Nikolai Tsiskaridze will dance Solor in "La Bayadere" in Costa Mesa on 27th
and 29th of November (instead of 30th November)

I’d like to add some words to what has been said on “Bolshoi 2002-03 season” . It’s about Tsiskaridze in Roland Petite’s “Queen of Spades”. I’s lucky enough to see him dancing Germann. And it’s dazzling! As it’s well-known, Roland Petite created this part especially for Nikolai Tsiskaridze in October 2001. There are incredibly complicated steps in this ballet. The dancer brilliantly coped with his task - both with technical and dramatic difficulties of this part. Besides that, Germann doesn't practically leave the stage during the performance, he is constantly dancing for 50 minutes (the entire ballet lasts for about 60 minutes). At the same time Nikolai has to portray the nervous and ambiguous existence of his hero. The action takes place in the gloomy but magnificent St. Petersburg, Germann is portrayed as a passionate and possessed person. There is a scope for both psychology and philosophy here. Tsiskaridze's acting skill in "Queen of Spades" is higher then anywhere else - sometimes it seems that you see a film - his artistic expression on stage is so strong.

I thought Tsiskaridze fans might enjoy this little bit of information I received from Basheva:
It's so nice to know that he's not a diva.

My Moscow friends saw an interview with Roland Petit on the main channel of the Russian TV. Petit told there that he began rehearsing "Le Notre Dame de Paris" with the Bolshoi Ballet on the 21st of January. His assistants had already started working with the company two weeks before that. With him in the studio was Nikolai Tsiskaridze who is rehearsing the role of Quasimodo. The opening night is scheduled for the 15th of February.
As the viewers noticed Petit looked at Nikolai with admiration, called him "a genius, the kind of that you find very few in this world" and said that Paris is waiting to see him in "The Queen of Spades".
Kathy, Ileana, Isa, I hope you remember this dancer.

<small>[ 26 January 2003, 08:30 AM: Message edited by: coda ]</small>

Oh yes, I remember It and I'm very sad that he comes just one time in Paris in Solor. It will be interesting to see his Quasimodo ! I adore this ballet and its music from Maurice Jarre.

I hope POB will invite him to dance one more time with the troup. I know he adored to dance in Paris.

Just a hope, Bolchoi troup will come in Paris next season, POb troup will present Ivan le Terrible from Y. Grigorovith (it's in POB repertory since 1977) and in same time we will have the russian troup in Garnier. I don't know what they will present. If someone has an idea, it's great if he could share it.

Prince, Hunchback, Dancer
By Galina Stolyarova for The Moscow Times

The Bolshoi Theater's principal dancer, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, is used to being a prince. He has the nobility-featuring lead roles of much of the classical ballet repertoire under his belt, including "Giselle," "La Bayadere," "Sleeping Beauty," "Swan Lake," "The Nutcracker," "Legend of Love" and "Romeo and Juliet."

These princely roles have been rewarding for the Tbilisi-born dancer, who has already received top Russian awards, including Soul of Dance (1995), Golden Mask (1997 and 2000) and the State Prize of the Russian Federation (2001). He was named a People's Artist of Russia in 2001.
Now the 29-year-old Tsiskaridze is dancing a new role -- one quite removed from Prince Albrecht in "Giselle" or Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet."

click for more

Here are two extracts from reviews on Tsiskaridze's performance in Mariinsky's "La Bayadere" published in Russian Newspapers /translated from Russian/.

"Kommersant", 25 February 2003
By Yuliya Yakovleva

The thing that strikes one most of all is the absolute animal chemistry with which the dancer took on board all the circumstances presented to him by the "theatre of Russian India", a theatre like nothing else on earth. His god is the happy god of the old-time ballets, bringing lovers together beyond the grave. His world is a naive world where deception drives people to madness, and where broken hearts can bring about death. And when you watch Nikolai Tsiskaridze dancing La Bayadere, no longer do you feel the need to blush and painfully justify your love for this rather peculiar art.

"Vremya", 25 February 2003
By Anna Gordeyeva

Tsiskaridze sensed the solar rhythm of the ballet through his skin - or through the sort of sixth sense which makes a true artist. The scale of his gesture, the feeling of absolute union between artist and space - there was nothing to waste, nothing lacking. He was in perfect harmony with the grandiose decorations which had been created expressly for him... And he sensed his partners with a rich musical talent. The perfect youth has grown up and grown wise. And, after humbly accepting the rules of someone else's game, he has emerged victorious.

Thanks so much for the extracts, coda. Just curious (perhaps this has been mentioned already) how old is Tsiskardize? He seems so young, but very finished.

My thanks too Coda. We will always be very grateful for translated extracts like these.

mehunt,
Tsiskaridze is 29.

I know he is from 31 december, as when he came to dance Bayadere at Paris, Nikolai Fan sang "Happy Birthday" to him when he goes out.

"Tsiskaridze is in Tokio at the moment preparing for the Petit Festival. On 28 and 29 of March he will dance there three scenes from "The Queen of Spades" with Ilse Liepa, adagio from "Le Notre Dame de Paris" with Svetlana Lunkina and "Le jeune homme de la mort" with Tamiyo Kusakari."

If there are some ballet lovers from Tokio who are reading this forum, could you please tell us about Tsiskaridze's three performances of "Le jeunne homme et la mort" which ended yesterday. The excepts from "Le Notre Dame" and "The Queen of Spades" will be performed at the Petit festival on 10,11 and 12 April. It became known that Svetlana Lunkina will not travel to Japan for these galas and will be replaced by a Japanese dancer.

Funny, myself and several other dancers saw his performance of Swan Lake with Bolshio Ballet. We were seated not 5 rows from the stage. Being that close, it is hard to miss a dancers attempt at artistry. While we looked very closely, we failed to see any artistic quality consumate with Sigfreid. He partnering was sub-par and there was no connection between him and the lead female. We hoped that not all was lost. We looked forward to his variation, but when time came for him to prove his worthwe were again dissapointed. While he is extremely flexible, he lacked power, elevation and the ability to turn.

I felt I must post this, because there must be someone here who is not a "fan" of Nikolai.

Note: Edited by Stuart in line with our courtesy rule.

<small>[ 31 March 2003, 04:35 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Hi Prodansuer !
I've seen Nikolai only once as Solor (Bayadere)at TNOP. I had no a priori and must admit that I absolutely loved him !
He danced for the first time with Marie-Agnès Gillot, and was such a solid, attentive and courteous partner!
In my opinion he had a strong power, and a splendid elevation.
Maybe he was injured when you saw him ?
But even if injured, i could hardly imagine him lacking artistic quality !!!

<small>[ 31 March 2003, 04:35 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>