Bella Figura » viktoria tereshkina

August 15, 2011

Le Mariinsky et Londres, une histoire d’amour ?

Laura @ 21:26 —
Filed under: Français,News,Other — Tags: alexei ratmansky, diana vishneva, le monde, mariinsky ballet, rodion shchedrin, ulyana lopatkina, viktoria tereshkina —

Le Ballet du Mariinsky était de retour à Londres cet été, et j’ai eu le plaisir d’assister à leurs deux derniers programmes sur la scène du Royal Opera House, Anna Karénine et La Bayadère. Pas de critique cette fois, mais un petit papier d’information pour Le Monde, paru dans l’édition du 13 août :

A Covent Garden, au coeur de Londres, les rumeurs d’émeutes semblent venir d’un autre monde. Le Ballet du Théâtre Mariinski, l’un des joyaux de la danse classique, y célèbre jusqu’au 13 août le 50^e anniversaire de sa première tournée en Europe de l’Ouest, et a déployé à cette occasion ses moyens les plus raffinés au Royal Opera House. Six programmes se sont succédé depuis fin juillet, et de Petipa à Balanchine et Robbins, du Lac des cygnes à La Bayadère, le faste de l’ensemble a conquis le public.

Au printemps 1961, Paris et Londres découvraient pour la première fois la compagnie russe, fondée au XVIII^e siècle et rebaptisée Kirov par les autorités soviétiques. La troupe recrée le grand répertoire classique, dont le style est jalousement gardé à Saint-Pétersbourg : noblesse, harmonie des lignes, expressivité, corps de ballet d’une homogénéité et d’un lyrisme inégalés. (…)

» Lire l’article complet sur Le Monde.fr

Ulyana Lopatkina and Danila Korsuntsev in Swan Lake © Natasha Razina

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July 15, 2011

Greetings from Russia – The New York Times introduces the Mariinsky

Laura @ 10:32 —
Filed under: English,Other — Tags: alexei ratmansky, carmen, mariinsky ballet, new york times, ulyana lopatkina, viktoria tereshkina —

The New York Times published earlier this week a beautiful slide show designed to introduce local audiences to the Mariinsky Ballet, which is currently touring New York with Anna Karenina, The Little Humpbacked Horse, Carmen-Suite and Symphony in C. NYT dance critic Claudia La Rocco kindly asked me for my thoughts on casting, and you can read a few quotes of mine alongside very interesting comments from the dancers next to the photos:

» New York Times slide show: Greetings from Russia; The Feet Will Follow (Claudia La Rocco)

I’m mentioned in the introduction as well as p. 9 and 12. Enjoy!

Scene from The Little Humpbacked Horse © Natasha Razina

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January 22, 2011

Review: Two pastiches and a hieratic Carmen (Mariinsky tour to Baden-Baden)

Laura @ 15:54 —
Filed under: English,Reviews/critiques — Tags: alexander sergeyev, anastasia matvienko, balanchine, carmen, dance magazine, danila korsuntsev, denis matvienko, fernando alonso, harald lander, mariinsky ballet, ulyana lopatkina, valerya martinyuk, viktoria tereshkina, vladimir shklyarov —

Carmen-Suite / Scotch Symphony / Etudes
Fernando Alonso, George Balanchine, Harald Lander
Mariinsky Ballet
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
December 28, 2010

Few would picture Ulyana Lopatkina, the Maryinsky’s hieratic queen, as Carmen, and yet her turn in Fernando Alonso’s Carmen-Suite was the one fully realized performance of the Gala that closed the Maryinsky’s traditional Christmas tour to Baden-Baden. Her defiant lines when the curtain rose on her still body set the tone for an unusual corrida, a game of bullfighting with passion at stake. In place of lust, Lopatkina’s is a deliberate, merciless sensuality, shrewdly tailored to her style. Both torero and prey, her Carmen has learned to use her arresting legs for power or pleasure, and she is caught in her own game.

Alonso’s 1967 ballet seemed better for her rich portrayal, and the simplicity of most variations and pas de deux is a welcome change from today’s trends. Complex lifts are few and far between, and what the production lacks in fluidity it makes up for in metaphors, from Carmen’s expressive feet, flexing and stabbing into the floor, to the arena delineated by the sets. Danila Korsuntsev’s José may not look Spanish, but all the soloists did justice to this underrated work. (…)

» Read the full review in Dance Magazine

And a few photos of this very welcome triple bill:

Ulyana Lopatkina in Carmen-Suite © Natasha Razina

Anastasia Matvienko in Scotch Symphony © Natasha Razina

Anastasia Matvienko and corps de ballet in Scotch Symphony © Natasha Razina

Viktoria Tereshkina & Vladimir Shklyarov in Etudes © Natasha Razina

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January 11, 2010

Review: Robbins, Balanchine and more in Baden-Baden – Mariinsky Gala 2009

Laura @ 16:56 —
Filed under: English,Reviews/critiques — Tags: balanchine, denis matvienko, ekaterina kondaurova, evgenia obraztsova, jerome robbins, leonid sarafanov, mariinsky ballet, ulyana lopatkina, viktoria tereshkina, vladimir shklyarov —

Mariinsky Gala
Divertissement / In the Night / Theme & Variations
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
28 December 2009

Careful with galas: their fragile mish-mash of styles and performers shouldn’t be upset by too many novelties, and yet they have to be varied enough from year to year to keep the audience coming. The Mariinsky has found a formula in Baden-Baden, and it’s sticking to it: two one-act ballets, a divertissement full of sure hits, and the same array of star dancers on stage, from Ulyana Lopatkina to the company’s latest recruit, Denis Matvienko. Jerome Robbins’s In the Night and Balanchine’s Theme and Variations provided the needed contrast this Christmas, while the mandatory string of pas de deux, brightened up by humorous touches, opened the performance.

Starting an evening off with Auber’s Grand Pas in front of a cold audience certainly is a thankless task. Evgenia Obraztsova (replacing Alina Somova) and Maxim Zyuzin presented us with a rarity – a classically pure Grand Pas Classique. Obraztsova is a strange choice for this piece, all softness and refinement when the Mariinsky Orchestra’s take on Rossini seemed to call for whiz-bang technique and conquering demeanor. She has developed the authority to pull it through, with extremely assured fouettés in the coda, but the many details of her dancing seem lost in this pure gala piece. She and Zyuzin, who handled the virtuoso parts well, still brought welcome harmony to this Grand Pas Classique, their extensions mercifully in line, confident and beautifully Russian. (…)

» Read the full review in Ballet.co Magazine

» Ballet.co Gallery of the Gala (photos © Natasha Razina & Marcus Gernsbeck)

Program

I – Divertissement
Grand Pas Classique - Evgenia Obraztsova, Maxim Zyuzin
La Vivandière (Markitenka) pas de six - Elena Evseeva, Filip Stepin + Evgenia Dolmatova, Anna Lavrinenko, Yulianna Chereshkevitch, Oxsana Skoryk
Scheherazade Adagio – Ekaterina Kondaurova, Yevgeny Ivanchenko
Tarantella (Balanchine) – Nadezhda Gonchar, Leonid Sarafanov
Spuck’s Grand Pas de Deux – Ulyana Lopatkina, Danila Korsuntsev
Don Quixote pas de deux – Anastasia & Denis Matvienko + Variation: Yana Selina

II – In The Night (Jerome Robbins)
Anastasia & Denis Matvienko
Ekaterina Kondaurova, Yevgeny Ivanchenko
Ulyana Lopatkina, Danila Korsuntsev

III – Theme & Variations (Balanchine)
Viktoria Tereshkina, Vladimir Shklyarov
Yana Selina, Anna Lavrinenko, Valerya Martinyuk, Maria Shirinkina
Konstantin Zverev, Fyodor Murashov, Alexei Nedviga, Alexei Timofeyev

Ulyana Lopatkina & Danila Korsuntsev in Spuck's Grand Pas de Deux © Marcus Gernsbeck

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December 25, 2009

A Mariinsky Christmas!

Laura @ 15:16 —
Filed under: English,Français,News,Other — Tags: evgenia obraztsova, leonid sarafanov, mariinsky ballet, viktoria tereshkina, vladimir shklyarov —

The Mariinsky Ballet is already in Baden-Baden for their traditional Christmas tour at the Festspielhaus, and here are a few official photos from the scheduled La Sylphide and Gala as seasonal greetings. Merry Christmas everyone!

Joyeux Noël à tous – une fin d’année célébrée par le Mariinsky, comme le veut la tradition, par une tournée à Baden-Baden. Photos de La Sylphide et du Gala à venir en guise de calendrier de l’Avent tardif!