#dancer updates

Here, there is clearly a lack of blocking. Masha should have turned instead of shuffling back. This way she can 1. See where she should go and 2. Look confident in doing so. This was likely from a hasty preparation for the role. There's simply too many moving parts for her to learn.

On the bright side, I thought her Italian fouettés were good. Excruciatingly slow, just how I like them! The fouettés, she played it safe by going with all single turns and honestly, I thought that was a smart decision. Incoming explanation on why.

Falling off balance here wasn't an accident, it was a blunder. She went for the 2.5 turns instead of a clean 1.5 you see on the right side. The clip on the right is perfect. Good preparation, clear spot, and solid landing.

One of the things I love about Gamzatti is that you can add a lot of embelishment to every movement. Maybe it comes with time and experience, but instead of just switching profiles here, Masha could have really emphasized more with her hands. Literally, a swish and flick could have added a lot.

JUMPS. The height is there. The look to the audience on the second jump could have been held much longer. Most importantly, the arms should be more controlled. When Masha braces herself before each jump, it isn't clear if she's passing through first position or even at a bras bas. When there's too much change and lack of clarity with the arm movements, the jumps don't seem effortless.

Here's a clip of Elya in the same part of the variation and she chose to be more consistent. (This is the part where the author realizes that she is a big fan of cleanliness and clarity which extends to her preference of risk-averse dancers)

Let's move on to arguably the hardest part, which is why I won't dwell on it too long. I will stand by my earlier statement, I cannot believe they would let her go against Ekaterina Krysanova, who is 20 years her senior. Especially in a confrontation scene like this, the disparity is palpable. Masha needed more confidence here and instead, it looked a bit apprehensive.

On the left, she should have been more "in your face" and she should have invaded Ekaterina Krysanova's space a lot more. After the first arabesque, that must have been 2-3 feet, she should have approached much closer than that.

Throughout this scene, I felt that Masha's facial expression remained unchanged. At the beginning, Gamzatti should be more accusatory and by the end, she should be full on, taunting. In all fairness, I can somewhat see it in the movement.

I saved this for last as it really stood out to me. The fall did not make sense. However, it would have made a lot more sense if she already came from a kneeling position! I would have preferred if she decided to beg on her knees, AND THEN fall in the manner that she did. It just seemed physically weird because of the way Ekaterina pushed her.

Honestly, this is all I am willing to go over. The first person to blame here would be whoever casted this. The second, maybe, would be her coach who agreed with that decision.

I see that the consensus here is that this debut is premature, and it is. Masha is a talented dancer. If you have seen her other debuts and felt that she was unprepared, surely it makes sense now, right? Imagine learning all those new roles on top of learning the entirety of Gamzatti's in La Bayadere.

I, firstly, want to say that Masha did a wonderful job in her debut. This is, in my opinion, her strongest debut of the season. There are very minor corrections in this deep dive. In my comparison to Nina, I think she just needed more confidence and perhaps this is something that only comes with time. With her abilities though, that kind of "head held high" presence could make a noticeable impact on her performances.

Props to Masha for these sections of the variation. These are movements that are seemingly simple but the bourrée moving back was very finely done, and she had a beautiful port de bras where she also engaged her whole torso into the movement. The same thing with the arabesque to the bourrée, she does a beautiful twist with her torso. To me, this is ballet! I don't know how to explain it, it's the parts that look and feel sublime.

Completing these series of turns is a feat in itself. I believe this is an improvement since her Gamzatti. She looks more self-assured in these turns and you can tell that her shoulders are no longer going up during the turns. My favorite part here is the extra cambré after the last Italian fouetté.

In a variation like this, I think there's more than enough time for embellishments. Especially, with the music being slow, there was time to really relish this arabesque. As we can see with Nina Kaptsova's side where she stays in arabesque slightly longer. While Masha does linger a bit, I think an ever so slightly higher arabesque could have prolonged her balance en pointe here.

However, I actually prefer the choice of a mini cambré instead of a straight torso, so kudos to Masha for this choice.

The strong turner that she is, Masha elevates the pirouette in the last diagonal by finishing on only one standing leg instead of the conventional fourth position. Again, you can see her self-assurance here and I believe turns are her forte so this was a perfect variation for her.

After a very impressive series of pique manege turns around the Bolshoi stage, she finishes in a clean and stable tendu devant. No preference here for the ending, I liked these endings equally but what about you?

Overall, this performance excites me and this was surely a boost to Masha. This is the kind of performance everyone expects from her and what an absolute gift this was! Congratulations to Masha on this debut!