★★★✰✰ Though Ida Rubinstein must have been more of a poseuse than a danseuse, especially as she grew older, she had a remarkable career as an impresario. She used her money and social connections to commission creations from great composers, artists and choreographers...
Tag - Scheherazade
★★★✰✰ The annual Ballet Icons gala, now in its 14th year, aims to promote Russian culture while providing a Sunday evening's entertainment for Russians in London and ballet-lovers...
The aim of the annual festival is to celebrate Russian influence in international culture, thanks to Diaghilev’s productions in the first two decades of the 20th century... St Petersburg also wants to boost its reputation as ‘a great forum of the arts’, introducing contemporary creations from different nations to Russian audiences.
★★✰✰✰ ...of more interest to Rodin scholars than dance-lovers.
★★★✰✰ Even after his death, Vaslav Nijinsky suffered from the power and control of others...
★★✰✰✰ What’s going on in the head office at the Mariinsky Ballet?
The gala opened with the Act III wedding pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty, performed by Ekaterina Osmolkina and Guiseppe Picone. No fish-dives in this version – the Russians regard them as vulgar, and Osmolkina could never be vulgar.
...it’s very Russian in its mixture of comedy, satire and luscious spectacle – and first-class performances.
Ballet Ireland have danced several times in London but never at Sadler's Wells and never with the Irish ambassador as a warm-up, I fancy.
The corps (in Chopiniana) must be congratulated for the ball-bearing precision in their soft gentle boureeing, gliding gently back to their original positions as the music ended. A real treat to see it done so beautifully.
Les Nuits is inspired by the Thousand and One Nights, stories which have come together from Indian, Persian, Arabian and North African sources. Preljocaj is quoted as being influenced by the erotic content of the stories...
Carlos Acosta's very short photocall in the Golden Slave duet captured by Dave Morgan...
18 pictures by Dave Morgan...
An apologetic Liepa promised to return for a week next time and bring the new Cleopatra with him, but this was an unsatisfying evening in its current form.
But altogether, this was an evening of historical curios that lacked consistent vibrancy.
Though this year it was Nijinsky’s turn to be reclaimed as a Russian icon, the contents of the gala had little to do with him. Very probably the choice of items – mainly pas de deux - depended on which dancers were available to perform whatever was in their repertoire.
...cut down to a single act and shown as part of a properly-balanced double or triple bill it could work beautifully, rather than sending me home feeling hungry.
Come the end of 2012, this is likely to be one of my highlights of the year. It's not often I see a show and then book to see the same cast immediately again or pester others to go. The reason is that Jealousy works on so many different levels...
Balancing spectacular dancing with stirring drama, the Mariinsky dancers delivered a riveting, unforgettable performance. I left the Opera House with wonderful memories...