Bolshoi 2007/08 Announcement

The general points seem to be:

* 28th October 2007
Premiere of Fleming Flindt's The Lesson as part of the Kings of the Dance programme starring Stiefel, Corella, Tsiskaridze, Kobborg and Filin

* 20th February 2008
Premiere of La Sylphide in Johann Kobborg's staging.

*3rd July 2008
Premiere of a revival of Vainonen's Flames of Paris, last seen at the Bolshoi (in complete staging) in 1964.

* At the end of the season there will be a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of legendary Bolshoi ballerina Marina Semyonova with a series of celebratory performances of Raymonda and Swan Lake

* Tours to Germany, Paris, Italy and Mexico.

Please use this thread to discuss news and views about the up-coming season.

I have always wanted to see this ballet revived, as I loved the drama in the early fifties film of this ballet with Chabukiani and a number of outstanding character and character dance performances.

EDIT: Spelling and a repeat

I found this to be a revelation with its Soviet(1932)high lifts which may be the earliest example on film of such choreography from this period.

Dudinskaya and Sergeyev as Mirielle de Poitier and Mistral were the original cast for this pdd at the Kirov and Semeyonova appeared as Mirielle in the Bolshoi Moscow production in 1933.

The film gives a further taster of the productiion to come.

At first a pupil of Maria Romanova(Ulanova's mother), she swiftly progressed to Agrippina Vaganova's class. Here through her unique physical and technical qualities, Vaganova was to develop Semeyonova as the model for soviet classical ballerinas and in the process changed much of the performing style of the Petipa ballerina roles that had existed before.

No doubt the answer to this question will become clear over time, but I think it is certainly important that as lately as in this month's "Dancing Times" article, which Wulff brought to our attention on the Corsaire thread, Ratmansky says:

"It's really important that the Bolshoi shows the dancers and the audiences that the 20th Century is not just Grigorovich. Our heritage goes back to Gorsky, Golesizovsky and Vainonen - all these brilliant choreographers whose work is in books, but is not connected with today's dancers. Yet it's part of the history of the Bolshoi style."

Similarly the first years of Ratmansky's tenure have seen the Shostakovich ballets come "from out of the Cold". I personally find it very brave that a company such as the Bolshoi has chosen not to shirt its Soviet past, but to confront it, and where necessary, celebrate it head on.

Ivan Vasiliev has recently been studying the Flames of Paris pdd with his teacher Yuri Vladimirov and he and Natalia Osipova performed it in Canada earlier this year. Perhaps a hint at casting? I missed Osipova dancing it in Nottingham with Yan Godovsky last year, but I vividly recall a splendid performance by the Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at around the same time!

Edited to add

Did Ulanova dance the role of Mireille de Poitiers? The ABT online archive seems to indicate that it was she and not Dudinskaya who danced the premiere. I don't think this is correct.

October Schedule

November Schedule

Edited by ian_palmer to shorten lengthy link

I know it's a long way ahead. But it would be good to know so I can alleviate the disappointment of having to postpone with some research.

Thank you.

You can find all details of the Bolshoi Ballet's tours on the thread which we have going below:

http://www.ballet.co.uk/dcforum/DCForumID12/126.html

Or you can check the English language section of the Bolshoi site for touring details:

http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/season/tours/btours/

The Bolshoi should be performing in Moscow during April and May 2008, though obviously programming is not announced that far in advance. I doubt they will be returned to the Bolshoi stage however - recent reports indicate that construction work is not now due to finish until 2009 - but they should be performing on the New Stage a few streets away.

I hope you have a splendid time and that you let us know how it goes!

The ballet performances will begin on the 10th of October. Some dancers will make their debut in old productions this month: Alexander Volchkov will dance Basil in Don Q.
There is a new cast for Le Corsaire: Anna Antonicheva - Medora, Nina Kaptsova - Gulnara, and Dmitry Belogolovtsev - Conrad.

The last four evening in October will feature The Kings of Dance (with Corella, Kobborg, Stiefel and Tsiskaridze) already shown in New York and California. Nikolai Tsiskaridze is in charge of the rehearsals for Flindt’s “La leçon”.

December 2007 Schedule

In fact, “The Lesson” was in the Bolshoi’s repertoire back in 1998 with Sergei Filin and Inna Petrova dancing the leading roles. Now Filin will dance this part again on the 28 October replacing Stiefel who, although participating in “The Kings of Dance”, has chosen to withdraw from “The Lesson”. That is why Filin will step in.

I heard that Gudanov and Merkuriev will also prepare this role for performances in the future.
Alexandrova, Lunkina, Krysanova, Nikulina and Osipova (and perhaps Kaptsova) are rehearsing the role of the Pupil.
Ilse Liepa, Zibrova and Antropova will appear as the Pianist.

I found these photos on a Russian page - they are also on sale.
There is an English language button somewhere...

http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=820531

Kings of the Dance Photos

It is interesting that Dmitri Gudanov appears to have also joined the programme in what looks to be the Wheeldon piece (would anyone else create such a freeze?!)

I wonder INA (or anyone else in Moscow) whether you got to see th