scherzo Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 Bart mentions Olga Lepeshinskaya who has always appeared to me to be the worst kind of Soviet Russian dancer that found places in both the Bolshoi and the Kirov ballet companies. I'm intrigued: what do you mean, artistically or, er, politically? Link to comment
artist Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 The few films I've seen of the same time period are quite different. There's a Dying Swan -- and I'm blanking at the name; I'll try to fill it in later -- of a BOLSHOI ballerina who's quite "classical" compared to Pavlova (another ballerina who is very far from our time). Is it Vera Karalli?? Was she really the first to dance the dying swan? Link to comment
artist Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 I really liked Olga Lepeshinskaya towards the middle and esp. the end of her dance. Her fast turns and soaring jumps, truly from her inner will. But this is the only variation I have seen with her in it, so I don't know what to expect or what to compare it to. I just assume it's good since there is no standard set from anything I've seen from her. How about Maximova in "Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini" by Rachmaninov? Is she not lovely? The expression on her face and in her eyes when she bourees in the beginning is so sweet and the inclination of her head with her arms is so cherishable. And towards the middle when she runs upstage left and does a soaring grande jete and runs back downstage right to thrust in her partner's arms, oh, makes me want to cry. The music, her artistry, their instruments. I've said in another topic how much I loved Plisetskaya and Vasiliev in The Humpbacked Horse. How their expression and ability to transform into partners (as some haven't mastered it, looking just like 2 people dancing) is priceless. But Plisetskaya's fouettes in The H.H. don't finish in a clean 5th. To me, it was a sloppy ending from fast turns. Link to comment
artist Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 How many males today would do a ribbon dance in tights? <Asaf Messerer in The Ribbon Dance I liked it; it was very powerful. Link to comment
scherzo Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 I like Lepeshinskaya in this (rather cheesy) waltz pd2 as well. Very exciting! Bart mentions Olga Lepeshinskaya who has always appeared to me to be the worst kind of Soviet Russian dancer that found places in both the Bolshoi and the Kirov ballet companies. I've also seen clips of her in Coppelia and Walpurgisnacht, after having read this comment, and I tried to work out what leonid dislikes. In the former, I picked up sloppiness (she does triple pirouettes, but at what price?) and a rather exaggerated manner that seemed to fit rather well in the era that it was filmed in. In the latter she was all right if you hadn't seen Maximova in it. She seems to have a rather 'un-dancerlike' body type and rather 'unpolished' port de bras, but this is the Bolshoi in the '50s. Overall not bad! But is this what you meant, leonid? Link to comment
artist Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 (edited) She seems to have a rather 'un-dancerlike' body type and rather 'unpolished' port de bras, but this is the Bolshoi in the '50s. Overall not bad! Ah, but this is what I think is true art. It shows the true, natural beauty and appreciation for the body while displaying an indescribable level of emotion and creativity. Yes, refinement is always a plus, but I would rather see more work go into the character and the way one brings it across to the audience, something that is lacking worldwide today. I think those dancers were rather glorious, esp. when I am still moved by only seeing pictures. "In their stillness Nijinsky’s pictures have more vitality than the dances they remind us of as we now see them on stage. They remain to show us what dancing can be, and what the spectator and the dancer each aspire to, and hold to be a fair standard of art." From a beautiful Denby Essay on an amazing Nijinksy website "Creating a New Artistic Era" moderator's note: Edited to add link to New York Public Library http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/nijinsky/photographs6.html Edited February 27, 2007 by carbro Link to comment
atm711 Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 How many males today would do a ribbon dance in tights? <Asaf Messerer in The Ribbon DanceI liked it; it was very powerful. I once saw Igor Youskevitch do a ribbon dance in 'The Red Poppy'--he was bare chested and a lot handsomer than Messerer. :blush: Link to comment
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