May, 5, 2014. Issue No. 7May 6 - solo concert of Yuri Nechaev in memory of M. Mussorgsky, a great Russian composer May 12 - press conference about the Bolshoi Theatre plans for the coming 239 seasonMass media about the TheatreDenis Rodkin and Anna Nikulina. "Raymonda""Ms Virtuoso" prize goes to the Bolshoi Theatre's soloist Kristina Kretova. A photo from Dance Open Ballet Festival Facebook page"Mr Virtuoso" prize goes to the Bolshoi Theatre's soloist Semyon Chudin. A photo from Dance Open Ballet Festival Facebook pageClassics vs acrobatics Dance Open closed in Saint Petersburg Photo: Vladimir Cherenkov Festival ballet The Gala concert starring world ballet stars and marking the end of the Festival Dance Open, took place at the Alexandrinsky Theatre. After the Gala the international jury awarded the best artists with crystal copies of Anna Pavlova's leg; the ceremony took place in the Marble Hall of the Russian Ethnography Museum. Tatiana Kuznetsova, "Kommersant" journalist, visited both events. At the Gala-concert of Dance Open the house was full and the audience was very excited. It really was a star-studded Gala: various dance numbers were performed Newsletter "Raymonda" with a male accent The ballet "Raymonda", Petipa's last masterpiece to the wonderful music by Glazunov and one of the jewels in the crown of the classical repertoire, can be spotted in Moscow even more rarely than the sun. At the best of times, it appears on the stage once a season; this year it returns after a two-year break. During this time a lot of water has gone under the bridge at the Bolshoi Theatre; this time the audience was presented a renewed version "Raymonda", starring new dancers both in the title and the smaller roles. However, when it come the main heroine of the ballet, this was not the case. It was announced that Ekaterina Krysanova would make her debut in the main part. This was rather intriguing, since Krysanova is on her best form these days and possesses a rare talent of performing the most difficult choreography easily and gracefully, which would have come in handy in "Raymonda"; however, she could not make her debut in this part because of an injury. Therefore, experienced Raymondas danced in all performances. But there were many new dancers who were given solo parts; two new casts for two male title roles (Knight Jean de Brienne, Raymonda's fiancé, and Abderakhman, the Saracen knight and de Brienne's rival) were the most intriguing. Vladislav Lantratov and Denis Rodkin performed the part of Knight Jean de Brienne; Mikhail Lobukhin and Denis Savin - the part of Abderakhman. This "magnificent four" shapes the current dancing "landscape" at the Bolshoi in many ways; they also gave a new lease of life to the ancient "Raymonda". "Raymonda" is a Petipa's ballet, which means that it is a sanctuary of female dance; however, the Bolshoi presents Yuri Grigorovich's version, and his "Raymonda" does have a male accent. Grigorovich made the part of de Brienne bigger; as for Abderakhman, he turned a pantomime character (a "pedestrian", as such characters are called in ballet slang), into a dancing one. The fact that Vladislav Lantratov was given the role of Jean de Brienne was to be expected; during the last two seasons Lantratov went all the way from a promising Lantratov is only 25. This is a wonderful age - he still has lots of energy, but at the same time he already has many years of experience dancing the leading roles: he May, 52014Newsletter Denis Rodkin and Anna Nikulina. "Raymonda" Two years ago Rodkin danced his first premier role - the part of Ta-Hor in the ballet "The Pharaoh's Daughter", choreographed by Lacotte - one of his pedagogue's star turns. Jesuitical Lacotte's choreography, designed for dancers that are not as tall and more agile than Rodkin, who is very similar to Andrei Uvarov (tall, well-built and long- legged), was not very easy for him to nail down, but to everyone's surprise he coped with the part rather well. Denis turned out to have quite a lot of stamina; together with his teacher he survived those times at the Bolshoi that were not very nice for Tsiskaridze and his students. Last season he surprised everyone with his role of Prince Kurbsky in the premiere of the ballet "Ivan the Terrible". In the same season he also made his debut with the title role in the ballet "Spartacus". This season is a time of rapid career development for Denis; he has been given new parts in classical and neoclassical ballets, danced premiere performances at the theatre, performed together with Svetlana Zakharova in "Carmen-Suite" and made his debut at the "Mariinsky" Festival. Rodkin's debut in "Raymonda" took place between his debut with the part of Siegfried (in March) and the long-awaited Onegin in Cranko's version (they promise he will dance it in May). Rodkin is an ideal dancer for the part of de Brienne; he looks like icons of the epoch of medieval knights - he is handsome, tall and well built. His appearance is ideal for this part. But in terms of dancing Rodkin has lost (may be only for now?) the distant tilting match with Lantratov's de Brienne. Lantratov's Kinght from "Raymonda" is an ideal ballet embodiment of a noble man; he performed the part of de Brienne in a more balanced way in terms of both technique and style than his younger colleague. Rodkin's pirouettes are not ideal yet; his preparations, which are supposed to be almost invisible and blended with the dance, are too accented now; there also was some tension in his pas de deux. Nevertheless, it was a promising debut. The dancer has an outstanding leap; there are no leading dancers at the Bolshoi who do not have a good leap, but Rodkin's leap is outstanding in terms of height and ballon, which also has a noble Uvarov-like form. That evening the White Knight was a Flying Knight; the Bolshoi's small stage seemed too small for him, and it looked like only the Historic Stage would have provided him with all the space he needed. Denis Rodkin and Anna Nikulina. "Raymonda"But not by the leaps alone… Rodkin is a unique example of an alive artist who surprises his spectators all the time; one should not expect him to demonstrate ballet exemplarity or noble sterility. Even though he does look like Uvarov, he does not have Uvarov's equilibrium and aloofness; on the contrary, when on stage, he tends to behave in a more emotional way (could it be the influence of Tsiskaridze, his teacher?). The pas de deux of de Brienne and Raymonda (Anna Nikulina) could not be called traditional ballet lyrics or an example of a man worshiping a woman, a knight worshiping a fair lady; they rather demonstrated passion, and this wave of love and electricity that the audience did not see in the pas de deux of Alexandrova and Lantratov filled the auditorium when Rodkin was onstage. He stayed within the scope of the ballet canon, but at the same time he made his pas de deux with Raymonda very emotional, following the touching music by Glazunov. This de Brienne had more luck with his partner than Lantratov - pretty, fragile and tender Raymonda-Nikulina was a lighter partner and made this love story more authentic. May, 52014May, 52014 Digest has been compiled by The Bolshoi Theatre Press Office Photos: Damir Yusupov and Mikhail Logvinov Design layout: Vladimir AndrusenkoAll materials used in the digest are the public domain of information agencies, mass media, civil society organizations and government April performances of "Raymonda" at the Bolshoi Theatre turned out to have a distinct male accent. However, "Raymonda", which is one of the peaks of the ballet academism, is still a female ballet. There is an urgent need for a main heroine who would be equal to the men! Perhaps, the theatre, which is home to Zakharova, Krysanova and Smirnova, will manage to find such a ballerina for the next block of Analysis of articles published on April 29 2014 The Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung writes about the visit of Anna Netrebko and her boyfriend Yusif Eyvazov to the performance of the Bolshoi Theatre with The Tsar's Bride at the Theater an der Wien. The newspaper says the stars of the Bolshoi Theatre, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky who was the conductor and Agunda Kulaeva and Alexander Kasyanov celebrated with Anna Netrebko. The Stimme Russland (Voice of Russia) writes about international sanctions against Russia and international cultural events. It mentions that the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia is now performing in Vienna and the Moscow Mossoviet theater is performing in London and that no one has heard that the Austrian or English public are returning the tickets for these performances. The Moscow Times writes about the idea of the conductorless orchestra called Persimfans and that the original Persimfans which started in the 1920s included members of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra. The article says that Persimfans has been revived and is popular today at the Moscow Conservatory. Chelyabinsk mass media: The stars of the Bolshoi Theatre, Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre and the Mariinsky Theatre will perform in Chelyabinsk during the 6 ballet festival "In honor of Ekaterina Maximova", marking the 75 anniversary of the great Russian ballerina. Only prima ballerinas and premier dancers of those theatres will participate in the final gala-concert of the festival on May 20. A real star, a People's Artist of Russia Maria Alexandrova from the Bolshoi Theatre will dance together with Vladislav Lantratov. This year Maria Alexandrova worked on the jury of "The Golden Mask" Festival together with the theatre's chief conductor and artistic director Evgeny Volynsky. By the way, the experts gave three "Golden Mask" awards to the one-act ballet "Salieri Variations", staged at the Yekaterinburg Theatre; this ballet will be performed during the festival as well. /…/ Ryazan mass media: The Bolshoi Theatre's artists performed in Ryazan After the performance the audience gave the artists a standing ovation and would not let them leave the stage. Three minutes later Alexei Pashiev, who performed all the male parts, said: "Please, do invite us again". /…/ In brief |
Main Stage
1 Teatralnaya ploschad (1 Theatre Square), Moscow, Russia
New Stage
Bol'shaya Dmitrovka Street, 4/2, Moscow, Russia