Taglioni's "mal au genou"

[glebb]

In another thread, Alexandra referred to Taglioni's "mal au genou". For six months Taglioni took to her chaise longue. This "knee condition" baffled the doctors, and "six months later little Marie, known to the family as Nini was born".

I saw Toni Lander in 'La Sylphide' in 1970, with ABT. The word in the audience was that she was close to six months pregnant at the time of her wonderful performance.

I remember seeing Makarova on the street when she was about six months pregnant and she looked thin as a rail. I also saw her first performances after the birth of her son. She was magnificent!

Do any BA posters have stories of great ballerinas dancing while expecting a child?

[Estelle]

I had not seen her, but I have been told that Delphine Moussin (premiere danseuse of the POB) kept on dancing until she was about 4 or 5 months pregnant. Her husband is the premier danseur Lionel Delanoe, when their daughter was born he has stopped dancing because of a serious back injury, but a few months after came back on stage again.

Also in the documentary "Tout pres des etoiles" about POB dancers, there's a coryphee Amelie Lamoureux who talks about her pregnancy: she says that some of the teachers she had as a kid were rather bitter people who told her that if she wanted to become a professional dancer, she couldn't have a child (and more generally should not have a personal life); when the documentary was filmed she was at the beginning of her pregnancy, and said how wonderful it was to know that she was pregnant while dancing on the stage of the Paris Opera...

[felursus]

When Melissa Hayden was pregnant she asked her doctor how long she could continue to perform. His reply was: "As long as you can fit into the costumes." In those days spandex didn't exist, so eventually the inevitable happened - a costume split.

I was working on a "Nureyev and Friends" event at which Makarova was featured. Nureyev was observed patting her tummy on more than one occasion. It wasn't until a month or so later that I found out that she was pregnant.

Inevitably the moment arrives when the dancer can't put on her point shoes. I remember Merle Park commenting on doing class and looking down and being unable to see her feet.

Physiologially, for a healthy woman who isn't "showing" much there is no reason why she shouldn't be doing at least most ballets. I can think of a few things that should make a pregnant dancer pause before undertaking - and of course there is also the problem of the added weight not only in how it affects the dancer but also her partner!

[Alexandra]

Definitely NOT ballet, but I was enthralled by the creativity of a modern dancer I read about 20 years ago in Dance and Dancers. I don't remember her name, alas, but she performed at 8.75 months pregnant. Or actually, her unborn baby performed. She was a choreographer. She put pieces of paper folded into shapes on her abdoment, played the baby-to-be's favorite music and. . well, the choreography was all kicks.

Marie T never thought of that!