July 25, Catherine wrote:

"quick/rough translation:

"....the nicety of talented Russian ballerina Alla Osipenko and pedagogue-repetiteur at the Bejart school in Lausanne, [Azari] Plisetsky...."


Azari Plisetsky -- Judge


The youngest brother of Maya Plisetskaya.

From Joan Acocella, 2006, The New Yorker

".... with a bald head and a paunch. But the minute he took his position in front of the class his body changed. His spine elongated; his shoulders moved back; even his cheekbones seemed to rise.

"(Most of the students were professionals. David Hallberg and Veronika Part, both leading dancers at American Ballet Theatre, were there, humbly taking their lesson.)

"As is often the case with master teachers, Plisetsky performed the step more beautifully than any of his students. They looked on earnestly, and tried to copy him."

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/1 ... k_acocella

For those watching the program he sits to our left of Diana Vishneva. She's the woman.


Added later:

He was also Alicia Alonso's dance partner for ten years during a very critical part of her career.

I think that the dancers did show a slight newness to their mastery of this work, but this, for me, somewhat enhanced the charm of this young love duet. I think that Anna Tikhomirova was lovely and Artem Ovcharenko gave an expressively touching performance. (can be seen at 9:0)


Another performance that I enjoyed was 'Valpurgieva' Night ( Kovaleva) (1:19:10). I particularly liked Kseniya Barbasheva, who I think has a beautiful 'streamlined' style, that may well be another early 21st century characteristic. She is also extremely competent in the physically demanding flying catches, etc. (judges 9,9,9,9,9). The judges seemed to slightly favor her partner, Aleksander Taranov, (judges 9,10,10,9,9, Diana Vishneva being one of the 10's). Both dancers are from Perm. The work is pleasant and dreamy, which I also enjoy.

I would like to mention that Olga Smirnova's fine partner, Vladislav Lantratov, !Burned-Up! the stage in what could be considered a Space Age Bolshoi performance, perhaps another sign of things to come. I enjoyed it very much. I believe that the judges gave him all 10's.

Catherine, aside from 'Diana' and Azari Plisetsky, could you tell us something about the other three judges and the two hosts. What is Azari Plisetsky's comment approach?

Anyone interested is seeing Kristina Shapran's lovely performance can find it at 1:11:20.

Added:

Here is a complete list of the performers just posted below the video.


Anna Tikhomirova, Artem Ovcharenko (Bolshoi)

Sergei Polunin (Stanislavsky)

Kristina Andreeva and Oleg Ivenko (Tatar Theater of Opera and Ballet. Jalil)

Andrei Ermakov, Viktoria Tereshkina (Mariinsky)

Christina Shapran (Stanislavsky)

Alexander Taranov and Xenia Barbasheva (Perm)

Larissa Lyushina, Andrey Sorokin (Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet)

Olga Smirnova, Vladislav Lantratov (Bolshoi)

Viktoria Tereshkina is a non-contestant performer.


As originally posted by Catherine, here is how to access the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... AflZZDHe24

Catherine, could you, or someone, maybe suggest some specifics that are particularly relevant to Olga Smirnova?

I guess you can add these to my list, but I tend to think that they are less questions than a further expression of Awe for Olga Smirnova.

What was the gist of the judges' comments? Did any comment offer some interesting insights?

Also the same for her partner, Alexander Taranov, who tends to get lost in all this, but for whom the judges also awarded all 10's.

I can try to offer some opinions (of the shifting moment) about Olga Smirnova, but as soon as I zoom in on one thing her universe seems to have moved off to some other amazing place. So I guess that this is one thing that I can say anyway. She can pose a question in my mind and have it answered before the thought is completed. Just 'get a ticket to ride' might be the best practical answer.

I can offer one quick example of her putting her remarkable stamp on whatever she does, that lingers in my mind from my latest viewing. When she puts her hand on his shoulder, she airily whisks it away as if to send him off on some magical journey. When she does it the second time it is with a gentle flowing motion, that suggests more of a loving, peaceful voyage. And the main thing here is that she does this sort of thing so beautifully and so naturally.

Hi Buddy, I am pulling 12 hour work days thru Monday but the next chance I get I will go back to the video and I can tell you verbatim what was said about Olga Smirnova. Offhand I cant recall (didnt memorize) the comments, but I will get back to you on this

Thank's, Catherine. You've been very generous with your time already, so don't worry about it. Any thoughts that you have are always appreciated.

Added comment:

Olga Smirnova

Ok, I'll give this a quick try because tomorrow it might be something completely different that I notice.

There seems to be a constant juxtapositioning that at times could probably be called a continuum. For instance she will extend her face and while you are pondering this she will already have relaxed the position and a knowing, commanding facial expression will become the highlight. The next moment she will have struck an absolutely perfect statuesque positioning of her entire figure. And on and on it amazingly goes.

As for whether she is the Mariinsky/Bolshoi dancer, for the moment, to me, she looks like a Bolshoi dancer, but at times I do see instances of a magnificent synthesis, which mainly appears in her body positioning. More watching, more things made apparent, hopefully.

I still cannot find part 2 of this competition, but here is part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=diApT7Qb-44

With Andrey Ermakov and Tereshkina in the pas de deux from "Firebird".

Thanks, Catherine. I've only watched this once so I really can't say too much. I have noticed some very fine, inherently 'Viktoria' expression along with some beautifully exciting dancing.

While we are waiting for more of this program to hopefully appear on the internet, this is a video clip from a Diana Vishneva dvd from several years ago performing the same duet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9IWpJt3wCY

Added comment:
On a second viewing the exotic beauty that Viktoria Tereshkina can muster and that of this work seem made for each other.

Hi Catherine, at last check part 2 of the competition was on the Allga383 channel with part 3. The videos are labelled with (2) so I am assuming that this means they are from the second episode! I need to make some time to watch them!

AM thanks - (and welcome to the forum!) I will look for that. Also feel free to post it here if you locate it.

Have now located the full episodes here (all in one place) :

http://www.youtube.com/user/nicolezly

Of note, in Episode 3, Alexei Miroshnichenko created the piece for the Perm couple -- for those who remember, he first performed at the Mariinsky, became balletmaster there predominantly rehearsing Forsythe works and then shifting to his own choreography before moving to Perm several years ago, where his career is continuing quite successfully. (He showed up briefly at the Mariinsky last season for the Festival). In this episode he has choreographed a charming version of a ballet we never see in the West, "The Tale of the Buffoon" to music by Prokofiev. The Perm couple dances first in this episode.

More information about it can be found here:
http://www.allmusic.com/composition/cho ... 0002367368

Having just viewed a few works from the second and third programs, I like what Kristina Shapran's program 3 suggests. As the Mariinsky has shown that it can bring George Balanchine into its orbit and do it magnificently, this performance, for me, shows how Vaganova oriented ethereal grace can be brought into the more 'modern' abstract dance world. Ethereal grace can of course be 'modern' and natural and in the instances when this work moves in that direction, the lovely Kristina Shapran makes this beautifully apparent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4msEBB1DCjU

Buddy I happen to agree with you here. It's interesting, one of the male judges really bashed her performance in that work, saying "honestly i didn't understand anything". Then, when it came to Vishneva's turn, she said "I actually have a completely different opinion, it was amazing" and she went on to compliment Shapran for her emotion and noted that the piece was clearly made for her. She concluded her commentary by stating "Russian ballet will live on" (has a future) because of dancers like Shapran. Could not agree more!

I'm just in love with Miroshnichenko's work in that Prokofiev piece -- to create something in that lexicon and make it look like it has been danced for decades (plus the costume design) -- it's incredible.

As a side note, the Moscow judge bashed Ermakov's Firebird and in general they seem to not be fond of the Petersburgians' efforts (aside from Smirnova who is now, by definition if not by heritage, "theirs").

Added comment:

I'm really glad, Catherine, that Diana Vishneva, perhaps the megawatt Mistress of high theatre expression (along with Alina Cojocaru) in today's ballet, has such kind words to say about Kristina Shapran's Subtly beautiful expression. This is making me study and appreciate this performance even more. There is even a peaceful zenlike simplicity to this performance and this work that I wouldn't mind seeing more of in today's technically demanding western dance.

Here is (part of) part 4, today's episode, featuring Andrey Ermakov as Ferkhad in "Legend of Love"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=j1-h298Pats

Here's * Olga *

(and Vladislav)

She's Quite Something !

( and They're quite something ! )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UrnQAgixNs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mj33s02beE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy8BDOL-PBc

And

Kristina Shapran

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI3L6ioipLM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4msEBB1DCjU

(Thanks to amiaow for locating these clips)