Who Are Today's Larger-Than-Lifers?

[Helene]

In the Cynthia Gregory thread, drb wrote:

By the way, I recall when sitting next to [Cynthia Gregory] at a performance at the Met, that she was (compared to "normals") a wisp of a woman, I doubt she was as large as, say, Michele W or Maria K. Rudy was pretty small too, surely many of ABT's current men are taller. But they both filled the Met's stage, making it seem as humanly hospitable as City Center's was for most other dancers. Who are today's Larger-Than-Lifers? Probably Sylvie Guillem, perhaps Carlos Acosta? La Sylve also seems to have some of this quality.

This is a wonderful question, and it warrants its own thread. Thank you, drb!

[Marga]

The first to spring to mind is, naturally, Herman Cornejo, followed by Xiomara Reyes and Erica Cornejo.

From Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Anik Bissonnette. I was surprised at how tiny she is. The first time I saw her dance I thought she was as big as Patricia Barker, who was also on the program that night. Backstage after another performance, I spoke with her. She is miniscule, short and tiny, with thinly boned feet and hands, small-boned head .... an overall birdlike structure. When she dances, she commands the stage with her full movements, her passion, her lyricism. A lovely, strong dancer.

[Hans]

I always thought Asylmuratova was tall (even when seeing her in street clothes as a judge at the Prix de Lausanne) but she isn't!

[lampwick]

Wendy Whelan is smaller than she appears.

[bart]

"Larger than life" in common parlance refers to qualities that have less to do with physical size than with impressiveness, charisma, presence, plastique, memorability, and whatever it is that make it difficult to take your eyes off someone when they are onstage. After all, tall dancers aren't always the ones you notice. It's the i-n-t-e-r-e-s-t-i-n-g dancers.

If it isn't changing the character of this thread too much, perhaps posters might want to place their votes for dancers who are "larger than life" in this sense. Even if we don't know their actual height (as most of us don't). And even if they aren't the most technically proficient.

Character dancers -- or those dancing character parts seem to have an advantage here. Let's just take some of the ABT videos most of us have seen many times. It's Cornejo (already mentioned) I can't take my eyes off in the ABT video of "The Dream." Not Stiefel and Ferri. Ditto Gomes in the ABT "Swan Lake," not Corella and Murphy. Alas, no one qualifies in ABT's video Corsaire, where I begin to muse more about scenery and costume chioces than I should.

I know a lot of this is personal preference. To me, Fonteyn had it alone among Royal ballerinas of her generation and the one that followed. Nureyev had it less than I would have thought (though he DEMANDED it and arranged things to put the focus on him). Barishnikov always had it. I would often watch him coming out of a pirouette in preference to another dancer doing something quite pyrotechnical on the other side of the stage. Farrell and Villella, yes. McBride and Martins, no. Hayden, Verdy and Kent, yes. Tallchief, no (though she was quite grand in grand parts). Mitchell, yes. Magallanes and Moncion, no.

Watching a good corps produces similar results. I really regret that I don't know the names of the individual corps dancers who consistently captured my eye in the years I attended NYCB regularly. You would look for them. Point them out to your companion. Try to figure out who they were despite the unhelpfulness of the program. Watch them even in the background and even when something quite important was going on with the principals.

[stinger784]

I feel in the next coming year or two, Marcelo Gomes will make a huge impact in the state of male dancing over at ABT. He has all the essential tools of an artist, not a trickster. He is bringing the art back the ballet and that's what the ballet world needs if we want the like of Nureyev back on stage.

In my humble opinion...

~Ian~

www.ianpoulis.com

[drb]

Two mentions of Gomes suggest that Larger-than-Life dancers with stage-filling presence need not be small.

Among non-petite ballerinas, surely Veronika Part is Larger-than-Life, and I think this is part of the reason for her success as Myrtha: she doesn't need to "act" menacingly, she already "commands" with her presence. When a tall ballerina has the courage to "dance large" the effect can be breath-taking. Consider Maria Kowroski in her better moments, and Tess Reichlen's break-through performances over the past year at NYCB.

[Marga]

bart, I want to thank you for the clarification. After I posted, I could see how this thread could become a list of good shorter dancers who command the stage as well as their good taller counterparts. I don't think this was Helene's intent in starting the thread.

I was a passionate corps-watcher at City Ballet back in the 60s when I still lived in New York. Ironically, I was always on the lookout for Karin von Aroldingen! I posted on BT a year or two ago that I didn't really like watching her (with many posters in agreement in a thread that, unfortunately, wasn't too kind to her overall). Now I realize that she was compelling to me as I tried to figure her out. The fact that she was a "big" dancer in the corps (back then) was probably what made me "find" her in the first place, but that wasn't what kept me mesmerized by her.

It was her peculiar angularity, her not being from the same mold as the typical female ballet dancer, the way her face looked as she danced, the way her foot was shaped, arched enough but with a wide side face. I don't mean the winged look which Balanchine adored, but the aspect from the top of the foot to the bottom which the viewer sees from the side. Her hips jutted in a different way during the Balanchine hip thrusts, her neck angled strangely when she presented her head to the side. She was so muscled throughout her body. There was much to see and, maybe, analyze about her body in motion. Hence, larger-than-life.

I didn't spend half as much time in total fascination with any other corps dancer, although there were many whom I liked to watch. I made it my business to know everyone's name and sat in a front row seat for a few years so as to watch the individual dancers, not being quite as interested in the tableaus the choreography displayed.

As for principals, Patricia Wilde was larger-than-life for me. She certainly did not have a typical dancer's body, either, but how she danced!! What a vivacious, daring, speedy dancer! She could do just about everything. She didn't have line, but she had pizazz!

[Helene]

I think that drb's original point was that there are dancers who have such a big stage presence, that it's out-of-proportion to their actual size. (drb, please tell me if I'm wrong.)

There's a corps dancer at PNB. Brittany Reid, who is a little taller than I am -- I'm guessing she's ~5'7" -- and while I wouldn't say that she always has the stage presence of a legendary dancer like Cynthia Gregory, she danced two roles in which she had such sweep and authority that she owned the stage: Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Flora in The Nutcracker. (Flora leads the "Dance of the Flowers" in Kent Stowell's version.) Those were larger-than-life performances.

As far as stage presence alone, Bart Cook was always a dancer I could never take my eyes off of, but, paradoxically, one of the attractions of his dancing was its human scale.

[drb]

I think that drb's original point was that there are dancers who have such a big stage presence, that it's out-of-proportion to their actual size. (drb, please tell me if I'm wrong.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, that's it. Sometimes it can be a tiny dancer like Nadeshda Pavlova who could give the illusion (to me) of Balanchine's Christmas tree, growing right before my eyes to fill the stage with presence. But it can also be a (slightly) tall dancer, as in Cynthia Gregory, or a quite tall dancer with the courage, or inclination, to dance Big.

[bart]

And it's important to recall that "big" need not be vulgar, obvious or over-the-top.

What IS the difference? I don't know. But you can see it. There is an inner "bigness" that projects itself outwards from secure and fascinating inner resources of spirit and body. This is quite different from those who work hard to manufacture large gestures and exagerrated extensions where everything is on the periphery.

Marga and Helene, I agree about Patricia Wilde and Bart (no relation) Cook.

So ... who else? And why?

[carbro]

As far as stage presence alone, Bart Cook was always a dancer I could never take my eyes off of, but, paradoxically, one of the attractions of his dancing was its human scale.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Interesting point, Helene. Bart was able to dominate the stage not in a greedy or hammy way, but with a kinetic tension that made him larger than life. But he never overplayed emotions, which kept him accessible and endearing. And special.

And it's important to recall that "big" need not be vulgar, obvious or over-the-top.

What IS the difference?  I don't know.  But you can see it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is the Magic of Marcelo Gomes. He acts with great passion and vivid emotions, and he takes you right to the brink. Right to the brink. But never over it. His touch is extremely senstivite to how far he can push.

So ... who else?  And why?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ashley Bouder sends a buzz through the house whenever she steps onto the stage. If we knew why , we could bottle it and become very, very rich!

[BalletIsLife]

I agree with Ashley Bouder..... she appears almost superhuman, outshining and outdoing everyone else on stage. That is what I would consider larger than life.

Gomes as well.

[canbelto]

I'd say Alina Cojocaru. She's a tiny, delicate dancer but whenever she's onstage you simply can't take your eyes off her.

Diana Vishneva has a similar effect on me.

And I agree with Carbro on Marcelo Gomes. I'd also add Irina Dvorovenko and Alessandra Ferri. Sylvie Guillem too.

The above-mentioned dancers have something in common in that they make a plie look like more than a plie. Every movement from them looks special.

Dancers in the past who I've only seen on video but seemed to have this same quality: Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Tanaquil LeClercq(!!!), MAYA PLISETSKAYA, Gelsey Kirkland, Natalia Makarova, and Altynai Asylmuratova.

[drb]

Ashley Bouder sends a buzz through the house whenever she steps onto the stage.  If we knew why , we could bottle it and become very, very rich!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't think being Larger-than-Life is necessary and sufficient for "greatness." The two dancers in this new century who have been "greatest" (a silly and near offensive term, of course) in my experience are Ashley Bouder (larger-than-life steps, joy beyond bounds) and Alina Cojocaru (larger-than-life humanity),and they would not make the top of my list as having Larger-than-Life physical presence. For now, I'm happy to accept the generosity of their gifts without thought as to why! You just go and look. And you know. On the other hand, the greatest (and I don't need "..."s for her!) dancer I've ever seen is Suzanne Farrell. And she projected a very Larger-than-Life presence. How did she do it? Aside from Genius, of course, I think her eyes were part of it. They danced! And, separately from this, one felt she was making eye-contact with every individual in the audience, bringing her "nearer," perspective-wise, larger. Also, her musicality had an "amplifying" effect: She was, of course, more the music than anyone else could ever be. As the music filled the hall, so did she. You aren't Balanchine's Muse for no reason...

[bart]

the greatest (and I don't need "..."s for her!)  dancer I've ever seen is Suzanne Farrell.  And she projected a very Larger-than-Life presence.  How did she do it?  Aside from Genius, of course, I think her eyes were part of it.  They danced!  And, separately from this, one felt she was making eye-contact with every individual in the audience, bringing her "nearer," perspective-wise, larger.

Yes. But not in the sense of trying to seduce or charm the audience, like -- say -- Danilova.

Farrell's expression often conveyed the deep sense that she was completely wrapped up in, entranced by, and even "lost" in the dance.

I'd say that of two of the greatest female dancers of the 20th century, the image of Fonteyn comes to me first through her smile, and Farrell first by the look of someone spellbound by the act of dancing.

[zerbinetta]

I always felt Farrell was spellbound by the music & the dance was her irresistible response. She inhabited the music like no one else until Part.

She does remain vivid in the memory, doesn't she?

(Sigh)

[bart]

I always felt Farrell was spellbound by the music & the dance was her irresistible response.

Much better put. Thanks, zerbinetta.

[bart]

Here's a comment from the Ulyana Lopakina thread.

she remains entirely different from most dancers and may yet become a ballerina to compare with earlier generations.

Maybe "difference" -- or certain kinds of difference -- is an aspect of the quality we're talking about.

[scherzo]

Natalia Osipova.

[cubanmiamiboy]

The ONLY times that i've really felt the "larger than life" presence in a dancer has been when Mme. Alicia Alonso took the stage. I only had the opportunity to see her dancing late on her career, but she was just so...GRAND, that just stepping into the stage was enough to erase EVERYTHING around her and drive the audience crazy with devotion. Watching Anton Dolin crowning her as she would bow a la old school/Ballet russes style, totally blind, in her Giselle outfit was beyond description...THAT for me is "larger than life".

[JMcN]

I never saw Alicia Alonso dance but she came on stage for the curtain calls after a performance as Sadler's Wells last year. She filled the auditorium with her presence, even as a blind near nonagenarian.

More recently, Joseph Cipolla ex BRB, Robert Parker just ex BRB, Jonathan Ollivier ex NBT soon to join a Canadian company, Jeremy Kerridge ex NBT, Jonathan Renna ex NBT, Irek Mukhamedov (especially as Spartacus), Altynai Assylmuratova

[atm711]

Larger-than-life performing today?---just one, Nina Ananiashvilli---she joins the hallowed company of other larger-than-lifers: Danilova, Markova, Alonso, Chauvire, Fonteyn, Makarova.

[Phaedra392]

Regarding corps dancers, in watching NYCB in the seventies and eighties, I was always drawn to Miriam Mahdaviani and Renee Estopinal. Mahdaviani had a joyous, radiant femininity, while Estopinal was striking and authoritative. Both were eye-catchers for me. I miss them.