Irina Kolesnikova - Swan Lake & Nutcracker

For the first time on this blog I am actually lost for words (but that most certainly won't stop me from writing here anyway:)) .
We had the great privilege of watching Irina Kolesnikova dance the lead roles in Swan Lake and Nutcracker with St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre (SPBT). I had seen the company before and have liked their performance. It's a good package. The corps de ballet has strong technical skills (rows are a little off), costumes and the set are great, but what I really like about them, is that they really live their role on stage. The character role dancers are very strong and have tremendous acting skills.

So when I watched the theatre a few times I saw all this hype about their ballerina (who sadly did not dance in Dublin) and thought it was a bit much. Then I bought the recording of Swan Lake and have to admit got very curious. The recording is beautiful and Irina does have something very special to her; so I had to see her in person.

We were very lucky to see her in two very different performances. First we saw Swan Lake (an all-time second favourite of mine). Irina completely dazzled her audience. From the moment she entered the stage the air was electric! There were a few minor hiccups with her landings, but this was completely forgettable compared to her overall performance. She was a beautiful, fragile swan with fantastic lines; and a strong, seductive Odile with a lot of passion and fire in her eyes.

The next day we saw her completely transformed into a cheerful young girl enjoying Christmas and dreaming of her prince. She completely captured us again.

Needless to say that even though I never wanted to like her, I am now a huge fan and will not miss an opportunity to see her perform. You can see pictures and clips of her on her web site.

Its worth it!

Happy New Year!

This is the second time I start the New Year in Dublin. It’s a fantastic start so far.

Christmas has been nice, relaxed with family and too many, but very nice presents.
I spent a beautiful New Years Eve in Dublin: still getting used to the fact that there are hardly fireworks here (illegal). It seems that there is a lot more happening on the streets during Halloween.

I hope you all had a good start into the New Year. I am looking forward to another inspiring year here in Dublin.

This time I added some photos from my trip to Hanover to this blog. Who is to say that Hanover is ugly?