The following exciting news came today via an ABT press release:
Berlin State Opera Ballet’s Polina Semionova is to debut as a Guest Artist with American Ballet Theatre for the 2011 Metropolitan Opera House season, as announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. Polina will perform Kitri in Don Quixote at the matinee on Saturday, May 21, opposite David Hallberg as Basilio, and the dual role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake on Saturday evening, July 2, opposite Hallberg as Prince Siegfried.
Polina’s repertoire with Berlin State Opera Ballet includes Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, Nikiya in La Bayadère, Marie in The Nutcracker, Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Swanilda in Coppélia, Kitri in Don Quixote, the title roles in Giselle and Manon, Tatiana in John Cranko’s Onegin, Sieglinde and Brünhilde in Maurice Bejart’s Ring um den Ring, Juliet in John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet and the title roles in Roland Petit’s Carmen and Sir Frederick Ashton’s Sylvia, as well as principal roles in Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, George Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial, Apollo (Terpsichore), Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and Diamonds pas de deux, William Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude and Jirà Kylián’s Return to the Strange Land. She has also created the title role in Vladimir Malakhov’s Cinderella and Creativity in Bigonzetti’s Caravaggio. She has appeared as a guest artist with English National Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, Teatro alla Scala, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Zurich Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet and Bolshoi Ballet.
Her awards include a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition (2001), First Prize at the Vaganova-Prix Ballet Competition in St. Petersburg, the Junior Prize at the Nagoya International Ballet Competition (2002), Daphne Prize (2004), German Critics Choice Award (2005) and the Dance Open Award (2010).
Photo: Melissa Uruchurtu / The Ballet Bag ©
See also:
- Our interview with Polina where she discusses guesting all over the globe
- A clip of Polina and Stuttgart Ballet’s Friedemann Vogel dancing the Black Swan Pas de Deux
- Reflections, a new Bolshoi/Orange County Performing Arts Centre project with a starry line-up including Polina
Subscriptions for American Ballet Theatre’s 2011 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House are on sale now by phone or via ABT’s website.
American Ballet Theatre
[...] reputation of a vehicle for big ballet stars; audience favorites like Berlin Staatsballett’s Polina Semionova, the Bolshoi’s Natalia Osipova and The Royal Ballet’s Alina Cojocaru are all scheduled [...]
alton grimes
Emilia, I am so glad to have found this web site! I am still something of a novice to the world of the computer but that ballet can now have an immediate “world audience” is as a result of this phenomenon is very exciting. It is, after all the synergy of all our passion and prowess for the art that creates this beautiful diamond of infinite facets called dance. What a “treasure found” is The Ballet Bag ! I will report back to you my impressions of Polina as Kitri in Don Quixote and as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. There is something so rare about Polina. Just some indefineable quality that even has me putting my spare change in a jar to help finance my two trips to see her perform this Spring with ABT. Tickets go on sale on April 3rd. By the way, after the show , we saw Shipulina and Osipova with Bigonzetti at a popular restaurant close by. I found out that Polina was a little too tired to attend… Alton, Santa Barbara, California
Emilia
@Alton – what a wonderful report, we look forward to hearing your views on Polina in NY this spring & bon voyage!
@Debra – Thanks for sharing lovely Polina! We can’t wait for the programme to tour to London
Alton Grimes
After Saturday night’s performance of REFLECTIONS in Costa Mesa, California, I wanted to run to the highest mountain top and proclaim the “good news”. It is now several days later and I am still in the grip of the power of that evening. Dancers from the Bolshoi, including the heavenly Polina Semionova, blazed through the evening with such ferocious intensity and prowess that I still feel as though I am sitting in seat #107. All of this was set against the backdrop of several highly flammable new works. After this firestorm of creativity, I spotted Mauro Bigonzetti around the backstage door. I thanked him profusely for his masterful contibutions in Caravaggio and Cinque. Finally, Polina appeared and I got an autograph from this “dreamboat”. There is so much more wonder to report but it would fill volumes. I am going to “move heaven and earth” to see Polina In New York this Spring with ABT….
debra levine
Hi Ladies,
May I please Pollinate this post with my admiring item on Polina and “Reflections”?
http://artsmeme.com/2011/01/23/polina-semionova-one-of-seven-powerful-female-dancers-of-reflections/
Cheers from the Land of Reflections, otherwise known as California,
Emilia
Many thanks for clarifying – we quoted ABT’s press release in that one but it’s true that we should have referred to Staatsballett Berlin instead, if only for consistency with our July feature on Polina…
ks
Hello Ladies, sorry to be pedantic but the Berlin State Opera Ballet no longer exists. It merged with the two other ballet companies of Berlin in 2004 and now calls itself the Berlin State Ballet, because it no longer performs exclusively at the Berlin State Opera but in all three opera houses.
Emilia
Lucky lucky you!!!! We must try and find a way to get to NY for this
David
Mwahahaha!! This is only a 5 hour drive for me to go see these performances. MUST … BUY … TICKETS.