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Favorite Bluebirds/Princess Florines


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When I was a little girl, the first live SB performance I saw was the de Valois 1977 Royal Ballet production. Park & Wall were Aurora and Florimund. The Bluebirds were Alfreda Thorogood and Michael Coleman. They left a lasting impression on me. They were great! My other all time favorite Bluebirds are A. McKerrow & J. Renval, L. Semenyaka & Y. Vetrov, and Jennifer Penney & Wayne Eagling. In addition to the Florines already mentioned, my other favorites are Pavlenko, Yevteyeva, Lezhnina, F. Chadwick, Makarova (Sizova/Soloviev film of SB), and M. Bilova. I wish I could have seen Maximova & Vasiliev but they danced this ppd before I was even thought of :wacko:.

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(Whatever became of Deirdre, btw?  Anyone?)

I have bought a few ballet books from Deirdre Carberry's mother, who is an ebay seller. She told me Deirdre has been living in England for a few years and is not dancing at the present time.

My vote for Bluebird is Kevin Pugh and for Florine, Natasha Makarova.

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Sibley, sibley Sibley

Lovebird you are so right....--she shimmers, her whole upper body is winged.

That video is mostly kinda awful, except for Sibley -- Fonteyn is uncharacteristically awkward as Aurora; the best things on it are Gerd Larson as he queen (she is fantastic), Park as one of hte precious-metal fairies, and this absolutely transcendant performance by Antoinette Sibley as Princess Florine. It's not just technique, of which she has plenty -- it's the beauty of her line, the softness of her breathing, the delicacy of her head positions, the remarkable flexibility of her torso -- she's rarely straight up and down -- though her legs are very true and her aplomb is fantastic, she does her double ronde de jambes in the coda with her torso at quite a tilt -- beautifully lifted out of the hips, but the tilt is almost Cunninghamesque -- very classical, truly beautiful, and at high speed. Her lines are unbelievable. And all of it is so dancey, musical in the extreme.

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Jean Babilee is my favorite Bluebird---he literally flew in those brise voles. I loved Alonso's "Florine", she was like no other I ever saw dance the role--she was every inch the Classical ballerina, with no signs of the cutsiness that most dancers infuse the role.

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I loved Larissa Lezhina - I saw her dancing Florine in Uruguay, maybe 10 years ago or more - truly delicate, and could not believe she was in right in front of my eyes in country, as she was one of my "video" idols.

I do not remember the name of the Blue Bird,though.

I also like Pankova, Terekhova and Semenyaka. For Blue Birds I would go for Yury Vetrov and Melnikov (sp?)

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Yes, Hans I saw Lezhina live - she did not dance much, though. I remember she did not dance the variation, only the pas de deux (I do not remember if they danced the coda). That was before our Solis Theater was refurbished, and I guess it was because the floor was not in the best conditions (there was a huge rake on the stage, which is now gone). This was part of a gala program, where Gedeminas Taranda also danced (he danced a tango with a ballerina named Pavlova - of course, a young Pavlova!!!!!!).

The Vetrov I mention is the one who dances opposite Bylova in the Bolshoi video (if I am not confusing names - this Bluebird has a very large travelling assemble, and very large travelling sisonnes, which are impressive).

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Yes, and I saw Taranda twice in my country. The first time he came with a group, where Nadezhda Pavlova herself danced 2nd act Giselle, and Maya Plitseskaya herself danced Dying Swan in her sixties. Then Taranda danced this tango with this other Pavlova (a young dancer). I also remember a "Carmen" by Alberto Alonso, where a whole group of female dancers in unison danced the solo variation. I could not believe I was seeing all these great artists live. I think the group was called "the Russian Imperial Ballet", or something of the like.

The second time (when I saw Lezhnina), I remember seeing the Pugni pas de quatre. Among the dancers was the one who dances the first soloist in Raymonda in Bolshoi video (dream sequence - I do not remember her name). I liked her very, very much.

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