I like this interpretation. Some tend to make Odile kind of aggressive, and here she is dominant, but very regal. Sort of "if you behave yourself, I let you carry me a bit. Good boy. Now, put me back. Now stay there. No, don't get closer. Ok, now you can kiss my hand". And all it with taste, elegance and, certainly, technique.
I love Nina Kaptsova .And so glad she is back, there were some rumors. I saw her first in the Adagio from the ballet Spartacus and was immediately taken with her. Also such a beautiful piece and to Aram Khachaturjan beautiful music.
You can tell she is a product of the old-school Moscow academy in her mannerisms. Brava! I prefer the Bolshoi port de bras over the Vaganova-trained ballerinas. Nina and Maria Alexandrova are the only primas at the Bolshoi who possess the true Moscow dancing tradition. Svetlana does not.
And is scandalous that Svetlana is only one again in the role of prima and Nina and Alexandra work with contract.. So sad.. Nina is amazing, much better than zakharova
I agree. Svetlana Lunkina and Natalia Osipova also have pretty good Moscow style. Zakharova graduated from Vaganova so she doesn't have the pure, true Moscow style.
The Bolshoi's finest prima ballerina, unfortunately the management doesn't seem aware of it and only spoils the hyper-extended, with 0 dramatic skills gymnasts that pretend to be dancers, let alone ballerinas.
it's harder and harder for soubrettes to get better recognition nowadays in big russian companies, whether it's mariinsky or bolshoi. bolshoi still have soubrette primas, however since vaziev took over the bolshoi the casting for tall and vaganova grads has been favored even more.
Danila Sedo Yup, I mean Smirnova was recently casted as AURORA!? are you freaking kidding me? that broke up my heart, having madame Kaptsova who is the best Aurora of her generation Vaziev decided to cast.. Smirnova, whose natural role would be the Lilac Fairy but never in the life Aurora, but why would he cast a true Prima actually suited to the part when he can misscast a hyper tall and slim and cold Diva with no ability to connect steps whatsoever, Nina is 40 yrs and will retire one day, the hope is in Krysanova (who can't be compared with MADAME kaptsova) but who still a BOLSHOI Grad with Bolshoi genes and who is a soubrette to raise the Bolshoi flag over the invasion of Vaganova grads, especially now since Alexandrova left, The Mariinsky doesn't look like the Mariinsky and now the Bolshoi looks like the Mariinsky, the world upside down.
I'm thinking that maybe the Bolshoi is trying Smirnova to be the next Zakharova. Most of their cinema relays and premiers are lead by her. To be honest I like Smirnova but her aesthetics are not classical. She'd already danced the Prima roles like Swan Lake, Giselle, Kitri and Beauty but she did not own any of this roles. She's great in neo-classical and contemporaries though but the Bolshoi is a classical company. As for Kaptsova's case, it's really sad. I've been following Kaptsova for years and saw how she hard she worked to be on top and still not be given the right attention for her unique talent. The last time I saw her live as Aurora was in the previous production and seeing a few clips of her in YT makes me think that she just got better in the role. She's close to retirement yes, but let's just hope that more doors will open for such great artist. No Bolshoi grad in the current roster can match her uniqueness.
Danila Sedo Yes the Bolshoi management aka Mr. Vaziev(a man who LOVES hyper extended, hyper thin and hyper cold dancers) is definitely working the path so Smirnova becomes Zakharova's successor, and yes Kaptsova just keeps getting better, she's not only the most classically classical ballerina the Bolshoi has had since Madame Maximova, Kaptsova is also the best actress in the company, the prettiest and as we all know: a hard worker, I just have massive respect for her, she's the real deal and those hyper extended gals are going to be the end of the art form* *The problem isn't that a dancer is tall, the problem is that most of them are Hyper extended! but there are a few Tall dancers that *aren't* hyper extended and they give me life, there are also short dancers that are hyper extended but mostly the tall ones are, freaking Russians and their freaking obsession for creating Gymnasts and try to make them dance ballet, that's gonna be the dead of the art form, they have absolutely no respect for the principles of Academic Classical Ballet, all I see are distorted lines, misplaced limbs flying all over the place and feet scratching ears(and on top of that, those dancers don't have artistry nor acting skills, you can't tell which role they're supposed to be playing and if it weren't for their costume you can't tell if they're supposed to play Aurora or Kitri) alright sorry for the rant, Danila, I'm just such a die hard classicist.
Emma F When Vaziev was announced that he'll be taking over the directorship in Bolshoi, I was shocked mostly because of this reason. He loves and gives more attention to aesthetically pleasing dancers and put the soubrettes in the corps like what he did from the vaganova grads in the late 20th century. So imagine the number of soubrettes in Bolshoi that was currently getting low support. Kaptsova not getting other classical debut, Obratsova still not getting important classical debuts. Turazashvili, Tikhomirova, Shrainer to name a few has been stuck on the same spot in the roster. I hope they dont end up like Kaptsova that waited for 15 years to be promoted or maybe even not until the end of their career. We're both fan of the classics and probably we're saddened by the fact that ballet is playing a different role now in our society than it is from the last few decades. Hyperextensions are seen as quality of a great ballerina and most young ballet goers prefer this (technicality) rather than a lyrical and musical performer. And you're right Emma, there's nothing wrong with tall dancers if the masses love the aesthetically pleasing looks of their limbs so long as they know when, where and how to place an extension rather than just keeps on kicking their legs higher than their ego... I mean head.
Nina's dancing is a perfect combination with the lightness of her libra sun, the agility of her Aries moon and the emotionality of her scorpio rising. She was born on a full moon.
I think, I was be Nina Kaptsova from postur performance with my friends, Bambang Setiadi or Budi Gunawan and M. Rizal Firmansyah as statue of head in back ground of the show to be the witness.
