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In her extremely slender and fragile-looking frame one could only wonder in amazement where all the stamina came from; on her third night (the 8th) her grand fouette en tournant in 'that' pdd may have lost a bit of sparks than on the previous evening, but overall she did deliver the goods - and so did her partner, Denis Matvienko (who has never failed to impress me as an incredibly reliable, professional dancer).

In London Corsaire last summer Lunkina was the third cast Medora, which seemed pretty much a reasonable arrangement. To me, her performance, albeit full of delicacy and loveliness, was a bit overshadowed by those of Alexandrova and Zakharova, who possessed more of stage presence and technical bravura. But then perhaps she might have been a better actress of the three; her acting, just like her dancing, had a subtle yet very nuanced manner, and once again her approach to the role looked pleasant as well as quite effective. Her best moments, to my eyes, came at the very last of the substantial ballet scene for a prima ballerina: Grand pas des eventails (beautifully flowed movements!).

Her Conrad, Matvienko, is a terrific turner and once again showed off his skills to a great effect. His another weapon, thrilling and masculine jumps dominated the stage like big waves coming down one after another - a bit of a shame that the stage of Palais Garnier perhaps wasn't too big enough for him!

One of the joys watching the Bolshoi's Corsaire this time, was seeing different cast in supporting roles. Not seen in London, for instance (though I may be terribly wrong!), was one half of the pair who danced Pdd des Esclaves on both nights: Chinara Alizade, with Denis Medvedev. Medvedev might have lacked that 'wow' factor very distinctive to Ivan Vasiliev, yet his technical assurance was impressive throughout, and I very much enjoyed watching Chinara Alizade dancing in the role. Alizade is a young Corps dancer (so I presume), who caught my eyes in London Corsaire dancing one of the main Corps girls in the scene of Le jardin anime. On this occasion her dancing had an attack, she had an attitude - her sparkling personality shone through, that made you forget the initial impressions that perhaps the technical dept. of the dancer still requires a touch of polish.
 

On to the second ballerina role, Gulnare - Nina Kaptsova on the 7th and Ekaterina Shipulina on the 8th. I saw Kapsova in this role for the first time and thought that - as you *all* can imagine - she was full of charm and youthful innocence. Her clean technique, understated elegance and feminity were just three of the qualities she happened to share with the prima ballerina of the evening, Lunkina. Together with the delightful ensemble they created one harem on the planet to die for!

With Ekaterina Shipulina, it was a totally different story (ballet) - she danced big and acted big, in an almost flamboyant manner. One thing is for sure, whatever she does, she never fails to raise the temparatures on the stage a few degrees higher; the unashamed liveliness she brought on to the stage was really, quite something. (Oh and it appears that Anastasia Yatsenko, who impressed in this role last summer, hasn't participated in this tour; her bio isn't on the programme.)

As to trois Odalisques - although the cast I saw gave a wonderfully polished display of classical dancing, I still felt a bit sorry for Parisian audience for not getting the treat we had had over here, seeing that amazing trio of the first cast Odalisques: Krysanova, Nikulina and Osipova - their performances were one of the highest points in this production of Corsaire, when I saw it last summer. (Only Osipova made it there. The cast were: Olga Stebletsova, Chinara Alizade, Anna Leonova for the 7th; Olga Stebletsova, Anna Leonova, Natalia Osipova for the 8th.)