87 replies to this topic

[richard53dog]

It's been over twenty years since Glasnost and the break up of the Soviet Union. You would think that the directorial powers that be at the Maryinsky and Bolshoi, would open up their thinking about the staging of Act IV, and fashion something more closely attuned to to what Tchaikovsky and his librettists intended.

Yes, but keep in mind that Lopatkina is wholly dedicated to the Sergeyev versions of the classics staged int he mid 20th century. Dudinskaya was her teacher and her reverence for Dudinskaya is very strong. And it extends to Dudinskaya's husband, Konstnatin Sergeyev. Lopatkina is contempuous of the reconstructions that the Kirov experimented for a little while or anthing that challenged the Sergeyev stagings So don't expert her to embrace anything, including an earlier, more traditional version of Swan Lake. It would be akin to sacriledge in Lopatkina's mind.

[avesraggiana]

One Makarova touch I do miss, that I've never since another ballerina do, is Odette's very first entrance in Act II. Captured on video, the music builds, Siegfried points his crossbow upstage and aims, the audience holds its collective breath and then really, waterfowl-like, Makarova alights on the stage with a run-run-run-grand jete, landing in fourth croise, her head down in a forward bend. It's really an arresting moment and it's easy to visualize a swan breaking her descent and alighting on a lake. Nobody else seems to do this, with the Russian ballerinas favouring instead a bent-knee, stork-like walk-walk-walk, followed by a split-jete en place and then a body flop over the front leg, like Siegfried really had shot her down...it's all very anticlimactic and kind of kills it for me.

Another Makarova touch that I love is when she first encounters Prince Siegfried. She throws her hands up to her face in fright, and snaps her legs closed in sous-sus, her whole body trembling literally from the tips of her stuttering pointes to the top of her tiara. The moment last milli-seconds but the meaning it conveys tells a thousand words.

Years ago, I saw a video of Makarova coaching a Royal Festival Ballet ballerina preparing for Odette and in coaching the scene I just described above, I distinctly remember Makarova telling the ballerina, "show me, show me with your WHOLE body...". It was Makarova teaching what she herself practised. I'm not at all advocating that all prima ballerinas imitate Makarova but rather, suggest that they would do well to emulate her example and find their own way to communicate their story using THEIR whole body.

[MRR]

Tape

Gold: Natalia Makarova (w/ABT)
Silver: Nina Ananiashvilli
Bronze: Galina Mezentseva

Live

Gold: Polina Semionova
Silver: Marianela Nunez
Bronze: Tamara Rojo

[Roberto Dini]

Nina Ananiashvilli is probably my favorite performer who I've seen live although Veronika Part very pleasantly surprised me with a stellar performance with Roberto Bolle a couple of seasons ago with ABT.

Recorded performances, I enjoy Nina and Evelyn Hart (although she looks awfully gaunt) in the Natalia Makarova production that perhaps avesraggiana was referring to earlier? I love the evil looks Evelyn gives the camera as the black swan. I believe I recall reading that she was a last-minute replacement for someone who had gotten ill when they were set to record the ballet. The dvd transfer is disappointingly bad with a a lot of color bleeding and blurring, as I recall.

[mimsyb]

Nina Ananiashvilli is probably my favorite performer who I've seen live although Veronika Park very pleasantly surprised me with a stellar performance with Roberto Bolle a couple of seasons ago with ABT.

Recorded performances, I enjoy Nina and Evelyn Hart (although she looks awfully gaunt) in the Natalia Makarova production that perhaps avesraggiana was referring to earlier? I love the evil looks Evelyn gives the camera as the black swan. I believe I recall reading that she was a last-minute replacement for someone who had gotten ill when they were set to record the ballet. The dvd transfer is disappointingly bad with a a lot of color bleeding and blurring, as I recall.

NINA, very definitely. Also in my list would be Plesetskaya and Svetlana Beriosova. Perhaps Cynthia Gregory.

[Paul Parish]

THank you for posting this --

I've never seen it before, but it's truly wonderful.

Fonteyn had a fantastic gift for creating drama -- at hte very end, she does perfectly amazing things with echappes to point. The diagonal, as you say, is amazing, and her phrasing of hte fourette passage is better than many who do many more turns, since she ends it with a soussus balance in a glorious pose that is itself quite difficult to achieve in the first place and to sustain when dizzy is quite amazing. and he final pose on his shoulders is glorious.

Fonteyn knew her orders of magnitude, which images had to be created when, and when it was crucial to hold the pose and "go wonderful."

Technically, a lot of dancers have done beautifully in both Odette and Odile, from past to present. A lot of great names have been mentioned in this thread (over the years!) but I can only write about the ones that I have seen. For a long time I didn't like Swan Lake, there was always "Giselle, Giselle, Giselle". But my interest has been renewed since I watched the Nureyev/Fonteyn's Swan Lake (1967) on DVD. I was most impressed by the way Fonteyn protrayed Odile with the use of her eyes. As soon as Odile busted into the ballroom, she gave one single look and that completely defined who Odile was. I haven't seen a lot of Odiles that would give me that "dramatic high".
In recent years, thanks to youtube, I'm most memorized by Alicia Alonso (Odile), Gillian Murphy (Odette/Odile) and Svetlana Zakharova (Odette) to name a few...

little-junkie, Fonteyn was my first Odette-Odile and even not having any basis for comparison, I was very impressed. I recall her being extremely dangerous and charismatic as Odile, she didn't use any of the exaggerated vampish type effects we often see, she was just irresistible. Very sophisticated and very much the person that attracts the attention of everyone in whatever room she has entered.

Although the quality is poor, particularly the movement , which is somewhat jerky, I think this clip shows the Fonteyn/Nureyev dynamic better than the Nureyev film. They are both a bit nervous in the first moment or two but they settle in and Fonteyn is mesmerizing in her attraction. Siegfried simply is overwhelmed, this is no over the top siren but an irresistible force that simply can't be ignored.

Although Fonteyn was never a virtuoso, some of her effects are very impressive, particularly the last part of the coda. She attempts the 32 fouettes, which was more than she did on stage at this point but only gets about 29 out. but the diagonal afterwards is amazing. Also , throughout, her use of her hands and head is very captivating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhBxfLj3Lp4&feature=player_embedded

This was posted a while back but wasn't the complete pdd, I believe it ended with the adagio. This source includes the variations and coda.

[bart]

Thanks, Paul, for the following.

Fonteyn knew her orders of magnitude, which images had to be created when, and when it was crucial to hold the pose and "go wonderful."

I've never heard this expressed in just this way. You help what made Fonteyn's on-stage magic so personal and successful. Even on what was probably a concrete floor.

Recently I looked at this pas de deux as danced by a number of artists: Makarova w. Dowell; Letestu w. Martinez; Lopatkina w. Korsuntsev; Murphy w. Corella; Ananiashvili w. Fadeyechev; a 1957 performance of Plisetskaya also with Fadeyechev; and Mahkalina w. Zellinsky. Along with Fonteyn and Nureyev. This meant I got to see in one afternoon a number of Odiles who were arguably more bravura than Fonteyn, sexier and slinkier, sharper, more sinuous, more "evil." Fonteyn was the standout in this lineup, even though one tends to associate her with the white swan most of all.

What IS it about Fonteyn? Paul and Richard have added a couple of important pieces of what to me is still a puzzle.

Does she appeal to younger viewers -- those who know her only as ballet "history" -- the way she does to those of us who grew up watching her and learning from her, on Royal Ballet tours to the US and in film?

[rg]

two scanned news photos from the States, meant for publication during Royal Ballet tours:
the one of Fonteyn with Michael Somes (as Odile and Siegfried) is dated as being recieved by its US newspaper in Jan. of '58 - it now includes crop-mark indications and smudges of retoucher's paint.
the portrait of Fonteyn (as Odette) is dated May, '63 and includes its own crop-line indications.

Attached Files

•  MF&MSodi&s58wm.jpg   147.69KB   30 downloads
•  MFode63wm.jpg   143.75KB   28 downloads

[angelica]

Nina Ananiashvili. Especially see DVD of Nina with State Ballet of Perm, when she was 29 years old. She didn't even know they were filming. She wasn't dancing for posterity--this is how she danced all the time.
Today: Veronika Part. I wouldn't miss her for the world.
In my dreams, Stella Abrera.

[vipa]

Cynthia Gregory - For me had the perfect combination of white & black.

The biggest disappointments for me have been Markova, Vishneva and Part. Technical failings in all have been too distracting for me. I never saw Anna A unfortunately. I'm sure it was great.

I would like to see Cojocaru. It is not an ideal role for her but she is always musical, interesting and backs up her ideas with technical ability. My fault with some performances is that I get the intent but it isn't delivered by the actual steps.

[Paul Parish]

Hmmmmm.

I've tried to enter a post here three times now. WONder what I'm doing wrong.

THe greatest O/O I ever saw live was Sibley.

Ananiashvili made a greeat entrance as Odile: she looked around her as if to say, "Where AM I? Zagreb?" looking down her nose at these people. And her nose suddenly looked a lot like Danilova's.

[Kerry1968]

Of the 10 recorded Swan Lakes I have on tape and disc, the one I watch oftenest is Lopatkina (2007), and this is entirely (or almost entirely) because of her Odette. I don't find her Odile to be dramatically compelling, but still enjoyable because Lopatkina moves so beautifully.

Of Swan Lakes I've seen in person, the one that made the deepest impression was San Francisco Ballet in 1988, because it was the first ballet I ever saw live! It'd be a great big lie to say that I recalled any details of Evelyn Cisneros's dancing. What I do recall is the very great pleasure she gave me and clapping till my hands were numb.

[JMcN]

I would echo Jane Simpson in nominating Trinidad Sevillano. I saw her in the first night of the production that Natalia Makarova made for London Festival Ballet and she was unforgettable.

I also saw Miyako Yoshida give some amazing performances when she was with Birmingham Royal Ballet. One performance I particularly remember was in Liverpool. When she turned her back to the audience to make her act 2 exit, the way she moved her head, arms and back move had the entire audience gasping in amazement.

I would also have to nominate both Simon Cooper and Adam Cooper for their interpretations in Mathew Bourne's production.