Posted 22 March 2002 - 08:43 PM
I certainly agree with linsusanr that Boston has something to look forward to in Roman Rykine...... he is a noble dancer, in every way, from the way he points his feet to the way he offers his hand to his partner...
We've rarely seen male dancing of this refinement -- such wonderful feet, such turnout, such beautiful carriage.... His short neck is his only physical drawback-- it makes it seem as if his shoulders are riding up, so in the wrong costume he can look anxious or cross and out-of-sympathy with his partner.....
He is an attentive partner -- as Albrecht in Giselle, he and Tina Leblanc had perfected the lifts so that it reminded you of Maximova and vasiliev, which I think is VERY high praise....
He's grown stronger as an actor; a couple of years ago, in La Sylphide, he danced beautifully but didn't really BELIEVE in the world of the Sylphide -- you didn't believe he was running out the door looking for her glade in hte woods -- he just ran out the door.
In Act I of GIselle he was still, well, disengaged, but in ACT II he was really THERE.
I hope Boston considers getting Migrittomania, which Yuri Possokhov choreographed on Rykine: Possokhov (who's also a fellow-RUssian SFB principal) made Rykine's modest decency into a great theatrical virtue -- the ballet is full of virtuosity, but even more it creates a "world' where everything seems surreal, everyone is phony except Rykine's character, it's quite poignant.... It's a good ballet; even though it does horrible things to some venerable Beethoven, it's theatrically justifiable, and Beethoven will survive...
My friends who know Rykine say he's a great guy, wonderful to work with, modest to a fault....
[ March 22, 2002, 08:46 PM: Message edited by: Paul Parish ]
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