41 replies to this topic

[Alexandra]

This was suggested by several comments on the "All Time Favorites" thread -- Mary's comment on wishing she had seen more of Beriosova, the many comments on Kirkland.

What dancer or dancers do you miss the most?  

The top of my list is Gelsey Kirkland and Patrick Bissell.  I've always felt cheated that I was denied the pleasure of seeing them mature.  I always think of Kirkland when I see "Giselle" or "Other Dances," and I can't watch the Matador in any production of "Don Quixote" without thinking of Bissell.  I remember the first time ABT brought Don Q to the Kennedy Center after Bissell died, and I must have looked misty eyed walking up the aisle at intermission.  One of the ushers patted me on the shoulder and said, "I know, I know.  It's Patrick."

In the Dancers I Should Have Seen and It's Not Fair That I Didn't category, Antoinette Sibley ranks at the top for me.  She was injured right when I started going to the ballet, and I only saw her as "Ophelia" in a revival of Helpmann's "Hamlet" -- not a particularly meaty dancing role.

I used to be quite happy that I'd at least seen a legendary dancer once, so I'd have some real sense of what they were like, until it dawned on me that there were dozens of people who saw Fonteyn, or Farrell, or Sibley's whole careers.  That's when I realized that Life Is Unfair.

(The list of Danish dancers I wished I'd seen, or seen more of, is too long to post!   )

[cargill]

The dancer that I miss the most of the ones I saw semi-regularly is Dowell.  His line was so perfect and he was so elegant.  No one (except on a slightly smaller scale Peter Boal) that I have seen had such a perfectly proportioned body, and he had such a beautiful way of moving. He certainly could do lots of jumps, but what I miss most is his gracious manner and purity.

[Natalia]

I miss the artistry & incomparable "line" of Galina Mezentseva. The perfect  Nikiya/BAYADERKA, IMO....although Lopatkina comes close. Mesentseva was the embodiment of the word "sinewy."

[Yvonne]

I miss EVERY dancer because the only famous dancer that I've had the pleasure of seeing live is Baryshnikov (and that was with White Oak)!

I can't ever watch "Syliva" without wondering what Partrick Bissell would be doing now........sad, sad, sad.

[Terry]

I miss all the dancers from the 70s and the 80s when so many stars flourished!! I miss MAKAROVA, EVDOKIMOVA, and HAYDEE especially. I miss them all!!! =( Oh, and as for the men, NUREYEV, DOWELL, and GIL ROMAN (of Bejart Ballet de Lausanne)...has anyone seen him in "Adagietto"? It was firt created for Gorge Donn, but he continued to dance it after Donn's death. Oh, it moves me to tears....

[leibling]

Edward Stierle- not only as a dancer ( he danced with Joffrey for several years before his death in 1991 (?)...) , but as a choreographer as well. I had a chance to work with him before I graduated high school- and he has inspired my career. I often wonder what he would be doing if he were still here.

[atm711]

Erik Bruhn was once quoted as saying..."The perfect dancer has not yet been born".  Not so, I say.  How I miss his eloquence.

[Victoria Leigh]

Erik Bruhn.

[CygneDanois]

I regret being born 50 years too late, and in the wrong country.  The only thing that will mollify me is if I get to see some of these burgeoning stars mature, and see them regularly for a long time to come .  

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CygneDanois

[BalletNut]

I miss just about all of the "greats" as I got into ballet long after they had all either retired or passed on.     Especially Fonteyn, Nureyev, Kirkland, Antoinette Sibley, Suzanne Farrell, Karen Kain, Lynn Seymour, Galina Ulanova and Irina Kolpakova. Hearing about them on this board makes me feel like I really missed out.



[This message has been edited by BalletNut (edited February 21, 2001).]

[Manhattnik]

I certainly miss all the big names mentioned here. I'd certainly add Martine van Hamel to the list, and Helgi Tomasson, two personal favorites. But I also find that, when looking at videos of the "good old days," it's often the sight soloists and corps dancers that hit me like a Proustean epiphany.

[Alexandra]

Quote

Originally posted by Manhattnik:
I also find that, when looking at videos of the "good old days," it's often the sight soloists and corps dancers that hit me like a Proustean epiphany.

Like the video of the Kirkland/Baryshnikov "Nutcracker," and you get to the Waltz of the Flowers and realize that five of those men, standing right in a row, are all dead. (I haven't watched it for at least ten years, so there may be more now.)

BalletNut, when I started going in the late 1970s I'd read the books about the Ballet Russe or Sadlers Wells and be very frustrated that I'd missed all of THOSE greats.  And they were kicking themselves for missing Pavlova and Nijinsky.  So you're in good company    (And I'm glad you've started posting more.  Please keep it up.)

[Drew]

The great dancer I miss the most (of those I have seen) is ... Gelsey Kirkland. I guess no-one is gasping with surprise. Two others I miss almost as much -- Suzanne Farrell and Anthony Dowell.    

I did see Erik Bruhn twice towards the very end of his career, so I feel awkward saying I "miss" him, because I didn't see him enough to feel his absence as I do, say, Kirkland's -- but he is THE dancer I most regret not having seen more...I saw a glimpse of Maximova towards the end of her career, more or less just being carted around the stage by Vasiliev, and what can I say? just on the basis of that, I'm convinced that she would have been one of my all time favorites if I had had the chance to see her earlier in her career...Lis Jeppesen is another dancer whom I saw just a few times and would love to have seen much, much more...I saw Platel at the very beginning of her career and at the very end, but managed to miss her in the interim which makes me faintly crazy when I think about it...


Of the great historical figures who pre-dated my ballet going altogether -- it's hard to put together a coherent list of the ones I would most like to have seen.  Where would one begin...Camargo? Taglioni? That sounds like a joke, but it isn't (entirely). From the more recent past, I just missed Kolpakova which I regret -- especially now, since it increasingly seems that the Kirov style that she embodied has given way to something rather different.

[Giannina]

Of course I miss Makarova.  And I agree with those who miss Kirkland and Bissell.  
The career I've missed, and that I regret the most, is Guillem's.  If I'm not mistaken she has travelled to the West Coast only once (with "Cinderella), and for me her entire career has been a series of magazine articles.  (She will come this year with "Giselle".)

Giannina

[Yvonne]

Forgot to mention earlier that I'm sorry to have missed (a LONG time ago), the partnership of Nijinsky & Karsavina - that would have been something to see - if for no other reason than to see what all the fuss was about!

As long as I'm going back, although not SO far back, I would also have loved to see the original cast of Balanchine's Apollo and anything that was choreographed by Nijinsky!  I guess these should be in a new thread entitled: "Great Choreography & Casting That I Missed at the Premiere!"  I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at any of Nijinsky's premieres just so I could hear the responses from the audience members!

I'm SOOOO off topic......sorry!