68 replies to this topic

[silvy]

thanks so much Hans!! Yes I have seen the Russian version and I love it - only wonder if it wud look ok in a Western dancer!!!



silvy

[Hans]

I think it would look fine--particularly if you cambré back a bit in the attitude.  If you've seen the Sizova video, that's what I mean.

[silvy]

Hans:

thanks for your advice regarding Autora's Wedding variation.  However, I have not seen Sizova.  I have seen: Asylmulatova, Lezhnina, Maximova, Kolpakova, Semizorova - but I do not recall the cambre back. I think they do it straignt upwards?

How about Sizova's performance as Aurora?

silvy

[Paul Parish]

Silvy, you've got a fabulous experience ahead of you, if you haven't seen SIzova dance Aurora --

the only version I know of is the video of Sleeping Beauty where she dances with SOloviev -- it's a little weird, since one of hte great dancer-teachers -- Dudinskaya, I think -- dances Carabosse, and there's TONS of extra choreography for Dudinskaya  in a grotesque mode which mostly comes off OK(but somehow the filming process makes her look small and prevents her from making any truly tremendous effects)...

But SIzova is astounding -- her first variation, all 20 seconds of it, is simply heart-stopping -- she absolutely flies through hte air, more fairy-like than any of her fairies, the sauts de chat are unbelievable-- I've watched them over and over in slow motion, never seen feet like that, nor such beautiful co-ordination of every aspect of a jump into something that looks as natural as the white-cap on a wave, and as artificial as a statue of gold by Cellini....

and hte wedding variation is very beautiful, also -- though I find it not very moving; for some reason she does a version of it that truncates the Russian dance, adding extra soutenus and such with baroque arm  gestures rather than hte corkscrew wrists....

I THINK this is what people are referring to as he wedding pas de deux, rather than an "Aurora's Wedding" variation --

for "Arora's Wedding" was just a western European/USA 1-act version of Sleeping Beauty, useful for performing on tour, etc. IT's a Ballets Russes thing, invented by DIaghilev-- htey don't use it in Russia, (Again, I'm not SURE of this, but I don't think so.)

So what you're looking for is hte Kirov Sleeping Beauty, 1964--

F0nteyn did an Aurora's Wedding, not a great moment for her -- though SIBLEY is on that tape in Bluebird-- which i think you've seen

[Rachel]

If you're interested in some more versions of Aurora's variation from the Wedding Pas de Deux, you might want to check out the Prix de Lausanne website, as many of the contestants performed this piece.

Rachel

[Hans]

Sizova performs all the usual Russian choreography, which is restrained, not technically dramatic.  By the way, the cambré back is not a big one--just in the upper back, with the head inclined.  It's not obvious; it's just a fuller use of the back than you would see with for example a British or Balanchine dancer.  There is also a young Natalia Makarova dancing the bluebird pas de deux with Valery Panov on the same tape.

[Alexandra]

A positively pudgy young Natalia Makarova!  

[silvy]

Alexandra, sorry, I do not the meaning of "pudgy" (English is not my first language!!)

Hans, I see what you are referring to: it is the use of the upper back which is so unique to the Russians, and which is linked to the "epaulement":  they sort of detach their upper back from their lower back, and make movements flow from there, and giving them an "airy" look.  I think that is the reason why their "swans" look so good.

silvy

[Alexandra]

pudgy = not thin, not quite "chubby" and certainly not "heavy" but not the very trim ballerina she would become.

[dirac]

Doesn't "pudgy" have a slightly negative connotation? I thought she looked beautiful!  

[Hans]

If that's pudgy, I like it.  She looks fantastic, IMO.  

Silvy, that is exactly what I meant--isn't it amazing what Russians can do with their backs?

[Paul Parish]

I agree with you a thousand per cent about the cambre -- ESPECIALLY in the first variation (THE ONE PRECEDING HTE rOSE ADAGIO) -- what makes those sauts de chats SO beautiful is hte cambre a the crest of hte leap - if it weren't Aurora, you'd think it was Kitri -- except that there's nothing peasant about it -- it is so elegant it looks natural(!!!)  to see the head reach back like that at the top of the jump....

[Hans]

I think Sizova's back is one of the seven wonders of the ballet world:).

[silvy]

Ref Sizova:  Does anyone know what has become of her?

Oh, her Corsaire when she was just a student was SO incredible

silvy

[Hans]

She is a teacher at the Universal Ballet Academy in Washington, DC.  She is the most turned-out person I have ever seen, and I have some fun stories about her--like the time she was giving the girls a grand allegro combination and accidentally did a double assemblé en tournant (she's sixty-something years old) and then told her students (about 15-16 years old) not to try it because it was too difficult!  She wasn't trying to be rude; she just meant they weren't yet advanced enough.