35 replies to this topic

[Grissi]

Male: Lacotte's variation for James in La Sylphide, 2nd act and Bounonville's variation for James also in the second act (Nureyev danced it superbly). Well, being a woman I also liked to dance these two because of the battery.

Female: 1st, 2nd and 4th variations from Le Grand Pas de Quatre.

[carbro]

I like Gamzatti's betrothal variation and -- very similar in feeling and rhythm -- the Flower Girl variation (which has sometimes been danced by Kitri at ABT) from the wedding act of Don Q with the back cabrioles.

I'm also a big fan of James' variation (B'ville version, Act II).

Another of my favorites is the piccolo variation from Balanchine's  Raymonda Variations -- brise-grand jete X 3, etc. . . .

[fandeballet]

I fell in love with the "Ribbon PDD", and the solos connected to it, in Ashton's La Fie Mal Gardee.  Beautiful, but pretty difficult to dance.  That one arm tushie lift at the finish sure must be painful for the Colas(?)!!!!!!

[JMcN]

Over the last weekend I saw BRB doing Galina Samsova's production of Paquita in Birmingham.  Since then the male variation as performed by Chi Cao has become a firm favourite.  He has a razor-sharp classical technique and performed 8 double tours in alternating directions at the three performances I saw him do.  The audience could not help but gasp in amazement at the ease with which he performed these turns.

[Paul Parish]

Raymonda -- I like ALL of her variations and LOVE the one with scarf and the grand Hungarian one.

Terpsichore's variation is Dance itself.

Odette's variation, though it's beautiful, is impossible to make moving-- Semyonova's is the best I 've ever seen.

[chrisk217]

Paul Parish, on Oct 9 2007, 08:34 PM, said:

Odette's variation, though it's beautiful, is impossible to make moving-- Semyonova's is the best I 've ever seen.

Which Semyonova? Marina or Polina?