Cold dancers that you like

[sparklesocks]

Mmm. A fun topic to read - though I haven't had the pleasure of seeing many of those mentioned live.

[bart]

I rediscovered this thread after watching a DVD of the Kirov's Don Quixote, and then searching for "terekhova."

Tatiana Terekhova, especially dancing Kitri. I am always in absolute awe of her solid technique. But I do admit that Kitri is a red-blooded role. Nevertheless, she does not cease to amaze me in that role. I could watch her turn, jump and move across the stage a million times. Always super strong and solid! She is more of an amazone to me, this is why I love her so much

I have a slightly different take on this ballerina.

Her technical brilliance may be why her appearance in the Don's dream scene -- in what is basically an idealized classical ballerina variation -- struck me as being so much more effective than her (admitted gallant) attempts to portray the character of young, flirtatious, thrill-seeking, rebel-with-a-heart-of-gold Kitri. Her obvious difficulties in finding and maintaining a Kitri smile may have something to do with this.

P.S. -- It's been almost a year since this thread faded away. Anyone have any new thoughts on the topic?

[papeetepatrick]

P.S. -- It's been almost a year since this thread faded away. Anyone have any new thoughts on the topic?

As per a previous post, I am a bigger fan of Peter Martins than quite a number here. I don't find him cold, but rather cool. What seems like coldness is a kind of exaggerated masculine attitude (perhaps less popular in today's climate), which is certainly appropriate for partnering one kind of ultimate feminine like Suzanne Farrell, and their coolness was well-matched. Yes, she could be hot, but she herself once spoke of how she was sometimes perceived as a 'cool and detached' dancer. She often was, but this was very arresting. Then she'd let go seemingly quite suddenly. Her partner would need to have an extreme of masculinity that she could never quite touch, just as there would always be something inaccessibly feminine in her that he could long for and never quite reach. It was not a one-sided partnership, and they needed to have a chemistry that often included sexual resistance for the thing to work--which it did, of course. Some faces that are very big (like Peter Martins's) often remind people of coldness even when it's not there. I once heard the great Catherine Deneuve (another kind of 'ultimate feminine') interviewed by Johnny Carson, and he asked her about people's perception of her as 'cold.' She said it had to do probably with the way her face was built and worked, and added 'well, I am cool, but not cold,' which we all found quite hilarious, because she inserted her coolness so slyly.