Leigh Witchel Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 I just wanted to ask POB watchers what they thought of her. I've seen her on most of my trips, and she's always lovely and elegant, but I'm not quite sure how the management sees her. She got Melissa Hayden's role in Liebeslieder Walzer (the final pas) and she was lovely - she's a glamorous dancer (looks a bit like Stephanie Saland) but she gets cast in jumper/turner roles - she danced the Tema Russo, not the Waltz in Serenade and in earleir Giselles she was cast as Myrtha, not Giselle. It's not as if she can't jump or turn (she certainly can) but I wonder why she isn't getting a shot at leads if she's a premiere danseuse, and one of the senior ones to boot. Link to comment
Françoise Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Delphine Moussin is a wonderful dancer, she is able to dance classical ballets and contemporary repertory. She has not the most strong technic of the company but her level is high. She was not loved by Direction, I don't know why. I'm sad to see that she was not Etoile because, she is for me an etoile, she can all dance, with feeling. I adore her in Liebeslieder Walzer. I don't see her in Serenade this time, but she is a balanchinian dancer, she was gorgeous as Rubies principal soloist. She danced also Anastasia in Ivan at Bastille and she was really beautiful, with tendership, love, strenght. Now she is older to become danseuse étoile, but she merited this title. Link to comment
Leigh Witchel Posted January 18, 2004 Author Share Posted January 18, 2004 Francoise, she did the "second ballerina" part in Rubies? How funny, if so - I wouldn't have cast her in it, she doesn't seem tall enough to me (It's a part for Gillot or Letestu). I would have put her in Emeralds. Did she dance that? Link to comment
Marc Haegeman Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Leigh, she dances the first ballerina in Rubies. She also dances quite a few étoile roles (Nikiya, Gamzatti, Odette-Odile, Kitri, Cinderella, Diamonds etc). Something which she really stressed in her interview for Dance View is that the task of the premiers danseurs is so much more demanding, because they have to dance the repertoire of the premiers danseurs, but they are also expected to dance that of the étoiles. In Moussin's case it is quite true. I always liked her polished plastique and feminine charm, even if as Françoise pointed out, her technique sometimes let her down, especially in recent seasons. Yet I do hope that this is not the reason why she was denied the title of étoile. Link to comment
cygneblanc Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Among the "Etoile" part she danced, there is Anastasia in Yvan le Terrible (Marc can you provide me with a translation please ? ). I liked her very much in that part, especially in the second act where she looked really died. Her eyes and face were frightening but I was just atonished ! Link to comment
Leigh Witchel Posted January 18, 2004 Author Share Posted January 18, 2004 Cygneblanc, it translates almost exactly ("Ivan the Terrible") Funny, even with first ballerina in Rubies, they seem to see her in allegro roles. I think I just need to see her more often - she was very good in the allegro roles, but I kept wanting to see her adagio. It could just be my luck. Link to comment
Françoise Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Leigh, Delphine danced also the Diamonds soloist part in Jewels, which is an adagio, she danced Symphony in C, second movement also an adagio. for me she is one of THE lyrical ballerina of POB. She is cast in all the kind of part, and not only the rythmed movement ! She danced also Manon who is the lyrical part ! I hope it's not technical reason, and I don't think, Fanny Gaïda who was an etoile had the same kind of technical problem. I don't know which are the true reasons, but for me she is better than Laetitia Pujol or Clairemarie Osta ! Link to comment
Estelle Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 I saw her too in "Ivan the Terrible" (perhaps we should open a thread about that program, by the way), and like cygneblanc and Françoise I found her wonderful (even though as a whole I was not a fan of that ballet), very lyrical and expressive... In fact the casting policy of the POB is a bit hard to understand in general, as they tend to cast the dancers in so many different roles (for example in "Diamonds" Marie-Agnès Gillot danced the second soloist in "Rubies" and also "Diamonds", Clairemarie Osta danced one of the soloists in "Emeralds" and also the first soloist in "Rubies", etc. I don't think that Delphine Moussin was cast in "Emeralds".) She's been cast quite often in the Robbins repertory too, for example I have a lovely memory of her in the first pas de deux of "In the Night" (she generally performed it with her husband Lionel Delanoë, actually they danced quite often together, but now he seems to be less in shape physically and often helps restaging the ballets) and she had danced in "Moves" in the first POB performance I ever saw (in 1993). Marc, could you remind me in which issue of "Dance View" her interview was published? Actually I didn't remember that she danced Kitri, but I remember seeing her as Odette-Odile (with Bart) and I had liked her performance (but she didn't get many performances if I remember correctly- premiers danseurs often get only one or two performances in a series, and that was even worse in the periods when there were more female étoiles...) Link to comment
Françoise Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 Yes Estelle, she danced Kitri in the last performance in the Georgiadis version. I don't want to say something silly, but I think it was with Manuel Legris and she was pregnant for her boy I know that I was surprised she was not cast when Don Quixote was staged on Bastille in new production. Delphine should dance Emeralds last season and danced, I believe too, in the first serial of performance. But with Aurélie Dupont's injury she was casted more on Rubies and didn't dance last year Emeralds. Link to comment
Marc Haegeman Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 Françoise, I suppose you want to say she was pregnant of her son? As you said it, people might get some wrong ideas. Estelle, Moussin's interview appeared in DanceView Summer 2003. Link to comment
Françoise Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 Oops, Delphine was pregnant of her son with her husband Lionel Delanoe : ! Sorry for my bad english :shrug: ! She made also at the same period Street dancer. She must not dance Dryad Queen this time ! Link to comment
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