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Most Handsome Male Dancer(s)


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This whole topic just makes me smile at the irony. I remember being rather affronted last year by former NYTimes critic John Rockwell's lament that there were no longer any "glamourous" ballerinas?! :FIREdevil: And now here on BalletTalk we have two topics discussing looks!

ALL dancers are beautiful to me. They are in shape physically, disciplined and determined mentally, and move like nobody else with a very self-contained poise and grace, even when 'playing hard' in the real world, or many years after they have left the studio or stage.

Yes, there are dancers who make me sigh because they are beautiful or handsome in the more conventional sense, but it will always be those other abilities that attract me most. And as one dancer so astutuely observed, "No matter who you are, it's the person first, and then the dancer." So, if a person, dancer or not, has an inner beauty (ie. kindness, honesty, generosity of spirit), then who says the exterior has to match? Or do we want Dorian Gray?

PS. I loved those memories/descriptions of Christopher Gable, what a lovely epitaph to have.

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Veering OT, but . . .

Beauty and glamour are not the same thing. Maybe Rockwell was bemoaning the fact that our ballerinas do not leave the theater dressed in eveningwear and big jewels? But we have no lack of glamour on stage. Lack of mystique possibly, but that's not glamour.

And regarding inner beauty, see printscess' little tribute to Peter Boal and ViolinConcerto's reply on another thread from yesterday. Printscess speaks of qualities that we inferred from Boal's performing persona.

Anyone who has (and has had) the honor to be taught by Peter Boal, will have been taught by a caring, gentle man who is a true artist. He values the talents and feelings of his students. PNB is lucky to have him. SAB and NYCB lost a wonderful talent and a wonderful human being.
We know.

:FIREdevil:

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Reading the earlier posts set me to thinking of the first dancer who stunned me with his looks..it was Victor Barbee when he was in ABT's corps almost thirty years ago. But back then the corps also had the presence of Frank Smith and Richard Schaefer and George de la Pena.

Thought serendipity takes me to other names mentioned the Danes: Peter Schaufuss, Ib Anderson, Arne Vilumsen, and names not mentioned: the RB's Jonathan Cope, Stephen Jefferies, Julian Hosking,David Wall, and Stephen Beagley; Hamburg's Keven Haigen

But time moves on and I can't quibble that Jared Mathews, Gonzalo Garcia, and Craig Salstein along with Marcelo Gomes propel the US standard forward, maybe Jeff Golladay will join them if his stage time grows... then last night watching Mark Morris's Mozart Dances, a 2nd act entrance became a breeze carrying Noah Vinson into the conversation and brought memories of Mathew Rose's time with Morris and those incredible Paul Taylor dancers Chris Gillis, David Parsons, Danny Ezralow...

Whoa...I am experiencing overload...if I must choose one, it would remain Victor Barbee - once a handsome and glorious youth who is a handsome 53 year old still gracing the stage...and, then (see I can't stop myself) I would find away to honor the beauty of Julian Hosking who died so very young.

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Reading the earlier posts set me to thinking of the first dancer who stunned me with his looks..it was Victor Barbee when he was in ABT's corps almost thirty years ago. But back then the corps also had the presence of Frank Smith and Richard Schaefer and George de la Pena.

I knew George de la Pena years ago. He was the sweetest guy in the world. Where is he now? I know off topic.

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of classical dancers, I'd say manuel legris, who's always marvellous-=looking no matter whathte role -- and he looks different from role to role; and Jaime Garcia Castillo of SFB, who's beautifully made and also has a noble, elegant, pure way of using his physique. Among modern dancers, David Leventhal (of hte Mark Morris Dance Company) is always beautiful.

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If You mean Aestethically talking,not talking about the beauty on stage,which is very different,you can't omit Roberto Bolle,our Italian étoile.I've never met a male dancer as beautiful as he is,also out of the stage.Anyway i've always seen many ugly male dancers.The majority of the great ones is so.Then on stage you'd say they're wonderful,but out of the stage...no way!Let's talk also about the girls;i'm more concerned about;-)....Ferri is as beautiful on stage as ugly off the stage.Guillem the same.Zakharova is a nice girl also in the common life...the same for Ansanelliand Lacarra....oh Lacarra is so beautiful!!!!

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.......

Andrian Fadeyev is very good looking too.

+1000% ;-))

I not only like his looks but the way he dances (I used to go to watch particular balerinas, but after seeing Andrian several times - I just adore him and would sure try to see as many of his shows this coming April as possible....)

a bit off topic - Andrian is also a great GENTLEMAN, once attending a Giselle performance in DC (in '05), i saw a very handsome, tall, slim, and a bit humble guy volunteer his perfect (fron rows) seat to a woman and taking a seat in far back rows. He looked familiar, back home and double-checking the Kirov's site - sure it was Andrian Fadeyev. I saw him in Romeo & Juliet twice this winter in DC as well. For me - he's the perfect Romeo ;-))

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I have to put my two cents in for the Martin brothers, Ruben (at SFB) and Moises (in Amsterdam). The joke in the audience when Moises Martin and Sarah Van Patten did Robbins' Afternoon of a Faun a few years ago, was that it looked like a moving Abercrombie and Fitch photo. They really didn't have to move!

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This has been so interesting to read and I now must

a) look at some photos of those dancers I'm not familiar with

and

b) get me to Copenhagen methinks !

But seriously, I agree with many of the names mentioned , and with the fact that on/off stage impact can be very different - and rightly so - the 'magic' of a performer on stage can illuminate and heighten his or her looks.

However, Nureyev IMHO had a charismatic personality and was very attractive both on and off stage .

I hope this isn't veering off topic, but someone mentioned manners and I've seen Thoma Edur (he's rather handsome too, I think) behave very charmingly to a fellow member of the audience 'out front' at the Albert Hall on one occasion. Lovely to witness.

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I hope this isn't veering off topic, but someone mentioned manners and I've seen Thoma Edur (he's rather handsome too, I think) behave very charmingly to a fellow member of the audience 'out front' at the Albert Hall on one occasion. Lovely to witness.
Sounds beautiful to me! One's manner, one's way of relating to others, one's smile: in real life these play a huge role in defining what I experience as "beautiful."

On the other hand, many of us have probably had the opportunity of seeing a famous beauty in person -- males and females whose photographs or films made them appear stunningly beautiful -- only to find qualities of deadness or restlessness in the eyes, petulance in the lips, and a general look of tension, dissatisfaction, boredom, vacancy or whatever. Fashion models seem especially prone to this.

Any other nominations for dancers who are exceptionally "beautiful" in the sense JoannA describes?

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Mashinka - I think you're probably right - Now where is my Danish phrase-book ?!

Oh but they all speak better English than I, don't they !

But really I should visit there anyway to see the company as I've never seen them perform live.

Thanks also to Bart - I've tried unsuccessfully to reply to your recent post , sorry, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong - but anyhow, I agree with your thoughts on seemingly beautiful, but in reality rather vacuous looks.

Many factors, not least personality and radiance, contribute to the impact of a good-looking person.

Joanna, if it’s handsome male dancers that ring your bell I’d suggest you shouldn’t just visit Copenhagen but emigrate there! I was in that city only a couple of weeks ago and can confirm the RDB males are as gorgeous as ever.
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After spending nearly two weeks observing in close proximity: onstage and off, in good times (with family, colleagues, and friends) and bad (after a somewhat serious injury which I was informed also causes a "bad mood"--if so, I never saw it), I can only agree with the opinion of many on this board, that looks and phenomenal technique (and he is famous for them as well) do not make a man. But as bart said, "manner, way of relating to others, [and] smile"; and I'll add: the thoughtfulness, care, and generousity of spirit I experienced. Merci, gracias, spessibo, domo arrigato, thank you.

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Nobody has mentioned Marian Walter, of hte Berlin Staatsoper Ballett, who's bowled me over with a youtube clip. Sleeping Beauty, yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS_VZPaIow4

First of all, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts -- it's the way he and his wife Ianna Solenko dance together that wins my heart, and hte moving pictures they make together compose so harmoniously they may have converted me. Their way of dancing this performance of Sleeping Beauty grand pas may have reconciled me to high legs and a modern way of dancing this pas.

They're BOTH examples of the tiny-headed, long-necked, long-limbed "mannerist" -- cf Bronzino or Pontormo-- shaped bodies that are so fashionable now, and his proportions are even more exaggerated than hers -- his head is smaller maybe than Adam Luders's, and that's going some distance -- but his face fits his head as if by magic, and his expressions are legible and intelligent and ATTENTIVE TO HIS PARTNER. His attentions to her are so endearing, he stands in fifth as a tribute to her -- and when he promenades her, his steps are like a race-horse's. These are FABULOUS qualities of courtliness and they look innate (though perhaps Malakhov has been coaching him? for certainly Malakhov has these qualities, too). When he offers his hand, he invites her with his eyes to accept. It is so romantic, you'd think it dcouldn't go down in Sleeping Beauty -- except it IS Sleeping Beauty, and he is the desired one.

Finally, I must say, I love his thighs. Ib Andersen had thighs like that, though not on such long legs. Like a grasshopper's, or a race-horse's, such a noble shape, made for jumping -- such a body makes all the unreasonablenesses of ballet disappear -- it looks natural to push off and land through the toe with legs like that, and with such deep reserves of strength and cushion in the thigh.

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