One other thing that videos can do is capture the choreography, for example, if it is a premiere. It enables people to go back and remind themselves what the choreography was, but I agree that it does not take the place of foot to foot teaching.

I know from Pilates and yoga that I fall (or I should say fell past tense since I have fallen off the wagon) into the same bad habits. if I do not have an instructor reminding me. I also experienced this back when I was young and helped out part-time teaching Pilates. Clients learned much better when I touched them and moved their body into correct alignment because what feels straight is sometimes totally uneven. You can watch a video and mimic what is being done, but you do not really see what you're doing wrong until someone actually touches you and moves your body into the correct position or shows you the way you are doing it and how you should be doing it instead.

So I think for actual dancers video is probably only a way of checking if what they felt they were doing translated across the stage physcially. But for learning a role, I can totally see how you really, really need the pedagogue.

For revivals of ballets that have not been done for a while, I suspect a video (that shows the entire stage) is a great help to the person staging the revival (if the choreographer is not available), if there is not a particular Trust that sends someone to help.

For the viewer I think video is better than nothing, but "in person" is always much better. An element of an "event" or some unique charisma or a feeling in the audience can really change your mood or way you experience it.

Actually that's a great point. The dancers at the Mariinsky also often use videos of previous performances to learn just the steps in new roles -- I mean for example, a soloist being given a new role that no one has taught her, she will use the video to initially learn the order of the steps. (especially if it is not a classical ballet, but something new, say Ratmansky's Cinderella, or something from the Forsythe ballets, and maybe the young dancer hasn't been in that ballet yet). But then she goes to rehearsal and that is all carefully combed through along with the pedagogue.

Some good ideas have been expressed here about videos that we could give more time to if we have a chance. I think that they offer a great deal, but have to be kept in perspective. They can be fine aids for the artists and also give a lot of insight and enjoyment to those of us who never see as many live performances as we would like to.

Yana Salenko of the Berlin State {Opera} Ballet just debuted on the Mariinsky stage as Kitri in Don Q. Kommersant's Olga Fedorchenko reviewed the evening:

http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2385116

Xander -- Prince Siegfried (Swan Lake) -- March 6 !

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Bravo !

(with Yulia Stepanova, a double debut)

http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/pla ... /6/1_1900/
(thanks to sophia at Dansomanie for finding this)

My attention wandered during the Esina Kennedy Center Swan Lake and I had purchased tickets for the Bolshoi Giselle with Zakarova/Hallberg. I imagined Esina as Myrtha with a Somova Giselle. Are they cast together? Does Askerov ever partner Somova? I also noticed one of the big swans and thought casting her would have enhanced Askerov's performance. That evening during Kolegeva/Zuzin I realized the mesmerizing dancer in Spanish was the big swan who diverted my focus during Esina's Odette. An intermission program check listed Stepanova. Esina did have beautiful marble sculptural poses. Do the pedagogues work with her on a regular basis?

My first Kirov-Mariinsky Swan Lake was in 1986 at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia - Lyubov Kunakova as Odette/Odile.

Maps, a partial response to your questions. Until recently I always associated Timur Askerov with Oxana Skorik. They work very well together. In the last year they seem to be cast more with other partners. One reason may be to give Oxana Skorik more experience outside of her usual comfort range. It appears to be working fairly well. She seems to be growing and becoming more confident. On the other hand, Timur Askerov is a very solid and supportive partner, whom the Mariinsky would maybe like to share with other ballerinas. It worked very well with Olga Esina in Swan Lake last October. They may also want to give him a chance to develop his own identity and style.

A quick check does show Timur Askerov scheduled to appear with Alina Somova in Don Quixote, March 26.
http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ball ... ny/somova/
(see Upcoming performances, box upper right)

Regarding Olga Esina, she is scheduled to be Giselle at the Festival. I'm really looking forward to this one.

Let's talk about Xander (Xander Parish) for a moment. He and Yulia Stepanova debuted in Swan Lake last night.
,
I've just had a chance to see the video clip of the Act I Odette duet, but I like them both very much.

This young man has Class !

She is absolutely Lovely !

Bravi ! , you two, and much success and happiness.

Xander will also be debuting in Sylvia with Alina Somova at next month's Festival.

[moved to Bolshoi forum]

"Jewels"
Mariinsky Ballet
The New Mariinsky Theatre II
Saint Petersburg, Russia
21 March 2014
by Catherine Pawlick

As Petersburg edges towards springtime, and the Mariinsky Ballet prepares for the quickly approaching ballet festival on April 3, the company presented one of several performances of "Jewels" planned for this season, this one featuring an intriguing debut.

Emeralds opened with Alexander Sergeyev's princely nobility stealing the stage as part of the leading couple alongside Victoria Krasnokutskaya. Offstage pair Victoria Brilёva and Andrey Ermakov performed the "clock" pas de deux with cool beauty and measured precision. Brilёva continues to stand out for her strong technique and beautiful lines; one wonders why she's not been given the same recent forays into Odette/Odile as others from her age group have. During her variation, the "hop scotch" section was pleasing to watch, and throughout her dance one sensed a fullness and ease in line that is increasingly rare among the lower ranks. Nadezhda Batoeva and Oksana Marchuk joined Ernest Latipov in a glowing pas de trois, all three emitting radiance. In the brief all-male section, Sergeyev, Ermakov and Latipov --all wards of famed pedagogue Gennady Silutsky-- danced with a synchronicity and accuracy that attests to their teacher's high caliber. It was a Mariinsky moment, fleeting and priceless.

The debut of the evening came in Rubies, where Renata Shakirova, still a student at the Vaganova Academy, was granted the starring role alongside Kimin Kim. With numerous females in the company currently injured or out on maternity leave, the ranks have apparently not offered enough for the administration to draw from, resulting in reliance on the school. Surprisingly expressive in this sensual, pantherine section, Shakirova, who is as petite as a mosquito, has already performed in Don Quixote with the company last summer (as Amour), and supposedly in The Sleeping Beauty recently as Florine recently. She met the challenges of the jazzy choreography with verve and extroversion that is unusual for someone her age. Playful and flirtatious, she emoted in what at times resembled Vishneva's approach, if more raw, teasing both partner and audience with near-full abandon. Partner Kimin Kim looked at home in both the duet and solo sections, proving an appropriate choice of cavalier for Shakirova. Zlata Yalinich also debuted as the other first soloist in Rubies, but her shading was fiery in a darker way, matching the bass chords, and yet providing a cleanliness in technique and attack that was pleasing to behold.

Ekaterina Kondaurova brought out the sparkle in Diamonds alongside Evgeny Ivanchenko. Kondaurova offers the most abstract rendition of the Diamonds solo. Her sharpness, detail, and accuracy provide a flawless performance that few can match, and yet she leaves room for the audience to draw their own fantasy and meaning from her rendition. Ivanchenko partnered her with care, and managed a nice manège of split jetés and the entire round of tours à la seconde without a premature finish. In the grande finale, Balanchine's corps de ballet patterns recalled a long lost era, filling the new theatre with the aura of times past, with its own Imperial heritage.

"With numerous females in the company currently injured or out on maternity leave, the ranks have not offered enough for the administration to draw from, resulting in reliance on the school"

Please ... Mariinsky Theatre is brimfull of talent and does not need to draw on the ranks of the Vaganova students to find someone for what is an important leading role. No matter how good Renata was, this was an insult to the great dancers already in the company.

Just off the top of my head, the following dancers either already have Rubies lead girl in their repertoire, or would be wonderful in it: Somova, Tereshkina, Batoeva, Shirinkina, Tkachenko, Evseeva, Krasnokutskaya, Nikitina, Stepanova, Frolova, Marchuk.

I would have to check, but probably 7 of the above list would be debuts and entirely deserving. If MT could give a debut to a Vaganova student, no matter how talented, why not one of these? If I have forgotten anyone, and I am sure I have, then I apologize to them, because there are so many of them, including countless corps dancers just waiting for an opportunity for a role, and I did not include dancers currently on maternity leave or just coming back after maternity leave.

Tiara I 300% agree with you that there are many in the corps and/or coryphees (not to mention uncast soloists) that could have been cast...

Quick alert: Daria Pavlenko will be dancing in the April 27 matinee performance of Firebird.

That night Victoria Brilyova will debut in Scheherezade.

Thanks for this Catherine. I am ecstatic to learn that Darya Pavlenko is being cast for an overdue follow-up to her "Firebird" debut. May she return to all the classical and Romantic roles in her repertory as soon as possible. A prima ballerina as talented and gifted as Pavlenko is wasted in things like Sasha Waltz' "Sacre," et.al. Also, it's great that Brylova will be making her Zoebide debut .

Ms. Pavlenko was stunning and incredibly expressive in this difficult allegro role. In particular she has an innate mastery of the unique port de bras that are required in the role. Her partner Ilya Kuznetsov was no less amazing, and very clear in his pantomime which for this particular ballet is especially important so that viewers understand what he is doing with the firebird's feather, for example. As this was a matinee, the audience was absolutely packed with children - how lucky that their, in some cases, first exposure to ballet was from two such masterful artists!