Alexandra Posted March 8, 1999 Author Share Posted March 8, 1999 I had the same thought, at first, Steve. Problem is, Oliver (2) wouldn't know about Olivier (1). (I'm posting this publicly in case we have an Ann and an Anne, etc. later on.) The way the board works, if "Oliver" had really been "Olivier," the board would not have let him register. It would say "someone else is using that name." I hate to make Olivier change his log on, since he's been here quite awhile (of course, he's welcome to do it). But it might avoid confusion in the future if Oliver were to add a last initial -- and, again for the future, if someone comes along later and finds that his/her name is very similar to one already on the board, it might help avoid confusion to use the last initial. None of this is an attempt to make Oliver (or Olivier) less welcome. I hope that's understood. And thanks, Oliver, for the kind compliment. And remember, everyone, that Anna Pavlova was known on the home front as "Pavlova II"! alexandra Link to comment
Guest Kerry White Posted March 17, 1999 Share Posted March 17, 1999 I'm so pleased that there's a fellow Viviana Durante fan! Hello Erin! I hope you get to see her perform with ABT, she's amazing and it's a great loss for the Royal Ballet who never really appreciated her while she was with them. Being English though, this move to ABT for a year is not good news for me, and I do hope she returns next year. Link to comment
Guest Juliet Shore Posted March 17, 1999 Share Posted March 17, 1999 One more for the Viviana camp--count me in!! I was delighted to hear that she will be guesting with ABT. I am going to the Giselle and am trying to rearrange the schedule to fit the others in as well. I wish I had seen her in Manon... Others I love: Gelsey Kirkland, Makarova in romantic roles, Altynai Asylmuratova, Yuliana Lopatkina, Wendy Whelan, Maria Kowrowski, Alessandra Ferri...I'd better quit as we will then go into the history section and that will be looooong for everyone to plow through! Link to comment
Guest Tomoko Posted March 19, 1999 Share Posted March 19, 1999 I am a big fan of Viviana Durante and pleased to know that I am not the only one! Last week I went to see her on "Dance Bites" tour and she dance a new ballet by Corder.She was great as always.RB goes to Japan in April and she is casted in 2 performances, in "Swan Lake" and "Manon". Then she will be dancing with ABT in May as every Viviana fan in America knows.I wish I could be in Japan and in New Your during this period.I really hope she returns to England.I'm looking forward to the RB's summer season at Sadler's Wells in July.I'm going to see her in "Giselle" and "Rhapsody" and might see her in "Ondine" too. I can't wait!I'm trying to see as many performances of her as possible. I've got 3 Viviana videos,"Sleeping Beauty","Maylering" and "Winter Dreams". Has anyone seen them? Viviana's Aurora is breathtaking. Are there more videos? Please let me know. Or perhaps a book about her? Well,she is not Darcey Bussell.Viviana is misterious.I would be grateful for any information about her. Link to comment
Guest Kerry White Posted March 23, 1999 Share Posted March 23, 1999 I'm really excited about all these fellow Viviana fans! I too have videos of her in Winter Dreams, Mayerling and Sleeping Beauty and agree that her Aurora really is beautiful. She's so fragile which makes the second act really moving. I don't know if there are any other videos of her, although I have recorded several of her gala appearances etc.. She appeared in a South Bank Show documentary in about 1993 I think, which is quite interesting - it's about her and Darcey Bussell and includes excerpts from Manon, Giselle (I think) and others. She is very mysterious, and quite withdrawn from the rest of the company I think. I have an article on her from about 3 years ago when she was really unhappy about comparisons between her and Bussell and was thinking about leaving. I'd be interrested to know if there are any other books/articles/videos about her. She's wonderful in Giselle so I hope everyone who's going to see her enjoys it. Link to comment
Natalia Posted March 24, 1999 Share Posted March 24, 1999 Diana Vishneva! The most versatile--Kitri, Juliet, Aurora, Symphony in C/3rd, Carmen, Medora, Nikiya (in school performance)...all ravishing. - Jeannie Link to comment
Paquita Posted March 31, 1999 Share Posted March 31, 1999 My favourite dancers are: ~Kimberly Glasco (in Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, all Pepita ballets) ~Greta Hodgkinson ~Nina Ananiashvilli ( something about her is so magical, she truly is a star) ~Paloma Herrera and retired dancers I like are Karen Kain and Margot Fonteyn. Link to comment
Guest Audrey Posted April 4, 1999 Share Posted April 4, 1999 I love Viviana Durante as well. She was one of the "Shades" in Makarova's La Bayadere with the Royal. I also saw her (when she was pretty young) in The Nutcracker with the Royal Ballet. She was one of the dolls in Act 1. Never had the luck to see her in Sleeping Beauty, although I'd give an arm or a leg just for that ? Any videos of her in Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake or Manon ? Other dancers I like are Paloma Herrera and Makarova. Also like Gelsey Kirkland lots as well as Darcy Bussell and Kyra Nichols. Link to comment
Natalia Posted April 5, 1999 Share Posted April 5, 1999 Audrey - There is a fabulous, full-length SLEEPING BEAUTY video with Durante as Aurora. Easily found in most US video stores that carry classical performing arts videos. A while back, the US-based Arts & Entertainment network ran an hour-long documentary on Irek Mukhamedov, which included substantial footage of Mukhamedov & Durante in the Act I pas de deux from MANON. Unfortunately, this documentary is not commercially available (differs from another Irek Mukhamedov documentary which IS commercially available, paired with the ballet WINTER DREAMS...which ALSO stars Durante, by the way). You might try asking friends with large video collections if they have the A&E documentary that includes the MANON pdd. Link to comment
Alexandra Posted April 6, 1999 Author Share Posted April 6, 1999 Thanks for all your comments. This thread has gotten so long, I'm going to close it and start a new "Favorite Female Dancer" thread. And, for all newcomers, there's a "Favorite Male Dancer" thread too. Alexandra Link to comment
atm711 Posted April 14, 1999 Share Posted April 14, 1999 There are many performances that are indelibly imprinted in my mind--Alonso in Giselle, Nora Kaye in Pillar of Fire, Danilova as Swanilda or Odette, Fonteyn as Aurora, Tallchief as the Firebird, Riabouchinska in "Sylphides", Toumanova as Black Swan, and more up-to-date--Makarova's Swan, Farrell as Terpsichore and Diamonds, Amanda McKerrow's Giselle, Wendy Whelan in Balanchine's Swan, and Ananiashville in ANYTHING. Link to comment
silvy Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 Well, I do not live in USA, so I am not seeing ABT and NYCB frequently (I did see both of them in 1998 when I traveled to NYC). So my favourites come mostly from the videos I have seen. I am a big fan of Yulia Makhalina of the Kirov. such glorious torso, expressive arms, especially in Swan Lake. She seems to capture perfectly the difference between Odette and Odile. I remember that when I saw this video for the first time I even wondered if she was the same ballerina!!! I am also a fan of Alessandra Ferri - I was lucky enough to see her Juliet live in Buenos Aires in 1997, and shall not forget the experience. Also as Giselle, but I prefer her as Juliet Anyone knows what has become of her? Of past ballerinas I am also a big fan of Ludmila Semeniaka - I believe her Raymonda is the best I have ever seen. But her Giselle, her Odile - oh God!!! She is able to get to my heart. silvy Link to comment
Calliope Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 Ferri is dancing with ABT right now, there's a couple of reviews on the ABT threads. Link to comment
liljules5 Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 I love Julie Kent!!!! Link to comment
Odette Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 Kitsker, may I ask where Gelsey taught you and was itn SI, masterclass or what? Does anyone know where she regularly teaches at the moment? Thanks Link to comment
su-lian Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 I like Elisabeth Platel very much, but she sometimes seems a bit cold...It's a pity. I also am a big Marie-Agnes Gillot fan. She has so much presence and authority and also a brilliant technique! Let's say that in general, I'm a big POB fan and that I really adore most of the dancers there for different reasons since they are all different. I think the level there is one of the highest, but then, I don't know other companies so well, so it's a bit difficult to judge. I also like Alessandra Ferri a lot, from what I've seen of her in Giselle and Romeo and Juliet, but that was only on TV. I'm sure all the ones who have already been mentionned are also great dancers, but I have neveer seen most of them, so I can't really say that I agree. Link to comment
Ari Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Silvy, Alessandra Ferri is also prima ballerina of the La Scala ballet in Milan and dances there regularly. Link to comment
Farrell Fan Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 How fascinating to discover a thread that had its inception before the turn of the century! It would be redundant for me to name my favorite female dancer, but I would like to mention two others -- Christine Sarry and Sallie Wilson. They both had great moments onstage, and Wilson had arguably one of the greatest offstage ballerina moments of all time when she reacted to a Clive Barnes review by dumping a drink on his head. Link to comment
carbro Posted February 23, 2003 Share Posted February 23, 2003 For simplicity's sake, I'll put Kirkland in a class of her own as my all-time favorite dancer and proceed semi-chronologically from there with some whom I feel have been neglected on this thread. I so admire Maya Plisetskaya's raw power tempered by womanliness. Others include Martine van Hamel and Lis Jeppesen. Martine, with her pure classical style, acute musicality and grandeur, brought a wonderful, womanly warmth to everything she danced. Jeppesen was simply a revelation in Bournonville works. I pegged Jenifer Ringer as a future ballerina when I saw her Waltz Girl in Serenade when she was a 15- or 16-year-old student. She has exceeded my wildest expectations, and seems to continue to grow from one performance to the next. Thrilling. Looking to the future, I'm watching Michele Wiles and Carla Korbes for eventual membership on this list, and my crystal ball is urging me to keep an eye on Sarawanee Tanatanit. Link to comment
Hans Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Did anyone ever see Ulanova? How about Sizova? (I know Mel has.) My Top Three are Asylmuratova, Ayupova, and Lezhnina. I've heard a great deal about Tatiana Terekhova and Yelena Yevteyeva, but have never seen them live. I can't wait to see how Michele Wiles and Maria Bystrova turn out. Link to comment
carbro Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 I believe it was Yevteyeva who danced the Prelude in Chopiniana/Les Sylphides when the Kirov visited Philadelphia and Wolf Trap in 1986, but the programs listed multiple names for the roles, and no announcement was made :rolleyes: , so don't hold me to it. That was my first exposure to the Kirov. However, assuming it was she, I must say, Prelude dancer brought a tragic, ineffable quality to the role that went directly to my heart. It was so subtle, all conveyed with tiny modulations of the head and shoulders and her response to the music. So deeply moving. At those performances, Ayupova danced one of the other lead Sylphides. She was very new then, and so delightful. It's been gratifying to see her grow up so nicely -- even from a distance. I hope someone will correct me if my recollection about the Prelude ballerina is mistaken. ;) Link to comment
silvy Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 I forgot to mention Larissa Lezhina - I saw her live in Montevideo dancing Blue Bird, and was so classical and refined. Maybe not showy, but the emotions she conveyed were of a different kind. I saw the Kirov in 1996 in Buenos Aires, and I shall not forget the Prelude ballerina in Les Sylphides as well - sadly, i do not remember her name. By the way, that solo is one of my favourites!! silvy Link to comment
Guest Pease-blossom Posted February 26, 2003 Share Posted February 26, 2003 Just curious: to all who mentioned that Viviana Durante is guesting with ABT, where could I find more information on that? I went to ABT's website but couldn't find any mention of it. Thanks a lot. Link to comment
BalletNut Posted February 26, 2003 Share Posted February 26, 2003 This is a really old thread, we're talking 3-4 years old. I think Durante guested with ABT in 99 or 00, but, alas, that is a thing of the past now. Which would explain why you can't find any info from ABT about it in 2003.;) Whatever became of her, anyway? By the way, I am probably one of the few people on the planet who actually really like Yuan Yuan Tan. I also like Katita Waldo, Sally Ann Isaaks, Lorena Feijoo, and both of the LeBlancs, to say nothing of the dancers I've only seen on video! Link to comment
Guest Pease-blossom Posted February 26, 2003 Share Posted February 26, 2003 Wow, sorry about that! I looked at the date on the most recent post on the thread. Figures, I should have looked back at the date of the posts I was talking about! ;) Thanks for clearing that up, BalletNut. Link to comment
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