As Jerry Seinfeld (or perhaps it was Elaine…), used to say, “One door closes and another opens.” It now seems that the Bolshoi Theatre, after a six-year, $700 million renovation, is like a revolving door for star dancers coming and going. David Hallberg recently made worldwide headlines when he became the first American to join the venerated Bolshoi Ballet (click here to read about that), while still retaining his principal status with American Ballet Theatre.
Ah, it seems like only yesterday (it was actually last year), when the ballet world received that jolt: Duato resigned from Compañía Nacional de Danza, the troupe he’d led for 20 years (click here to read our 2007 L.A. Times article previewing CND II’s appearance), and shortly thereafter, in another shocker, we learned that Duato would be helming the Mikhailovsky (he took the reins in January of this year). After all, how would the hot-blooded Mediterranean dancer/choreographer/director take to the freezing climes of Russia and a very different school of balletic thinking?
Obviously, with coups like recruiting Ivan and Natalia, Duato is adapting very well! We’re also proud to say that we knew Osipova and Vasiliev back in the day – or at least back in 2006, when we got to hang out with them at Havana’s International Ballet Festival. (Under the artistic direction of Alicia Alonso, this is one of the great pointe shoe festivals in the world – click here to read more about the nonagenarian who has no plans to disband her troupe, Ballet Nacional de Cuba.) But back to the Russians: When we met them a mere five years ago, they were soooo young – Ivan, 17, Natalia, 20 – but were already fire-breathing superstars. As their partnership deepened, so did their artistry.
And that’s what their move is about – “artistic freedom.” With the defection, the pair will not only have the chance to perform with other companies in addition to the Mikhailovsky, but will be able to broaden their repertories, which is what every great dancer wants to do – must do – in this YouTube era. (Click here to read our Dance Magazine coverage on Osipova’s role in the Bolshoi’s 2011 program, Reflections. We couldn’t get to the Kings of Dance concert this year, when Vasiliev participated, but click here for our Dance Mag coverage of last year’s concert and click here for our LA Times coverage of the original Kings in 2006.)
And for more on the latest Bolshoi defections, click here to read the New York Times coverage of this stunning bit of news. As we’ve been following the duo’s meteoric rise since Havana, we’ll be curious to see how this new move works out.
And speaking of moves – or ousters, as it were – it now seems that Miami City Ballet’s Edward Villella (seen in Balanchine‘s Prodigal Son, below), was not going to go gently into that good night, at least not of his own accord. Indeed, he’s being removed by the troupe’s board. Click here to read some of our Villella coverage, then click here to read about this latest balletic scandal du jour.
Whatever happens, though, ballet is big again, even without a Black Swan II on the horizon. (Thank god for that; but click here and here for some of our Natalie Portman, etal, coverage.) As for Nat’s and Ivan’s onstage coupling – their Romeo and Juliet is as good as it gets (click here for our Los Angeles Opera coverage of R & J) – the partnership just keeps getting better. And the offstage drama, in any case, continues…
Ivan & Natalia conquer the world!
