MissChristine

A friend of mine will be attending an ABT performance of The Nutcracker at Kennedy Center and she is wondering what she should wear. I've never been to the Kennedy Center myself but based on my own experiences attending ballets I suggested she wear dressy business attire. When I saw the St. Petersburg Ballet there were some in the audience wearing some very very formal dresses though so I'm not sure if I'm correct in my suggestion. What would you suggest she wear?

If I had my prepregnancy body I'd probably go with the Carmen corsette costume.

The Monitor There is another article about the continuing investigation here. It mentions a little more about his life.

Thanks everyone.

I've been looking for a video/dvd featuring Jeune homme et la mort. I know there is a glimpse of it at the beginning of White Nights but I'm wondering if there is a video out there that features the entire piece. I saw (on a website) that Nureyev was in a movie about it in the 60s but everything I find now lists it as a book.

I am talking about pirouettes from both 5th and 4th. During turns from 4th they did often expect you to lean forward a bit but they didn't want all the weight placed on the front leg. I remember them stating that, no matter what position you were turning from, it was important to use the back leck to push you up and into the turn and that doing so is made nearly impossible if you place all the weight on the front foot. I am also aware that Mezentseva is not a trained teacher from the Vaganova Academy. She offered her services as guest instructor/coach when she visited during her tours w/ the St. Petersburg Ballet (and some guest appearances at a Summer Ballet Intensive) and it just so happened to be the time in my education that I was learning fouettes.

I was trained in the Vaganova technique and even had the opportunity to learn fouettes from Galina Mezentseva. In my personal experience, the instructors always emphasized placing the weight on both legs and they were very big on teaching control. A common exercise was to do a half pirouette to the right, then alternating to the left. After that they'd have us do very slow pirouettes and then we would gradually increase our speed. I think it's just more important to be able to exercise precise control rather than just whipping around in the hopes to get as many turns in as possible.

My personal favortie at the moment would have to be Evelyn Hart's performance in Natalia Makarova's 1972 production with London Festival Ballet. I think she's got a very frail look to her as Odette but not really that 'gassy' look. She has a very suspicious/wary look when she first crosses paths with Siegfried and then a very somber look throughout her performance. Hey, the girl's only chance of getting out of this spell is having a guy devote his undying love to her and she's got big bad R. to worry about...I wouldn't exactly be thinking my chances were on the up and up either. When she is Odile she has a very sly evil grin to her. Yes, she is supposed to be pretending to be Odette but if Odette was able to make the party then wouldn't she be smiling a bit too? I think it's just the look in her eye that I love, it's so mischevious but not too over the top. Plus her dancing, IMO, is pretty amazing. Nothing too forceful or powerful like she's about to beat the tar out of Siegfried's heart, just luring him in and enjoying every moment of it.

Very true, but since there isn't time for a costume change for Odette from Swan tutu to Maidens gown they stick with the swan themed tutus (feathers and all.) I think sticking to black and white just goes with the whole evil vs good base of the story...though seeing someone have an Odile in red could be very interesting. I've yet to see a Swan Lake with vibrant colors anywhere in it.

IMO I think the tutu should be black with *maybe* some slight silver embroidery, very minimal. The point is to confuse S. into thinking he will pledge his love to Odette not to a girl in a party dress who looks sorta like her. I also prefer the straightforward, starchy tutus for both roles. Just a cleaner looking line. I'm not partial to floppy tutus that bounce about when the dancers move. As for the head piece I prefer the feathers with a very small jeweled center/crown...something no bigger than the palm. Like This

I've once had a choreographer tell the story while staging the ballet and he implied that all the other swans were simply Swans. Von R. captured them and gave them to Odette to have as company because she was to be under his spell forever. He also mentioned that he believed that was a good reason for Odette to have the short tutu while the regular swans had the longer more romantic type.

I agree that nowadays almost everyone can do the fouettes and that is why I side with Steve on this. When you've got people in the corps that can do it why not have the principal put in a bit more effort to get them down properly? If you can't do them then you don't need to be dancing the role of Odile.

Thank you for the welcome as well as directing me to that particular post

I've had the pleasure of studying under her several times as well as attending her peformances. Personally, I see her as the epitome of CLASSICAL ballet. When you look at dancers today and compare to GM, I don't really know how to describe the difference...it's somewhat along the lines of 'trying too hard.' There is simple elegance and beauty in her dancing and lines. I also do not understand how someone can say 'brittle' or 'icy' about her, I have yet to see that quality. As for what she is doing these days, it is to my understanding that she is currently residing in Georgia. In 2003 she was a Guest Teacher at the Ballet Masters of Europe Summer Intensive hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Ballet in McAllen, Texas. She also performed "Dying Swan" at the final performance that year as well.

It's strange to me that she's not mentioned as much as other dancers of her age group. I was fortunate enough to have had her as a Guest Teacher several times while I was a student and she was just amazing. I've also seen her perform, and while I do not feel she in under rated (many know how amazing she is), I feel as though she is under appreciated.