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Does anyone have opinions of the 1980 video of Alonso and Vasiliev dancing 'Giselle"?

Of course i do, but i'll better wait for another comment to be posted, so i don't sound too obviously partial-(which i am, i know, for the purpose of this subject :D ). Meanwhile, i'll quote Mme. Ulanova when, after watching this performance, said in tears...

"Her Giselle is a miracle"

( I know, i wrote it already on the "Quotable quotes" Forum :) )

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...so no, i can't wait any longer...Here i go...

This production has the exclusivity of presenting the one and only time these two artists representing two different schools of ballet and recognized among the best in the world, danced together. Here we have the unique opportunity to watch the confluence of the sensitivity and artistic control of Mme. Alonso's Ballet Theater/Ballet Russes 40's schooling and her ultra femenine Giselle, with the explosivity and temperamental flamboyant Bolshoi/soviet-based style of Vasiliev's Albretch. The mixing of the two stars resulted in a memorable act that shows their different personalities and different understandings of the work, their personal characteristics and interpretative techniques giving a unique and memorable artistic fact to this love story.

Alicia Alonso's vulnerable Giselle as her design of choice of the central character achieves her task by qualifying every gesture, every intention, every look, making sure nothing , not even a single movement is made without a well designed intention . On the other side, Vladimir Vasiliev's sublime Albretch is desperate and overwhelming in his exhuberant portrayal, offering an interpretation hard to forget: attentive, passionate and dazzling in his virtuosity. According to his own words in a post performance interview, that was one of his most convincing Albrecht of all times. Overall, the result is a work of grandeur in which both artists make their best efforts to equate their respective talents, balancing their physical and aesthetic capabilities without outshadowing the other one in a perfect equation.

This feature has, in addition to the main couple, the excellence of the always perfectly military-styled formed Corps of Willis from the Cuban National Ballet, along with some of its then first figures: Mme. Aurora Bosch in her transcendental and categorical Myrtha, the choreographer Alberto Méndez in his character of Hilarion, then principals Ofelia González and Amparo Brito in the roles of the two Wilis Zulma and Moyna and Mme Loipa Araújo-(one of the original "Four Cuban Jewels" along with Mme. Aurora Bosh, Mme. Mirtha Pla (RIP) and Mme. Josefina Mendez(RIP)-as the Duchess Bathilde, a role that the Cuban ballerina rose to an unprecedented dimension in the history of the ballet. The orchestra of the Grand Theater of Havana was led by maestro Jose Ramon Urbay -(a currently defector and scheduled to conduct for the upcoming performance of the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami in its Swan Lake). In general, this gem of DVD is the documented story of a function of great vitality, beautiful, touching, that a specially moved cuban public thanked, standing with one of the most impressive and long ovations of all those that have ever been heard in the Great Theater in Havana. Also an element which adds a greater interest and value to this edition is its accompanying bonus, the documentary Encuentro (Encounter) under the direction of Marisol Trujillo. Presented by Anton Dolin-(Mme. Alonso’s first partner ever in Giselle)- the movie collects moments from the rehearsals and the preparations for that function. The Alonso/Vasiliev Giselle offers those who love dance something beyond physical displays of technique, a certainly unique material which is very useful because of its aesthetics, style and pedagogy and which is at the same time a historical testimony of an inestimable value. I totally believe, beyond my own inconditional devotion to Mme. Alonso, that this Giselle not only mark a milestone spectacular of the mythic performance of October 30 1980, but a milestone for the memory and history of Giselle for the enjoyment of the ballet lovers of the future. :)

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I've got to admit that I don't feel the same enthusiasm towards this Giselle. There comes a time when a performance becomes technically unacceptable, no matter how legendary the performer, or how great the artistry. I've never seen such a poorly danced Giselle as Alicia Alonso. Not that I blame her -- she was 60 and completely blind. But she is simply unable to cope with the part, even as the camera makes obvious cuts away from the most exposed choreography in Act II. (They did the same in her film in 1964, but back then she was still in many ways technically remarkable.) She also modifies the choreography so much that it really becomes a Nursing Home Giselle.

I suspect that the adoring crowd never got enough of Mme. Alonso, but she should have had the self-awareness to know that by 1980, Giselle was beyond her reach. For the completists only.

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http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=26613

If you would, I'd appreciate comments on my post from Friday, about the 1964 'Giselle'. Perhaps there were some mixups in communication, someone said 'she was blind then', but mustn't he have been talking about this 1980 'Giselle'. I saw her do 'Giselle' with her company at the Met in 1979 and feel somewhat like canbelto on this, but I like this black-and-white old Communist movie very much and think Alonso is exquisite in it..

Correct me if I'm wrong, but speak up, Ladies and Gentleman! Okay to leave comments here or at link to my post above, although mods will determine this...et alors?

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Does anyone have opinions of the 1980 video of Alonso and Vasiliev dancing 'Giselle"?

Perhaps I shouldn't comment because I did not see it--nor do I intend to see it. I have one of her Cuban Giselles (with Plisetski from 1965) and there is no chemistry between the two of them; he appears to be there just to hold her up. I saw Alonso in her prime with Igor Youskevitch--countless times; and as said in many an old romantic film--'it was magic'. She and Danilova were my early ballet favorites and I hate to see her legacy tarnished by these over-the-hill Giselles.

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Ah well, I see I was wrong, and checked my files to find that she was recovering from one of her many surgeries at the time of the Plisetski Cuban 'Giselle', so I wonder if there are any videos from her days with Youskevitch extant, as atm711 has pointed out this as 'her prime'. This is what I haven't yet seen, and hope to do so.

Any information about 40s and 50s Alonso filmed performances would be greatly appreciated.

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I've got to admit that I don't feel the same enthusiasm towards this Giselle. There comes a time when a performance becomes technically unacceptable, no matter how legendary the performer, or how great the artistry. I've never seen such a poorly danced Giselle as Alicia Alonso. Not that I blame her -- she was 60 and completely blind. But she is simply unable to cope with the part, even as the camera makes obvious cuts away from the most exposed choreography in Act II. (They did the same in her film in 1964, but back then she was still in many ways technically remarkable.) She also modifies the choreography so much that it really becomes a Nursing Home Giselle.

I suspect that the adoring crowd never got enough of Mme. Alonso, but she should have had the self-awareness to know that by 1980, Giselle was beyond her reach. For the completists only.

I haven't seen the entire thing, but I have to agree based on the clips I've seen on youtube. It is sort of disturbing in many ways, to see someone who looks as old as she does, playing the young lover, in addition to the technical issues.

On youtube there is an interesting piece with Alonso discussing her feelings on Giselle and then showing clips of the act II pdd from performances beginning in 63 and ending in (gulp) 93.

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Perhaps I shouldn't comment because I did not see it--nor do I intend to see it. I have one of her Cuban Giselles (with Plisetski from 1965) and there is no chemistry between the two of them; he appears to be there just to hold her up. I saw Alonso in her prime with Igor Youskevitch--countless times; and as said in many an old romantic film--'it was magic'. She and Danilova were my early ballet favorites and I hate to see her legacy tarnished by these over-the-hill Giselles.

Thanks, atm711 for putting it like that. I only wish i could see some footage of her from that era too, ( i know there's a 1945 Giselle with Mme. and Youskevitch, and another one from the 50's with her and Erik Bruhn, and I've been in the process to get me a copy for a while now...). And let me tell you, even if her persona and her dancing is being referred as "shaky"( :yucky: ), "old" ( :pinch: ), "disturbing"( :blink: ), "technically unaceptable" ( :mad: ),"beyond her reach" to finally describe this performance of her most beloved role as a "Nursing Home Giselle”, (:mad: ) i can only account for what i felt every time i saw her dancing,-(which you wrote so appropriately )-, "IT WAS MAGICAL"

She should have had the self-awareness to know that by 1980, Giselle was beyond her reach

Thank God she didn't have it. Otherwise I would have missed her performances 11 years later, when I first started watching her dancing the role…

For the completists only.

Mr. Anton Dolin, Mme.Galina Ulanova and myself among them...

(P.S-BTW, all my opinions to be taken as the view of a hardcore fan. My profound respect, as usual, for everone else's).

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Not that I blame her -- she was 60 and completely blind.

Just to respond to this one point;

"Since she was nineteen, Alicia was afflicted with an eye defect and was partially blind. Her partners always had to be in the exact place she expected them to be, and she used lights in different parts of the stage to guide her."

This is in Wikipedia (not 100% reliable, but no reason to doubt this!).

I also understand that her eyesight continued to deteriorate - perhaps cubanmiamiboy has some detail?

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I also understand that her eyesight continued to deteriorate - perhaps cubanmiamiboy has some detail?

Many many times did i see her doing "Giselle", "Carmen" and other ballets (fragments) after 1991 when i moved to Havana. I saw her arriving at the theater, leaving it, and giving press conferences...I even talked to her a couple of times. She was TOTALLY, LEGALLY BLIND BY THEN, and still, while onstage, those who didn't know would have never guessed it. It was unbelievable to connect this person wearing huge black sunglasses that was being carefully guided by two persons by both hands to walk from her car to the theater to the ballerina onstage, sometimes still giving us the joy, at that age, of those famous sautees on pointe from her black swan coda...(Her amazing balances on pointe were the last display of technique that she was able to keep until the end of her career)

Note: Look at the moment from Act I, after she does one of her diagonals of pirouettes left-to-right to land on Vasiliev's arm that she looses her balance a little bit...That was famously discussed on those days, as it seemed to be that he was a little out of her expected perfect situated position. For that matters, she has always been concise with her statement that nobody like Youskevitch ( :clapping:) mastered the art of choreographic memory in order to partner her with the maximum accuracy.

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Thanks, atm711 for putting it like that. I only wish i could see some footage of her from that era too, ( i know there's a 1945 Giselle with Mme. and Youskevitch, and another one from the 50's with her and Erik Bruhn, and I've been in the process to get me a copy for a while now...). And let me tell you, even if her persona and her dancing is being referred as "shaky"( :FIREdevil: ), "old" ( :mad: ), "disturbing"( :mad: ), "technically unaceptable" ( :mad: ),"beyond her reach" to finally describe this performance of her most beloved role as a "Nursing Home Giselle”, (:mad: ) i can only account for what i felt every time i saw her dancing,-(which you wrote so appropriately )-, "IT WAS MAGICAL"

I have to disagree. I think part of being a great artist is knowing When to Stop. By that I don't mean to stop dancing altogether, but when to stop certain roles. Alonso by 1980 was simply unable to cope with a majority of Giselle's choreography, despite the artful cutaways, cheated steps, gauzy soft-focus photography, and adoring crowd. It's painful to see her barely able to get off the ground during those Act 2 entrechats that she did with such possessed speed in her 1964 film. It's painful to see a dancer once admired for her incredible attack having to be led around by the hand literally by other dancers. It's grotesque, and I wish I had never seen it.

If Alonso had danced, say, The Dying Swan, or Spectre a la Rose, or something less demanding technically, I wouldn't have any complaints. There's for instance a film of Maya Plisetskaya dancing The Dying Swan in the 1990s, when she was around 70. Is she the same Plisetskaya who used to kick the back of her head as Kitri? No, but she wasn't dancing Kitri.

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I have to disagree. I think part of being a great artist is knowing When to Stop. By that I don't mean to stop dancing altogether, but when to stop certain roles. Alonso by 1980 was simply unable to cope with a majority of Giselle's choreography, despite the artful cutaways, cheated steps, gauzy soft-focus photography, and adoring crowd.

Usually, yes. And of course, it's obvious to anyone, including fans, what you are talking about. But you cannot disagree in purely reasonable and logical terms with the reaction someone could have had that is quite the contrary to what one's own is. When artists who become legendary continue to perform after their technique has largely disappeared, they have earned that right--if only because there are those 'adoring crowds' who may well be allowing their legend to continue to ride the wave of this diva-type thing as well as those who do not care to see it this way. If you are not involved in the specific persona, you cannot experience this yourself, but you cannot also determine that someone else could not legitimately do so (I doubt you meant it quite that harshly). Not terribly steeped in this persona myself, I did not care to see Alonso dancing Giselle at that age, but I consider that beside the point: Even those performances when Alonso was very old and technically waning are part of who she is. I had not given this much thought before either: If we come to ballet (as I did) through the New York City Ballet, we are not going to ever see this sort of mutation, but neither can we determine that that is the only viable way to go.

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If we come to ballet (as I did) through the New York City Ballet, we are not going to ever see this sort of mutation, but neither can we determine that that is the only viable way to go.

Not to the same extreme, but it has and does happen, even at NYCB. And surely Nureyev's longevity was much commented upon.

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Usually, yes. And of course, it's obvious to anyone, including fans, what you are talking about. But you cannot disagree in purely reasonable and logical terms with the reaction someone could have had that is quite the contrary to what one's own is. When artists who become legendary continue to perform after their technique has largely disappeared, they have earned that right--if only because there are those 'adoring crowds' who may well be allowing their legend to continue to ride the wave of this diva-type thing as well as those who do not care to see it this way. If you are not involved in the specific persona, you cannot experience this yourself, but you cannot also determine that someone else could not legitimately do so (I doubt you meant it quite that harshly). Not terribly steeped in this persona myself, I did not care to see Alonso dancing Giselle at that age, but I consider that beside the point: Even those performances when Alonso was very old and technically waning are part of who she is. I had not given this much thought before either: If we come to ballet (as I did) through the New York City Ballet, we are not going to ever see this sort of mutation, but neither can we determine that that is the only viable way to go.

I don't mean it quite that harshly, that no one has a *right* to enjoy the performance. But coming from the perspective of a balletomane, I wouldn't recommend this performance even for fans of Mme. Alonso who want to see what she was all about. It's not a fair representative of who she was as a ballerina.

I guess I come from a different perspective -- Giselle is my absolute favorite ballet of all. I can never tire of it, and even Giselle videos that I don't particularly care for I treasure simply because of my love for the ballet. I think the choreography is really sacred, and it upsets me to see it so distorted, simplified, and even in some parts flat out erased in this video. The video is, in my opinion, for the fanatics. It's NOT Giselle.

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Not to the same extreme, but it has and does happen, even at NYCB. And surely Nureyev's longevity was much commented upon.

Good point, and I had remembered yesterday how well-used Jacques d'Amboise was in the video of 'davidsbundlertanze', and could think of no other examples quite like that, in which his technical losses actually added dramatically to the character, making Farrell seem even younger, maybe 19 even. Do you have others in mind, Helene, if I may ask, at NYCB? I think you saw them more than I did in the 70s and 80s, and so did many others here, although I saw my share. And yes, of couirse Nureyev, obviously.

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Farrell had lost a lot technically when she came back after hip surgery, although I can't remember her taking on iconic roles. Nichols danced many of her key roles to the end of her career; some people loved these later performances and others thought less of them. I haven't seen Kistler for at least eight years except on the Balanchine Centennial broadcast, but I've ready many comments here that she no longer has the strength for many of her roles and that she's simplified steps. She had an incomparably sunny and such a gracious presence on stage that I could see how someone could enjoy watching her and not care about her technique.

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Even those performances when Alonso was very old and technically waning are part of who she is. I had not given this much thought before either: If we come to ballet (as I did) through the New York City Ballet, we are not going to ever see this sort of mutation, but neither can we determine that that is the only viable way to go.
As canbelto noted, much depends on the selection of roles an aging (aged?) dancer chooses. I am glad I was able to see Alonso's Giselle when she was in her 60s, because I was never able to see it earlier. The Act II pas she danced with Youskevitch at an ABT gala remains one of my top fives -- their electricity charged the whole Met. It was impossible to believe that these two hadn't danced together for over 20 years. For me, she still had enough technique to make this a transcendent experience.

But we -- NYCB watchers -- do see "this sort of mutation," I am sad to say. I have seen the very last of a ballerina still performing and at a much younger age. I have grown tired of hoping that Darci Kistler will have a good day and then meeting grim disappointment. Last season, there was a photo of her as a student displayed on the catwalk of (I think) the Third Ring. She is at the top of an entrechat, all sunshiny vitality. It reminded me why I so loved her -- a reminder I realized I was beginning to need. So I resolved that that would be my last image of Darci dancing in the NYST, an image too sweet to pollute with yet another vision of her mugging her way through simplified choreography. If Darci's in a ballet, I'm not in the auditorium.

Wow! That was painful to write.

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She had an incomparably sunny and such a gracious presence on stage that I could see how someone could enjoy watching her and not care about her technique.

Thanks, both Helene and carbro, and I certainly should have remembered my own observation of Kistler in 'Serenade' and 'Midsummer Night's Dream' in 2004 and 2005. Especially 'Serenade' was strangely cloying and melancholy, and yet I wasn't at all aware of why I couldn't quite appreciate it! I kept trying, but you're right, it was too much like a memory for me, but on the other hand, 'Serenade' does have a wistful quality to it that, now that I look back on it, I find that in another sense I really did enjoy her in it, even then (I think I saw her do it twice in 2004). (and brava for having the courage to say it, carbro.)

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I have to disagree. I think part of being a great artist is knowing When to Stop. By that I don't mean to stop dancing altogether, but when to stop certain roles. Alonso by 1980 was simply unable to cope with a majority of Giselle's choreography, despite the artful cutaways, cheated steps, gauzy soft-focus photography, and adoring crowd.

Usually, yes. And of course, it's obvious to anyone, including fans, what you are talking about. But you cannot disagree in purely reasonable and logical terms with the reaction someone could have had that is quite the contrary to what one's own is. When artists who become legendary continue to perform after their technique has largely disappeared, they have earned that right--if only because there are those 'adoring crowds' who may well be allowing their legend to continue to ride the wave of this diva-type thing as well as those who do not care to see it this way. If you are not involved in the specific persona, you cannot experience this yourself, but you cannot also determine that someone else could not legitimately do so (I doubt you meant it quite that harshly). Not terribly steeped in this persona myself, I did not care to see Alonso dancing Giselle at that age, but I consider that beside the point: Even those performances when Alonso was very old and technically waning are part of who she is. I had not given this much thought before either: If we come to ballet (as I did) through the New York City Ballet, we are not going to ever see this sort of mutation, but neither can we determine that that is the only viable way to go.

Isn't the ultimate purpose of ballet providing sensorial pleasure to a given audience...?, If so, then Mme. is a total winner, and i would even assure that the hundreds inside the theater that day, (and probably the other hundreds who couldn't get in) would agree with me...so mission accomplished, Mme Alonso. Yes, we had shaky developees, but an amazing mad scene...having she retired on her 30's, nor me, or even my mother's generation, would have been able to see it...so, again, mission accomplished, Mme. Alonso.

It's NOT Giselle.

Ulanova, Dolin, Vasiliev and me still disagree with this statement... :cool:

p.s-(God, am i being annoying..? :crying: )

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I don't mean it quite that harshly, that no one has a *right* to enjoy the performance. But coming from the perspective of a balletomane, I wouldn't recommend this performance even for fans of Mme. Alonso who want to see what she was all about. It's not a fair representative of who she was as a ballerina.

I guess I come from a different perspective -- Giselle is my absolute favorite ballet of all. I can never tire of it, and even Giselle videos that I don't particularly care for I treasure simply because of my love for the ballet. I think the choreography is really sacred, and it upsets me to see it so distorted, simplified, and even in some parts flat out erased in this video. The video is, in my opinion, for the fanatics. It's NOT Giselle.

This is interesting, because we end up with two possibilities for 'fanatics'--both 'Alonso fanatics' and 'Giselle fanatics.' As neither, I can enjoy the 1964 film along with you, while not finding the ballet's choreography 'sacred'. This is impossible for me except in isolated fragments, since I never intend to look beyond Adam's meagre offering. Wasn't this the ballet that made Suzanne Farrell, upon seeing Rudi/Margot do it, decide once and for all that she did not want to do the full-length Romantic ballets? Yes, I am pretty sure, but correct me if I'm wrong. I'm sure she enjoyed the great pair, but I can also see why this ballet might be the tipping point for Farrell, whose 'divaship' (campy new word) was always of a more introverted and possibly less obviously self-referential variety.

I wouldn't recommend this performance even for fans of Mme. Alonso who want to see what she was all about. It's not a fair representative of who she was as a ballerina.

The performance is not a 'fair representative of who she was as a ballerina' when taken alone, of course. That's why I have wanted to see the 1964 film and earlier footage and clips, which I intend to get to. But it is part of 'who she was as a ballerina' simply because she did do it; one can then accept or reject it for oneself. If necessary, think of Garbo fans whose every glimpse of her walking in an old knockabout men's coat on the East Side was as precious to them as were the great performances in 'Camille' or 'Grand Hotel' (maybe some considered them more precious.)

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Isn't this the ballet that made Suzanne Farrell, upon seeing Rudi/Margot do it, decide once and for all that she did not want to do the full-length Romantic ballets? Yes, I am pretty sure, but correct me if I'm wrong. I'm sure she enjoyed the great pair, but I can also see why this ballet might be the tipping point for Farrell, whose 'divaship' (campy new word) was always of a more introverted and possibly less obviously self-referential variety.

No, she simply said that she saw them do Giselle, but after she got into the NYCB she had little interest in the traditional ballet repertory, because she knew she was in the best company and thought Mr. B had more to offer (and he did, to her). I wouldn't take this as necessarily a knock on Giselle.

But to me Giselle is perhaps the greatest of classical ballets, one that packs an incredible emotional punch through a simple story. It is also one of the most technically demanding of parts and in my opinion if you can't do justice to the choreography you shouldn't dance the part.

To take the ballet away from Giselle, how would one feel if a dancer insists on Spectre a la Rose even when he can no longer jump, much less make a huge leap out a window, even if said dancer was Nijinsky himself? Or how about having a dancer who specializes in adagio dancing (like Uliana Lopatkina) take on something like, say, Ballo della Regina?

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Alicia Alonso like many a prima ballerina assoluta is a law unto herself and a monstre sacré. Weirdly, the role of Giselle like the role of Hamlet attracts performers who are very young and also very old. This is maybe because the part is of a very young person who in a short life experiences a full emotional development similar what most people develop over a lifetime. Ballerinas start in the part young and are touching because of the freshness and vulnerability their youth gives them. As they mature they have more emotional insight into the role and carry the dramatic arc better. Hopefully, technically they can continue to handle the choreography which despite not being flashy is actually very demanding.

I saw Carla Fracci dance it in her fifties and Ekaterina Maximova dance it at 49. The recently departed Natalia Bessmertnova danced the part into her fifties as I'm sure Fonteyn did as well. I saw Bessmertnova dance Act II in her late forties. I have also seen 19 year old dancers in it. In some cases I am now experiencing seeing those young dancers mature in the role. Recently, "Giselle" was chosen by ABT as the farewell vehicle for Susan Jaffe and Amanda McKerrow. I will probably end up seeing Nina Ananiashvili who is in her mid-forties dance it this Spring. Among my older Giselles, Fracci was walking through a lot of the choreography in the early nineties saving herself up for the entrechats in Act II. However, her stage presence and mime told me a lot about why her Giselle was special. No apologies had to be made for Ekaterina Maximova who glowed with youth and vitality and still could do justice to the choreography (her husband Vasiliev was past it sadly).

Word of warning: seeing a performer live and from a distance is more forgiving than the objective and cruel close-up scrutiny of a video camera. Probably those close-ups where you see Alonso covered in Kabuki make-up looking like Vasiliev's mother with every tremor magnified must be a painful sight to see. In the theater, the performer oddly has more control over your perceptions and can telegraph an image to the audience of what they want them to see. If the performer has a connection with the audience they can kind of create an emotional rapport that will convince them of things their eyes contradict. That takes a very special performer, and Alonso very likely is that kind of performer. However, you can only go so many times to the well and this might be it.

I also seem to remember that Alonso around 1984 televised a "Giselle" Act II on a TV gala with Jorge Esquivel, I think. I remember two things - lightning quick entrechats that drove the audience wild and the blind Alonso colliding her arm on the cross as she bourreed quickly offstage as the ghostly spirit of Giselle.

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