Nancy, GREAT REVIEW!! It's so nice to have someone who's so familiar with the Balanchine style; you're comparisons were so clear and well-informed! Nancy, can you tell us who reconstructed "Jewels" for the Kirov? Or perhpas it was re-staged some years ago and the company is merely reviving it?<p>[This message has been edited by trina (edited July 23, 2002).]

Thanks, ladies! The staging was credited to Karin von Aroldingen, Sara Leland, Elyse Borne and Sean Lavery -- a distinguished quartet, don't you think? <P>The Kirov premiere was in October, 1999. So this would be a revival for them. I'm not sure how that works. I'd guess they'd have had to get a seal of approval from the Balanchine Trust to mount this again, and perhaps NYCB alumni were sent over to spruce it up. That's just a guess.<P>Yes, Emma. You were definitely there -- it was a pleasure to meet you!

Thanks from me too nancy. My impression is that "Jewels" has been performed regularly by the Kirov since 1999. For instance they performed it here in London in both 2000 and 2001.<P>The arrangements for the "maintenance" of the work in the Kirov rep will depend on the terms of the contract with the Trust. I know of one Company which has a license to perform a work by another choreographer on one further occasion within a 5 year period after the original setting without reference to the choreographer's trust. However, I think this is more hands-off than most. <P><BR><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited July 24, 2002).]

Stuart, thanks for shedding some more light on this. I do wonder what arrangements were made here. The piece certainly looked good!

Anna Kisselgoff writes in the NY Times:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The Kirov Ballet has closed its by and large successful season as part of Lincoln Center Festival 2002 and left for home in Russia. There was room, however, for last-minute major debuts.<P>Veronika Part appeared in the dual role of Odette/Odile for the first time in "Swan Lake" on Saturday afternoon at the Metropolitan Opera House. The season closed to cheers that night with a partly new cast in George Balanchine's "Jewels," and debuts in the same ballet were seen on Friday. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/24/arts/dance/24JEWE.html" TARGET=_blank><B>Click for More</B></A><BR>

<B>The Boston Phoenix (July 25-August 1)</B><P>Marcia B. Siegel on the Kirov's "Jewels":<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Critical opinion frowns on New York City Ballet right now as having lost its Balanchine touch while trying to refashion itself without him. The Russians may not look like the Balanchine dancers of 35 years ago, but they don’t market the hard-edge sexiness of Peter Martins’s NYCB either. What was so moving about the performance of Jewels I saw Saturday night was the stretch the Kirov made from Petipa to Petipa’s modern descendant. It was like watching ballet history jump the centuries.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/arts/dance/documents/02367361.htm" TARGET=_blank><B>More</B></A><P>****************************************<P>Jeffrey Gantz on the Kirov's "Swan Lake":<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The Kirov production of Swan Lake that I saw last Saturday afternoon was shaped by one-time company artistic director Konstantin Sergeyev, so no surprise that it’s similar to the one Boston Ballet has been presenting for the past decade — next to the Kevin McKenzie Swan Lake at American Ballet Theatre or the Royal Ballet version that came to Boston last summer, these two look like twins. The Kirov does maintain the Soviet tradition of no unhappy endings, so whereas Boston’s Odette and Siegfried jump into the lake and reappear in Swan Heaven, the Kirov pair are redeemed when their love breaks Rothbart’s spell. This idea reflects the way Tchaikovsky’s music breaks through into B major, though it requires the lovers to renounce their dark side. The other major difference was the sets. The Kirov’s first-act " park " has Boston Ballet’s Watteau sensibility but with a faded, Maurice Sendak–like foliage and the royal castle in the distance (a blunder that sabotages the park/forest metaphor for the freeing of Siegfried’s sexual desire). Subdued lighting turns this into the gloomy lake of acts two and four. Act three in the castle has an autumnal feel with a huge tapestry or frieze as backdrop, a throne with a baldachin, and four heralds raised aloft.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/arts/dance/documents/02367365.htm" TARGET=_blank><B>More</B></A><BR>

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Lavish Russian Productions of Ballet Warhorses at the Met<BR>Kirov Classics Hit and Miss<P>Wendy Perron, Village Voice<BR> <BR>The first two productions of the Mariinsky Theatre's Kirov Ballet, playing at the Lincoln Center Festival through Saturday, are ballets more than a century old; both have lavish sets and costumes; and both featured spectacularly limpid dancing from their female leads. But Swan Lake hit the spot, while La Bayadère, claiming to replicate the 1900 version, misfired.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0229/perron.php target=_blank>More</a>

An article by cd.com member Kevin Ng:<P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>dancing all the way to new york<P>by Kevin Ng<BR>SPECIAL TO THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES<P>The Kirov Ballet - the name under which the ballet company of the Mariinsky Theater tours abroad - is now back in St. Petersburg and, with regular performances beginning again in its home theater, probably has little time to reflect upon its two-week season at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, one of the world's most high-profile venues.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.sptimesrussia.com/archive/times/791/features/a_7041.htm target=_blank>More</a>

In New York Magazine:

The Kirov will tour the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai in October with Swan Lake and Jewels. They are also due to tour Hong Kong this winter. More details later.

<small>[ 09-06-2002, 03:35: Message edited by: Kevin Ng ]</small>

There's a very insighful review on the Kirov's New York season by Laura Jacob in New Criterion. Thanks to Ann Williams who put the link on Ballet.co.

Http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/21/sept02/jacobs.htm

<small>[ 09-06-2002, 07:36: Message edited by: Kevin Ng ]</small>

Many thanks Kevin for the link. It is a detailed assessment from a writer with a keen eye. Two non-Kirov points - firstly, those of us who have seen Angel Corella in London this year have been mightily impressed by him in a range of work. Secondly, Jacobs writes of Carlos Acosta:

I don't know whether this is from ignorance or an attempt at humour. Acosta returns regularly to Cuba and is feted by all including the state-controlled TV. He frequently sings the praises of Cuba's free education system that made it possible for him to become a world class dancer. Further, he is confident that he would not have had such a chance in the West, given the economic circumstances of his family. I think he would not be pleased to see the use of the word "defect".

<small>[ 09-06-2002, 05:20: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

The preliminary casting of the performances in Beijing in Oct. is as follows.

Swan Lake
Odette/Odile - Zakharova/Gumerova/Nioradze
Siegfried - Korsuntsev/Kuznetsov

Jewels
Emeralds - Dumchenko, Gumerova, Baranov, Semionov
Rubies - Golub, Fadeyev, Dumchenko
Diamonds - Zakharova, Korsuntsev

Despite the Oct. tours, the Kirov Ballet still has plenty of performances at home in the Mariinsky Theatre. The new season will open on 10 Oct. with Swan Lake.

http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill?pbmy=2002

The Mariinsky will be in Paris (Theatre du Chatelet) on October with a Russian program and the "new-old" Bayadere.

Here are the Bayadere's casts :

October 28 : Zakharova/Kolb/Tarasova
October 29 : Vichniova/Fadeyev/Golub
October 30 : Pavlenko/?/Tarasova
October 31 : Gumerova/Korsuntsev/Golub.

A film should be made during this tour, by RM arts and french TV. I don't know what will be the cast for this film.