Beauty and the Beast

First performed in its current production in Leeds, December 2011, and now on tour throughout the UK this October and November, Northern Ballet's Beauty and the Beast, choreographed by artistic director David Nixon.

In the course of the performance at Theatre Royale, Norwich, there was a giant hologram, full stage projections, on stage explosions, a judicious use of strobe lighting and bungee cords, seven different stage settings and seventeen scene changes in total. No mean achievement for a company which is currently suffering the effects of a draconian  25% funding cut.  

Artistic director David Nixon became interested in choreography when at the National Ballet School of Canada while still a dancer. His interest became more serious when he took over his first company, stating-

'I discovered that my work was pivotal in developing dancers’ potential and that I had an ability to tell stories through dance'. 

David Nixon has been artistic director of Northern Ballet since 2001. He's created new versions of Madame Butterfly, Swan Lake, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Peter Pan and The Three Musketeers. A highlight of his choreographic career is his innovative Dracula (1999). He received an OBE in the 2010 New Year Honours for his services to Ballet and his latest work, Cleopatra, was given it's world premiere in  Leeds in February 2011. 

The skeletal framework of Nixon's stylish interpretation of the archetypal story of the opposites, of outer beauty and inner moral worth, is the music of several French romantic composers. Setting the atmosphere firmly in the world of the daimonic and fairy-tale, the ballet opened with the Northern Ballet Sinfonia's lively rendering of Saint-Saen's Danse Macabre. 

Highlights of the evening included a tender pas de deux by the principal dancer's (Martha Leebolt and Giuliano Contadini) to the music of Debussy's Clair de Lune and a dream sequence pas de trois, in which Beauty and the Prince dance a rapturous love duet while the Beast despairingly gambols around them in torment. It was also nice to hear a zestful extract from Glazunov's The Seasons, a sprightly invitation to the dance matched by a riot of colour in costume change. 

Interspersed throughout the romantic fantasy there was humour, in particular from Beauty's two vain shopaholic sisters and most amusingly from the Beast's ape-like servants. The  prop link between a hand-held white rose and a giant-scale white rose in which Beauty slept as a guest of the Beast (photo above) was neat too.

Personally, I felt the last movement of Debussy's La Mer seemed a little too powerful and out of synch emotionally with the ballet's narrative, however, the love-story was well-served returning to the music of the composer opening the ballet; the celebrated pomp and grandeur of the final movement of Saint-Saens Organ Symphony was highly effective accompaniment to the climax and apotheosis of the fairy-tale ballet. The company of dancers received rapturous applause from an appreciative audience which seemed to enjoy the acrobatic talents of the Beast slightly more than Beauty's charms, for he received the louder applause at the curtain-call.

The story of Beauty and the Beast has inspired various artists since it's first recorded appearance in the 18th century. Earlier last century, the French multi-genre artist Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) made a film based upon what is, in essence, an utterly French tale of love, beauty and deception, La Bete et La Belle (1946). The American composer Philip Glass in turn, wrote an opera in 1994 based on Cocteau's film, which, closely following each scene, is effectively a new soundtrack for Cocteau's masterpiece.  

First performed in 1997, it's beginning to look as if Beauty and the Beast is establishing itself firmly in the ballet repertoire. I certainly hope so as David Nixon's stunning interpretation deserves preserving in the ephemeral world of modern dance.

Links - Northern Ballet

Giselle

On Friday evening I attended a performance by English Youth Ballet of Giselle at the Theatre Royale, Norwich. With a cast of over 100 young people the EYB is the only company which travels regionally throughout the United Kingdom to stage 8 full scale ballets annually. The company is augmented by 6 professional dancers in principal roles.

Artistic director Janet Lewis’s  up-dated version of Giselle  is set in early 1900's England, the class division between aristocracy and peasant emphasized by an 'upstairs-downstairs' theme which is highlighted in costume. Other notable differences in the EYB's inspired interpretation include the principal character of Giselle having a paternal ward instead of a maternal widow, the addition of other music by Adolphe Adam and quite naturally given the company’s youth, the omission of a Bacchanalian celebration. 

In the Janet Lewis and EYB production of the ballet Giselle the opportunity to showcase all the members of its company occurs, including its very youngest members.  It can be no easy logistical exercise to orchestrate in rehearsal and performance over 100 dancers ranging from the tender age of 8 to 18. The considerable amount of hard work and dedication needed for success shone through on the night of the performance; testimony to the fact that historically the English, one of the great ballet-loving nations of the world, have produced world-class dancers, choreographers and knowledgeable, appreciative audiences throughout the 20th century to the present-day.

First performed at the Paris Opera house in 1841 and originally set in a Rhineland village, Act one of Giselle celebrates the temporal world of human life, its joys and passions, the harvest of the fruits of the earth with an emphasis upon human mortality. In complete contrast Act  two of Giselle is set at night, in the supernatural and eternal world of the Wili's, vengeful female spirits who, jilted in love before their wedding-day have died heart-broken at their own hands. In the  second act of  EYB’s Giselle the corps de ballet was most spectacular in the co-ordination and symmetry of  two dozen ballerina’s dancing collectively as ethereal Wili’s.  In Act  two  Giselle defies the harsh rule of Myrtha, Queen of the underworld, that her lover Albrecht must suffer the fate of dancing himself to death (a curious anticipation of the climax of the first modern ballet of the 20th century, Stravinsky's  Le Sacre du Printemps).

With its  themes of  madness and suicide, the supernatural world and the power and triumph  of  love beyond the grave,  Giselle is the quintessential Romantic ballet. It’s a ballet which is notable on several accounts. Firstly for being a ballet for which music was written especially for it, the composer Adolphe Adam's score is full of memorable and danceable melodies, its also the first ballet score to use a leitmotif, that is, a recurrent  musical theme.

Secondly, as in Swan Lake, the principal role in Giselle makes considerable demands upon the prima ballerina who must be able to dance two quite different characters. In Giselle the prima ballerina dances the part of an innocent country girl who suffers heart-break, followed by madness and suicide. In Act 2 she must dance as an ethereal, other-worldly, spirit-creature who is determined to defy the  harsh rule of  Myrtha, Queen of the underworld. The part of  Giselle and of Queen Myrtha were excellently performed in the EYB production.

The role of Giselle was first danced by Carlotta Grisi at the tender age of 22; she was also the lover at the time of Jules Perrot, the first choreographer of Giselle. The ballet was first dreamt-up by the literary critic Theophilus Gautier from his reading a poem by the German poet Heinrich Heine.  In 1841 Gautier wrote to the German poet-

'My dear Heinrich Heine; when reviewing your fine book Uber Deutschland a few weeks ago, I came across a charming passage....where you speak of elves in white dresses, whose hems are always damp; of nixies who display their little satin feet on the ceiling of the nuptial chamber; of snow-coloured Wilis who waltz pitilessly and of those delicious apparitions you have encountered in the Harz mountains and on the banks of the Ilse, in a mist softened by German moonlight; and I involuntarily said to myself: 'wouldn't this make a pretty ballet'.  

Carlotta Grisi in the role of Giselle

Wiki-Link   Giselle

Romeo and Juliet

A scene from Moscow City Ballet performing Romeo and Juliet

Last night I attended a performance by the Moscow City Ballet of Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. Composed in 1935 during the dark days of Stalin's iron rule of Russia, the story of the tragic lovers of Verona is of course originally the subject of a play by William Shakespeare.  The ballet Romeo and Juliet is the musical work which established Prokofiev's fame as a composer upon his return to Soviet Russia - its become firmly established in the ballet repertoire. Written for a large orchestra including 6 horns, mandolin, violin d'amore, piano, organ and an extensive 'kitchen-department' of percussion, an unusual aspect of the musical score is the addition of a tenor saxophone. This single instrument adds lush colouration to the orchestral timbre. Prokofiev was not averse from occasionally re-cycling earlier musical material, and in Act 2 of Romeo and Juliet  inthe Ball room scene, the Gavotte of the Classical symphony (1917) is used to great effect.

Romeo and Juliet  has been choreographed a number of times. When Kenneth MacMillian re-interpreted it  for the Royal Ballet company in 1965  the leading roles were danced by Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev to great critical acclaim, re-launching and extending Fonteyn's dancing career. In 1977 Nureyev himself choreographed a new version of Romeo and Juliet for the London Festival Ballet company.

The Moscow City Ballet company was founded in 1988 by Russian choreographer Victor Smirnov-Golovanov. Their performance at the Theatre Royal Norwich, was marked with vitality and sensitivity. With lavish costumes and designs by Natalia Povago, the dance company  added gaiety and humour to the essentially dark tale of tragic love. In particular the company's leading female dancer Oryekhova Liliya in the role of Juliet, and Kozhabayev Talgat as Romeo, carry the success of the night's performance. It's a fairly long ballet with the best pas de deux of the ill-fated lovers occurring in the last ten minutes of Act I. If there is a weakness to any choreographing of Romeo and Juliet, it occurs in Act III which demands a lot of scene changing and coming and going during night-time in the plot. Indeed I noticed the love of my life glancing at her wrist-watch more than once during this final act. One highly original aspect of Golovanov's choreography of Romeo and Juliet is its very beginning coinciding with its ending. The bodies of all three tragic deaths are  presented to the audience carried in bier-fashion as if upon an  upside-down cross.

Black Swan

                                   Natalie Portman in Black Swan

Yesterday I attended a screening of  the latest Darren Aronofsky film, the controversial  Black Swan. Set in  New York in the gruelling world of  a Ballet company in rehearsal, it’s the story of  Nina  who has to prove herself capable of performing the dual lead role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. The theatrical director thinks  she is too much a perfectionist and although technically  able to perform the part of Odette, the white swan, out of touch with her inner, sexual self  to  perform the role of Odile, the black swan.

It should be remembered that in some ways the dual role of white swan/black swan in Tchaikovsky's perennial masterpiece is the Hamlet role in the ballet world. It requires that the dancer not only projects the pure innocence of the white swan heroine, but also the seductive femme fatale role of the black swan. There's  not too many dramatic roles which demand acting both the goodie and the baddie.

It’s a slow burner of a film which deliberately plays tricks upon the viewer. Natalie Portman’s acting throughout totally engages the audience to empathize with her fate as she confronts her possessive and manipulative mother, jealous peers and predatory director.  Issues such as body image, sexuality, rivalry, madness, obsessiveness and the quest for perfection are explored as Nina’s psyche  slowly unravels under pressure into  a deceptive hallucinatory world.

Natalie Portman has already won numerous awards for her acting in Black Swan and may yet well win more in the coming Oscar season. Personally I feel she deserves to. She acted a  not dissimilar role of  disintegration of personality in Milos Foreman’s 'Goya’s Ghosts' (2006).

 Black Swan has been compared in its decent into paranoia and madness to Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, Repulsion and The Tenant as a psycho-drama. It's as scary as the aforementioned Polanski films in horror and subtle deception of the viewer.  Film critics  however seem to be sharply divided between hate and admiration of Black Swan, some considering Aronofsky’s offering  to be shallow, pretentious and stereotypical in its portrayal of ambitious women, and those who consider it  redeemed by compelling performances  and direction.

 Black Swan shares some of the thematic concerns of Powell and Pressburger’s 1948 ballet film The Red Shoes in its portrait of artistic destruction in the quest for perfection. In essence however Aronofsky's Black Swan is a  horror psycho-drama which exploits the physical and mental pressures of ballet for its own artistic agenda.

                   Prima ballerina Irena Kolesnikova in the role 
                     of the black Swan in  Swan Lake

Notre-Dame de Paris

Esmeralda and Quasimodo

Last night I watched 'Notre-Dame de Paris' on DVD ( TDK 1996). Based upon the famous nineteenth century novel by Victor Hugo, 'The Hunch-back of Notre-Dame' (1831), Hugo's story has undergone numerous adaptions in various genres throughout the centuries.

Roland Petit (1924-2011) has made a brilliant choreographic adaptation of Hugo's novel. Attracted to stories in which 'beings apart' be they wretched or hideous who fall prey to femmes fatales, the seductive face of death, as in his earliest masterpieces ' The young Man and Death', (1946) and 'Carmen (1949), it's not too surprising that Hugo's tale of love and death should attract the attention of Petit's choreographic skills.

The essentially menage-a-trois story of Esmeralda the gypsy girl, the Arch-Deacon Frollo and the hunch-back Quasimodo is given a fresh and original interpretation by the celebrated French ballet-master. First performed in 1965, Petit's ballet is a hybrid of traditional ballet and modern dance movement. In particular the hand and the many gestures its able to express is liberated by his choreography.

The part of Quasimodo is amazingly danced by Nicolas Le Riche. It requires some considerable balletic skill to dance the part of a deformed and alienated individual. It also adds to one's appreciation of how athletic and graceful the corps de ballet are. The vivid costume colours enhance the crowd scenes which are powerful and dramatic. Equally brilliant is the dancing of Isabelle Guerin as Esmeralda. The music composed by Maurice Jarre adequately supports the action without ever being original enough to be a focus in its own right. The staging at the Opera national de Paris incorporates stark but impressive sets. With a story which is set in medieval Paris, not so geographically remote from the Paris Opera House itself, Roland Petit's choreographic interpretation of Hugo's masterpiece is likely to remain in the repertoire of the National Ballet of Paris for a long time.

Sleeping Beauty

Last night I watched a DVD recording of the Swedish choreographer Mat Ek's 'The Sleeping Beauty' performed by the Cullberg Ballet (1999). Modern choreographers like Maurice Bejart, like Jiri Kylian and Mat Ek have re-worked old favourites to a choreography which highlights their distinctive style and choreographic genius. Outrageous in places, I'd always been crazy about Eks re-working of Swan Lake with its prominent role for the Prince, from when I first saw it in 1993. I've now discovered how to share snippets of Video of Classical and Contemporary dance on this blog. Just go to Modern Dance and Ballet Video page to see why I'm so enthusiastic about Ek's radical choreography of perennial favourites such as 'Sleeping Beauty', it's certainly very different from stereotypical perceived traditional ballet and in the vanguard of contemporary choreography.

Black and White

A scene from Jiří Kylián DVD 'Black and White'

I thought I was onto something with the idea that the music of Mozart embodied the 'spirit of the dance', but a quick rummage through the old DVD library reveals that choreographers have long ago hit upon the same idea that the music of Mozart is eminently danceable. Never underestimate the power of cryptoamnesia!

While the music of J.S.Bach may be satisfyingly geometric and full of deep emotion upon the dignity of man and his relationship with God, it is in Mozart's music, a man who himself enjoyed dancing that 'the spirit of the dance' comes alive best. I wish I still possessed a videotape copy of Maurice Bejart's Tangomozart in which the music of Mozart alternates with Argentinian Tango's, but I do still have, albeit a bit blurry, a recording of Bejart's choreographing the music of Mahler and Ravel with great effect.

Far more rewarding however is the choreography of the Czech Jiří Kylián, ballet-master of the Netherlands Dance Theater. Using music from a set of German dances K571 by Mozart and for Petit Mort, slow movements from two of his piano concerto's namely number 21 in C major K467 and number 23 in A major K488, Jiří demonstrates the potential of Mozart's music in terms of choreographic expression. The German dances in particular are hilarious as Kylián picks up on Mozart's own dramatic sensibility in his music to illustrate the differences and misunderstandings between the sexes; here's what the sleeve notes state-

The piece of music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Six German Dances, K 571, (14:00) like all the others , is new and witty. Many of the eight dancers' actions are coarse and speedy, full of threats, unrest and absurdity. the men wear powdered periwigs above their naked torsi; the ladies are clothed in drastic skirts. And in the illumination of the spotlights, scintillating soap bubbles fall from the rigging loft in cascades down upon the dancers. The equally witty and bizarre scene is a winking paen to the Baroque and Rococo ages and their decades of infatuation with splendour and pomp, ending in clouds of wig powder and soap bubbles. Images full of humour and comedy prove once more what an imaginative, charismatic power Jiří Kylián possesses. The delicious humour of the piece moved numerous viewers and reviewers to remark that the Salzburg composer would have enjoyed it. Even if Six Dances appears to be no more than a sparkling witty assembly of nonsense carried out in costumes designed by the choreographer himself, who calls them "Mozartian underwear", there is still a dark, ominous undertone.

The sleeve-notes of the 1996 DVD say it so much better than I ever could-

For the piece Petit Mort, (18:00) Jiří Kylián chose the slowest movements from two of Mozart's most beautiful and best-loved piano concerto's. Although suffused with some humour, the ballet is driven forward with a kind of aesthetic brutality. Aggression, sexual tension, energy, but equally stillness and vulnerability plat the determining roles here. along with the six male dancers and six female dancers, six rapiers are also equal "partners" in the game, as are already the familiar Rococo costumes, which are moved across the stage on tailor's dummies. ..In this "little death" , the six men provide an astonishing performance of sword-play, but not like in the usual kind of cloak-and-dagger film. the blows and parries proceed almost as if in a kind of military discipline. Only after the ladies join them do the couples celebrate Mozart's sensual music. (Above photo)

The Leopard

In Luchino Visconti's 1963 film 'The Leopard' Il Gattopardo, the star of the film is the Sicilian landscape, the whole film being a pageant of Sicilian culture. Burt Lancaster acts the lead as a Prince Salina, a Sicilian aristocrat. The highlight of the 178 minute film is a 45 minute ballroom sequence in which the world-weary Prince dances with the bride-to-be. Visually stunning in its photography, Visconti makes a political statement about the era in which the film is set, namely the Italian unification of 1870. 

Mozart in Paris

When the 22 year-old Mozart arrived in Paris in March 1778 he had high hopes of making a name for himself. However he discovered Parisian society to be fickle, inconsiderate and exploitative; Spring-time in Paris was not a happy affair for the young Mozart. He found himself disrespected, treated indifferently and worse of all, his honour and pride as a musician wounded. He described such treatment in a letter to his father-

A week went by without any news whatsoever. However, she had told me to call after the lapse of a week so I kept my word and presented myself to her. On my arrival I was made to wait half an hour in a great ice-cold unwarmed room, unprovided with any fire-place. At length the Duchess de Charbot came in, greeted me withe greatest civility, begged me to make the best of the clavier since it was the only one in order, and asked me to try it. "I am very willing to play" , said I, "but momentarily my hands are numb with cold," and begged she would at least conduct me to a room with a fire. "Oh , oui monsieur, vous avez raison, " was all the answer I received, and thereupon she sat down and began to sketch, continuing for a whole hour in company with a party of gentlemen who sat in a circle round a big table. The windows and the doors stood open, and not only my hands, but my whole body and my feet were chilled. My head began to ache...I did not know what to do for cold, headache and tedium. I kept on thinking, "If it were not for Monsieur Grimm I would leave this instant". At last to be brief I played the wretched, miserable pianoforte. Most vexing of all, however, Madame and her gentlemen never ceased their sketching for a moment, but remained intent upon it , so that I had to play to the chairs, tables and walls.Under these vile conditions I began to lose patience.....

In the same letter to his father, Wolfgang describes the difficulties of establishing himself socially in Paris and his problems living in the City-

You write that I ought to be assiduous in paying visits to form new acquaintances and revive the old ones. But this is not possible. The distances are too great for walking - or else the roads too dirty, for the filth of Paris is indescribable. As to driving - one has the honour of expending four to five livres a day - and all in vain; people return your compliments and there's an end. ...At first I wasted money enough in this way - and often entirely in vain, for i found the people from home. If one were not here one could not believe how hopeless it is ! Altogether Paris is greatly changed. The French are not as polite as fifteen years ago. Their manners border on coarseness and they are terribly discourteous. Letter dated May 1 1778

Ever hopeful, a month later he breaks some potentially good news to his father-

I am not merely to write an act for an opera, but an entire one in 2 acts. The poet has completed the first act. Noverre with whom I dine as often as I please, managed this, and indeed, suggested the 'idea' April 5 1778

Hope of collaboration with Noverre in a large-scale theatrical production was still in the air another month later, as he informed his father-

I shall soon, I believe, get the libretto for my opera en deux acts and shall first of all have to show it to the director Monsieur de Huime, for his approval. there is not a doubt of that, however, for it comes from Noverre and De Huime has Noverre to thank for his new post. Noverre is about to design a new ballet and i am to compose music for it. Letter dated 14 th May 1778

The ballet-master Jean-George Noverre (1727-1810) had already written his major treatise upon dance in 1760. In it he argues that consideration for movement of the dancer is essential. Any costume which restricted the movement of the dancer was discouraged, the ballet d'action was first and foremost to be centred upon displaying the skills of the dancer ; furthermore the story-line was to engage in simple, clear, unambiguous emotions, assisted by appropriate music which empathized with setting, dance and action. Noverre's treatise effectively paved the way for the birth and development of modern ballet as we know it today.

When Noverre met the young Mozart in Paris he was nearly thirty years the young composer's senior and wise to the fickleness of the Parisian audience. Its not improbable that while dining with the young Mozart the well-traveled Chevalier may have recollected his travels, including his years resident in England, 1754-56 when resident at London and Norwich. Noverre may well have witnessed the completion of the latest building by Thomas Ivory, architect of his Norwich home, now the Assembly Rooms and one-time Noverre cinema. Ivory's architectural masterpiece was however, the Octagonal chapel at Colegate, Norwich-over-the-water which was completed in the year of Mozart's birth, 1756. Its Neo-classical facade and geometrical architecture would not be incongruous as the back-drop to a Mozart opera; its Octagonal shape and imposing entrance a fitting setting for the Masonic rituals of Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute.

It's still very much the same tune from Wolfgang in a letter to his father 3 months later-

'Noverre, too is soon to arrange a new ballet, for which I am to write the music. July 3rd 1778

The resultant fruits of Mozart's collaboration with Noverre was a Suite of Ballet-music entitled Les Petit Riens K299b. It was performed just six times without mention of the composer's name in either billing or programme. The Symphony in D major K.297 now known as the "Paris" symphony was a greater compositional achievement and concert-hall success. Written in the festive and civic social key of D major in an easy-pleasing style and scored with the added luxury of 2 clarinets, a pungent air of the flamboyant, the vigorous and athletic pervades its mood. The Wood-wind scoring in particular of a rich harmony due to the addition of a pair of clarinets, the first time Mozart had written for the relatively new instrument. After a successful performance Mozart celebrated with a walk in the park and a Sherbet after having said his rosary.

But it was also during his Paris visit that personal tragedy was to strike the young composer . On the night of the 2nd/3rd July 1778, after a short illness, his mother died.

From this bereavement came the composition marking the emotional rite-de-passage, his Sonata for Violin and pianoforte K 304; the only time Mozart wrote in the key of E minor. There's a real traumatized, heart-wrenching grief of the recently-bereaved expressed in the sobbing opening bars of this sonata; its second movement is calmer, more like grief in reflection upon the memory of his departed mother. Paris had produced fruits in composition, but not how Mozart had imagined in the form of opera. Half a year since his arrival in Paris , Mozart had the measure of how his talent was vulnerable to time-wasting exertion without economic reward, writing to his father-

I ought to write an opera now (having said that I am going away), but I said to Noverre, "If you will guarantee me its production as soon as it is finished and will tell me exactly what you will pay me for it, i will stay another three months and write it". they did not agree to these terms , however, and I knew before-hand that they would not and could not, since they are not according to usage here. Here, as perhaps you know, an opera is examined on its completion, and if the "stupid Frenchmen " do not approve of it, it is not given and the composer has written in vain.. Letter dated 11th September 1778

When Mozart left Paris he must surely have shook the dust from his feet and muttered 'Never again' under his breath; indeed he never returned to Paris. The six month sojourn had produced relatively few compositions, the manuscript of Le Petit Riens was lost, only to be 'rediscovered' in 1873; the Paris symphony marks one more rung climbed in symphonic development for the composer. There were also 4 flute concerto's and an insipid-sounding Flute and Harp Concerto in C major K 299 , composed during his stay, both were instruments Mozart cared little for.

The young composer returned to the service of Archbishop Colleredo in Salzburg. A position of servitude he endured for 3 more years, before a final break. He still however had one last laugh at his would-be Parisian sponsors. His prodigious musical genius shines through in his letter declaration en route to Salzburg to his father-

The result is that I am bringing no finished work with me save my sonatas - for Le Gros bought the two overtures and the symphony concertante . He thinks he has them all to himself, but it is not so - they are still fresh in my head and as soon as I am home I shall write them out again! -Oct 3 1778

There were greater compositions, greater concert-hall and theatrical triumphs awaiting the young composer in Vienna and Prague, but not in Paris.

Ice Dance

With the World Ice-skating championships on at Turin, Italy, Mar 22-28, I can't resist posting this photo of Meryl Davis and Charlie White (USA)  who frustratingly win Silver medal yet again. I've been following this sport for 25 years now and, like many am puzzled and amazed by the marks sometimes awarded by the judges.

Fast forward to February 17th 2014 Winter Olympics Ice Free Dance, Sochi, Russia.

Swan Lake

Probably the greatest ballerina I've ever had the pleasure of seeing dance is Irina Kolesnikova who danced Odette/Odile in Tchaikovsky's perennial classic, Swan Lake at the Theatre Royale, Norwich in January 2003. I also saw her twice in January 2007 and luckily, have a  DVD of her performance to remember her.

Postscript December 8th 2010 : - There is doubt as to whether Irena will be the principal dancer when Saint Petersburg ballet company visits Norwich in January 2011