NataliaN wrote:
Thank you, Catherine, for the opening-night report. Very, very odd program to open the ballet season -- a mixed bill (only two ballets) instead of a 'big' full-evening ballet. Not so long ago, it used to be SWAN LAKE as the opener, year after year. Then we were shocked when ROMEO & JULIET opened a season instead. On the positive side, Balanchine finally opens a Mariinsky season! This is definitely the hand of Fateev, who is one of the top champions of the Balanchine repertoire at the Mariinsky. Oooo...the Old Guard must be boiling.
One other question: I am wondering if Uliana Lopatkina is well enough to be included on the big tour of the USA that commences this coming Wednesday in Chicago? Some of us on these shores are a bit worried that she cancelled her first BAYADERE in St. Petersburg. Perhaps she is just saving herself for the tour?
In a way, I'm actually happy that MT has decided
NOT to open the ballet season with another performance of
Lebedinoye Ozero--even the old-time balletomanes in Saint Petersburg are probably tiring of this ballet by now to open the MT season. Besides, Balanchine is revered inside the Vaganova Academy, since he was a student at that school when it was called the Imperial Ballet Academy.
As for Lopatkina, I do agree she may be saving herself for the US tour next month--the role of Nikiya in
La Bayadere is a pretty demanding role and she needs all the rest for what could be a exhausting tour for a full month.