Andre, you describe so well Diana Vishneva's unique star qualities. Yes, you should try to see her Rubies too; it's another of her greatest roles. By the way, Vishneva has a website.

http://www.vishneva.ru/eng/index.htm

Andre, I saw Vishneva in Rubies, from quite close up, and didn't notice anything on either hip. Could it have been a bruise?

<small>[ 20 October 2003, 11:13 AM: Message edited by: djb ]</small>

She does have a tattoo.

FYI CD friends,

I am under the impression that the Monday's "consolation" performance of the rescheduled Sunday matinee featured Sofia Gumerova as Nikiya, Andrian Fadeyev as Solor, and Elvira Tarasova as Gamzatti.

I heard that Kodak management used the theater's speaker system to issue a very lame apology of sorts that the rescheduling was an inconveniece to all, thereby demonstrating that their lack of announcing casting changes throughout the run (despite the clear ability to do so) was not due to technical factors.

I expect better this upcoming week at a serious dance venue, the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

<small>[ 21 October 2003, 08:15 AM: Message edited by: Jeff ]</small>

I am writing in hopes that someone might help me make sense of a scene from La Bayadere that continues to resurface in my mind since having seen the Kirov's performance last week at the Kodak theater in Los Angeles.
The group of stout black-faced dancers wearing brown sacks and covered in brown leotards--who appeared in the wedding scene during the second act-- were in such sharp contrast to the rest of the characters that, for three hours, filled the stage, that I could not help but be rattled by them then, as I am thinking about them now.
It was not simply the device of black face that I found disconcerting; it was, above all, their movemnets, as it is of course through movement that meaning is made in dance.In the midst of weightlessness and extension they alone stood out as precisely the inverse; and that, coupled with the painted black-face, leads me to wonder whether other audience members have not shared similar misgivings....

Yeah, I think that's an embarrassing and offensive scene. I think in the old days, that style of dance was used for any group of people that wasn't considered "civilized." For example, Fokine used hoppy, squatty movements for the Polovtsi tribe in the Polovtsian Dances from the opera "Prince Igor." I think they just had no idea what type of dancing these people actually did and had to make something up.

What's less forgivable is when a more modern choreographer uses that style, as Yuri Grigorovich did in something of his I saw. Sorry to be so vague, but I can't remember what ballet it was. Maybe "Ivan the Terrible."

<small>[ 22 October 2003, 03:22 AM: Message edited by: djb ]</small>

CD friends, here is some casting information I recently received. But considering how the intelligence on the tour has been the last week, caveat emptor!

"Chopiniana"
A choreographic composition in one act

Music by Frederic Chopin
Orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov, Maurice Keller
Libretto by Mikhail Fokine
Choreographed by Mikhail Fokine
Set design after Orest Allegri
Premier: March 8th 1908, Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
First performed by Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina,
Olga Preobrazhenskaya, Vaslav Nijinsky
Revived in the repertoire of the Mariinsky Theatre by Agrippina Vaganova in
1931
Conductor Mikhail Agrest

Mazurka Op.67, No.3 and Valse Op.64, No.2
Irina Zhelonkina (October 21)
Daria Sukhorukova (October 22)
Irina Zhelonkina (October 23)

Valse Op.70, No.1
Irina Zhelonkina (October 22)
Yana Selina (October 21 & 23)

Prelude
Irina Golub (October 21 & 22)
Daria Sukhorukova (October 23)

Young Man Danila Korsuntsev (October 21)
Igor Kolb (October 22)
Anton Korsakov (October 23)

Artists of the Mariinsky Ballet

Scene: A Forest Glade at Night
Prelude: Op.27, No.7
Nocturne: Op.32, No.2
Valse: Op.70, No.1
Mazurka: Op.33, No.2
Mazurka: Op.67, No.3
Prelude: Op.28, No.7
Valse: Op.64, No.2
Valse: Op.18

Intermission

"Scheherazade"
A choreographic drama in one act

Music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Libretto by Leon Bakst, Mikhail Fokine after Arabian fairy-tales
Choreographed by Mikhail Fokine
Sets and costumes by Leon Bakst
Premiere: June 4th 1910, La Saison de L'Opera et des Ballets Russes,
Theatre de L'Opera, Paris
First performed by Ida Rubinstein, Vaslav Nijiinsky, Alexei Bulgakov
Revived in the repertoire of the Mariinsky Theatre by
Andris Liepa, Isabelle Fokine in 1994
This production sponsored by Metromedia International Telecommunications,
Inc.
Sets and costumes reproduced by Anna Nezhnaya, Anatoly Nazhny
Conductor Mikhail Agrest

Cast:

Shah Shahryar Vladimir Ponomarev

Shah Zeman, his brother Andrei Yakovlev
Zobeide, his favorite wife Uliana Lopatkina (October 21)
Tatiana Tkachenko (October 22)
Irma Nioradze (October 23)

The Golden Slave Igor Zelensky (October 21 & 22)
Danila Korsuntsev (October 23)

Odalisk Girls Yana Serebriakova, Alexandra Yosifidi, Galina Rakhmanova

The Chief Eunuch Roman Skripkin
Artists of the Mariinsky Ballet women of the harem, eunuchs, slaves,
soldiers

Intermission

"The Firebird"
A Russian fairy-tale in two tableaux

Music by Igor Stravinsky
Libretto by Mikhail Fokine
Choreographed by Mikhail Fokine
Reconstructed by Andris Liepa, Isabelle Fokine
Scenery by Alexander Golovin
Costumes by Alexander Golovin, Leon Bakst
Scenery and costumes reproduced by Anna Nezhnaya, Anatole Nezhny
Premiere: June 25 1910, Theatre de L'Opera, Paris in the repertoire
of the Mariinsky Theatre since 1994
This production sponsored by Metromedia International Telecommunications,
Inc.
Conductor Mikhail Agrest

Cast:

Firebird Diana Vishneva (October 21)????????????????????????
Irma Nioradze (October 22)
Tatiana Amosova (October 23)

Ivan Tsarevich Victor Baranov (October 21 & 22)
Andrey Yakovlev (October 23)

Princess Yana Serebriakova

Kastchei Vladimir Ponomarev

I just checked my video and the Grigorovich ballet I referred to in my last post was, in fact, "Ivan the Terrible." The Mongols mostly ran around hunched over in a squatty second position plie.

<small>[ 22 October 2003, 03:24 AM: Message edited by: djb ]</small>

Considering the role of the Mongols in Russian history however, that sort of choreography is not at all surprising. The Mongols destroyed all but two major Russian cities in the 13th century, (burned cities and slaughtered people) and regional princes were made to pay tribute (i.e. taxes) to the invaders for many years. That didn't end until Alexander Nevsky defeated them (by appeasement), and defeated the Swedes in about 1240. Probably few Russians look upon them as a positive historical influence.

<small>[ 22 October 2003, 06:03 PM: Message edited by: Catherine Pawlick ]</small>

However, had such an enemy been European, I doubt very much that they would have been portrayed as almost bestial.

True...but then again, depends on the era.

True...which is why this sort of stereotypical depiction of Mongols bothers me so much in "Ivan the Terrible," which was choreographed in 1975.

Julie Gervais' review of their opening in Detroit:

[Edited by Azlan to include excerpt]

<small>[ 31 October 2003, 02:43 PM: Message edited by: Azlan ]</small>

I'm happy to hear about the lack of blackface.

Luckily someone tipped them off. Or maybe...

they read this thread! (?!)