restrict self to one of each production!

[Buddy]

 

Well I haven't read Clement Crisp's review yet but am really looking forward to seeing Ekaterina Krysanva again tonight with a different Prince, Semyon Chudin.  Do you have the DVD of Flames of Paris? she is so enchanting in the Amour dances, gentle loveliness indeed!

 

 

 

 

I wrote this in 2007 about Ekaterina Krysanova. I would really like to post it because it meant so much to me and might offer some perspective and insight into what we are seeing today.

 

 

"Cinderella" -- Washington DC

 

Ekaterina Krysanova----An Absolute Delight ! 

 

From the moment that she appeared on stage with her childlike effervescence and look of wonderment the enchantment remained constant for the entire evening. 

 

How to describe her dancing ? Somewhere beyond the delicate side of Alina Cojocaru if you can believe that. Alina Cojocaru has a virtuoso aspect along with her delicacy. Ekaterina Krysanova just floated along like a gentle dream. She was both totally real and a fairytale princess. 

 

I've never seen moves quite like hers. They just effervesced, dreamily bubbled and touched the surface like a dancing cloud. She did one hop over a bit of stage scenery with a flutter of fairylike grace that I have never seen before. In her Act II solo she did a series of jumps where her head airily arched backwards in a beautifully done finishing gesture. (She did similar lovely jumps in the Act III variation from Don Quixote.) 

 

Coming out of demanding bits of choreographed gymnastics she flowed into dream perfect conclusions like an inverted waterfall. Her posturing during the more grounded choreography was done with wondrously delicate grace and poetic command. 

 

All this was performed with the wide eyed innocence of a little child….

 

and speaking of little children the four little sisters [sitting in front of me] seemed to be wide-awake and enjoying the entire evening.

Edited August 9, 2013 by Buddy

[Beryl H]

I thought Ekaterina Krysanova was even better last night, like Buddy I was reminded of Alina Cojocaru, strong technique (definitely no falling off pointe) but light and soft too, Semyon Chudin seemed a perfect partner for her both in height and style, I like his expressive face too. I was pleased to see Artem Ovcharenko as Bluebird too, noticeable that the men got more applause than the women, this also happened on Monday, but I think it's what the audience expect of the Bolshoi, men leaping across the stage!

[Bruce Wall]

Enjoyed Krysanova again, especially her entrance in Act I; pure sunshine in her (to quote Crisp being Crisp) 'fiorituri of steps'.   Agree re Chudin.  As I said after his debut here in Bayadere he appears to me to be the finest native principal resident with the Bolshoi at the moment - at least from the crowd now on London show; although understandably minus that breadth of expansive style which is embodied inherently within David Hallberg.  Hallberg stands out as he has somehow bravely and clearly kept his own style whilst joining it with the Bolshoi characterful glean where - and only where - it is most appropriate.  It is, I think, a happy union.)    

 

I again thought Chinara Alizade stood out in her charming focus as 'Sapphires' in the Jewels diversion (there's more we'll see from this fine young artist I'm sure), but why I wanted to post at this particular moment is to hail one particular dancer who might I think be all too easily overlooked and who provided me great joy:  Vitaly Biktimirov.  From his unforgettable appearances during the last visit with the Bolshoi, (in that explosive Don Q as Espada opposite V/O or Le Corsaire), to this time where I have been privileged to see his considerable and ever more variable frame and even more potent eyes as a fantastically driven partner in the drum dance in last Saturday night's Bayadere to the opening's and again last night's Catalabutte in Sleeping Beauty.  I have NEVER seen that role - Catalabutte - where the detail was so completely and delightfully etched; where it has been given such a full character arc.  Here Biktimirov reminded me in his joyous detail of a certain Peter Sellers, rife with a humane soul and always - ALWAYS - totally in frame and response to his surround.  His anxious movements at having collected the forbidden spindles, his thrill at being able to dance - or is that prance - in a rather mis-matched fashion through the garland celebrants or his Maggie Smith surprise when almost colliding with a stage right supernumerary guard where all pure heaven - and they could have oh, so easily been completely over the top in lesser hands (as they so frequently are when people pull focus) and oh, so easily under-appreciated.  I was as intrigued as I was enchanted.  Indeed I still am.  It's that detail that REALLY makes the difference for me.  'Bravo' Vitaly I say, 'Bravo'. 

Edited August 9, 2013 by Meunier

[MRR]

The performance of the Bolshoi’s Sleeping Beauty is my first live viewing of the company since 2000, and I was only seven then, so this was a heavily anticipated occasion for me.  The Yuri Grigorovich production itself is impeccably dressed—the massive, adorning columns make for a decadent, imposing set, and the costumes are every bit as ornate.  Unfortunately, the visual splendor of the production cannot in any make up for its weaknesses:  mashed up music arrangements, the absence of any real mime, and the frequently abbreviated or eliminated parts of the ballet.  Even the dividing up of the acts with one intermission is awkward:  the audience is supposed to adjust to Aurora maturing 16 years of age in the blink of an eye.  I’m not asking for a four-hour long Mariinsky reconstruction here, just a nice, coherent, complete production, but Grigorovich’s new Sleeping Beauty is far from that.

 

Unfortunately, the choppiness of the production starts almost right away with the pas de six for faeries, where two parts of the score are cut.  The mime at the beginning of Act I is likewise shaved to its bare minimum, and the mime of the King telling off Catalabutte look rather like a game of cat-and-mouse.  In the second act, the Lilac Fairy seems almost in a world apart from Prince and Aurora, executing arabesque promenades on one side of the stage by herself while Aurora and the Prince dance on stage right.  The third act is perhaps the most complete act, but even here the Bluebird solo is shortened, the opening absolutely truncated, and the apotheosis gone.  Cutting some parts of the score could be forgivable, but all of these instances make for a muddled, fill-in-the-blanks production which resembles more the “Best of Sleeping Beauty” than “The Sleeping Beauty” itself.

 

The production needs an excellent cast of dancers to make up for its wishy washy nature, and here we had an admirable, if not entirely riveting, cast.  Ekaterina Krysanova is a finely assured Aurora, lacking bit of the innate delicacy seen in the great present-day Auroras (Cojocaru, Obraztsova, among others), but nonetheless presents herself as a technically strong and sensitive dancer.  This was a performance without flash: no rhythmic gymnast extensions, sky-high jumps, or attempted balances in the Rose Adage (akin to most of the Russian Auroras), but the relative modesty of the performance won me over.  Here was an Aurora who seemed very much a young princess—bubbly, effervescent, and enchanted by the prospect of finding a suitor.  While Krysanova danced well in Act I, it was her Act II variation where she seemed best suited with finely sustained balances, a beautiful triple step-over pirouette to finish, and an elusive, almost untouchable aura.  If anything, her 3^rd act, although danced well, is perhaps where she is least interesting:  one didn't sense that she had matured from Act I and that she delineated any kind of relationship with her Prince, which seemed more the fault of Semyon Chudin than Krysanova.  Although not the most riveting or delicate performer in the role, Krysanova presents the audience with clean, classical dancing with a touch of bravura thrown in.  Interested I am to see her Odette/Odile on Saturday, although I sense she is better suited to Aurora.

 

Krysanova’s prince, Semyon Chudin, is perhaps in terms of technique one of the finest male dancers in ballet today.  Here is a dancer with few physical deficiencies to speak of: his feet are divinely shaped, his legs stretched so as to be capable of handling any balance.  There are beautiful pirouettes, a gorgeous manege without even a hint of the back leg drooping (as so many dancers do), and not a moment of insecurity in any step.  Indeed, his technique seems practically infallible.  He simply cannot put a foot wrong, which was much to the delight of a tepid audience that seemed to liven only when Chudin was onstage.  However, at the expense of this flawless dancing is a very blank, remote presence:  the Prince in Sleeping Beauty is hardly a two-dimensional character, but Chudin doesn’t breathe the necessary life into the role.  Even sitting in row F of orchestra stalls, I sensed no sensitivity, no emotion at all.  Marcelo Gomes can make a role even as short as this a memorable one; David Hallberg, while certainly not the greatest actor, has innate regality which brings more color to the role than Chudin can muster.  This is not to deny that visually Chudin is exceptional, but his performance was often detached from everyone and everything around him.

 

As the Lilac Fairy, Olga Smirnova reveals much potential.  Here is a dancer who at only 21 years of age has a regal authority which belies her years.  While some have criticized Smirnova for being too “cool” of a performer, this was not the case in this performance, where she radiated perhaps more warmth than seen in other ballets.  A commanding, elegant presence, Smirnova has qualities of greatness, but as is with a dancer of her relative lack of experience, there is fine-tuning to be done.  She tends to lean back on her supporting leg during her pirouettes—I noticed this particularly during her pirouettes from fifth-- and at times she oscillates in and out of character.  Some shakiness in the pirouettes might be forgiven since the conductor gave her a funeral tempo.  Still, there was much to admire about Smirnova:  beautiful line of the arms of the back, great epaulement, and perhaps as magical as she could be within the confines of the production.  With a few more years of seasoning, Smirnova should deserve a chance at Aurora.

 

The Bolshoi, obviously a company with tremendous depth, showcases some other standout performers in smaller roles.  Anna Tikomirova as the Fairy of Audacity was fabulous:  here was a ballerina with complete confidence, technical assurance, and fire.  Already said to be an excellent Gamzatti, she could also essay Kitri with great success.  Anastasia Stashkevich as Princess Florine is on the opposite spectrum of Tikhomirova—delicate, sunny, a definite Aurora in the making.  Artem Ovcharenko as the Bluebird is blessed with an excepetionally lean physique, finely tapered limbs, and an extremely juicy plié.  Anna Leonova as the Diamond Fairy is elegant, although she struggled with the ending of step-over turns during her variation, falling out of her double.  Maria Vinogradova also deserves praise for her dynamic Carelessness Fairy, featuring strong ballon and a vivacious quality.  Sadly, as Carraboose, Alexei Loparevich is unmemorable:  his minions actually appear scarier!

Edited August 9, 2013 by MRR

[Bruce Wall]

 Sadly, as Carraboose, Vitaly Biktimirov is unmemorable:  his minions actually appear scarier.

 

 

Just wanted to correct this .... The Caraboose of the preformance reviewed by MRR was danced by Alexei Loparevich.  Vitaly Biktimirov did happily appear but as I noted in my posting previous portrayed Catalabutte.

 

Just for the record.  

Edited August 9, 2013 by Meunier

[MRR]

Just wanted to correct this .... The Caraboose of the preformance reviewed by MRR was danced by Alexei Loparevich.  Vitaly Biktimirov did happily appear but as I noted in my posting previous portrayed Catalabutte.

 

Just for the record.  

 

Thank you for that correction--when rereading the program I accidentally read Catalabutte as Caraboose!

[Jan McNulty]

Hello MRR and welcome to the Forum.  Thank you so much for your detailed and thoughtful review of Sleeping Beauty.  I hope it will be the first of many!

[alison]

Yes, indeed!

[Anjuli_Bai]

Very interesting review, MRR - thank you.

 

In regards to Smirnova about whom you wrote this:

 

" She tends to lean back on her supporting leg during her pirouettes—I noticed this particularly during her pirouettes from fifth"

 

I think this is a result of the construction of her knee which is hyper-extended - straightens beyond straight - and in her effort to straighten it  she pushes back on it.  If you go to Google/Images and type in her name, it is easily seen in several pictures.  Thus, when she turns it looks wobbly - though it is not - and does make it look as if her weight is leaning back.  This probably is more likely to occur in a turn from a fifth position preparation since it comes from a smaller center of balance - as opposed to initiating from 4th position.

 

Many schools/teachers will teach dancers with such knee construction to "pull up" on the knee rather than allow it to push back.  It is a difficult problem to deal with and often sets a dancer up for future problems.

 

Let's hope that this young dancer will have many many successful years ahead of her.

[Don Q Fan]

Thoroughly enjoyed SB last night with Zakharova and Volchkov.  Fabulous costumes and set even the floor was not that bad - very reminiscent of the beautiful patterns you see in the wooden floors at Russian palaces as my friend pointed out.  It seemed more together than the Act 3 of Bayadere I saw last week.  I enjoyed seeing Ekaterina Shipulina and Anna Tikhomirova but really all the dancers were pretty good yesterday...I only felt White Cat was not the best portrayal of a cat I have seen despite Puss In Boots best efforts!!!  Agree the above points re Vitaly Bikitimorov.

 

As an aside at stage door I managed to ask Alexander Volchkov how Maria Alexandrova is and he told me she had an operation 2 days ago on her leg :-(  I just hope we will get to see her dance again.  Sending even more virtual best wishes for a speedy recovery to Maria.

[MRR]

I’m way behind on my reviews, especially after having flown 10 ½ hours from London to Houston yesterday, but here is my report on the Friday, August 9^th Sleeping Beauty:

 

The role of Princess Aurora was taken by Svetlana Zakharova in this performance, and already there was an air of excitement and intensity in the theater which went quite unfounded during the Thursday Beauty with Krsyanova.  Zakharova certainly has her fans, and for many younger dancers she is marveled at for her seemingly God-given ballet physique: tall, rail-thin and hyper-flexible.  Zakharova steps onto the stage as if in her own bubble—a glamorous, imperious, prima ballerina not making any particuar attempt to interpret a 16-year-old princess.  She is cool, some describe her as icy, and yet in this role she is forced to be warm and youthful to a degree not necessary in other ballets. 

 

Her entrance at the beginning of Act I shows real promise in this regard, but when the Rose Adage starts she becomes, quite understandably, preoccupied with the balances.  To her credit, she did hold two fairy long balances at the end of each sequence (the first one she remained in attitude; the second she completed the allonge to arabesque).  Supported pirouettes with the princes also cause her tension; her face subtly but visibly panics as none of the men make it out of the adage alive with keeping her on her leg.  Ultimately, however, she finishes the Rose Adage unscathed and finishes a lovely, if ossified, Act I.  The Vision Scene of Act II is predictably where Zakharova’s performance peaks, as the elusive, almost untouchable quality to her dancing is used well to its advantage here.  Her final pas de deux in Act III shows off basically everything we have come to know, like, or dislike about Sveta:  long, elastic, ear-whacking extensions (which haven’t gone down with age), polished technique, and an austere demeanor.

 

 There is hardly another ballerina I can think of who fully compares to Zakharova—other ballerinas have certain qualities of hers but not all—which thus makes her a ballerina unlike any you will see in another cast.  Her aloof demeanor contrasted spectacularly with Krysanova’s humility in the Thursday performance, and indeed while Zakharova is always interesting to watch, she ultimately proves unmoving as Aurora.

 

Alexander Volchkov as Prince Desire showed more dramatic fortitude than Semyon Chudin of the night before—though this is not saying much—but Volchkov lacks the latter’s technical gifts.  He is not blessed with great lines or a buoyant jump, and actually seems to flail his body a bit when he is executing big traveling jumps.  Perhaps least forgivable, however, is Volchkov’s ports de bras: his arms are not well supported from his back in first position and are shaped quite like airplane wings in first arabesque.  He partnered Zakharova very well, though he too doesn’t escape the Zakharova supported pirouette curse when she got stuck facing him during one turn in Act III.  In the brief and simplistic role of the Prince, Volchkov proved much more successful in conveying his infatuation with Aurora’s vision that Aurora herself, as the Act III pas showcased a couple with no real love, feeling, or any emotion at all for one another.

 

Ekaterina Shipulina was one of the night’s standouts as a Lilac Fairy of maturity, class, technical strength, and musicality.  There is great confidence in Shipulina’s dancing, something not always seen in Olga Smirnova’s performance of the same role, and her pirouettes in the variation were completed without incident.  Unlike Smirnova, Shipulina did not attempt full arabesque and attitude turns during the coda with the faeries, preferring instead to complete ½ or ¾ arabesque and attitude turns.  This was probably a smart decision, as she did not travel during the sequence in the least and did well to save what was a very off-axis double en dedans pirouette to finish.  Shipulina lacks the expressive upper body of Smirnova, but still infuses the role with a warmth and strength which is seen all too briefly under Grigorovich’s production.

 

Artem Ovcharenko repeated as the Bluebird and proved himself a dancer of admirable line and posture while successfully dancing a role typically reserved for shorter men.  Daria Khokhlova as Princess Florine is far below his level, showing a coy demeanor and choppy phrasing during her variation.  Anna Tikhomirova was predictably vivacious as the Diamond Fairy, if just a tad bit hurried by the fast footwork required by her second variation.  Chiara Alizade also caught my eye as Sapphire:  her face reminds me a little bit of Altynai Asylmuratova’s.  The faeries in the prologue were very lovely--Anastasia Stashkevich an absolute delight in the songbird variation--and then we had Ivor Tsvirko’s campy, psychotic rendition of Caraboose.  He had this crazy look in his eye and a great ability to engage with the cast around him, though never for a moment did I believe him as a woman (and his makeup didn’t help matters).

 

Despite the uninspired performances from the lead couple, this performance conclusively proved superior to Thusday’s—strong performances from Shipulina, Ovcharenko, and Tikhmoriova (among others in minor roles), good corps and demi-soloist work throughout, and a passionate (if not perfect) handling of the score by the Bolshoi orchestra.

Edited August 13, 2013 by MRR