Best Jumpers

[Daniil]

Personally for me matters not how high anybody jumps (this comes from the genes), but how anybody lands.

My favourite: CARLOS ACOSTA, because his landings are so soft...on stage he looks like a cat with wings.

[Dansuer85]

While he is not my favorite dancer, Vladamir Malakhov has an amazing jump! It's so high and like a cat. He has the quietest landings ever, and they melt like butter.

[bart]

Paul Parish's description of Barishnikov's turning grands jetes in Giselle fits my memory exactly. Especially the sense that feeling, rather than physical exertion, was being expressed. Also: the arms -- often flailed to assist a dancer's lift and turn, seemed perfectly natural and at rest. Seeing Barishnikov in other roles was also the first time, in my experience, of being aware of the illusion that the dancer was actually pausing in mid-flight. I also remember the gasps from the audience.

My question is: was Barishnikov really an exceptionally high jumper, or was he primarily a master of the physical illusion? (Not that it makes any difference.)

[EvilNinjaX]

some guys not mentioned:

Vadim Pisarev

Nicholas Le Riche

and the absolute most amazing virtuoso dancer i've ever seen:

Tetsuya Kumakawa.

-goro-

[chrisk217]

Paul Parish's description of Barishnikov's turning grands jetes in Giselle fits my memory exactly.  Especially the sense that feeling, rather than physical exertion, was being expressed.  Also:  the arms -- often flailed to assist a dancer's  lift and turn, seemed perfectly natural and at rest.  Seeing Barishnikov in other roles was also the first time, in my experience, of being aware of the illusion that the dancer was actually pausing in mid-flight.  I also remember the gasps from the audience.

My question is:  was Barishnikov really an exceptionally high jumper, or was he primarily a master of the physical illusion?  (Not that it makes any difference.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

To me also he seemed to be pausing in mid flight! I always wondered if part of the magic of his jumps (besides the apparent effortlessness, explosiveness and the astonishing timing of every little gesture) was that he was quite short. I mean that his jumps may not have been uncommonly high but they seemed high compared to his short stature.

To the long list of great jumpers like Baryshnikov, Vasiliev, Plisetchkaya, Makarova I'd like to add Farouk Ruzimatov and Tatiana Terekhova both very powerfull jumpers.

[Cygnet]

I saw Plisetskaya's Kitri on film. Her kick jete was just !!! Terekhova's Kitri, Myrtha and Gamzatti?: Ditto !!! I totally agree with all of the men mentioned with special mention for Nureyev & Vasiliev: They moved and landed like felines. They were simply amazing.

[Ari]

I seem to remember a dancer from the 70's.  I think her last name was D'Angelo, and I believe she danced with the Joffrey Ballet.  She was pretty impressive in the air.  Right?

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Ann Marie de Angelo. Yes, she had a powerful jump indeed. Arpino did one ballet for her, I forget the name, in which she was the sun or something, and began the ballet with gargantuan leap onto the stage. Quite a beginning. (The rest of the ballet didn't live up to it.)

[Amy Reusch]

For women, it seems as if the best jumpers are often the small lithe "elves." The taller ballerinas can't seem to give the illusion of elevation and suspension in air

In defense of the taller women....

I believe that in most cases when taller women/girls are given the chance to go professional it is because of their line, and generally to be worth stretching the company feminine height average, the tall dancers chosen are extremely flexible, most enhancing their "line" potential.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that generally the body types that are extremely flexible tend to be not as good at jumping as those with "tighter" physiques.

It's not that tall women can't jump, it's that those who can don't tend to have the flexibility required of them. Possibly too, the tall jumpers are more injury prone?

In men, in the classroom, I haven't noticed height to limit their jumping ability. Why should that differ for women?

I seem to remember something about girls being better jumpers when they're younger until they begin working seriously on their flexibility and pointe work.... Frankly, I don't think pointe shoes are conducive to floating jumps.

And then there's the question of repetoire... how much have ballet choreographers emphasized women with elevation in the last 30 years? Sure, there are plenty of perfect split grand jetes used, but what about focussing on elevation & ballon?

(disclaimer: I'm one of those tall women who loved to spring & leap and considered it one of my strengths)

[carbro]

(disclaimer: I'm one of those tall women who loved to spring & leap and considered it one of my strengths)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You too??? Me too!!! Not that I was every anywhere near professional level, though.

I think one key to elevation is narrow hips. And for some reason, while I can think of short ballerinas with wide hips (relatively speaking, of course), I cannot think of a single tall one with notably narrow hips.

My hips are wide, but that made big jumps a strength only in comparison to turns and little jumps. Hardly a contest there!

[Amy Reusch]

I don't know about the hip thing. I don't have those beautiful narrow hips. Maybe in shorter female dancers with elevation it's more typical? I think it's more about the kind of foot and calf.... I don't really know, but I think low calf muscles and short ankles tend to lower jumps... but I wouldn't swear to that... an image of someone with those legs doing good (though low) petite allegro keeps floating in my head... I've heard big feet can make for a higher jump, and when I think of tall men with elevation, they seem to have those big feet... but my feet are relatively small for my height. It's probably the achilles thing. (paging Paul Parish!). {now spelled properly!}

[fandeballet]

Peter Martins was a great all-round dancer. From the few performances I saw him in, he had a nice-sized jump. Actually, he had a damn good jump!!!!! And he is a tall dancer! Any comments????

[mohnurka]

Tatiana Terekhova -- the line of her jumps is always beautiful. The lines of her dancing, for that matter.

Maya Plisetskaya -- oh, yes! No need for further explanation .

Farukh Ruzimatov, Igor Zelensky.

[Paul Parish]

Amy, thanks!!! Blush… I’m not sure I'm all that wise about this.......

Elevation is one of those mysterious things about which some things can be said but they don't seem to cover much....

One thing is that short dancers LOOK like they've jumped higher than tall dancers for purely mathematical reasons -- if Maxim, who's 4 feet tall, jumps a foot vertically, The top of his head will be 5 feet off the ground, and he'll have jumped one fourth of his height; his body will take up 4/5 of the space he's jumped. but when vadim, who's 6 feet tall, jumps one foot and his head's 7 feet off hte floor, he's only jumped one/sixth of his height and his body takes up 6/7 of the space. SO Vadim would have to jump more than a foot to look like he's jumped as high as Max has.

Another is that elevation tends to fade markedly after 25; only the young can jump really high (like only young men make truly amazing advances in mathematics -- you can speculate a lot, but WHO KNOWS WHY that is?)

It also stands to reason that strength will relate to the length of the levers and the powers involved -- short bones make short levers, big muscles make (usually) for lots of power, so chunky little folks should have lots of elevation. But we've all seen too many people with hard tight little muscles have a great deal more strength than you'd have thought, and big muscles aren’t always as strong as you'd think.

Now for some anecdotes -- Gloria Govrin could do entrechat-dixe. She did all the men's combinations, and would try to out-do d'Amboise. She also broke a Pilates machine with her bare strength.

Karsavina could do entrechat-huit, and in one of her books she's got a VERY interesting chapter on Giselle's ballottes -- about how they are a step of elevation. Already by the mid-twentieth-century, Giselles were doing those ballottes as low jumps, and she protested, they should be high.

Karsavina also has a great chapter on fondu as "the mechanism of the jump" -- she talks about perfecting jumps at the barre without the full effort, perfecting the “gesturing” leg while gradually increasing the strength of the jumping leg, esp the landing, by developing strength and accuracy in fondu. And another on "staying up power" as the skillful USE of elevation (which means she's really talking about about five things at once, including of course proper co-ordination of each separate effort -- arms, working leg, head, etc -- and NOT wasting effort in movement that doesn't go UP). Check it out. "Classical Ballet: The Flow of Movement." She writes well, she's thought about what her body knows, she is SO smart, so interesting.

Another thing that helps create the effect of elevation is a deep soft landing. The poet in Les Sylphides -- i.e., Nijinsky's role -- has a slow mazurka solo that has a very pronounced depth of landing built into it. He does not jump high, but he lands deep. Young Nureyev can be seen dancing this fabulously on an old Royal Ballet tape, when he was young and could still jump. Really clean, really poetic, sweeping. You have to watch it several times to realize that he's hardly using any elevation.

[andycrawford]

definately Francoise Voranger.She has a 2foot vertical from first position - which should be impossible...most men can't match that.

[Paul Parish]

Holy mackerel, Andy!!

2-foot vertical from First?

Voranger, you said? Where does she dance?

[Ostrich]

Nikolai Tsiskaridze!!!

I'll never forget the gasps that ran through the audience when he took off!

Irek Mukhamedov.

I never saw him live, but found his jumps very impressive on the videos Spartacus, Nutcracker and The Golden Age. It's not so much the height, but the attack whith which he jumps that impresses me.

And also in defence of tall ballerinas: I have a tall friend who dances with the South African Ballet Theatre and who is super-flexible and can outjump all the women of the company and most of the men too!

Besides, isn't Alexandrova on the tall side?

[andycrawford]

Holy mackerel, Andy!!

2-foot vertical from First?

Voranger, you said? Where does she dance?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

She dances at jose mateo ballet theater for the most part but guests around at other companies too.

i've never seen a jump like that anywhere else so i just figured that she was from another planet or something like that...

[Hans]

Sizova Sizova Sizova!

One of my favorite stories about her is the time when, teaching class around age sixty, she jumped so high while demonstrating a grand allegro combination that quite without meaning to, she did a double assemblé en tournant. Now surely other ballerinas have done similar feats, but

At SIXTY?!

Also, what makes Sizova's jump truly special for me is the fact that she was also an exceptionally delicate and graceful dancer, with creamy, elegant port de bras, exquisite carriage of the head, and some of the strongest, most shapely legs and feet on the planet. Other impressive jumpers, such as Bouder, Govrin, Terekhova, &c surely can/could not boast this ideal combination of lightness, strength, delicacy, and elegance.

[glebb]

I remember Lupe Serrano quite well as a performer and teacher.

There was an ABT dancer - Gail Israel who had a great jump.

In the 1970 ABT picture program she can be seen hanging in the air in a gorgeous split - pictured in Le Combat.

Adding Joffrey dancers Calvin Kitten and Julianne Kepley to the list of best jumpers.

[Paul Parish]

Oh, Hans, that is SO TRUE!!!!

I wish I'd seen her teach -- but anyone hwo wants to see great jumping has got to check ot her performance as Aurora in the weird Kirov Sleeping Beauty with DUdinskaya dancing Carabosseup the stairs and into the palace.

Sizova's first variation is NOT to be believed. You've GOT to see it -- epaulement, line taste, refinement, and kicking herslef in hte back of the head at such a speed she really only has time to tear herself from the ground. She's more fairy-like than any of her fairies, and if you watch it in slow motion, though she does put her heels down, she seems really to be jumping from her toes....

[pleiades]

There was an ABT dancer - Gail Israel who had a great jump.

In the 1970 ABT picture program she can be seen hanging in the air in a gorgeous split - pictured in Le Combat.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have that program from a trip to ABT (I think on tour to the west coast) I use to look at the picture and, in my then adolescent and adoring way, want to "be" her.

[stinger784]

Alla Sizova

For evidence watch her graduation with Nureyev doing Corsaire. She out jumps him easily.

[AmandaNYC]

I know he does not have the body or line that some would prefer, but Daniel Ulbricht in Four Seasons is just awe-inspiring. This is one time that I do "go for" such crazy jumping.

-amanda

[lampwick]

My small jumps in petit allegro are higher than most men. It's the only thing in ballet that I really excel in, and I often get called on to demonstrate. I have very narrow hips and a very long achilles tendon (demi plie can go almost as low as a grand without lifting my heels). I think it's got a lot to do with the achilles length and ability to plie. The narrow hips are terrible for developing a decent extension though... Too bad I'm a girl.

Daniel Ulbricht blew me away in Stars and Stripes. His jump is amazing.

[lthomass]

My votes go to Baryshnikov, Corella and Malakhov. Corella and Malakhov are fantastic in the Born To Be Wild DVD.