145 replies to this topic

[bart]

dirac, on Aug 9 2005, 09:56 PM, said:

Diana Adams is so beautiful.  I love those George Platt Lynes photographs of her. And from the tapes I've seen, she danced to match.

As I recall, Diana Adams was even more beautiful on stage.  Almost too beautiful, if that is possible.  Her classic and serene face was almost a distraction from her classic and marvellous dancing.

[kfw]

bart, on Aug 9 2005, 09:09 PM, said:

dirac, on Aug 9 2005, 09:56 PM, said:

Diana Adams is so beautiful.  I love those George Platt Lynes photographs of her. And from the tapes I've seen, she danced to match.

As I recall, Diana Adams was even more beautiful on stage.  Almost too beautiful, if that is possible.  Her classic and serene face was almost a distraction from her classic and marvellous dancing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

  Thanks for that, Bart. How could you stand it? How could Balanchine?

[daddyshortlegs]

Just joined this site, and saw this string.  Couldn't resist adding my two cents (although it would have been much more difficult to come up with a list of unattractive ballerinas, since there probably aren't any).

I also remember Ann Ditchburn.  Those who mentioned her were right.  And I agree with those who named (in no particular order) Altynai, Semenyaka, Lezhnina, Zakharova, Vishneva, Suzanne Farrell, Allegra Kent, Helene Alexopoulos, Guillem, Fracci, Kirstin Simone, Lis Jeppesen, Donna Woods (glad someone remembered her), Ferri, Bussell, Marianna Tcherkassky, and my personal favorites, Gelsey Kirkland and Alina Cojocaru.

But, unless I missed them, no one's mentioned the following:  Birgit Keil (Stuttgart); Cynthia Harvey (ABT), Amanda McKerrow (ABT), Charlene Gehm (Joffrey), Patricia Barker (PNB), Janie Parker (Houston), Lesley Collier (Royal), Nadezhda Pavlova (Bolshoi), Yoko Morishita (Matsuyama), and Janet Eilber (I know she's Graham, but always looked like a ballerina).  

And for a sneak preview:  Sarah Lane (ABT)

[carbro]

Quite an impressive list, daddyshortlegs.  Not to worry, though.  A lot of people have their eyes on the lovely Sarah Lane.

Thanks for piping in and welcome to BalletTalk.  I hope you'll find a moment to stop by the Welcome Page and tell us a bit about yourself.  

[jimmattimore]

Most beautiful list:


Patricia Barker
Svetlana Zakharova
Callie Andre Robinson

JIM

[silvery_stars]

Alessandra Ferri, hands down, totally gorgeous with those neverending legs.  Polina Semionova is also ridiculously gorgeous.  Paloma Herrera is glamourous as well.

[Giselle05]

I agree, Alessandra Ferri, hands down, is absolutely the most gorgeous woman...<especially when she was younger, she looked like a glamorous old hollywood star>...and dancer.

Julie Kent is extremely beautiful as well, I remember reading somewhere a reference to her "Boticellian-like beauty"..

Of NYCB, Darci Kistler.

[szymanowski]

No one mentioned Sue Jin Kang (Stuttgart) - To me, she is the "Korean Audrey Hepburn"!

I also agree with others who have mentioned Stephanie Saland & Suzanne Farrell!

Oops, I forgot to add Karen Kain!

[papeetepatrick]

Alla Sizova when young is the most luscious-looking to me.  Only one mention I believe in the thread (Hans).  In the 'Sleeping Beauty' movie, she was just incredibly pretty.   There were some photos with Nureyev, and much as I love Fonteyn, I can imagine what the more animal Sizova would have done partnering Nureyev throughout her career.  I was interested to find that ballerinas' bodies are almost all beautiful, or at least reasonably so since in good shape, but that they do not nearly always have faces I find beautiful in the sense of pretty; or rather, not many of them look like models (I don't think threads like this are about 'spiritual beauty', which is always being discussed in talking about the dancing).  I don't think that's important so much as there do seem to be more of the men who face-wise do look like models.  I watched the rest of Kopolkova's 'Sleeping Beauty' from 1983 tonight, and there were not very good closeups, but I think she was beautiful, too.   I think there are also many remarks of dancers 'smiling too much' in various discussions.  She smiled more than most (almost every time it was even remotely appropriate), but it's not too loud a smile, so I liked it.  Is she beautiful?  I thought so from what I could tell in this video.  Some others I find beautiful only because they are great dancers, like Nina Ananiashvili or Maya Plisetskaya, whose faces both look fairly average to me; and most ballerinas' faces I find like this.

[aurora]

veronika part. Whether or not you like her dancing (yeah yeah, I do), she's incredibly striking.

[JMcN]

Northern Ballet Theatre had two of the most beautiful girls around, both have fantastic bone structure and seem unaware of their looks - they are Charlotte Broom and Charlotte Talbot.

[SanderO]

It's a crazy question because it goes to what we each find beautiful as well as what the conventional wisdom on the subject is.

I find many ballerinas stunning so it's hard to choose and why bother... we are blessed to have so many beauties with such talent and dedication to thrill us on stage.

The one who is dancing at the moment is the most beautiful!

[87Sigfried87]

 brbropus39, on Dec 7 2004, 07:18 PM, said:

Everyone seemed to enjoy the Most Handsome Male Dancers discussion, so I thought I'd start a similar search for the most beautiful female dancers.

I've decided upon Julie Kent, Stella Abrera, Janie Taylor, and Irina Dvorovenko. (In no particular order)

Zakharova,Saidakova,Semionova,Abbagnato(only her face!!!),Osipova,Cojocaru,Aurelie Dupont....

[Mashinka]

Quote

There were some photos with Nureyev, and much as I love Fonteyn, I can imagine what the more animal Sizova would have done partnering Nureyev throughout her career.

A lot of bridge building would have to have taken place first as Sizova and Nureyev hated one another.  Forced by the Kirov management to share a flat in Leningrad, she moved her mother in and he moved his siter in.  The resuts were volatile.

[papeetepatrick]

 Mashinka, on Jan 21 2008, 10:15 AM, said:

Forced by the Kirov management to share a flat in Leningrad, she moved her mother in and he moved his siter in.  The resuts were volatile.

Thanks, Mashinka.  Is this story best told in the Kavanagh bio or elsewhere?  That episode would interest me.

I should add that I do find that among film actors, there seen to have always been more 'pretty women' than men, but that with stage actors 'prettiness' is also not as important, just as in ballet.  However, I've looked at BallerinaGallery at some of the new favourites posted this morning, and most of this is too difficult to determine, unless you see the dancers both onstage and off, as dancerboy had described in the 'Most Beautiful Male Dancer' thread.  I've only seen Nureyev, Baryshnikov and many of the NYCB dancers offstage (that I know of), and looking at these photos, I see that I find Aurelie Dupont and Sylvie Guillem exquisite in some photos, but don't have any idea how much it has to do with the onstage projection and makeup.  I know that most of the NYCB ballerinas are much more beautiful onstage than off, because they give more of what they are there and also some have faces that are plain until painted.  For the most part, it is only models that always have that drop-dead look at all times.  Sander0, I admit some of this is somewhat superficial, but then many of the best things in life are...