JPC, thanks so much for posting and sharing your impressions of the first two "Lakes". I found your feedback on Vishneva's performance, in particular, very intriguing as I didn't attend that night. As I noted, her initial debut in the role here in St. Petersburg was very poorly received. It sounds as if she has entirely turned it around, although the Russians I spoke to thought that her version (of what should be a very tame, classical ballet) was rather "Americanized" and that her Odile was strong while she still had not captured the essence of an innocent, trembling white swan.

For Murphy, I agree with you on many points -- I think it's a question of preference of style. I enjoyed parts of her performance, but there were minor details that bothered me. The inconsistent port de bras probably being top of the list -- or rather, consistent for her, but just so far from what the Russian school promotes. I suppose my eyes have become Russified!

We have four more "Lakes" to go. It will be interesting to see how they all compare...

Gillian Murphy--Swan Lake

All I can say is that her performance, her Odette in particular, was absolutely sublime! I couldn't be happier for her! The prospect of performing so far from home, on perhaps the most famous dancing stage in the world, in the presence of some of the best dancers in the world, could be as daunting as it is exciting.

She did herself proud !

The Saint Petersburg audience gave her a huge response of appreciation.

For me her Odette was a combination of An Idealized Wagnerian Angel-Goddess And A Childhood Sweetheart. She came from a world of enchanted swans and gentle souled maiden-princesses dreaming loving wonders from their lakeside balconies.

She Was Magnificent !

In addition she couldn't have had a better or more loving partner than Andrian Fedeev.

According to one of our internet friends the lady in the next seat had tears flowing down her face at the end of Act I--the lakeside scene. I was as captivated as I've ever been by a stage performance.

Brava, Gillian Murphy !


There have been other wonderful performances and surely more to come. I have very limited computer access so I have not been able to read any other comments. I look forward to doing so and will try to write some more as soon as I am able.

Backing up a bit, here is a quick link to some photos taken by Kommersant of the Glass Heart premier. They give a good idea of the "look" of the ballet:

http://www.kommersant.ru/dark-gallery.a ... 6&stpid=21

Mariinsky Theatre
18 March 2008
Swan Lake

Odette/Odile Maria Alexandrova
Siegfried Danila Korsuntsev
Rothbart Ilya Kuznetsov
Jester Grigory Popov

Maria Alexandrova is a dancer capable of revelatory moments, when the stage proceedings are illumined with meaning expressed through movement and dance. I have highly enjoyed her dancing in other works -including Grigorovitch's version of Swan Lake- where I found her spontaneity in movement and her intensity of movement rewarding.

She had revelatory moments tonight, two such being, the first arabesque she took after her initial appearance as Odette, a dazzling arabesque, and another the fouette sequence of the coda in the Odile Grand Pas.

In between there were sequences that appeared, at least to me, understated.

As Odette, in the lake scene, the partnership with Danila Korsuntsev worked out well in terms of physical appearance and double work. Story-wise, there didn't seem to be much of an emotional connection between them.

Korsuntsev, a noble partner, has a gestural language suggesting rhetorical sources, as his first act demonstrates, rather than a deep well of emotional needs to fulfill.

The pas de deux was beautifully clean but lacking an urgency of gesture and, on Odette's part, a fuller expression of plasticity of movement.

Her variation ran into some trouble in a sequence of pirouettes that could have had something to do with spacing rather than execution.

There was vibrancy and sparkle in the retire passés, entre-chat quatre series, which the conductor Pavel Bubelnikov directed at a faster tempo than the previous evening.

The Odile variation, it seems to me, needs to be, as a requirement of the story, a bravura display. Ms Alexandrova's variation was somewhat underpowered to give that effect. The double pirouette-single attitude turn sequence followed by renverses that, in my view, appeared sketched rather than fully danced out, were lovely, but lacked passion.

Ms Alexandrova came into her own with the fouette series, where, in a care-free and confident mood, she started with a sequence, repeated four times, of two singles followed by an attitude-en-avant turn with arms in 5th open (3rd Vag) and a sequence of 16 singles with a clean finish.

As an extra, in the finale diagonal of developpe-into-arabesque series she added after each arabesque a pas de chat(?) with first leg stretched out -a crowd pleasing sequence.

In other casting, the character dances of the 2nd act, and the pas de trois of the 1st act, 1st scene, have been performed by the same dancers all three Swan Lakes (with one dancer changing in the pas de trois). Tonight, the glamorous Ekaterina Kondaurova replaced a dancer in the Big Swan quartet.

So far I have failed to mention the Jester. The role has been danced all three nights by the very talented Grigory Popov. Gifted with buoyant ballon, he is a natural turner in the air and on the ground, has a sure sense of mime, and a wonderfully expressive face. His dancing etches the most delightful designs on stage.

JPC thanks for sharing your views on Maria Alexandrova. I did not attend that performance, but your feedback gels with what I have seen of her before.

I agree with you entirely on Grigory Popov's work. He is an amazing dancer who has really come into his own, gained in strength and finessed this role over the past three years. He is only 24 years old, and can carry the first two acts of Swan Lake beautifully -- that role has more freedom for improvisation and therefore requires more quick thinking than many of the danseur noble roles. Last night (3/19) Popov seemed to virtually hang in the air in his saut de basque manege in Act Two. All of his virtuosic feats in Act One were stunning.

I'll be posting comments about the Tereshkina/Corella duo soon and hope to see yours as well, JPC!

“Swan Lake”
Mariinsky Theatre
St. Petersburg, Russia
By Catherine Pawlick
19 March 2008

In the fourth of six “Swan Lakes” this week at the 8th Annual International Mariinsky Festival, the audience was treated to a high caliber, polished performance that revealed flawless technique and moments of elevated virtuosity as Angel Corella of American Ballet Theatre joined the Mariinsky’s Viktoria Tereshkina in the leading roles.

Following the receipt of the “Honored Artist of Russia” title by Vladimir Putin on February 27, at the young age of 23 Tereshkina continues to serve as a shining example of the Mariinsky’s tradition of pure classicism. In this performance, she seemed to raise the bar for other ballerinas technically, and underscored her place after Uliana Lopatkina in a long line of traditional Petersburgian ballerinas.

This evening, every inch of Tereshkina spoke “ballerina-swan”, her ultra thin legs culminating in a beautiful set of curved, high-arched feet, and her arms stemming from deep inside her spine, every fingertip carefully in place. Tereshkina moves as if she is a long stream of silk poured onstage, but in addition to beautiful lines, her greatest strength is perhaps her mastery of balance and timing. A natural turner, she gives the impression of being suspended from above, her spine erect, her spot precise. Like Lopatkina, Tereshkina doesn’t follow the superfluous school of footwork; hers is impeccable. As Odette, Tereshkina epitomized the trembling, careful white swan. Expertly shifting personas for Act Two, her Odile teased Corella while capturing his heart. Hers wasn’t a wicked sorceress, but a conniving and clever woman with plenty of beauty to entrance even the most innocent suitor. Here, while her sharply accented port de bras and head movements demonstrated those character traits, moments of fluid, soft port de bras were interspersed, a nod to the woman-swan she pretended to be.

While Corella doesn’t seem to fit the typecasting that is often followed for Siegfreid inside the Mariinsky Theatre, this turned out to be his greatest blessing. Whereas local dancers such as Fadeev and Korsuntsev have taken a more aloof interpretation of this role, from the start Corella was a playful (if not playboy) Prince, enraptured by the various women of the court in the first scene. He was a lively man on a hunt for a woman, not a Prince bored by court proceedings or too haughty to interact with the courtiers. Likewise, his light-hearted reactions to the Jester added an extra layer of color to the stage, as a short joke about drinking more wine took place on stage right, or when the Jester offered him the Tutor’s book rather than the wine. Upon his first meeting with Odette, Corella was overcome, at one point shaking his head and placing his hand on his heart as if to say, “She is simply too beautiful for me.” The pair’s timing in the White Adagio had been impeccably rehearsed. Near the end, he offered her his hand. Tereshkina paused, looked at him, and –on the music – took his hand and stepped into sousous before beginning the petit battements en promenade. The only possible flaw was Tereshkina’s height. On pointe she stands considerably taller than him, making some of the partnered turns (that begin with her holding his hand above her head) a bit of a challenge.

In the coda of the Black Swan section, both dancers seemed to feed off of the high-energy racing between them. Corella repeatedly finished a sequence of jumps only to run completely to the other end of the stage. His pirouettes were signature, short and quick, his head snapping with amazing speed in the chaine turns. Tereshkina performed all 32 fouettes, including a double every third turn initially.

The Jester, danced admirably by the talented Grigory Popov, also reached new heights of virtuosity in this performance, soaring in a set of saut de basques in Act Two, and performing a blazing round of tours a la seconde in the First Act. Popov’s improvisational acting abilities have grown in the past season, and this role is now clearly his own. Throughout the evening he never falls out of character; Popov’s Jester is actively interactive, a high-energy comedian who adds much to the stage.

For the dances in the Second Act, the casting changed slightly from the previous three performances. Viktoria Kutepova and Kamil Yangurasov appeared alongside first-timers Alisa Sokolova and Egor Safin in the Spanish dance, all four of them with equal mastery of the flavor and spice of deep back bends and waving fans. Yana Selina appeared alongside Alexei Nedvega once again in the Neopolitan dance, their tambourines and sauté arabesques sending a nice message of cheer in this concise interlude.

The same set of delicate, small swans danced the pas de quatre: Svetlana Ivanova’s lithe frame and quick footwork standing out among Elizaveta Cherpasova, Elena Chmil and Valeria Martinouk. Ekaterina Kondaurova danced the first Big Swan Variation with command –one wonders why she doesn’t dance Odette/Odile -- and Daria Vasnetsova the second, with slightly less power.

Mikhail Sinkevich conducted the evening in complete synchronicity with the dancers, leading the orchestra in some of its richest sounds yet this week.

" Swan Lakes "


For me each of these Swan Lake performances has been wonderful, interesting and different. The changing cast of lead dancers has offered considerable variety and the supporting dancers have been consistently rewarding to watch.


From the moment that the curtain first went up these extremely fine dancers have been moving like Lyrical Air !


I have seen four Odette-Odiles and I would say that each one has been wonderful in her own special way.

Diana Vishneva is simply A Phenomenon! She gave an Outstandingly Compelling performance with seemingly every part of her being reaching out for maximum expression. Audience response was very enthusiastic.

Gillian Murphy, I would say, put everything she had into her performance and succeeded marvelously. She gave A Brilliantly Conveyed Performance! She had powerful heartfelt expression and Created Absolutely Compelling Imagery. She also displayed the very fine technical control and virtuosity (spins, holding pointe, etc.) for which she is famous. The audience gave her a huge ecstatic response as I previously mentioned, which following Diana Vishneva's supercharged performance the night before made it even more impressive. I thought she was Magnificent !

I Loved Maria Alexandrova ! She danced in the Lightest and most Graceful manner that I have ever seen her accomplish. I have to call it Russian lyrical dancing in the finest sense of the expression. Also she let loose some high energy jumps that reminded me of some of her amazing bravura from a few years ago. Having seen her do Odile several times I really look forward to it. Her Odile for me is totally Charming! She goes out there and simply tries to wow the guy. She does it so well and so beautifully. She received a very warm response for the evening. I thought It was all--An Absolutely Lovely Performance !

Viktoria Tereshkina was wonderfully articulate and refined in her dancing. Each move seemed to have purposeful meaning and intent and each move seemed clear and exact. At times she was totally on the music, which I really noticed in her Chicago Swan Lake performance about a year-and-a-half ago. I would call it a very fine display of classical excellence. She also received a very enthusiastic response.


The lead men, Igor Kolb, Andrian Fedeev, Danila Korsintsev and Angel Corella, were all solid and secure partners with their own fine individual qualities. A new(?) male dancer that I noticed last night in the Act I Pas de Trois (dance for three) is Philipp Stepin, who did some very secure off-vertical entrechats (jumps with feet 'flickering' together) along with fine opening tours en l'air (jump spins) in both directions. He may be a dancer to watch for his very fine technical ability.

Most of the highlight company dancers have been appearing every night and are extremely fine perhaps having done their best so far last night.

Grigory Popov as the Jester has always been spectacular with his speed of light spins and his sailing up to the ceiling jumps, employing some brilliantly demanding physical positioning and control in the process. He is a total favorite with the audiences and really does add excitement to the court scenes.

Ilya Kuznetsov as Rothbart, with his lightening fast split jumps and secure handling of Odette in his lifts, is another special and popular performer.

I can't praise the Corps De Ballet Swan Dancers enough ! They are like A Heart And Soul framing each performance. They are just Such A Beautiful Presence. They dance so remarkably as one, with such artistic excellence, holding everything together and adding their own marvelous interest as well. The audience seems to love these dancers and shows considerable appreciation.

There is also the entire corps de ballet, the very fine character dancers and much more.

I really feel that this major part of the Festival presentation is accomplishing exactly what it surely was intended to do. It's been a comparative Masterpiece Showcase of some of the highest level of dance and expression that one could hope to experience! I, for one, am loving it immensely and congratulate and express my thanks to everyone involved and to all these exceedingly talented and heartwarming performers.


[correction--I entered the term "entrechats" to replace "pas de chat"]

Buddy, Thanks for sharing your views!

Tonight we have Tamara Rojo with Igor Kolb -- it should be a real treat as she is a favorite of Londoners from what I understand.

Friday will be Lopatkina with Ivanchenko, as Roberto Bolle won't be attending the festival after all. I've seen these two (Lopatkina and Ivanchenko) together in Swan Lake here many, many times --- will be curious what people think of their coupling as compared to last night's performance (both being Mariinsky ballerinas).

19 March 2008
Mariinsky Ballet Festival
Swan Lake
Odette/Odile Victoria Tereshkina
Siegfried Angel Corella
Rothbart Ilya Kuznetsov
Jester Grigory Popov

Tonight, Victoria Tereshkina danced, in my view, the most completely realized
choreographic portraits of Odette and Odile that have been seen at this festival.
Ms Tereshkina accomplished this with an economy of means, the fulfillment of every demand of Ivanov's choreographic design, and a finely pitched musical sensitivity.

Angel Corella's portrait of Siegfried personified youth- a thirst for life, energy, impetuosity, a search for love, and to boot, top-rate dancing.

Together, the pair created a synergy, which seemed to extend its effects to the performance of the whole company.

In the lake scene, there were moments in the pas de deux when time seemed to slow down- so clear and articulate were the partnered poses and movements of Tereshkina and Corella. This exemplifies what I mean by 'economy of means' when the dancer exhibits the choreographic design and shows everything given to perform in the completest sense of the word, within the frame of the musical platform.

Tereshkina's 'plastique' was completely at the service of the Ivanov choreography. All her poses carried the design of the fully arched back to its complete realization in her attitudes and arabesques, both in the solo and the supported work.

The quality of her dancing is diamantine, needing no embellishments.

My companion and I both noticed a nicety of phrasing seldom seen. In the second sequence of Odette's variation, there is a short phrase of a sissone en avant, pas de couru ending in 4th front en fondu, followed by a developpe en arriere ending in arabesque with the back fully arched and the arms thrown back; most dancers try to stretch out this moment with rubato phrasing. Ms Tereshkina had the leg back in 5th position, the point of origin, on the 4th count.
Classic purity creating transcendence.

Her Odile followed this same path, that is, of trusting the choreography to tell the story. Her smiles throughout the scene were directed at Siegfried, never the audience. The pas de deux and the two variations maintained a very high standard of dancing. Corella's running on stage was notable for its attack and uninhibited abandonment- creating by itself a portrait of an impetuous youth.
Tereshkina's fouette sequence was almost impeccable.
This was an evening of great classical dancing.

I have not so far mentioned the Rothbart of Ilya Kuznetsov, who has appeared in all four Swan Lakes so far. He makes a menacing figure as the ballet's villain; most of his choreography consists of split-in-the-air leaps rather than high-arching grand jetes en avant, all of it executed in excellent style.

The pas de trois of the 1st scene had a new member tonight, Filipp Stepin (Styopin). I believe he is in the corps de ballet, a young man bursting with potential. Wonderful demi-plie, great beats, handsome figure.

Grigor Popov gave the best of his performances tonight. But then, it seemed to me, so did everyone else in the company.

Tereshkina and Corella received a very warm reception from the audience.
Mikhail Sinkevich conducted with verve and distinction.

20 March 2008
8th Mariinsky Festival
Swan Lake
Odette/Odile Tamara Rojo
Siegfried Igor Kolb
Rothbart Ilya Kuznetsov
Jester Grigory Popov

Ms Rojo, the fifth of the festival Swan Queens, harkens as a physical type to an earlier balletic era, when, a woman of five feet eight inches height would have been considered too tall to dance in a classical company. In the contemporary era of balletic 'basketball squads', Ms Rojo, like another principal at the Royal Ballet -Alina Cojocaru, broaden the physical aesthetics of the classical dancer to include the woman of small stature. Such dancers also remind us that physical stature has little to say of artistic accomplishment.

In this, my first view of Ms Rojo in any role, I found her to be a dancer of finely focused intensity.

Odette, in the lake scene, proceeded with sequences of mesmerizing interest. Particularly notable are her arabesque lines and her exquisite extended balances.

The pas de deux with Igor Kolb, who repeated his role first performed at the festival on the 15th, seemed to me a very successful match. His strong protective presence complemented her character's vulnerability, at once soft, fragile and precise.

Her variation unfolded slowly, but with sequences of compelling urgency.

In the Odile sequences, Ms Rojo looked simply beautiful, of face and of demeanor.
Her enchantment of Siegfried proceeded as planned strategems. In the pas de deux, Kolb's portrayal of Siegfried's fascination with Odile was clearly drawn.
Her variation created phrases of increasing complexity, like a spider's web, with which to draw in the victim.

But then came the coda with its fouette sequence. The beautiful Odile revealed herself, in another strategem, as a whirlwind of passion. Rojo unleashed a series of two singles followed by a triple fouette, over and over again until the whole series of thirty-two were completed with a secure finish. A truly exciting technical display.

When I asked my companion what she thought of the performance, she said:
“Her slow work was spectacular, her fast work was spectacular, her pirouettes were spectacular”.

The only new casting in tonight's performance, that I noted, was
Alexei TImofeyev in the pas de trois of the first scene.

Pavel Bubelnikov conducted.

Thanks JPC! I share many of your impressions of Rojo's performance. She's a lovely dancer, and I will provide my own review shortly (my other job has prevented me from posting thus far!)

In the meantime a brief note about casting changes for Sunday:

Novikova/Sarafanov are off the list. Cojocaru and Kobberg are listed for the divertissements; Lacarra and Pierre are listed as dancing to recorded music of some sort, but what they will dance is a mystery. Alina Somova will dance the Corsaire pas with Angel Corella. Lopatkina and Kozlov will still perform two separate pas de deux, Carmen and the other Satie. Ballet Imperiale will close out the evening.

“Swan Lake” – Tamara Rojo and Igor Kolb
8th International Mariinsky Festival
Mariinsky Theatre
St. Petersburg, Russia
20 March 2008
By Catherine Pawlick

On Thursday, the Mariinsky Theatre experienced a treat when the Royal Ballet’s celebrated Tamara Rojo joined Igor Kolb in the fifth “Swan Lake” of this festival.

Seemingly no more than five feet tall, Rojo’s command of the stage is nonetheless considerable. One would not expect a woman of such size to excel in legato movements or slower tempi, but in fact, in this performance, these seemed to be her greatest strengths. Rojo is a tiny ball of steel encased in a soft, fluid exterior, and she infuses all of her movements with care. At moments her eight-year tenure at the Royal Ballet were visible: arms in second, neck and spine perfectly erect, for a millisecond she recalled Fonteyn poised en pointe. But Rojo’s movements are never stiff. A strong set of arches and perfect turnout serve her well, particularly in balances. With a retiré passé pulled up above her knee, Rojo performed triple tour degagés in her White Swan variation, and tossed off quadruple pirouettes during her Black Swan variation, which began with a double pirouette into a triple attitude turn that ended in a staccato plié, recalling a snake who sidles up slowly and then attacks its prey. During the Black Swan pas de deux, she held an arabesque en pointe for over eight very slow counts of music. Although many Cuban dancers are said to be doing the same these days in Havana, never, in the past four years here, have I seen a ballerina on this stage perform the same feat. Rojo’s fouettes, punctuated with triples every third turn, and a quadruple thrown in for good measure, instilled confidence in her professionalism. A tiny Spanish ball of steel.

Two minor deficiencies in Rojo’s portrayal nonetheless distracted from an otherwise stellar performance. The first was a smile. I searched her face for expression throughout both acts, and saw nothing that compared to Tereshkina’s intent focus on Siegfried in Act Two, or even Murphy’s tenderness in Act One. Although she went through the motions, the blank look on Rojo’s face throughout most of her First Act Odette sequences left me wanting more. It wasn’t until the betrayal in the Second Act that Rojo pointed a finger at Kolb, opened her mouth wide in laughter and threw her head back in victory. The moment was overdone compared to the placid expression she wore in previous scenes. It wasn’t until the Russian unison clap began during the Act Two bows that Rojo broke into a full grin, pulling her arms to her heart in gratitude.

The second point of concern was the prevalence of a female persona over that of a swan, as manifested by the lack of Swan-like port de bras. At many points Rojo included a quatrieme position of the arms (one arm in 3rd high Vaganova, the other in second), or other classical port de bras, but not necessarily Swan-like. This may be a regional variation on the Odette/Odile character, perhaps closer to the Royal Ballet’s interpretation, but it did not strengthen her character. Likewise,in Act One Rojo ran as a woman, not as a swan, and at many points she appeared to approach the dance with intuition. In Petersburg, one is used to seeing Swan arms throughout all three acts, for regardless of her human form, Odette is nonetheless a Swan Queen, a woman-swan.

For his part, although a fairly modern haircut distracted slightly from the persona of Prince, Igor Kolb’s cavalier approach and total presence in his role made for a multi-dimensional partnership. Kolb’s uber flexible physique make his Siegfried extra pleasing to watch. His turns in attitude (Act One, Scene One), were upright spins. Likewise his tour-jetés (Act Two) peaked in an airborne split. In addition to such technical talents, Kolb’s acting chops came to the fore in the last half of the evening. He’s one of the Kirov’s most reliable partners and strongest male dancers to date.

In the Pas de Trois this evening, Alexei Timofeev, another corps member, replaced Sherbakov (Sunday night) and Stepin (Wedneday night). Also blessed with a tight set of tours en l’air (he finished in fifth without any readjustments) and considerable ballon, he is slowly developing into an interesting young dancer.

Pavel Bubelnikov conducted an orchestra that wavered at several moments and tended to abrupt changes in tempo during Act Three.

For Over A Week The Mariinsky Ballet Transformed Saint Petersburg Into A World Of Enchantment Every Evening.


Once again in total honesty (I promise) the highlight performances that I saw were Absolutely Wonderful !

These highlight performances for me were the first five Swan Lakes, which I was able to attend, and the performances of the last two nights. Please let me give some very quick impressions of last night's Gala evening.


Gala Night----Mesmerizing !


Some of these highlight in the order in which I saw them.


Lucia Lacarra--"Thais"

beautiful, flexible, flowing----dancing with Cyril Pierre she was a floating sculptural masterpiece in the lifts


Irma Nioradze--"The Dying Swan"

hypnotic, compelling, reaching for the sky dancing----being one of the oldest dancers at the Mariinsky I was so glad to see her do so well----as in one of the few other ballets that I've seen her do, she appeared to put everything that she could into her dancing


Ulyana Lopatkina--"Trois Gnossienes"

quite possibly the innately best ballet dancer in the world today--every inch of her is a 'ballerina-swan-goddess'


Viktoria Tereshkina et al--"Ballet Imperial"

having seen the New York City Ballet perform part of this ballet about a month ago, I feel that this is the Kirov-Mariinsky's distinctively own 'Lighter-Than-Air' version and it's Mesmerizing !

Viktoria Tereshkina's dancing was beautifully defined and articulate----although classical in style she was Balanchine-like in her feeling for detail

Olesya Novikova, lovely, commanding and fine dancing

Svetlana Ivanova and Elisaveta Cheprasova very fine as well

the Corps de Ballet moved like Dream-Filled Waves


Audience response to all the above was extremely enthusiastic.


**** I Was In Heaven Last Night ! ****

Here's another fast one from the second-to-last night.


"For Four"

This one belonged to Angel Corella. He ignited the stage with his speed-of-light, totally secure, non stop spins. Of his three nights of dancing this was the night that I thought he really shined.

At the end of this all male ballet, the Mariinsky ballerinas in the audience, normally a highly polite goddesslike grouping, were Bravo-ing(!) away like crazy! I'd also like to mention here that I spoke to Elena Sheshina for a moment and told her how wonderful I thought one of her performances was. She lit up like a Christmas tree !

! Why Are These Ladies So Incredibly Lovable !


Many thanks to Catherine and JPC for your very fine reviews. I will try and post some more myself when I get a chance. It was great being with you all, Catherine, JPC, Camilla and Kevin. Hopefully we can do it again next year.

The pleasure was mine, if only I can do these dancers justice with my words!

Indeed the Carnaval premier as well as the closing gala were both spectacular.

If anyone is interested in my reviews of the last two performances, I can email you a copy. Otherwise look for them later this week online, or in next month's magazine!