21 replies to this topic

[Jack Reed]

Here's a good look at Mary Carmen Catoya and Rolando Serabia in the "Black Swan" pas de deux, or most of it:



I think all the movement sequences are here; what's a little scanted in this rehearsal is the way Odile plays with poor Siegrfied's emotions etc., their characterizations, in other words, which were more strongly realized in the public performance (as we might expect).

[bart]

Thanks, Jack.  I love watching familiar choreography in a studio setting, with the dancers in practice clothes.

I see that his/her/or/their agent has posted a number of videos on YouTube.  I was intrigued to find her dancing with DANIEL Sarabia in the Nutcracker pdd (in Tallahassee).  It's interesting to compare the 2 brothers.

[Helene]

She's the most natural turner I've seen since Nichol Hlinka.  Her pelvis is so open and her legs beautifully turned out, and it gave her persona an open, sunny quality, all through body movement.  No wonder Siegfried is confused!  Even in that last diagonal in the code, where many great dancers look rushed and unwieldy, she extends out into arabesque, with a tad of bend in her knee to make it look almost casual.   Their supported pirouettes are superb.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Ah, how interesting that instead of the supported cambre of Odile after her diagonal of pirouettes in the Adagio they used Alonso's supported arabesque penchee...
Thanks for the link, Jack!

[Jack Reed]

Agreed, Helene, but, again, in the theatre that sunny quality became just part of her persona, the "bait" she lures Siegfried with, to which she added a touch of evil as something of a femme fatale who watches him and enjoys what she's doing to him.

bart, as  you may know, there have been a couple more of her Nutcracker pas de deux on YT, with different partners and less-good image quality, but pretty remarkable dancing.

You're welcome, Cristian.  Do you want to expand a little on those details?  Or maybe I'll just have to find which moving box my ballet manuals are packed away in.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Jack Reed, on Jan 1 2010, 11:05 AM, said:

You're welcome, Cristian.  Do you want to expand a little on those details?  Or maybe I'll just have to find which moving box my ballet manuals are packed away in.

Oh, Jak...you're asking a novice, non expert in terms of technique, but basically this is the moment when Odile comes from the back right in a diagonal of slow turns  to meet Siegfried, who spins her off just for a second just for both to finish the Entrée by Odile bending over in a deep penchee, both arms and head pointing down, supported on her waist by Siegfried to a big final accord.  This pose I  find it to be only in the Cuban version, and it can be seen also in the 1958 clip of Alonso and Youskevitch.  The Russian versions-(and Americans too)-generally have the ballerina bending back on pointe after the supported pirouettes, arms, head and neck back, supported by the bailarin.  After that pose, the Adagio starts.

[bart]

Helene, on Jan 1 2010, 01:05 PM, said:

She's the most natural turner I've seen since Nichol Hlinka.  Her pelvis is so open and her legs beautifully turned out, and it gave her persona an open, sunny quality, all through body movement.`

"Natural" is the key word here.  Jack has mentioned the differences in the way she performs this here, as contrasted with the more fully realized stage performances on stage.  I have never seen her dance this  or any other iconic pdd on stage so freely and (as Helene says) "openly."

Quote

[I]n that last diagonal in the code, where many great dancers look rushed and unwieldy, she extends out into arabesque, with a tad of bend in her knee to make it look almost casual.

Yes.  I also noticed this ... and love it.