Nouvelles de la Chine

[haydn]

Et voici les photos-souvenirs de la tournée du Bolchoï à Shanghai promises par Enya :




Vladislav Lantratov


Elena Dolgaleva (à gauche) Polina Netsvetaeva-Dolgaleva, sa fille (à droite)


Elena Dolgaleva


Danseuses du corps de ballet à Shanghai


Danseuses du corps de ballet à Shanghai

_________________
Un petit "j'aime" sur la page Facebook de Dansomanie : http://www.facebook.com/Dansomanie/

[Enya]

Merci Haydn Et sur la première photo de quatre danseuses de corps de ballet, de gauche à droite: Deymante Taranda, Polina Netsvetaeva-Dolgalyova, Elizaveta Gaponenko et Maria Konkova.

[Enya]

Il y a beaucoup de belles photos de la tournée du Bolshoi sur le compte de Weibo du Grand théâtre de Shanghai.

La première de Spartacus le 17 octobre, avec les rôles principaux Igor Tsvirko - Spartacus, Artemy Belyakov - Crassus, Maria Vinogradova - Phrygia et Alyona Kovalyova - Aegina:
https://m.weibo.cn/status/5090890281912596

Gala le 21 octobre:
https://m.weibo.cn/status/5092365839368697

[Enya]

[Enya]

[Enya]

La représentation d’Anna Karenina d’Eifman Ballet de Saint-Petersbourg au Grand théâtre national de Chine à Pékin ce soir le 8 novembre est annulée.

[Enya]

Pour la première de Russian Hamlet d’Eifman Ballet de Saint-Petersbourg au Grand théâtre national de Chine à Pékin ce soir, avant l’ouverture des rideaux, il y a eu une annonce que le danseur de l’ Héritier Evgeny Grachev a été blessé et qu’il serait remplacé par Philipp Arzhanov. On ne sait pas s’il y aura des changements ou non pour le rôle de l’ Héritier demain après-midi et soir.

[Enya]

[Enya]

Mes impressions tardives sur la tournée du Ballet du Bolshoi au Grand théâtre de Shanghai du 17 au 21 octobre 2024.

Lorsque j’ai rencontré les quatre danseuses du corps de ballet du Bolshoi à Shanghai, elle me disaient qu’elles ne pouvaient pas lire en français mais en anglais, et je les ai promis à écrire en anglais puis elles pourraient lire si elles pouvaient connecter vers Dansomanie. Voilà mes impressions sur la tournée du Bolshoi à Shanghai en anglais suivantes.

When I met the four girls of the corps de ballet of the Bolshoi in Shanghai, they said they were not able to read in French but English could work. I promised them to write in English so that they could read if they could connect themselves to Dansomanie. So following is my impressions on the Bolshoi’s tour in Shanghai in English.

Spartacus
The Bolshoi Ballet at Shanghai Grand Theatre
Oct. 17 19:30, Oct. 18 19:30, Oct. 19 13:00 & 19:30
With the Bolshoi Orchestra conducted by Pavel Sorokin

In the real history, Spartacus’ background information is almost unknown: who was he and what was his real name, where did he come from (most likely from Thrace, an hellenic area), did he has a wife and who was she, how and why was he captured by Romans then became a gladiator? Even there are many conjectures by later historians, his early life remains a mystery. What is well-known is the biggest slave revolt led by Spartacus in ancient Roman history in 73-71 BC, yet there were not many texts in details, and the reasons why Spartacus took the lead of this biggest rebellion remained and remains also a mystery.

Unlike the libretto of Bolshoi’s ballet, Spartacus was definitely not captured by (soldiers of) Crassus but by some other Roman general, then he was sold as a gladiator. The slave uprising spread throughout the land of ancient Italian Peninsula, several Roman generals and consuls were defeated by Spartacus’ slave armies. Under such circumstances Crassus intervened finally in the last phase and defeated Spartacus, but the credit of putting down the slave uprising was taken by Pompey, who formed the famous First triumvirate with Crassus and Julius Caesar about ten years later. After being defeated, the corpse of Spartacus was missing, the Romans had never found it, nobody knew where it was and till now, whereabouts his corpse is still a mystery.

In a ballet, it’s not necessary to incorporate too many historical figures, in the version of Yury Grigorovich for the Bolshoi, the adaptation of Crassus by combining all the other relevant historical Roman figures into himself is a very effective way. For dramatical purposes, the introduction of the role of Spartacus’ wife/lover Phrygia is quite acceptable as well. However the trigger of Spartacus’ revolt - killing one of his fellow gladiators in a blind duel - seems not sufficient enough, for being a gladiator from the very first day he knows he must face this kind of battle for the rest of his life like all the other gladiators. Nevertheless, the development of the four main characters - Spartacus and his lover Phrygia, Crassus and his mistress Aegina, are quite successful, especially for Spartacus, Phrygia and Aegina, there are several long monologues for each one of them to demonstrate their own inner psychological struggles which are very convincing.

In the aspect of choreography of this ballet, I would like to mention something else first. In January of this year, I watched a traditional folk-dance gala "Georgian Fire" performed by Royal National Ballet of Georgia, the gala was almost dominated by male dancers’ Caucasian traditional warriors dances, combating dances and entertaining dances, with various acrobatic, athletic, stunning and passionate jumps, leaps and turns in Caucasian styles which were very different from classical ballet. Then in August this year, A Thousand and One Nights by The Ballet of Primorsky Stage of Mariinsky, of which both the composer and the choreographer are Azerbaijanis, and in this full-length ballet the vocabularies of Caucasian folk dances took the lead instead of classical ballet vocabularies. All those folk dances gave me a very concrete impression that the development of ballet techniques in Russia, notably for male dancers, had truly been influenced a lot by the folk-dance techniques and skills from Caucasian areas - Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia who were parts of ex-USSR, and even from far-east - Mongolian folk dances, together with acrobatic skills as well. These also reminded me of Vakhtang Chabukiani, Georgian-born ballet dancer who received his early dance training in Tbilisi and later moved to Kirov Ballet School, one of the male dancers who made great advancements and improvements for the role of male ballet dancers in Soviet era by incorporating Georgian folk-dance traditions into 1930s Russian ballets, thanks to his athletic and vigorous folk-dance techniques, many standard male repertoire of classical ballet which we are familiar with nowadays (for example, Solor in La Bayadère, Le Corsaire, etc.) were redefined by him, and many new principal roles of Soviet ballets were created for him based on his virtuosity. We could see obviously those enormous influences afterwards on Soviet then later Russian males dancers, as well as on choreographers for creating new ballets. I believe the works of Yury Grigorovich had gotten a lot of inspirations and sources from the above mentioned folk-dance traditions together with Slavic folk dances, for example, The Stone Flower, The Flames of Paris, Spartacus, The Legend of Love……

So, although the story of Spartacus happened in the Ancient Rome, the music written by Soviet Georgian-born Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian is quite a fusion of Caucasian folk music into symphony, and the dance vocabularies used in this ballet are of melting folk dances with classical ballet. Yet, it is a successful and efficient way to present the story.

The four performances in Shanghai, all of them are spectacular and magnifique!

Four groups of main roles, although not completely different combinations but with some overlapping between groups due to retrait of Ekaterina Krysanova and Egor Gerashchenko (the only current principal dancer in Bolshoi whom I haven’t seen yet on live stage), have presented themselves in different personal styles.

For the title role of Spartacus. Igor Tsvirko’s interpretation is undoubtedly the most appealing, no need to mention his extraordinary stunning techniques, skills, virtuosities and passions and his ability to express the role in details, every step and moment, every posture of head and arms, the strength and tension in his movements, all demonstrate that he is the right Spartacus, and his capability to carry out those acrobatic portés/lifts in PDDs is impeccable and spectacular. For Alexei Putintsev, newly promoted first soloist who had presented himself in Diana & Acteon PDD in a gala in July last year in Beijing, Spartacus is his first principal role performed in China. He looks slim so that I used to have a little concern about his ability to fulfill those acrobatic lifts in the PDDs, but he has proven himself that he’s competent enough for this role, in fact it’s a very good surprise. His dances are of lightness and ease, his dramatic expressions agreeable. Denis Rodkin, originally a Russian folk-dance dancer then transferred later as a ballet dancer, Zakharova’s former regular dance partner who has good experiences in portés in PDDs, the role of Spartacus fits him well.

Phrygia, lover/wife of Spartacus, a fictional figure. Maria Vinogradova presented herself as Phrygia in the famous monologue and PDD of Spartacus in Bolshoi’s tour in Beijing last year and showed herself very convincing for this role. This time in full-length ballet in Shanghai, she demonstrates her artistic maturity in this role, undoubtedly Phrygia is her repertoire, although her dramatical performance is a little bit introverted. For Elizaveta Kokoreva, the most youthful Phrygia, her interpretation is amazingly impressive, not only for her extremely flexible limbs and energetically outstanding technical skills, but also her understanding and delicate and rich interpretation of this role, which is far beyond my expectations: in act 1, a panic-stricken and frightened young innocent girl caught by Roman soldiers and sold as a pitiful and helpless slave; in act 2, a freed girl released by slave uprising, her joy and happiness with Spartacus, and her deep concerns about their future because the Roman army is hunting them; in act 3, after the death of Spartacus, her great agony and torment and her grievous accusations against the unfair destiny are clearly expressed in her eyes and on her face, throughout her small body, her hands and arms and head and body movements are full of strength and emotional outbreak, yet she still keeps her mind clear and doesn’t go mad, I was so touched to tears at that moment. Anna Nikulina the most experienced Phrygia, and the most aged principal dancer in this tour, I admire her very much for still dancing this acrobatically demanding and challenging role and her physical status is still competitive. Less facial expression, in act 3, her soul is gone to the other world together with the loss of Spartacus.

Among the three couples, there are surprisingly more mutual attentive communications and chemical reactions between the youngest couple Kokoreva and Putintsev, and this makes me have more expectations for their grand PDD of DQ in the gala in three days.

Crassus, maybe the most monochrome character among the four main roles in this ballet, a noble and a military leader, all his life is to fight in battle ground to earn more glory and enjoy his extravagant life in his villa (but in the history, Crassus wasn’t born to be a noble but was an extremely rich commercial man, he earned his place in the Senate of Rome by investing a huge amount of money into the upper class, and by investing in himself to build his own army and get the authority to put down the slave uprising led by Spartacus - but this is not the case in this ballet). There’s less monologue choreographed for him, only a very short one after he is defeated in a duel by Spartacus who spared his life (this was not the case in the history neither) then his mistress encourages him to put himself together again to hunt down Spartacus. Among the three dancers, Artemy Belyakov the youngest and the tallest, has a physical advantage for this role and looks like a military man with aggressive manner. Vladislav Lantratov has danced this role for many times before, it seems that his physical golden age has passed but his dramatical performance is still online. Artem Ovcharenko, the most classical dancer (whom I like very much) among the three, looks always more like a noble and elegant prince rather than a brutal and ruthless military man, it’s hard to believe he is a villain.

Aegina, mistress of Crassus, a fictional figure as well (but it is quite possible that in the history Crassus had several mistresses) and she is supposed to be a female villain in this ballet. Beautiful long limbs, beautiful and stable dances, lovely appearance, Alyona Kovalyova however does not look like a villain but rather adorable. Interpretation of Eleonora Sevenard is a charming and seductive fatal woman, she looks more like an ambitious courtisan who wants to climb up to the upper class through Crassus by supporting him. Kristina Kretova is the one whose interpretation is more like a villain, treacherous and adept at scheming, although her dancing techniques are not competitive with the other two.

For the secondary roles, there are two groups of Three Shepherds, in each group there is one dancer who is very eye-catching, but because all of them have beards I’m not able to distinguish who is who.

The rich and colorful dances of corps de ballet in each act demonstrate solid strength of the company, and amongst them what I like the most is the grand corps de ballet of Roman patrician women in act 2, simple steps and simple postures, serene and elegant, among the simplicity lies the ultimate aesthetics of dance. And among the dancers of this grand corps de ballet, I recognize Oxana Shakova whose character dances (Spanish dances, Gypsy dance) in DQ in Beijing last year had impressed me very much, then I’ve noticed Polina Netsvetaeva-Dolgalyova who had made her debut as Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty in September this year in Moscow, and of course whom I was going to encounter later at the small old town Zhujiajiao (朱家角) in the suburb of Shanghai together three other girls in this grand corps de ballet - Deymante Taranda, Maria Konkova and Elisabeth Gaponenko. [Hors de sujet: When I recognized them on the street over there, they were very shocked (said Polina), they asked me how I recognized them on the street because they were neither big ballet stars nor principal dancers nor soloists but merely corps de ballet. They said even on the street in Moscow people could recognize those big stars but paid no attention to the corps de ballet. I told them that once I’ve noticed some dancers who were special in a performance, live on stage or on video, no matter they were stars or corps de ballet, I would remember them and could recognize them anywhere. Here, I would like to say to these four lovely girls of Bolshoi, and to all the other corps de ballet in any ballet company: the corps de ballet is the foundation of a ballet company and the cradle of ballet stars, the future stars come very often from the talented newly graduated students in the corps de ballet, besides, a full-length ballet cannot live without the corps de ballet, everyone is important and has her/his right place. Keep on, hope you all have a brilliant career future! Fin de hors de sujet.]

Someone says that the Bolshoi is going to have a tour again in Beijing next year, with Spartacus or Sleeping Beauty. For me it’s all welcome, and I even hope that the Bolshoi would bring some other big classical ballets to Beijing, Raymonda, La Bayadère, Coppelia, …, even Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet (versions of Grigorovich)…

[haydn]

Merci beaucoup Enya, pour ce très long compte-rendu!

_________________
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[Enya]

Ballet Gala
The Bolshoi Ballet at Shanghai Grand Theatre
19:30, Oct. 21, 2024
With the Bolshoi Orchestra conducted by Pavel Sorokin

In Beijing last year the gala of the Bolshoi Ballet was a competition mainly among the principal dancers, and especially a competition for ‘fouettés rond de jambe en tournant’, because the female dancers (I prefer to use ‘danseuses’ et ‘danseurs’ in français, just one word, simple and precise) in more than half of the programs had to execute ‘fouettés rond de jambe en tournant’ for their variations although their programs were different.

But this time the gala in Shanghai has been changed quite a lot. Firstly, among the twelve programs only three need to do ‘fouettés rond de jambe en tournant’ in variations (and they’re executed in different ways, I’ll mention this later when I talk about the relevant variations). Secondly, it’s not a competition among the principal dancers anymore, it’s a demonstration of different excellent dancers in different ranks, covering principal dancers (étoiles), leading soloists (premières danseuses et premiers danseurs), first soloists (sujets), soloists (coryphées) and very fresh dancers of corps de ballet, this makes the gala very interesting.

The gala opens with the music of prologue of Spartacus. Then Pas de deux of The Sleepinga Beauty act 3 by Eva Sergeyankova (promoted to leading soloist at the end of season 21/22 after her engagement in the company in 2021) & Artem Ovcharenko. Eva Sergeyankova hasn’t shown herself in the past four performances of Spartacus, but she had already appeared in Don Quixote as the Queen of Dryads in Beijing last year, Bolshoi’s promising future star, she made her début as Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty in September this year in Moscow already, a right young and charming princess in very classical style that I would like to see her again in this full-length ballet someday in the future. Also a prince is the right role for Artem Ovcharenko, as a very typical traditional classical dancer (perhaps one of the two most classical male principal dancers in Bolshoi, the other one is Semyon Chudin) I marveled at his talent when he made his début as Lord Wilson/Taor in The Daughter of Pharaoh in 2010 in Beijing, then he had toured with the company in China each time. In the recent reprise of The Sleeping Beauty in September this year in Bolshoi, he took the première as the Prince together with Kokoreva as Aurora (her début of this role) and this performance was on live broadcast on Bolshoi’s web channel. He is at ease with this PDD in the gala, but time has left its mark on it, between Ovcharenko and Sergeyankova or Kokoreva, we could sense a period of transition or inheritance from generation to generation.

Pas de trois from The Fairy Doll, a vivid and playful piece usually danced by graduates at ballet schools in Russia. Maria Vinogradova’s interpretation as the Fairy Doll is very lovely, while the two young boys, Akib Anvar (corps de ballet, joined the company in 2022) and Ivan Puddubnyak (corps de ballet, graduated from Vaganova School then engaged in Bolshoi in 2019), who have played their roles in ‘Three Shepherds’ in Spartacus, now act as funny clowns who try hard to draw attention of the Fairy Doll by competing with each other, again l’m not able to distinguish who is who because they have clown makeup, perhaps they are the ones whom I noticed eye-catching among the ‘Three Shepherds’.

Adagio (on the balcony) from Romeo and Juliet (version of Lavrovsky). Arina Denisova, engaged in Bolshoi the same year as Eva Sergeyankova in 2021 and much more discreet than the latter when and after joining the company, she was promoted rapidly to the rank of leading soloist(première danseuse) in season 23/24 as well, means she is also one of the most promising future stars in the house. Like Eva Sergeyankova, Arina Denisova hasn’t shown herself in the performances of Spartacus in Shanghai, and unlike Sergeyankova, Denisova hadn’t toured with the company in Beijing last year, so this is her première in China. No need to mention her long limbs, as Juliet in this famous adagio, she shows her precociousness in artistic expression as well as her remarkable and stable technical skills, a convincing Juliet. Denis Rodkin, in appearance and in expression a good Romeo, for technical partnership a reliable partner.

Pas de deux from La Sylphide (version of Bournonville), frequently seen in international ballet competitions and in international ballet stars gala. Both of Daria Khokhlova and Dmitry Smilevsky look very experienced in this dance, technically impeccable, and especially for Smilevsky, his execution of those ‘black’ ‘petits batteries et battus’ is quite quick, smooth, clean and neat.

Tango (music by Victor Osadchev, chor. by Alessandro Caggegi) danced by Kristina Kretova and Igor Tsvirko, the only contemporary dance in this gala and the only piece of dance I haven’t seen before. A pretty cool dance and a change of taste in this gala.

Pas de deux from The Flames of Paris (chor. Vainonnen) by two young dancers whom I’ve never seen before - Uliyana Moksheva (soloist/coryphée from 2023, graduated from Perm Ballet School and joined Bolshoi in 2021) and Ratmir Dzhumaliev (corps de ballet, joined the company in 2023). When Dzhumaliev was still a student in the Moscow State Academy of Choreography, this PDD was already in his repertoire. I have been totally impressed by this bold Kazakh young boy who pretends to be an adult leader in the revolution, so fearless and interesting. He spends all his energy to carry out the steps and movements, for all his ‘tours en l’air’ he pushes himself too hard that his body loses its axis and is out of balance in the air so that everyone thinks that he would loose control and fall to the ground, however each time he manages to land on the ground on one knee well and steadily, amazing miracles! How could he do those breathtaking movements? This young boy really deserves to be paid more attention to in the future! Moksheva shows her solid skills, however Dzhumaliev draws all attention in this PDD and makes it a highlight of the first half of the gala.

The second half opens with Black Swan Pas de deux from Swan Lake by Alyona Kovalyova and Artemy Belyakov, they had danced this PDD in Bolshoi’s gala last year in Beijing. This time, during the first variation of the Black Swan, the music has some problems with the oboe, Kovalyova has dropped from a ‘fouetté’ and a ‘piqué’ but it’s not a big issue, for the second variation - the famous variation of 32 ‘fouettés rond de jambe en tournant’ (finally ), Kovalyova has done a very good job, a real dominant Black Swan. The partnership between Belyakov and Kovalyova is better than last year in Beijing.

Monologue of Phrygia and Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from Spartacus by Anna Nikulina and Denis Rodkin, we have already seen them in this full-length ballet two days ago, it seems that the physical status of Nikulina is better than that day.

Pas de deux from The Talisman, frequently seen in ballet galas and in international ballet competitions. The interpretation of Arina Denisova and Igor Tsvirko is what I’ve expected. In this PDD, Denisova has more space to demonstrate her talents and her technical skills, for a moment it seems that I see some traces of Nina Ananiashvili in her, they have some similarities, but they are different, Denisova has her own characteristics, maybe more tender and delicate by comparison with Ananiashvili’s enthusiasm and passion. The variation of ‘Pizzicato’ by Denisova is a delightful visual enjoyment (although Yekaterina Osmolkina’s interpretation still remains the best in my memory). Now Tsvirko, how could I say? He is Acteon, like he is Spartacus, Basilio (Don Quixote), Philippe (The Flames of Paris), Conrad (Le Corsair)… and here, as an experienced vigorous principal dancer, he shows the spectators (or the other dancers) how to fulfill perfect ‘tours en l’air’ with right body control in the air to keep right vertical axis and to keep balance, impeccable and incomparable stunning techniques, furthermore, we always see sparks in his eyes, to me he’s the drama king in current Bolshoi Ballet, and always a reliable and attentive partner. In the aspect of mutual communication, I think that the reaction of Denisova needs some improvement.

Grand Pas Classique by Maria Koshkaryova (soloist/coryphée, graduated from Vaganova and joined the Bolshoi in 2023) and Dmitry Smilevsky. Both had toured in Beijing last year but they were not partners. Koshkaryova has been casted in the dance of corps de ballet ‘Mimes’ in Spartacus act 1 for all the four performances, she was quite visible among the six girls. In this PDD, she presents her solid techniques as usual, and for the variation of 32 ‘fouettés rond de jambe en tournant’, she has her own different interpretation with turns changing on eight directions - means for each fouetté she turns 45 degrees more (360+45 degrees), and this makes the variation more interesting (the first time I saw this kind of eight-direction ‘fouettés’, it was presented by Iana Salenko in an international ballet stars gala at National Grand Theatre in Beijing more than ten years ago). However she needs to make more efforts in her artistic expression. For Smilevsky, after the tour with the Bolshoi in Beijing last year, he has been invited to participate in two galas in Beijing this year, one at Tianqiao Theatre in January, another one at National Grand Theatre in August. He hasn’t been casted in Spartacus for the past days in Shanghai but only in this gala, and he dances two PDDs with different danseuses. It seems that he has made a lot of progress in refining his techniques with better body control and better balance. His variations are quite good, on the other hand, his artistic approach and partnership skills still need some improvement. The synchronization required by this PDD between the two dancers also needs more practice.

The Dying Swan. I used to hope that it would be danced by Zakharova (although I had seen her interpretation before), suppose that perhaps it would be the last chance to see her with the tour of Bolshoi in China, but she hasn’t come. Surprisingly, it’s casted on a very young dancer Taisia Konovalova who is a corps de ballet and who just joined the company last year, and this arouses my curiosity. She was not casted in Spartacus in Shanghai, but she made her début as Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty in September in Moscow (like Polina Netsvetaeva-Dolgalyova). With slender limbs, technically her presentation is quite good but there lacks of something which requires artistic maturity, however for a very young dancer she is good enough and I would like to keep an eye on her future career.

Finally Grand Pas from Don Quixote act 3 by Elizaveta Kokoreva and Alexei Putintsev with two additional variations by Kristina Petrova (corps de ballet, joined Bolshoi in 2020) and Stanislava Postnova (corps de ballet, joined Bolshoi in 2017). The grand pas opens with a very short introduction by six girls of corps de ballet (four of them are whom I encountered one day ago, Deymante Taranda, Polina Netsvetaeva-Dolgalyova, Elizaveta Gaponenko and Maria Konkova, but I don’t know who are the rest of the other two girls because they are not listed on the casts) and Petrova and Postnova, soon after the six girls have finished their job(, so quickly). We’ve just seen already Koko and Putintsev in Spartacus and their interpretations were very impressive. After the tour with Bolshoi in Beijing last year (as Kitri in DQ and grand pas of DQ in Gala), Koko has been invited to participate in two galas in Beijing this year as well, one at Tianqiao Theatre in January with Smilevsky, another one at National Grand Theatre in August partnered by Daniil Potaptsev. No need to mention her brilliant technical skills anymore, what has impressed me in this tour is her huge progress in artistic aspects, no doubt that she’s on the right way to become a mature artist. Her variations are more exquisite with more detailed artistic expressions compared with herself before, and for the second variation which is supposed be the well-known 32 ‘fouettés rond de jambe en tournant’, she has changed them into a series of ‘Italian fouettés’ (usually seen in variation of the Queen of the Dryads in DQ or of Gamzatti in La Bayadère) which are remarkably perfect with great control, precision and extension! For this recent year, Koko’s usual partner has been changed from Smilevsky to Putintsev (and Potaptsev). Together with Putintsev, they had danced full-length DQ in Moscow already. Putintsev’s Basilio is a delightful enjoyment, his expression is spontaneous, relaxing, cheerful, playful and dynamic, his steps and movements are light and clean and vigorous, and he has accomplished perfect lifts on one hand at ease to support Koko to finish nearly perfect ‘développés à la seconde en l’air’ steadily, very beautiful. What is more appealing and important is that the partnership between Koko and Putintsev is very natural, fluent and harmonious, they look really like a pair of happy young lovers who have a lot of interactive communications and chemical reactions in their representations, personally I prefer much more the partnership between Koko and Putintsev than between Koko and Smilevsky (which I had seen last year). Hope to see this young couple Koko and Putintsev dance more together in the future. With no errors, the other two girls’ - Petrova and Postnova’s variations are good but not eye-catching under the shining of Koko and Putintsev, although Postnova as one of the shepherdesses in Spartacus was quite visible.

As a whole, from the gala we could see that a new generation is emerging in the Bolshoi Ballet who has a healthy talent structure and doesn’t lack of talent reserve on each level in its hierarchy (the situation in Mariinsky Ballet is a little bit different and a little bit worrying… a spectator’s personal view).

Thanks Bolshoi! Hope to see you next year in Beiijng with some new repertoire which hasn’t been presented in China before and with all the principal dancers and other excellent dancers!