Bolshoi Ballet - America Tour 2004

LadyRosa · **Posted:** Sat Oct 09, 2004 5:03 am

I went to their first Don Q performance last night(Oct

. It was breath-taking! Boston Globe's reivew today is right, they are amazingly skillful!

Bolshoi Breezes through "Don Q"

Quote:

"Don Q" is a bravura comic ballet, and the Bolshoi delivered in both departments. Maria Alexandrova, as Kitri, the spirited heroine, was a flame burning through the challenges of difficult choreography she seemed only to laugh at. Alexey Loparevich was an appropriately addled and idealistic Don. ...

[ 09 October 2004, 07:07 AM: Message edited by: LadyRosa ]

ncgnet · **Joined:** Sun Oct 27, 2002 12:01 am **Posts:** 1845

Two reviews in the Boston Phoenix this week.

From Jeffrey Gantz: Night errant - The Bolshoi’s Don Quixote

Quote:

The prologue and first act of the Don Quixote that the Bolshoi Ballet and Orchestra presented at the Wang Theatre last weekend were a vision of Bolshoi Future: colorful, coherent, characterful, and compelling, with choreography (credited to Alexei Fadeyechev) that makes sense and dancing (not to mention backbending) that’s second to none. The rest of the ballet joined the company’s Raymonda in returning us to Bolshoi Past: erratic in casting, choreography, and characterization.

And from Marcia Siegel: Raymonda redux - The Bolshoi does it all

Quote:

All cleaned out and rearranged as a dance show, Grigorovich’s Raymonda grows monotonous. It’s partly the fault of the production and partly a company style that seems to value neutrality. The big presentation scenes that dominate all three acts lack the bustle of realistic onlookers in the background. The tempi are universally spirited. An ill-conceived lighting design focuses follow spots on the leading dancers and consigns the hardworking corps to a gloomy background. They fade into anonymous filler, even when they’re making interesting patterns, and the principals aren’t much more individual

Amelia · **Joined:** Sun Oct 03, 2004 11:01 pm **Posts:** 7

There is wealth of information about Bolshoi, Kirov, personalities, ballets, etc. on http://www.pr.bolshoi.net/
It's in Russian, but I ran some articles through on-line translators and they came out fine. Anyway, I thought you might enjoy it.

Francis Timlin · **Posted:** Fri Oct 22, 2004 1:46 pm

The Bolshoi will open at Seattle's Paramount Theatre on Wednesday/Thursday, October 27/28 with two performances of its new version of "Romeo & Juliet" and conclude the run on Friday-Sunday, October 29-31 with "Don Quixote."

R. M. Campbell previews for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/classical/196255_bolshoi22.html

Mary Murfin Bayley for the Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2002069244_bolshoi22.html

kurinuku · **Posted:** Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:08 am

Quote:

Kicking it into the 21st century

BY LINDA SHAPIRO
Special to the Pioneer Press
October 24, 2004

Friday night's American premiere of the Bolshoi Ballet's new production of "Romeo and Juliet" demonstrated without a doubt that this venerable 19th century institution has come kicking and screaming (literally) into the 21st century.

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kurinuku · **Posted:** Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:41 am

Quote:

Director brings love of ballet, high theatrics to "Romeo and Juliet"

By MISHA BERSON
The Seattle Times
October 24, 2004

When the Bolshoi accepted his idea to "take another look" at "Romeo and Juliet," Donnellan was delighted. "I've always been in love with ballet as a fan. But the ballet and theater worlds tend to be incredibly separate, for reasons I can't quite put my finger on."

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Amelia · **Joined:** Sun Oct 03, 2004 11:01 pm **Posts:** 7

Latest & Greatest of US press on Bolshoi tour
http://www.bolshoi.org/Pressa/press-usa-eng.htm

Amelia · **Joined:** Sun Oct 03, 2004 11:01 pm **Posts:** 7

Well, guys! All I can say is that all those "great" dancers are pale substitute for the real stars: Zakharova, Lopatkina, Pavlenko, Fillin, Sarafanov, Ruzematov(aging). Those are the ones that we really Really REALLY want to see. I want the REAL Kirov!

[ 28 October 2004, 09:53 PM: Message edited by: Amilia ]

coda · **Posted:** Tue Oct 26, 2004 3:21 pm

Well, Amilia! Who are those ‘WE’ that ‘really want to see…’? And who are those ‘WE’ that don’t want ‘to put up with…’? etc. Are you speaking on behalf of some group?
The critics’ reviews show that the current Bolshoi tour in the USA is successful. And Sergei Filin whom you called ‘a real star’ is performing in the USA at the moment. Then why are you complaining about ‘pale substitutes for the real stars’? Is he ‘a pale substitute’ for himself? I failed to understand it.
Perhaps you could tell here which productions you have seen, who was dancing and why you are branding them all in a heap as ‘pale substitutes’?

[ 26 October 2004, 05:33 PM: Message edited by: coda ]

Amelia · **Joined:** Sun Oct 03, 2004 11:01 pm **Posts:** 7

Dear Coda! Of course the US Tour is successful!
The Bolshoi is still Great! It's the BOLSHOI after all. But ... and here WE are... I believe that they should send us the VERY BEST! It's only FAIR, isn't it? Why did the Brits have Zakharova and "The Pharaoh's Daughter" and WE didn't?

[ 30 October 2004, 04:53 PM: Message edited by: Amilia ]

Francis Timlin · **Posted:** Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:47 pm

Hi, Amilia. Since several of the dancers you have on your list are, in fact, Kirov dancers (most notably, Faroukh Ruzimatov) and you have underscored this sentiment with a desire to see the REAL Kirov, perhaps you will need to wait for the next Kirov tour to your area in order to satisfy your desire for Kirov stars. Until that moment arrives, however, we have the Bolshoi on tour in the U.S. and in Mexico City. Are you from Boston? Did you see the Bolshoi's performances there? If so, we would value your substantive commentary on the performances you have seen.

coda · **Posted:** Wed Oct 27, 2004 1:39 pm

I am sorry, Amilia, I thought you could answer the questions about ballet performances. Alas...
First of all, you did not reveal who those “WE” are: a family or a company or a nation?
You don’t want to “be the proving ground for experimental shows”. However, among the ballet lovers in several countries with whom I have been in correspondence for years there are some people (in California and Siettle too) who admire the traditional, classic Bolshoi but at the same time wish to see the Bolshoi’s dancers in modern productions as well. Therefore, your use of ‘we’ does not seem to be justified.
Another thing you don’t want to see are “second rate artists”. It is grossly unfair to talk in these terms about the Bolshoi’s dancers who are performing in the USA on the present tour. Their names speak for themselves: Nadezhda Gracheva, Sergei Filin, Maria Alexandrova, Dmitry Belogolovtsev, Anna Antonicheva, Maria Allash. Also very interesting younger dancers: Yekaterina Shipulina, Ruslan Skvortsov, Yan Godovsky, Anastasia Meskova. Any great ballet company would have been proud to have such dancers in her ranks.
You may regret of course that Svetlana Zakharova is not on this tour. In her interviews she explained the reason for that: when she joined the Bolshoi last year, the management allowed her to honour the contracts, which she signed previously.
Of course, it is disappointing that the Bolshoi’s dancer No.1, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, is not on this tour. If you follow ballet news, you would know that he is slowly coming back after a mega injury a year ago. Prima ballerina Galina Stepanenko was also injured just before the tour and has not appeared on stage yet. This is the cruel truth of this profession. When the Royal Ballet (Covent Garden) toured Moscow last year, two principals, Darcey Bussell and Alina Cojocaru, did not come because of their injuries. You can not blame dancers for that.
You wrote: “After Beslan the reviews are bound to be "fantastic"!” Well, if you believe that ballet critics are such charitable species, I can only make a helpless gesture.
Perhaps you still can share with us your impressions of the productions and dancers you have seen on this tour. Was it "Raymonda", "Don Q." or "R & J"?

ripowam · **Posted:** Wed Oct 27, 2004 3:30 pm

How could anyone consider a tour featuring Antonicheva, Alexandrova and Filin in any sense second-best?

[ 27 October 2004, 05:32 PM: Message edited by: ripowam ]

kurinuku · **Posted:** Thu Oct 28, 2004 2:51 am

Quote:

Hard-edged 'Romeo' tosses subtlety aside

By R.M. CAMPBELL
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

After its world premiere in Moscow earlier this year and a stormy reception later in London, "Romeo and Juliet," was given its West Coast premiere last night at the Paramount Theater. It is not hard to see why there has been a fuss: The production is a world of distortions, both in its choreography and staging. It is coarse, hard-edged, driven. It is also, at times, compelling. The story has been compressed, with important characters left out, and the action tightened.

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Francis Timlin · **Posted:** Fri Oct 29, 2004 8:36 am

Mary Murfin Bayley reviews the Wednesday, October 27 performance of Romeo & Juliet at Seattle's Paramount Theatre:

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=romeo29&date=20041029


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