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Ballet Around The World 
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Diana Vishneva and Beauty in Motion Nominated for Two Russian "Golden Mask" Awards

By PlaybillArts Staff 10 Dec 2008
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    photo by Vladimir Lupovskoy

Prima ballerina Diana Vishneva has been nominated for Russia’s prestigious Golden Mask Award as "Best Ballerina" for her performance in Diana Vishneva: Beauty in Motion.

Arts promoter Sergei Danilian’s presentation of the work has also been nominated as "Best Ballet Event of the Season."

Diana Vishneva: Beauty in Motion is a co-production of Orange County Performing Arts Center of California and Ardani Artists in association with the Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg. Beauty in Motion was performed in Russia at the Stanislavsky Musical Theatre in Moscow in Feb. 2008, and will enjoy subsequent performances at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg (March 2009) and in Moscow (April 2009). The Awards will be presented at a ceremony in Moscow in April 2009.

Beauty in Motion featured the International ballet star in a program of three new ballets created for her by choreographers Alexei Ratmansky, Moses Pendleton and Dwight Rhoden. Ms. Vishneva was joined on stage by the American modern dancer Desmond Richardson and members of the Kirov Opera, Ballet and Orchestra.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Diana Vishneva graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy, joined the Mariinsky Theatre Ballet in 1995 and was promoted to principal in 1996. During her last year at the Academy, Ms. Vishneva began working at the Mariinsky Theatre. Her repertoire with the company includes the title roles in Giselle and Manon, Kitri in Don Quixote, Masha in The Nutcracker, Nikiya in La Bayadère, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Gulnare in Le Corsaire, the third movement in Symphony in C, "Rubies" in Jewels and Tchaikovsky’s Pas de Deux and Grand Pas Classique, among others. She became a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre in 2005.

Ms. Vishneva’s prizes and awards include the International Ballet Competition in Lausanne (1994), Benois de la Dance prize (1995), the St. Petersburg theatrical prize Golden Sophit (1996), the BALTIKA prize (1998), the highest theatrical prize of Russia Golden Mask (2001) and was named Best in Europe by Dance Europe magazine in 2002.

The Golden Mask, founded in 1994, is the Russian National Theater Award and is awarded to acclaimed productions in all genres of theatre art: drama, opera, ballet, operetta and musical. The Golden Mask is also an All-Russian Theatre Festival featuring the most significant performances from all over Russia. (Diana Vishneva: Beauty in Motion will be featured in the 2009 Festival and Award Ceremony.) The culmination of the Golden Mask is the Award Ceremony, which takes place on one of Moscow’s most famous stages and is broadcast by the national television channel.


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11 дек 2008, 18:01
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San Francisco Ballet's 'Nutcracker' on TV and DVD
The Performance in the Grand Pas de Deux from last year's Nutcracker will be broadcast by PBS on Wednesday 17th December at 8pm and is also available on DVD from Amazon.
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"Having three tries at perfection didn't alleviate the extra pressure on 24-year-old principal Maria Kochetkova, who found herself cast in the climactic Grand Pas de Deux opposite hunky, buoyant Davit Karapetyan as one of her first assignments with a brand-new company.

"It was a new stage, a new audience, a new ballet to me," said Kochetkova, who trained at Russia's Bolshoi School and joined the San Francisco Ballet from the English National Ballet. "I found out I was cast for this two weeks before. In that pas de deux, you have to walk right into the spotlight, you have to dance right away."

Taking a break after the daily company class, the doll-faced Kochetkova was critical of her sparkling performance after seeing the video a few days earlier. "The film is really beautiful, though of course for myself I see things I would do better," she said. Still, she was full of praise for the choreography - "It's really big, and I like big movements" - and gratitude to Tomasson: "He really believes in me and believes I can do it better onstage than in the studio," she said. "I felt before him I hadn't realized the things I can actually do.""
San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 14CT16.DTL

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©Eric Tomasson
Maria Kochetkova & Davit Karapetian.


13 дек 2008, 12:06
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Highlights of 2009: Dance

Lily Allen's second album, Jude Law as Hamlet, Michael Sheen as Brian Clough, Martin Amis on feminism – 2009 promises a variety of treats in the arts. Our critics predict what will make waves in the coming months

By Zoë Anderson. Friday, 2 January 2009

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French star Sylvie Guillem will be working with celebrated theatre director Robert Lepage on Eonnagata (26 February
to 8 March, Sadler's Wells, London).


In dance, 2009 promises cross-dressing divas, hip-hop ratcatchers, big collaborations and visits from some of the world's leading companies. To start with, the cross-dressing French star Sylvie Guillem will be working with celebrated theatre director Robert Lepage on Eonnagata (26 February to 8 March, Sadler's Wells, London). This tells the story of the Chevalier d'Éon, which sounds spectacular: he was an 18th-century diplomat, swordsman and spy who regularly used female disguise, to the point where there were public bets on his gender. The production will be choreographed by Russell Maliphant, who worked with Guillem on Push, with costumes by Alexander McQueen.

American Ballet Theatre is known for fielding starry casts (London Coliseum, 25 March to 4 April). The repertory plays safe, with blockbuster productions of Swan Lake and Le Corsaire, but should show off the range of the company's talent. The other big-name visitor is the Mariinsky Ballet (still better known as the Kirov), expected at the Royal Opera House, London from 3 to 15 August. No news on repertory yet.

Colin Dunne, the Riverdance star who spoofed himself so brilliantly in Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre's The Bull, brings his own show Out of Time to London's Barbican (17 to 28 February).

Wayne McGregor, the Royal Ballet's resident choreographer, directs a double bill of Handel's Acis and Galatea with Purcell's Dido and Aeneas for the Royal Opera, in a rare collaboration between the ballet and opera companies (Royal Opera House, 31 March to 20 April). The Royal Ballet will also bring back Kenneth MacMillan's 1981 Isadora, one of the most angrily debated works in the company's history.

This new version streamlines the work into a single act. Where MacMillan split the title role between an actress and a dancer, the new version has a ballerina heroine, with an actress's voice on the soundtrack. Will it work? Find out at the Royal Opera House, 11 to 21 March.

Boy Blue Entertainment, one of the glossiest names in British hip-hop, brings Pied Piper to London's Barbican (5 to 14 March), recasting the rats as urban youths with hoodies and Asbos. There's more hip-hop later in the year at Sadler's Wells, with the return of the Breakin' Convention festival (2 to 4 May), including an appearance from French star Salah.

The Sadler's Wells celebration of choreographer William Forsythe ends in April with the UK premiere of Decreation, plus installations and events across London. Choreographer Richard Alston creates a new Carmen for Scottish Ballet (opens at Glasgow Theatre Royal on 15 April). This autumn's Dance Umbrella will include a focus on African dance, with artists from Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, South Africa, the Congo and Kenya.

This year also sees the centenary of the Ballets Russes, one of the greatest, most influential companies in theatre history. English National Ballet has announced two celebration programmes, including Apollo, Le Spectre de la Rose, The Dying Swan, Schéhérazade and David Dawson's new Faune, a reimagining of Nijinsky's scandalous L'Après-midi d'un faune (Sadler's Wells, 16 to 20 June). The Royal Ballet will dance The Firebird and Les Sylphides (Royal Opera House, 4 to 30 May).

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02 янв 2009, 17:42
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Goody tutus
Time Out New York / Issue 692 : Jan 1–7, 2009 : By Gia Kourlas

In his new documentary, Bertrand Normand breaks down the ballerina fourth wall.

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LADY DIANA Superstar Diana Vishneva flutters her fan in Ballerina.
Photograph: The Film Society of Lincoln Center/First Run Features


In one telling scene in Bertrand Normand’s fascinating new documentary, Ballerina, Alina Somova has just finished dancing her first Swan Lake at the Maryinsky Theater. Ballet director Makhar Vaziev, after giving her a flurry of corrections, tells her, “You’ve been brave. Don’t come in tomorrow. It’s been a colossal effort. Forget the theater and rest.”

Standing in her swan queen costume, Somova tears up. “I don’t want to stay at home.”“Go for a walk!” he exclaims. “If you come to the theater, I’ll punish you.”

With little previous knowledge, Normand, a 36-year-old French director, has captured the fragility and ferocity of five Maryinsky ballerinas. Along with Somova, his film spotlights Uliana Lopatkina, Evgenia Obraztsova (who didn’t travel with the company during its New York season last April), Diana Vishneva and Svetlana Zakharova. The documentary, presented as part of Dance on Camera 2009, is a surprisingly intimate portrait of what it means to be a ballerina. Normand, whose passion at the start was Russia, not ballet, will be present at both screenings to introduce the film and field audience questions. He spoke about Ballerina, soon to be released on DVD, from his Paris home.

You don’t have a background in ballet. How did you discover this world and want to make a film about it?
Actually, it was when I first visited St. Petersburg in 1995. I was there in the winter, just for three days, and that visit made a very strong impression upon me. It was a magical land with snow and people wearing fur coats, and I spent every evening at the Maryinsky Theater. Years later, I decided to go back to Petersburg with a French producer to further explore this, without a precise idea. I knew that I would like to make a film probably about the Maryinsky Theater. But it was really about getting the authorization to visit the premises—not only the rooms open to the public, but the part of the theater where the artists work. Very quickly, I understood that my subjects would be ballerinas because it was the ballerinas who made a hypnotic impression on me.

How did you get this access? Who did you know?
At first, I didn’t know anyone. I just called everyone that I knew in Paris who might know some people in St. Petersburg, and it’s through those acquaintances that I finally got to accompany a woman who had an appointment with the director of the ballet company, Makhar Vaziev. She introduced us and told him what I wanted and he said, “Why not? If the legal department is okay, I’m okay.” I met independently with the head of the long-term planning of the Maryinsky Theater; she said, “If the director of the Kirov Ballet is okay, I’m okay.” So they both provided the same answer relying on the other’s response and decision.

It’s so Russian.
Yes. [Laughs]

How did you choose the ballerinas? What was your process?

I would look at a number of dancers working together, and very quickly my eye—without even me wanting it to—would narrow on a few. That’s what happened, for example, at the ballet school. They allowed me to attend a class without filming it. There were six girls who were all the same age and dressed the same, and at first I thought I was in front of clones. But after a few minutes, I started seeing differences. And after 15 or 20 minutes, I could only see one dancer. At the end of the class, I asked the teacher, “What’s her name?” pointing to Alina Somova. The teacher made a big smile. That smile showed me that I had picked the right one. I would say that it’s mostly instinct, and that as a viewer—without any solid knowledge on the matter—I chose what I wanted to see. But, of course, the director of the Kirov said, “You should choose this one and this one and not this one…” So you know what? I pretended to agree with him, but then I did what I wanted. [Laughs]

How did Somova strike you back then, when she was still a student?
She had a kind of innocence. They had very different personalities, all of them. Alina was difficult—what I mean was she was the youngest, and she had huge pressure on her shoulders because she was finishing school. She was not yet sure that she would be hired by the company, and she knew that people were looking at her and that some were jealous of her. I was aware of what she was going through and every time I wanted to approach her, I had this dilemma: I didn’t want to disturb her or be an obstacle for her; at the same time, I really wanted to tell that story. With Evgenia, maybe I was less fearful of this and from the beginning she was enthusiastic and extremely open and she didn’t let me understand that she’d rather I left her alone.

What did Obraztsova give you?

She probably gave me the most. She let me film her in class, while she was rehearsing, and she did not hide her emotions. She’s a very spontaneous person and she has a kind of charisma, so when a French filmmaker, Cédric Klapisch, told me that he wanted to hire a real ballerina for the part of a dancer in The Russian Dolls [Normand served as second unit director], I at once knew who he was going to choose. I introduced him to a few dancers, but I knew what his choice would be and it corresponded to what I had planned. She is my favorite Juliet that I’ve seen to this day.

What were your impressions of Lopatkina?

Uliana gave me a lot, too, even though it was a very difficult time for her because she was about to come back onstage from an injury, and she was very afraid of how she would perform and whether she would be able to match the expectations. She wasn’t always willing to be filmed while rehearsing. I had one movement with her improvising something and just that was enough in a way. She is shot against the sun.

It’s a very beautiful scene.
That was early in the process of her comeback. She told me more in her interview than is shown in the film. I had enough material to make a three- or four-hour film.

I wish you had done that.
[Laughs] Soon there will be the DVD with 45 minutes of bonus material. It’s almost like a second film. Uliana has a lot to give and she’s a very smart person—she has interesting insights on many things. She’s a very profound artist and it shows when she speaks. She is not only a great dancer, she is a great thinker on her art.

How did you find filming Vishneva?
Diana was one of the first dancers I asked to be one of my characters. She said yes. Most of the time, she accepted when I asked whether I could film her. There was one unfortunate moment during the American tour—I didn’t realize how stressed dancers can be and how crazy their schedules are while they are on tour. They perform every evening, sometimes twice a day, and they have rehearsals as they move from place to place. So it means that they have no open space for anything else. I was hoping to film them in many situations. And I had made a few plans with Diana, but then at the last moment another dancer got sick and she had to replace her and finally she was not able to just go for a walk and be filmed discovering the city. I can’t say that it was always easy with her because she’s a star, you know? And she deserves to be one, and that’s what she is, and she’s probably more so than many actresses. And what it means to be a star is that it’s a certain way of life; there is so much pressure. Some days she was absolutely great, very friendly and so on, and other times I could see that these were not the days that I should approach her. [Laughs]

I have seen that look on her face. It’s true.
But I am really happy about our collaboration on that film.

Could you talk about Zakharova?
I filmed her during her last weeks at the Maryinsky, before she went to the Bolshoi, but I didn’t know that she was leaving. It’s the end of one step of Svetlana’s life. Since then, she changed a lot of things about the way she dances—her coach and her image. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, but it turned out to be very interesting to have this moment captured in a film. What I really liked about her is her simplicity. She was almost naive in her own way, which made her a very likeable person, and I think it shows in the interview. I really like some of her answers when she speaks of her job—what dancing brings her, what she feels when she’s onstage.

And of the dancers I’ve met, I think she’s the most different onstage than she is in person.

Yes indeed. She is very majestic onstage—like you would not approach her. I’m very intimidated when I see her onstage. And in real life, she’s so simple. I didn’t have the opportunity to keep filming her; that’s why, after awhile, we don’t see her anymore. Somehow I wanted to respect the fact that she was there and then she was not.

But in this story about ballerinas, you don’t neglect the fans. Another fascinating scene is with Obraztsova and a hard-core balletomane who waits for her after a performance and gives her a juice box and a book. Apparently, she always presents those gifts to her favorite dancers, right?

Yes. Actually, I saw her do it a few months before I filmed it, and I was so frustrated that I didn’t have my camera. I was thinking, If what I’m seeing right now isn’t part of the film, the film is not complete! So I came back to St. Petersburg just to capture that sequence. I knew when Evgenia was going to dance again and I knew that this fan would be there, so I made sure that I would have a crew with me and that we would be on time. I also interviewed that woman. It will be part of the bonus material in the DVD.

How did you get permission to film the student examinations at the Vaganova Academy? I’m referring to the scene in which young girls, wearing white underwear, have their flexibility tested by a man who pulls their legs and bends their backs.
It’s totally by chance that I managed to film that. I happened to be at the academy that day, and I was about to film Uliana when the press attaché said, “By the way, we have these examinations going on right now. Will you be interested in watching and filming?” I said, “Why not?” And then she opened the door and I was facing this. [Laughs] It was very spontaneous. I didn’t plan it, I didn’t know it was going on, it’s just I was there and she opened the door. So I filmed and no one asked me anything. For them, it’s so natural—it’s something that is so part of the process, and it’s been part of the process for so long that they don’t question it. Since then, I’ve heard many people say that they didn’t get the authorization to film at the academy. I guess I was there at the right moment.

What was access like at the Maryinsky Theater?
The director of the company provided me with a pass, which I could use every day for three weeks. I would put my camera in my backpack and my tripod in another bag, and no one would know that I was going to film. I was totally free.

Did you do everything by yourself?
Like, 75 percent of the film as you see it, I was holding the camera, and only when we got a decent budget toward the end, I got a crew. But it was very important at the start to be on my own, because I didn’t want to raise too much attention. I wanted to be invisible, to be part of the landscape, so that I would be able to observe and people wouldn’t feel too self-conscious. I think it was very important to do it that way at first, and after a while, once I knew precisely what additional things I wanted, I had the privilege to have a crew. When I filmed at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, I had a guard with me at all times, which is normal when you think of it. Of course, sometimes I don’t know what I want to film. I look and something happens and I film it. So the guard would ask, “What do we do now? Where do we go?” And I wouldn’t know what to answer. I hadn’t planned it yet. [Laughs] At the Maryinsky Theater—and I’m not even sure that this is the standard procedure, maybe it has changed since then—but with that pass, I was able to go wherever I wanted.

Once they trusted you, you could do anything?
Yeah, but it was less easy as far as copyrights and all these things are concerned. And having a contract signed with the Maryinsky Theater took a very long time.

Why do you think this film has been such a success?

On one hand, ballet is something that makes a lot of people dream in many countries. Russia is a country that is quite fascinating because of its immensity, and because the Soviet Union was remote and closed to the rest of the world for so long. Ballet was the window of the Soviet Union. It was one of the things that people could associate with it. So I was wondering, Okay, after perestroika, what has this become? What is it right now? Is it some kind of museum? Is it repeating things from the past, or does it have a life of its own? And I think that the characters I picked—right now, four of them are prima ballerinas and one is a first soloist—were my choice, but they were already there. They had been selected, even the young ones, and in a way it was not just my choice.

What does that mean?
That these dancers are alive. They give so much to ballet that somehow they transcend the parts that they dance, and I think the viewers are quite sensitive to this. I also think that in our world, people need people to admire. Of course, we can admire stars, but deep inside, you think maybe they’re stars because they are lucky and pretty. But you can’t cheat when you’re a ballerina of that caliber. It’s you. When they are onstage performing, they are the only ones who can save themselves in a way. And I think people feel that.

What are you working on next?
Several things. One is a documentary about people in Russia who have a passion for history and they make reenactments of the past, especially from the time of Napoleon. When I was at the ballet school at St. Petersburg, I met a Russian historian who organizes huge reenactments of battles from that time. They all wear uniforms from the past; it’s quite fascinating to see that people living today have some kind of need to explore their past and to realize it, and I think it’s all the more interesting as far as Russians are concerned because they have been deprived of their history for so long. Now they can explore their roots and origins again. I think it tells a lot about a very present need. But it’s also very funny.

Ballerina is at Walter Reade Theater Wed 7 and Jan 8.

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03 янв 2009, 19:01
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Dancing their way onto the big screen

JAN 6, 2009 | by elizabeth zimmer | metro new york

Through the magic of cinema, dance artists from this and other centuries and many lands come together at Lincoln Center for a week of surprises both experimental and historic.

The Walter Reade Theater hosts the Dance on Camera Festival, which kicks off tomorrow with French director Bertrand Normand’s “Ballerina.” His film about young Russian superstars follows the process of training dancers from the shirtless lineup for admittance to the Vaganova school when they’re 10 years old to their debuts in classic roles on the hallowed stage of St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre.

Another superstar celebrated this season is Jerome Robbins; “Something to Dance About,” a terrific two-hour PBS special airing in February as part of the American Masters series, gets a sneak preview on Jan. 16. Thorough and unflinching in its survey of Robbins’ life and career, it’s a must-see. Also scheduled is a film about Zimbabwean dancer Nora Chipaumire, a German document about a Portuguese funeral, and the 1991 Indian melodrama “The Chosen One.”

But the secret sleeper of the festival is a carefully restored print of the deteriorating 1918 silent film “The Blue Bird.”  It features a couple of peasant children who, led by a fairy, discover the true meaning of life. It leaves you glowing. Catch it Sunday at 2 p.m.

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06 янв 2009, 20:47
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NBC's 'Superstars of Dance' 2009
http://www.hulu.com/watch/51099/superst ... =4090:4276
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"Bolshoi-trained Russian ballerina Maria Kochetkova, a principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet soared through an excerpt from the ballet 'Don Quixote'"
Washington Post

http://www.mariakochetkova.com/


08 янв 2009, 13:15
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"Bolshoi-trained Russian ballerina Maria Kochetkova

w spiskax Bol'schogo ne nabljudaju ... ili ?

Kochetkova reschila pomirit'sja s Bolschim ? (Oni mogut isk sdelat' za ispol'zowanie imeni )

Kochetkova (limitchiza w USA) reschila ispol'zowat' metod propagandi a lja Anbetta Toromani (limitchiza w Italii)

Xoroschij xod ,chislo porsmotrow za 250 000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50CudFNAQOE

Po skorosti i prizku posmotrju esche ,no poxoze wse ystupajut N.Osipovoj

Slozenie drugoe ,zapas muskul#nnoj sili .Toze w XG (Irina Chaschina -top prizok)
Ewgenija Kanaeva (prizok xuze )

w Ballete wereojatno Silvy Gillem


08 янв 2009, 14:02
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37th Annual Dance on Camera Festival

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    Ulyana Lopatkina in Ballerina, a film by Bertrand Norman.

Unsatisfied with Superstars of Dance? For a quick tour of the dance world without leaving your seat, check out the Dance Film Association’s Dance on Camera Festival that begins in New York City this week and runs through Jan. 17. Featuring over 30 films from South Africa, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea as well as the U.S., the festival renders intimate documentary portraits of performers, portals into the work of a variety of choreographers and dance styles and poetic meditations on movement.

Bertrand Normand's Ballerina goes behind the stage curtain to explore how some of the most preeminent dancers in the ballet world have ascended the ranks of one of the most renowned and rigorous ballet companies in the world, the Mariinsky Ballet(formerly the Kirov). Through interviews and performance footage, the careers of Alina Somova, Svetlana Zakharova, Diana Vishneva, Ulyana Lopatkina and Evgenia Obraztsova are documented to form the evolution of a ballerina’s life from young dancer on the threshold of a career on the world stage to a revered star staging a comeback after an injury.

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11 янв 2009, 18:59
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Steenberg Focuses on Nationals
Written by Lois Elfman | Thursday, 08 January 2009 14:30

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Now fully healed from an injury suffered last July, Tommy Steenberg is focused on being at his best for the upcoming U.S. Figure Skating Championships, taking place Jan. 18 - 25 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Since qualifying for Nationals with a fourth-place finish at the Eastern Sectional Championships, Steenberg has been dividing his training time between Fairfax, Va. and Wilmington, Del.

"I'm the only skater in Fairfax training for Nationals," said Steenberg, 20, who lives in Annandale. "There are a bunch of kids in Wilmington that are getting ready for the event. I think it's nice for me to be in that environment where we're all kind of in the same boat and are running programs."

Steenberg is training at the historic Skating Club of Wilmington, where Olympic medalists such and Kitty and Peter Carruthers trained in the early 80s. Also on the ice these days are fellow U.S. senior man Shaun Rogers and senior ladies Blake Rosenthal and Ashley Wagner of Alexandria.

"It's great. There'll be like 12 people on the ice doing triples," Steenberg said.

In addition to Easterns, Steenberg did his first senior international competition last fall, the Karl Schaefer Memorial Trophy in Vienna, Austria, where he placed seventh. "I might have been the only skater to rotate everything in both programs. I made some mistakes, but both performances were full out, no regrets," he said.

"I was in the final warm-up group for the free skate. That was nice," he added.

He feels this season's programs have been stronger since Easterns. "I'm excited," said Steenberg. "I've been doing some really good run-throughs. I want to get in as many as possible, obviously, before Nationals, so I can feel prepared. I'm on a good track."

This will be Steenberg's fourth Nationals at the senior level, and he's hoping to take another step up the ladder.

"I'd say last year I did two solid performances and placed ninth, which was five places up from the year before; it was great," he noted. "This year, I think I can do more than that - more than just doing good programs - skating to my full capacity, like I do in practice sessions. I want to be able to show at Nationals the quality of landings.

"I haven't really delivered at competitions what I've been doing in practice. I think part of that is because of the foot injury (fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot). At the beginning of the year, I didn't really have much time to train the programs. Since Easterns, I've had some time. I want to do two very clean programs at Nationals this year," Steenberg said.

"For placement, I would love to be in the final warm-up group for the free skate. That would be a new feel for me. Last year, I was in the middle group going into the long program. To take another step up would be awesome."

Steenberg's free skating program is set to music from the ballet "Don Quixote." He's stoked that the Mariinsky Ballet (formerly the Kirov) will be performing "Don Quixote" at the Kennedy Center. He and Coach Audrey Weisiger will go together to see it.

"It's the week before I leave for Nationals," he said, "so it's awesome timing."


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11 янв 2009, 22:38
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Сообщение Re: Ballet Around The World
Kirov to Busby Berkeley

By ROSLYN SULCAS. Published: January 6, 2009

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The opening-night program, “Ballet Then and Now,” includes what is probably the festival’s most appealing feature for a broad audience. It is Bertrand Norman’s “Ballerina,” a 77-minute documentary about what he terms “the St. Petersburg ballerina,” and it looks at five Kirov dancers — Alina Somova, Evgenia Obraztsova, Diana Vishneva, Svetlana Zakharova and Ulyana Lopatkina — all at different stages of their careers.

There is much in here that ballet lovers should adore. The behind-the-scenes look at an admission exam for 10-year-olds at the Vaganova Academy (the former Imperial Ballet School) shows implacable middle-aged men and women pulling the fragile long legs of skinny little girls up to their ears or bending the children backward to the ground. The one-on-one rehearsals at the Kirov’s Maryinsky Theater, in which dancers are lovingly coached in the nuances of their solos, make us feel the weight of history and tradition in the room. And there are daily-class glimpses of a cheerful, colorfully dressed Ms. Vishneva.

There is also much to feel extremely irritated about, chiefly the lugubrious voice-over by Diane Baker, who utters woolly platitudes like “In the land where ballet is a national art, ballet dancers enjoy unstinting prestige and stars draw crowds by their names alone” and “Russian female dancers were sublimated in a series of masterpieces, the most famous of which remains ‘Swan Lake.’ ”

Mr. Norman is clearly a fan, fascinated by the way the ballerina’s glamorous facade masks the sweat and toil of the studio. There are lots of shots of panting exhaustion or defeated moments. “God, when is it going to stop?” Ms. Zakharova asks Olga Moiseyeva, her coach, as they rehearse “Swan Lake.” It’s a question that encompasses the endless corrections, the constant rehearsals, the never-ending quest for unobtainable perfection — and the answer is: Never.

But the film spends too much time on moody atmosphere shots of the offstage dancers, and its editing and continuity control are annoyingly vague. It never addresses the question that balletomanes will want answered: What is specific about the St. Petersburg ballerina? And by showing dancers who are all successful, whatever their rank in the company (even the corps de ballet newbie, Ms. Somova, gets a debut as Odette/Odile in “Swan Lake”), Mr. Norman makes the backstage tears look eminently worthwhile.


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13 янв 2009, 04:36
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