Thanks again for your thoughts, Cassandra. It would be nice if someone with an easy going personality could direct the Bolshoi ballet. Yuri Burlaka has descibed himself (in a recent article that I can't locate at the moment) as a mild-mannered person, who tries to talk things over. I wish him much success.

PS My impression, although I may be wrong, is that Alexei Ratmansky is something like this as well and he certainly has received a lot of praise for what he has accomplished. He has also been generous in giving credit to others and he seems to have tried to reach as much of a consensus as possble throughout the company for what he has done.

One of my friends went to the Moscow premiere of Flames of Paris and sent me an e-mail with the following:

"Enjoyed Flames of Paris although its not in the same class as Bright Stream. I don't know how it would fare in London to be honest as it doesn't grab you immediately in the way BS did. However, the music is extraordinarily lovely. saw three performances altogether: two rehearsals and the premiere. It was more enjoyable each time."

Quote:
"It is rumoured that Grigorovich will be in charge of casting and touring."

Dear Cassandra, you expressed your worries about the Bolshoi's touring turning unsuccessful in the hands of Mr. Grigorovich.

As far as it is known from the Russian press Mr Grigorovich will be in charge of casting, touring and overall 'maintenance' of his OWN ballets only.

Based on the two short clips I saw on YouTube, I think with a little polishing it could be quite a ballet to watch for Western audiences, despite the fact it's not a historically "accurate" version of the ballet.