A big thank you to James Cameron and the Cameron Pace Group, Fathom Events, and the Mariinsky Theatre for a beautiful Swan Lake that was performed live this evening in St. Petersburg and then presented on a delayed basis at movie theaters all over the world. Some people got to see it in 3D, but here in the backwoods of Manhattan we had to settle for 2D.
Yekaterina Kondaurova, Timer Askerov, and Xander Parish were among the many highlights. How nice it was to see Oxana Skorik dancing beautifully and Mariinsky-like as one of the two big swans in the exquisite Act IV.
Too bad about Odette's misstep in the final few moments of the White Swan PdD where she suddenly found herself standing on two pointes instead of on one with the other foot beating in the sur le cou de pied position. Never saw that happen before. But Kondaurova was quite the beauty as both Odette and Odile.
Timer Askerov danced handsomely as Siegfried but was a little too cool for a sultry redhead like Kondaurova.
Xander Parish in the PdT! Holy Looks-like-the-RB-lost-another-great-one, Batman. Let's mark our calendars to remind ourselves that the Mariinsky will bring its Swan Lake to the Kennedy Center January 23 – February 2. We don't want to miss Xander.
Some of the camerawork was annoying. Instead of pulling back to allow the audience to see the full stage, the camera kept trying to focus on much smaller parts of the stage. Consequently, the cinema audience missed much of the big picture. More light on the stage in Act IV would have been helpful. On the other hand, more light might have spoiled it for the live theater audience.
This cinema event was a real treat, and it sounds like the Cameron Pace Group has plans to produce more of these types of presentations in the future. And, at $14 for a ticket, it was a pretty good deal.
22 responses to “Mariinsky in 2D – Divine and Delicious”
Absolutely agree about Xander – the PdT was fabulous.
Re: the camerawork – I actually said out loud “pull back!” a couple of times.
I’m not sure that I like the crowned “swan on a stick” any more than I like Kevin’s stuffed swan wrestle.
I didn’t like the triples in the second 16 fouettes; it doesn’t fit the music. It’s great for every 4th on the first 16 because the music allows it. (And I love Gillian’s arm flourish on her triples from last year – similar to this year in DonQ.) I’m feeling very ambivalent about my ticket for Gillian’s SL in two weeks…but I digress.
There was a big audience in Atlanta – many more people than usually attend the Ballet in Cinema events. It’s a real blessing to have these events available to a much larger audience.
Patricia
Absolutely agree about Xander – the PdT was fabulous.
Re: the camerawork – I actually said out loud “pull back!” a couple of times.
I’m not sure that I like the crowned “swan on a stick” any more than I like Kevin’s stuffed swan wrestle.
I didn’t like the triples in the second 16 fouettes; it doesn’t fit the music. It’s great for every 4th on the first 16 because the music allows it. (And I love Gillian’s arm flourish on her triples from last year – similar to this year in DonQ.) I’m feeling very ambivalent about my ticket for Gillian’s SL in two weeks…but I digress.
There was a big audience in Atlanta – many more people than usually attend the Ballet in Cinema events. It’s a real blessing to have these events available to a much larger audience.
Patricia
Patricia, there was a very good sized crowd in the Manhattan cinema as well. Some people weren’t surprised that it started late, because, well, it was Gergiev conducting. Starting on time is not his style. I thought that the awkwardness of some of the rambling preamble was actually quite charming. They tried so hard to engage the world-wide English-speaking audience many of whom they assumed would not be familiar with the ballet or the Mariinsky. Awkward, but touching.
Don’t fret about seeing Gillian because she looks fabulous. Her dancing has blossomed noticeably since she has been in New Zealand. You’ll be impressed with what you see.
Patricia, there was a very good sized crowd in the Manhattan cinema as well. Some people weren’t surprised that it started late, because, well, it was Gergiev conducting. Starting on time is not his style. I thought that the awkwardness of some of the rambling preamble was actually quite charming. They tried so hard to engage the world-wide English-speaking audience many of whom they assumed would not be familiar with the ballet or the Mariinsky. Awkward, but touching.
Don’t fret about seeing Gillian because she looks fabulous. Her dancing has blossomed noticeably since she has been in New Zealand. You’ll be impressed with what you see.
I didn’t communicate well; I’ve been a Gillian fan for years. (Can’t wait for the Giselle DVD.) My ambivalence comes from her partner for the June 20 performance.
I also saw the DonQ double-header on May 29. (I’ll add a comment to that entry if comments are still open.) So I fear that I’ll be very disappointed by Gillian’s partner. It’s especially tough for those of us who must spend $$ on airfare and ground transportation and thus have limited opportunities to see ABT and NYCB performances. (I saved $ by sitting at LGA all night and catching a 6 am flight back home on May 30.) So we want each experience to be of the highest quality.
Gillian in SL with Marcelo last year and with David the year before were highlights in my life. Probably not gonna be the same this year.
On a positive note, I found your blog when researching Whiteside earlier this year since I wasn’t familiar with him before he joined ABT. But I wish that anyone else was dancing Siegfried on June 20……
Patricia
I didn’t communicate well; I’ve been a Gillian fan for years. (Can’t wait for the Giselle DVD.) My ambivalence comes from her partner for the June 20 performance.
I also saw the DonQ double-header on May 29. (I’ll add a comment to that entry if comments are still open.) So I fear that I’ll be very disappointed by Gillian’s partner. It’s especially tough for those of us who must spend $$ on airfare and ground transportation and thus have limited opportunities to see ABT and NYCB performances. (I saved $ by sitting at LGA all night and catching a 6 am flight back home on May 30.) So we want each experience to be of the highest quality.
Gillian in SL with Marcelo last year and with David the year before were highlights in my life. Probably not gonna be the same this year.
On a positive note, I found your blog when researching Whiteside earlier this year since I wasn’t familiar with him before he joined ABT. But I wish that anyone else was dancing Siegfried on June 20……
Patricia
Patricia, your concerns are shared by others. Maybe because Gillian decided to spend so much time away from ABT, she is being given the bottom of the barrel in terms of Swan Lake partners. Can you imagine being 17 years into an illustrious career with ABT, at the very peak of your artistic powers, and have it all come down to having to dance with an obnoxious, gothic-looking regional company import who would rather be wearing the tutu and lashes?
The guy goes out of way to publicly make fun of every type of woman he can think of with his tranny caricature performances. Why doesn’t he make fun of his own clownish Marfanoid oddness? His sexual provocative behavior suggests that he’d prefer to be standing up on the Met stage in his underpants trying to tantalize the audience. ABT really needs to keep this guy away from kids.
Maybe rehearsals with him won’t work out and she’ll dance with Matvienko or anyone else or by herself. Even by herself would be an improvement.
Patricia, your concerns are shared by others. Maybe because Gillian decided to spend so much time away from ABT, she is being given the bottom of the barrel in terms of Swan Lake partners. Can you imagine being 17 years into an illustrious career with ABT, at the very peak of your artistic powers, and have it all come down to having to dance with an obnoxious, gothic-looking regional company import who would rather be wearing the tutu and lashes?
The guy goes out of way to publicly make fun of every type of woman he can think of with his tranny caricature performances. Why doesn’t he make fun of his own clownish Marfanoid oddness? His sexual provocative behavior suggests that he’d prefer to be standing up on the Met stage in his underpants trying to tantalize the audience. ABT really needs to keep this guy away from kids.
Maybe rehearsals with him won’t work out and she’ll dance with Matvienko or anyone else or by herself. Even by herself would be an improvement.
I wasn’t too overly impressed with Kondaurova’s Odette/ Odile, less so Odile than Odette, and I am saying this as someone who has seen her O/ O in person three times last year. With this performance, it just cemented my opinion of Kondaurova as more appealing in neoclassical roles as opposed to Petipa classics. I found her Odette unchanged from last year, facially inexpressive and cold even, as if saying to us that statuesque physique alone is enough to convey the character of Odette. She did dance technically fine especially in her variations, but for me personally it was too clinical, I did not perceive sense of tragic destiny or tender feelings in her Odette. Odile was even less convincing, instead of temptress, Kondaurova gave Odile a standoffish exterior, one wonders why Siegfried would fall head over heels over a snobby and aloof Odile. Best performance in my opinion was Parish, Batoeva, and Ivannikova in the PdT. Askerov as Siegfried I found a little lackluster not only in presence but in chemistry with Kondaurova.
I wasn’t too overly impressed with Kondaurova’s Odette/ Odile, less so Odile than Odette, and I am saying this as someone who has seen her O/ O in person three times last year. With this performance, it just cemented my opinion of Kondaurova as more appealing in neoclassical roles as opposed to Petipa classics. I found her Odette unchanged from last year, facially inexpressive and cold even, as if saying to us that statuesque physique alone is enough to convey the character of Odette. She did dance technically fine especially in her variations, but for me personally it was too clinical, I did not perceive sense of tragic destiny or tender feelings in her Odette. Odile was even less convincing, instead of temptress, Kondaurova gave Odile a standoffish exterior, one wonders why Siegfried would fall head over heels over a snobby and aloof Odile. Best performance in my opinion was Parish, Batoeva, and Ivannikova in the PdT. Askerov as Siegfried I found a little lackluster not only in presence but in chemistry with Kondaurova.
Hi Genna. I haven’t ever seen Kondaurova’s Odette/Odile live on stage so I had nothing to compare it to. But I understood right off the bat that her interpretation was going to be less fragile and more sturdy — more along the lines of Tereshkina, Cynthia Gregory, Gillian Murphy as opposed to Lopatkina, Asylmuratova, or Makarova. The close up camera shots of her arms showed the muscular definition in its abundance. A camera shot farther away might have caught the effect of the muscles moving the arms instead of the muscles themselves.
Also, there seemed to be little chemistry between the two leads which the close camera work made all the more obvious.
Hi Genna. I haven’t ever seen Kondaurova’s Odette/Odile live on stage so I had nothing to compare it to. But I understood right off the bat that her interpretation was going to be less fragile and more sturdy — more along the lines of Tereshkina, Cynthia Gregory, Gillian Murphy as opposed to Lopatkina, Asylmuratova, or Makarova. The close up camera shots of her arms showed the muscular definition in its abundance. A camera shot farther away might have caught the effect of the muscles moving the arms instead of the muscles themselves.
Also, there seemed to be little chemistry between the two leads which the close camera work made all the more obvious.
Hi Haglund, yes an Odette more in the emotive style of Asylmuratova is more to my taste I guess. Makarova and Ananiashvi too conveyed pathos rather well. Pathos is one quality which many of today’s Odettes fail to convey. Perhaps it is the case of the more decorative quality being prized, if a ballerina looks and dances beautifully then that’s often more than enough it seems like, no need to give complex shading to characterization. I call it the Zakharova Syndrome.
Hi Haglund, yes an Odette more in the emotive style of Asylmuratova is more to my taste I guess. Makarova and Ananiashvi too conveyed pathos rather well. Pathos is one quality which many of today’s Odettes fail to convey. Perhaps it is the case of the more decorative quality being prized, if a ballerina looks and dances beautifully then that’s often more than enough it seems like, no need to give complex shading to characterization. I call it the Zakharova Syndrome.
An excellent description of the problem, Genna.
An excellent description of the problem, Genna.
I’m a little late to this discussion. I too saw Kondaurova live last year and fortunately, she met all my expectations. She’s a cold customer, but an excellent technician. Unfortunately, the interim ballet director paired her with Askerov, and he isn’t her usual partner; Yevgeny Ivanchenko is. Both of these gentlemen don’t have a pulse as far as I’m concerned, and Kondaurova deserved better. That said, my fantasy is that Darya Pavlenko will someday be filmed and showcased as Odette-Odile etc. I fear that shall never be. For my money, she and Lopatkina are the only Swan Queens in the Mariinsky who have pathos chops, and exponents of the “Zakharova Syndrome.” To her credit, Kondaurova is a ‘helden’ ballerina, and yes, best cast and best suited for stark, modern works.
I’m a little late to this discussion. I too saw Kondaurova live last year and fortunately, she met all my expectations. She’s a cold customer, but an excellent technician. Unfortunately, the interim ballet director paired her with Askerov, and he isn’t her usual partner; Yevgeny Ivanchenko is. Both of these gentlemen don’t have a pulse as far as I’m concerned, and Kondaurova deserved better. That said, my fantasy is that Darya Pavlenko will someday be filmed and showcased as Odette-Odile etc. I fear that shall never be. For my money, she and Lopatkina are the only Swan Queens in the Mariinsky who have pathos chops, and exponents of the “Zakharova Syndrome.” To her credit, Kondaurova is a ‘helden’ ballerina, and yes, best cast and best suited for stark, modern works.
Pardon me Haglund, I meant to post “and are NOT exponents of the “Zakharova Syndrome.” My bad 🙂
Pardon me Haglund, I meant to post “and are NOT exponents of the “Zakharova Syndrome.” My bad 🙂
Erica, I have my fingers crossed that we’ll get both Pavlenko and Kondaurova for the Mariinsky’s Swan Lake next Jan/Feb at the Kennedy Center. Lopatkina would be icing on the cake.
Erica, I have my fingers crossed that we’ll get both Pavlenko and Kondaurova for the Mariinsky’s Swan Lake next Jan/Feb at the Kennedy Center. Lopatkina would be icing on the cake.