49 replies to this topic

[Lovebird]

Legs: Darcey Bussell
Feet: Lynn Seymour
Arms: Margot Fonteyn
Hands: Margot Fonteyn
Face: Antoinette Sibley

[silvy]

Here I go:

Legs: Alla Sizova / Altynai Asylmulatova / Nadezhda Pavlova / Suzanne Farrell / Merrill Ashley / Yelena Yevteyeva
Feet: Alessandra Ferri / Paloma Herrera
Arms: Ulyana Lopatkina / Alla Sizova / Margot Fonteyn / Carla Fracci / Alessandra Ferri / Natalia Makarova / Yelena Pankova
Hands: Larissa Lezhnina / Viviana Durante / Margot Fonteyn
Face: Nadezda Gracheva / Gabriella Komleva / Yulia Makhalina

[Marga]

ABTwannabe, on Aug 29 2004, 08:57 AM, said:

face:kent
eyes:kent

I assume from your other choices (and from your screenname!) that you are of the younger generation and are referring to Julie Kent.

I submit that Allegra Kent could easily fulfill those two categories of "Ballerina's Best Feature" as well!

[oberon]

Legs: Maria Kowroski
Hair: Janie Taylor or Darci Kistler
Eyes: Kyra Nichols or Wendy Whelan
Hands: Martine van Hamel (the all-time champ in this category)
Face: Jenifer Ringer/Pauline Golbin/Carla Korbes and several dozen honorable mentions
Smile: Patty McBride

Ashley Bouder (not Bowder!) has rather short legs. But they look long in her stretched-out jump.

On the other side of the coin, Best Butt in Ballet = Nilas Martins.

[Yvonne]

Hmmm....

Face:  Allegra Kent
Feet:  Gelsey Kirkland
Arms:  Julie Kent
Legs:  Cynthia Gregory
Profile....yes, Suzanne Farrell has a fantastic profile!

[ConstanzaElisabeth]

I have heard that Guiseppina Bozacchi, the first Swanhilda, had the most expressive hands...I have not seen enough ballets to have favorites!

[canbelto]

Smile: Altynai Asylmuratova (not even close, she could brighten up a nuclear proliferation summit with her smile)

Legs: Svetlana Zakharova, Tananquiel LeClercq, Suzanne Farrell, Darcey Bussell, Sylvie Guillem, Irina Dvorovenko, Yulia Makhalina (the mile-long leg ladies),

Arms: Natalia Makarova, Alessandra Ferri, Alina Cojacaru

Eyes: Margot Fonteyn, Gelsey Kirkland, Maya Plisetskaya

Face: Irina Dvorovenko, Veronika Part, Jenifer Ringer, Altynai Asylmuratova, Svetlana Zakharova, Darcey Bussell, Alina Cojacaru, Suzanne Farrell, Tanaquiel LeClercq

Back: here the Russians win hands down. Maya Plisetskaya was maybe the first, but then it's been seemingly de rigeur for Russian-trained ballerinas to be able to arch their backs to an almost unbelievable extent. Natalia Makarova and Altynai Asylmuratova maybe take modern-day honors for the ability to make their backs look like jelly. It almost makes you wonder if they had ribs removed.

[BalletNut]

Legs: Yulia Makhalina, Maria Kowroski, Sylvie Guillem
Arms: Natalia Makarova, Darci Kistler, Gillian Murphy
Face: Julie Kent, Altynai Asylmuratova, Antoinette Sibley, Jenifer Ringer, Alina Cojocaru
Feet: Paloma Herrera, Patricia Barker, Isabel Guerin, Alexandra Ansanelli,  Darcey Bussell
Hands: Zhanna Ayupova, Martine van Hamel, Miranda Weese
Hair: Carla Korbes, Janie Taylor, Julie Diana
Eyes: Viviana Durante, Ludmila Semenyaka, Nina Ananiashvili, Maria Alexandrova
Smile: Kristin Long, Tina LeBlanc, Altynai Asylmuratova, Lorena Feijoo

I think that about covers it!

[l321385]

Amy Reusch, on Jun 10 2004, 11:20 PM, said:

Quote

I know many dancers in smaller companies that have some of the ost beautiful legs and feet and arms.

Although now retired, Lisa Sundstrom is still one of my favorites

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lisa Sundstrom is now my teacher. She will be pleased to hear that there is a "fan" out there.

[Giselle05]

Legs: Alessandra Ferri
   Feet: Alessandra Ferri, Julie Kent, Sylvie Guillem, Paloma Herrera
Arms: Nina Ananiashvilli, Darci Kistler
Hair: Darci Kistler, Carla Korbes
Face: Alessandra Ferri, Julie Kent
Eyes: Nina Ananiashvilli, Gelsey Kirkland, Alessandra Ferri
Smile: Alessandra Ferri (yes I'm a big fan)
Back: Natalia Makarova, Svetlana Zakharova
Profile: Julie Kent, Suzanne Farrell
Glamour: Veronika Part, Maria Kowroski

[Faustine]

Feet and Legs: Gelsey Kirkland
Neck: Suzanne Farrell

[ViolinConcerto]

What a fun topic, how great that it's been revived.

I'm a shoulder person, my votes for most beautiful shoulders (among NYCB women that I know):  Helene Alexopolous, Lourdes Lopez, Saskia Beskow.

Tilt of the head:  Helene A.

Eyes:  Patty McBride, Sofiane Sylvie

Backbend:  Karin Von Aroldingen

.....maybe I'll think of more later!

[Rhapsody]

Feet: Patricia Barker; Christophe Maravel
Smile: Maria Chapman - her smile brightens up the stage
Jumps:Carrie Imler
Legs: Louise Nadeau
All the above: Stanko Milov

[Grissi]

Arms: I think the best arms I've ever seen are Aurélie Dupont's.
Feet: Guillem's and Ferri's are incredible. But don't forget Tamara Rojo's.
Legs: Marie-Agnés Gillot's and Agnés Letestu's.
Hands: I never look at them as an isolate part of the arms, so may be Dupont's...