This was a Gala that caused great expectation; international first dancers came to the appointment at the Teatro Real to make tribute to the great Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. From fotoescena we also followed it with great interest and this has been the first time in our forum with so much users commenting about a performance what reveals the great interest it deserved and the good decision it is that of programming dance of quality.

So, and with the wish to thank all our forum users that told us about their fillings, we publish fragments of their opinions, anonymous or not but always with their permission and accompanied by the exclusive images of Jesús Vallinas who was granted to shot during the performance.

Written by Margot:

"Alexandrova, Vishnieva and Osipova delighted me, even with their arms that I didn’t found so wrong. Just being able to see them performing was so exiting… Vishnieva in Manon seemed wonderful to me, from Osipova I liked very much her turns and her diagonals and Alexandrova fascined me only with her presence. I didn’t know Ilse Liepa and I agree with Lluvia, I found her fantastic. About all the rest, very well, I can not point out anybody specially, maybe Ricardo Cervera who had a small role but very well done.

I also liked Bernd Burgmaier, his arms and his feet were really brilliant.

I found the program a bit odd, but being a Gala honouring Maya I imagine that it was her who chose what she liked most. And, of course, I have to comment the video starting the Gala… videos and ballet…I do not know what happens, they could have tried to not cut heads and feet in nearly all sequences, one just shortens the image in the beamer and that’s all… it fits to the screen! And in addition there was no title, nothing! It was really plain.. they could have made a more gripping stuff. …"

Written by Narodnaia (Silvia Sánchez):

..."Manon.- a great Vishneva. I was expecting to find the room “pas à deux”, but we had the marsh one instead. As I said, Vishneva impressed me because of her ease and the dramatics when seeing that so thin body of the dying character moved around in thousand manners by her partenaire, Igor Kolb, (with problems in one of that portées, but without loosing grace). I would have liked it very much to have an autograph of Vishneva, but she had to immediately leave to Moscow. –The dying of the Swan. So much division is a bit odd to me, I’m pretty sure that if Lopatkina had come we would have seen a swan death competing with Plisetskaya’s one, but this had not been possible. Did anyone imagine after seeing the program that it could be an usual swan death???. Bernd Burgmaier was appropriated to what is expected to find in his company works, a crazy version of the classics.  Intermedio de Goyescas.- I have no knowledge about Spanish dance so I hardly can give an opinion, I liked, but I do not know if it would had been the same in case it had lasted more. La Reine- The most “sui generis” piece of all the gala, rare but effective. Mayerling.- Great Ricardo Cervera, who tried to take the maximum profit of his moments. I have liked again Carlos Acosta after seeing him absolutely deflated (in my opinion) in that Lake of El Retiro, at least he came back to that powerful style I saw from him in another MacMillan’s work ``Requiem´´. I like Tamara in that styles, she masters the difficult art of Macmillan’s “Pas à deux”, even if I would have liked a larger actress. Don Quijote.-Belogolovtsev had serious problems with energy, with his and with Osipova’s one, as her grandeur in what concerns dance makes him seem even smaller. I found him rather poor and made me miss the power of former Bolshoi principals. Osipova was good to me, although somewhat different of what I had seen form her in videotapes.  A pity that she could not offer us a bit more of her incredible jump, but she compensated it with her profusion (and how good) of pirouettes. Narciso. - A bit short to be able to appreciate the art of this dancer, but very nice. Ave Maya.-, so that, the name is self explanatory: ``Ave, Maya´´! This small piece, which I was lucky to see some years ago in the more intimate atmosphere of the Teatro Madrid, is no more than a small work that Plisetskaya shows with delight for her love to her audience….” 

Written by LLuvia:

"Tamara Rojo was not bad, but I would like to see her a time when she is not injured, or just recovered, etc.. because what a chance that each time she comes to Spain it is like this. Ilse Liepa seemed fantastic to me. Very good expression and very good performance. From my seat her extensions and her feed looked wonderful. Her partenaire was only this, a partenaire. She was one of my favourites. Alexandrova.... well.... good in turns... she seemed quite normal, not so great. And those arms... puff. This is to say good in turns but nothing else. I found Uvarov delicate and elegant in his movements, but being masculine at the same time (I say this because there are some that are too much delicate and they seem to be the Princess instead of the Prince). Big jumps, it seemed to be big (but this I do not know for sure). By the way, did anyone else have the impression that Uvarov could not deal with Alexandrova? Manon-. I have to say that at the beginning (some years ago), Vishneva was not ranking too high in my scale, but by now, without being one of my favourites, she seems astonishing to me and yesterday I found her.... -ohh- I have no words.

She has not wonderful feet, but who needs them when one is Vishneva, because the latest you look at are her feet. About Igor I prefer to not commit myself (what a coward I am) because I spend all the time looking at her. I was eager to see more”…

Written by Medora:

""The truth is that I’m a bit zombie, but I’ll try to concentrate in my feelings of yesterday night.

What I think is that the gala was a bit unbalanced, as the first part was brilliant and at the second the level went a bit down in the rhythm because both the woman with the silver balloons and Lola Greco, with all my respect, didn’t make sense there. But after seeing Maria Alexandrova, I went blind by her beauty and do not know if I was able to normally see…

As far as the repertoire chosen by Tamara is concerned, I understand it if it was because of her injury but Mayerling would have been more appropriate in a gala in London, or honouring McMillan, but Romeo and Juliet Maia danced once, would have fitted more. I ask myself if in such cases it is not better to decline and invite another ballerina, I do not know… I was looking for Corsaire “pas à deux”, sniff!"...

Vishneva was wonderful in Manon. Both she and Ilgor Kolb got inside the skin of their roles at the dramatic end, even if they had not danced the complete work.

Alexandrova, wonderful, arrogant, flirting, sure as black swan. Uvarov didn’t have his best day, but was correct and he is not so young... Osipova showed the great promise she is (in some details her youth was noticed) even if in her variation there were no jumps… Ilse Liepa great actress (and great beauty as we could see at the exit) performed Mme Bovary with great strength together with a devoted Peretokin.

It was a gala for ladies to show off, with the permission of Acosta and Tsikaridze."

But not all was positive. There was who didn’t like anything. As always there’s no accounting for taste and we want to show you all points of view; for you to judge…

Written by Marita (Mar Violero):

"For your stillness, the ones of you who have not attended this gala haven’t missed anything special. If you want to see each one of the dancers you can do it at YouTube without any need to pay a lot of money to be swindled. Any aficionado who knows a bit about ballet and attended yesterday’s performance, would easily see that this gala has been a shoddy trick using the Teatro Real with the aim of collecting money for an objective that the audience deserves to know.

To start it is frankly a shame and absolutely inappropriate for a place as the Teatro Real is that the audience of some areas had to share the program as there were not enough! They have also allowed the entrance once the performance had begun. I ask myself: Had that also been permitted at the stalls? I guess not.

The Teatro Real, which reconstruction has been paid by all, my means of our duties, discriminates one zone against other. It is ok that they have put a documental, but, to be honest, from the 16 dancers participating to the gala, at least half of them weren’t wanted. There was no need about Marchela Soltan. What did she make on stage with those balloons?

And what about Bernd Burgmaier? Audience laughed at him clowning around, fitting more in a circus performance of third category. I didn’t like this at all, being a legendary piece of Maya Plisetskaya.

I can’t believe that Andrei Uvarov is an experimented dancer. He doesn’t finish the tours, he is lacking al least a quarter of turn. He has been very lucky that the music ended because at the very last he would had felled down on earth and he solved the problem the best he could but completely unbalanced. Dimitry Belogolovtsev seems also to have serious problems with his turns. He starts back because if not he wouldn’t be able to finish them. And Natalia Osipova is a very good dancer, but she is still very young and she has a long way to do. She has to learn how to control; she has had at least 15 seconds of music left. It has been too much evident.

And what about Maya Plisetskaya? When she was ready to go, somebody in my area commented “I really do not know what she is going to do". Clearly speaking, her mission is to be resting at home, collecting the fruits of her work and deserving tributes, because to do what she did yesterday it would had been better to not show”

Written by Mercurio (Jesús Vallinas)

"It was from long time ago, a lot of time ago, that I have seen a Gala of those one writes in capital "G" without being pretentious. This has been one of this, truly. Unequal, with recorded music, some fails in the projection, with an order a bit estrange for depending what tastes and some unwanted works for many of the attendants, but of high Standard.

Mme. Plitsetskaya is Russian, and Russian has been the accent of this tribute to her. Vishneva, Aleksandrova and an Osipova that took ones breath away have set very high standards up to an unreachable level for the rest of mortals. Tamara, still injured, demonstrated she can be fair even if she is not the leading ballerina, something not very usual to find among our stars and that deserves to be pointed out as the most commendable attitude of the Spanish night. Ricardo Cervera did his best in a small role, giving the adequate scope to a "Mayerling" difficult to fit and that Carlos Acosta had been able to dramatize in a very convincing way. 

The Princess looked elegant and refined, ideal as partner of his Highness the Prince. I was surprised by the polite but cold welcome of the audience, maybe I’m becoming very monarchist as Spain is being broken up in lands thirsty of boast... and I say that it surprised me because it is the first time, I thing, that they officially show on the dance balcony. Some would not like this but for me it was a reason of relief, as the support of the Crown in that of Ballet is fundamental in our State of Cultural Exception. You know, the exception of the cultural...

Shine, strength, power, devotion, splendour. A great tribute that I hope does not only be deserved to the age of the main protagonist, but to what she represented decades ago and today, with the urgency of a starving present, we need and beg to their majesties: 

Excellence in dance. A conservatory. A company. A possibility for our Osipovas."

To finish I leave you here this final Picture, with Mme. Plitsetskaya and Osipova greeting the audience from the extremes of their respective ages. And a question for reflection, will the emerging generation be able to create that passion Maya got once to motivate the audience? 

English translation by Carolina Masjuan

>do you want to say something? do it here (Spanish forum)>>>>

>>>>versión española >>

Shots, from up to down:

· Nikolai Tsiskaridze plays "Narcise" - Carlos Acosta in "Mayerling" - Carlos Acosta and Tamara Rojo in "Mayerling"- Tamara Rojo in "Cinco valses de Brahms" - Ricardo Cervera in "Mayerling" - Natalia Osipovaand Dmitry Belogolovtsev in "Don Quijote" - Maria Aleksandrova and Andrei Uvarov in "Cisne Negro" - Bernd Burgmaier in "La muerte del Cisne " - Dmitry Belogolovtsev in "Don Quijote" - Lola Greco in "Intermedio de Goyescas" - Marchela Soltan and Natalia Osipova and Maya Plitsetskaya greet the audience.

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