The Bolshoi's Spartacus, filmed in Paris in January, will be screened at Canadian cinemas on Saturday, August 9, at 1:00 p.m. local time.

Spartacus: Carlos Acosta
Phrygia: Nina Kaptsova
Crassus: Alexander Volchkov
Aegina: Maria Allash

Most screenings will take place at Empire Theatres.

www.empiretheatres.com/opusArte

Participating cities: St. John's, Halifax, Sydney, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Charlottetown, St. Catharines, North York, Mississauga, Ottawa, London, Kitchener, Kingston, Richmond Hill, Burlington, Bolton, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, North Vancouver and Victoria.

The ballet will also be screened at the Ex-Centris Theatre in Montreal: www.ex-centris.com (August 9 & 10)
Princess Twin in Waterloo: www.princesscinemas.com
and Ridge Theatre in Vancouver: www.festivalcinemas.ca (10:00 a.m. PT)

The picture is tiny, but here's a link to a trailer for the ballet:

http://www.ex-centris.com/clip.php?i=5279&t=Ex-Centris

Ignore that last post. Here's a bigger and better trailer:

http://centralsystem.digiscreen.ca/ShowPag...resentation=223

(Gosh, watching that reminds me just how much I hate everything about this ballet. )

We should cherish this recording for what it is: a truly magnificent performance of the title role.

Spartacus tests to the limit Dickie Buckle's belief that "Ballet must be BEAUTIFUL!" Spatacus is a really ugly ballet, but it IS great.

Volchkov looks like a remarkably beautiful Crassus -- it may work. (It's Aegina who has to be ugly.) And Acosta looks just from this clip ideal for the role -- born for it. His heart is in it.

Ugly in character, yes, not in appearance. And now that Svetlana Zakharova dances the courtesan, you may really forget that Aegina is ugly .

Oh, I agree. In Aegina I'm guessing that Zakharova has finally a role vulgar enough to suit her.

As for the screening itself, I'll admit that despite all the raves addressed to Acosta, I just couldn't bring myself to cough up $20 for Khachaturian's music, Virsaladze's designs, Grigorovich's thumpingly macho histrionics, the excess of unison dancing and all that running at each other with outstretched arms. As for Aegina and that staff, I've always done my best to blot it out of my memory. Thanks, but I'll watch him in other roles.

Incidentally, is there a Grigorovich variation or pas de deux in which the heroine doesn't wrap her forearm around her head?

Rest assured this DVD doesn't carry any obligation to purchase it.

It's a short clip, and Volchkov is a beauty, but I'm missing the "I'm-going-to-make-you-lick-the-dirt-and-love-it-you-lower-than-low-class-dog" combination of menace and high-born condescension that Liepa brought to the role (based on the film).

The only dancer I've seen in years who I think could give Liepa some competition as Crassus is Astrit Zejnati of Ballet Arizona.

I'm curious, did anyone go to the screening? I didn't mean to scare off posters with my intense dislike of this particular ballet.

Before Spartacus I'd made a point of going to all but one of the Opus Arte ballets at my local multiplex. The best attended by far was the Royal Ballet's Sleeping Beauty. Spartacus didn't strike me as well advertised. There had been no trailer at the showing of the ROH's Nozze two weeks earlier, and there was no Opus Arte season poster up in the lobby at the time. There was one there last night, which bodes better for POB's Cinderella, Cuba's Don Q, RB's Giselle and SFB's Nutcracker.

I haven't seen the screening but I saw one of the Spartacus' performance live in Paris, and I think it is worth a look.

I wasn't very keen to go when I bought the ticket but it's definitively something to see as part of ballet's history. And Carlos Acosta is really exceptional.

Spot on, cygneblanc - yet for some people it takes time to grasp that personality and talent does transcend limitations of choreography and stage.

In this particular case I don't think it ever will happen. On the occasions I've lasted to the end of Spartacus, which I haven't always, I've found the experience nauseating. I've acknowledged on this board before that Grigorovich live (or, I suppose, magnified on a movie screen) looks less silly than Grigorovich on the tube, but piercingly loud music can only go so far in distracting me from the crudeness of it all. And if the dancers have personality and talent, I only find myself wishing that they were dancing something else.

Are my Anglo-American ballet roots showing?

At the risk of directing more ire in my direction, there's the matter of Acosta. I've seen him live, I've seen him on film, and he doesn't excite me nearly as much as his reputation suggests he should. Perhaps I've gone in expecting too much. I don't find him objectionable (illustrious dancers who rub me the wrong way is a different category altogether), but he belongs to the category of illustrious dancers who don't do much for me.

Should they be?



Trust me, nobody is angry.

Well, I went to the screening Sunday in Montreal and enjoyed it. I'm glad that we have this opportunity and hope that the audience for the sceenings will grow in the coming months. I taught that Carlos Acosta gave a very expressive interpretation of the role. Kaptsova also gives a fine interpretation and left me wanting to see her Giselle. Maria Allash was absolutely beautiful in Aegina, what a fine dancer she is - I only saw her Raymonda when it was shown live on the web a few years ago. Volchkov is a fine dancer but I felt that his Crassus was not convincing, he would be better suited for prince roles.

Ohh, if only that one would make it to a commercial release...

"Nobody" can be subjected to objection-(If i may)-..."angry"...not really...

Just curious... do you like Khachaturian's music? My guess is that you may not. What I have often wondered about is is it possible really enjoy a ballet if you don't love the music.

Helene, it's due for DVD release.

Marc, you just made my day

Oh ouch, what a description!

The Raymonda released on DVD? Can't wait to see it Allash's beautiful lines again. I remember that she almost fell after stepping on Jean de Brienne's cape during the pas de deux, he caught her but they missed a lift. I don't remember who danced de Brienne, Filin or Uvarov?

It's the Paris filmed Spartacus with Acosta/Kaptsova/Volchkov/Allash that is due for DVD release.

Wow, Helene, now THAT'S an image...

His ballet music? No. I only ever enjoyed it when it was used for parody in the Coen Brothers' The Hudsucker Proxy. I don't have anything against his Violin Concerto, for example.

I love La Bayadere, even though I don't love or even like the music.

A lot of the score is dramatically effective, though every good idea seems to go on forever. For those who are ambivalent about the ballet, I suggest watching the dvd without the music. Some of what you see still works. On the whole, however, the experience made me long for every one of Khatchaturian's notes.