Man, oh man... I'll post more when I recover my breath. I think that was the most beautiful thing I've seen in a long time!

<small>[ 17 April 2005, 05:44 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Please, just one word: was Diana dancing in Rubies?

YES!!!! I'll give you more words... Gorgeous and luscious!!

Boy, you sure do know how to make someone feel sorry...

(Well, Hubbard Street which played across the bay was also enjoyable, with Kylian and Duato works.)

I'm going to Hubbard tonight and I can't wait to see them, but, let me tell you, I was _really_ happy I saw Vishneva and Sukhorukova (who did Emeralds with Baranov) and also Pavlenko with Danila Korsuntsev in Diamonds... the list could go on.

If there was jet lag at the beginning of the week, let's just say, they're over it.

Hey, did anyone else catch that Daria Sukhorukova came back out in the corps de ballet of Diamonds, after doing the Fileuse in Emeralds? I caught a glimpse of those arms in the corps and did a double take!

Actually, I was amazed that she and Sofia Gumerova as well as the two soloists from Emeralds trio did double duty. That can't be easy in something as taxing as Jewels. Gumerova took a spill about a quarter of the way into the Sicilienne and it looked really unpleasant (maybe caught the tip of her shoe?) but she got up and kept going, really nailing some nice attitude piques. And then, poor woman, she has to come out in the ballerina role in Rubies and be all aggressive and controlled (which she was, btw)

Yep. My cohorts and I were noting the double duty as well. Geez, only at the Kirov!

Also, some of those girls in the corps de ballet looked awfully coltish and young (I'm thinking... 13) but so impressive.

For all of Vishneva's sex appeal -- and she had the audience eating out of her hand -- I do think Pavlenko was the reigning ballerina of the evening. She has a lot to be proud of.

Okay, go ahead and make me feel bad but even though I missed the Kirov's "Jewels," I am on my way north for another "Rubies," at Oregon Ballet Theater's exciting opening gala tonight, with glitterati present from up and down the coast.

But back to the Kirov, can someone list the principal casting for all the "Jewels" programs?

<small>[ 12 October 2003, 10:17 AM: Message edited by: Azlan ]</small>

Azlan, are you talking about last night's casting? You will see it in my review, which will be posted soon, but for now:

Emeralds: Daria Suhkorukova with Victor Baranov and Sofia Gumerova with Andrey Yakovlev (1)

Yana Selina and Ekaterina Osmolkina with Anton Korsakov.

Rubies: Diana Vishneva with Leonid Sarafanov and Sofia Gumerova.

The four cavaliers listed as Anton Pimonov, Anton Lukovkin, Alexey Nedviga and Vasily Sherbakov

Diamonds: Daria Pavlenko and Danila Korsuntsev

Yana Serebryakova, Yana Selina, Tatiana Tkachenko, Ekaterina Osmolkina, Alexander Klimov, Sergei Salikov, Dmitri Pykhachev, Artem Yachmennikov

And apparently with Faruk injured and Zhanna not on tour, Vasiev et al are still finalizing casting for the rest of the weekend's programs as well as the programs in other cities.

London has seen "Jewels" on two Kirov tours to date (not this year) and it has been desrvedly very well received by critics and audiences on both occasions. The Kirov can be a difficult place to set new work, but it looks as though the Balanchine Trust got its way on the time and attention required to make it work.

From my scan of the casting to date, I'm thinking that you have bigger name ballerina casting than we saw in London. Lucky you!

<small>[ 11 October 2003, 03:35 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

As my former Kirov seatmate announced last night,

"The Kirov has reclaimed Balanchine."

I think that about summarized last night's premiere. And i expect this program to get amazing reviews from everyone. It will just be a shame that by the time they appear on the papers, the company will be on to Los Angeles.

Stuart you may be right about the leading ballerinas, although without Ayupova or Zakharova on any bills, it's forcing them to go with other options -- which lucky for us, have all been amazing so far!

I definitely loved being surprised by the people on the program that I hadn't heard of or seen before. I loved Sarafanov (His recovery from that slip in Rubies was flawless AND turned out!) and you're right, Pavlenko was utterly in command. My friend and I agreed that ordinarily Diamonds isn't particularly interesting to us, but man, they turned it into an event last night!

The matinee today had Daria Pavlenko performing the Sicilienne in "Emeralds" and the soloist in "Rubies." They announced before the performance that someone who's name I don't recall would be performing the solo in "Rubies," and I thought it was amazing that she looked so much like Pavlenko. But it's an indication of Pavlenko's range that she danced so differently in the two roles that I wasn't absolutely sure it was the same person. (I checked with one of the Russian people selling programs, who said it was indeed Pavlenko who performed, and she didn't know what that announcement was about.)

Sukharukhova was lovely in "Emeralds," as was Pavlenko. The Sicilienne is my favorite part of this act, and I was contrasting Pavlenko's performance with my favorite performance by an SFB dancer (Katita Waldo). They were very different, and I think the music contributed greatly to that difference. Waldo's performance was very light and delicate, while Pavlenko's was sweeping and lush. But sweeping and lush (and slower) was how the music was played in the Kirov, so both dancers performed beautifully and appropriately to the music.

I was least impressed with "Rubies" overall, because that was the one section in which the corps de ballet's precision sort of fell apart in some of the faster places. Also, even though Nioradze was very fast and perky in the pas de deux, I think she carried the throw-away look too far, so that her technique sometimes looked a bit sloppy.

Usually "Diamonds" is my least favorite of the three sections, but in today's performance, it was my favorite. The port de bras had such refinement, and the uneven quality of port de bras in American companies always bothers me, so it was a real pleasure to see the Kirov in this ballet. Also, I've never seen such great unison in the corps in this ballet. Even in the finale of "Diamonds," when all the women and men are dancing together, very quickly, it was in the most amazing unison I could imagine. I'm curious to see whether it looks that good tomorrow, because even for a company famous for it's corps, this seemed almost freakishly well coordinated.

I was just thinking over Pavlenko's performances, and I think she changed her makeup for "Rubies." Her eyebrows looked more slanted. Her use of her face was quite different in the two roles, too. It looked softer in "Emeralds" -- not just a softer expression, but actually softer.

Gumerova and Zelensky were very smooth in the pas de deux in "Diamonds." Gumerova, for the most part, seemed to focus a bit inward, but in her solo, she was flying and looked very beautiful.

In "Diamonds" I started looking for interesting dancers in the corps. I immediately spotted one who had very beautiful arms, and realized an instant later that it was Sukharukova.

<small>[ 12 October 2003, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: djb ]</small>

Speaking of Pavlenko's face, in an interview in Marc Haegeman's "ballet-lovers" website, she says she was turned down at the entrance exam at the Bolshoi because they thought her face was the wrong type for ballet!? Here are a couple of links to that site:

Pavlenko biography

Pavlenko interview

And she has photographs at balleringallery.com

Have I said enough about Pavlenko yet? Let's see...I like her legs.

<small>[ 11 October 2003, 09:22 PM: Message edited by: djb ]</small>

I like Pavlenko a lot too. For the second evening of the 300th St. P. Anniversary Gala, she danced the Siren in "The Prodigal Son". She can have my golden trumpets and ewers of wine any time.

Her performances in London this time were severely curtailed due to illness as soon as she arrived in London.

Sarafanov made a big impact in London with the elegance of his dancing. With his boyish good looks, he's not the most convincing bandit slave, Ali in "Le Corsaire", but who cares when he can dance like that.