Sunday evening Mr. smileywoman and I went to see the Bolshoi perform Don Quixote. My husband informed me that he much more prefers allegro to adagio…not surprising for someone who has attention deficit disorder {ADD}.

The notable cast for the 7:30 performance was:
Kitri - Svetlana Zakharova
Basil – Denis Matvienko
Friends – Anna Rebgetskaya, Olga Stebletsova
Toredor – Andrey Merkuryev
Street Dancer – Anastasia Yatsenko
Mistress of Dryads – Ekaterina Shipulina
Cupid- Anastasia Stashkevich
Gypsy dancer – Yuliana Malkhasyants

Although I liked Svetlana in both Don Quixote and Cinderella, I am more impressed with her adagio (i.e. Cinderella) which simply takes my breath away. I did not have the same feeling about her Don Q performance, but don’t get me wrong! Svetlana is still an amazing technician.

Regarding the dancer who portrayed Basil, I had never heard of Denis Matvienko before, and ironically a DDN thread about him (and his wife) appeared a couple of days ago. Mr. Matvienko was simply amazing!

Here’s a video of Denis dancing with his wife www.art-tv.ch . . .

Here are some youtube videos of him:
Turning - www.youtube.com . . . wow!
Jumps - www.youtube.com . . . amazing!
www.youtube.com . . .

The Kennedy Center crowds loved Svetlana and she received the most thunderous applause of all the dancers.


Here are some youtube videos of her in Don Quixote:
www.youtube.com . . .
www.youtube.com . . .

I don't have any large pics of Svetlana from Don Quixote, so if you DDNers have any...post them here!

I think Skyekytti may have gone to the same performance as you...


anyway, you are SO lucky that you saw Svetlana dance! It is my dream to see her one day. Everything she does just seems so perfect. You saw a show with a great cast too. I would also like to see Denis and Ekaterina someday as well. Maybe someday!

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Source: www.geneschiavone.com . . .

So, you liked her, but you weren't that thrilled?

How did you like Ekaterina Shipulina?

^Leggie,

Don't get me wrong, I think Svetlana is an incredible dancer. I was just pointing out that for me personally, she is much more breathtaking at adagio.

I thought Ekaterina Shipulina was really good, and she's really pretty.

Hugs!

That's so exciting! We never get anyone particularly interesting through Atlanta, so I never get to see anyone fun. But seeing Svetlana must have been a real treat!

Smiley, what I wanted to tell you:

The Bolshoi will come to Berlin in October 2008, they will perform "Swan Lake" and "The Bright Stream".

I am sooo going to go!!