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Rose Adagio balances


canbelto

The Rose Adagio balances  

87 members have voted

  1. 1. Is it necessary for Auroras to make the "crown" 5th position over their heads?

    • Yes - an Aurora who can't hold the balances shouldn't dance Aurora
      57
    • No - it's only 5 minutes out of a 2 hour ballet
      15
    • I don't care either way
      15


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Well I'll go on record saying I love the Rose Adagio *and* the Odile fouettes - all 32 of them! I'd rather see single fouettes done well, than all the doubles, triples and swan arms ending with a stumble. 32 well done singles are exciting enough. I prefer a well executed Rose Adagio with the Fonteyn touches. If a dancer can't do them all, she shouldn't do the role.

I feel the same way about T&V, if the dancer can't do all the steps in the principal role, and do them beautifully then she shouldn't be cast. And if no one in the company can do the steps beautifully, they shouldn't dance T&V.

Some ballets are meant to have fireworks, or have evolved to have fireworks over time. SB, SL and DQ all have fireworks because principals are expected to have those skills!

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I prefer a well executed Rose Adagio with the Fonteyn touches. If a dancer can't do them all, she shouldn't do the role.

I feel the same way about T&V, if the dancer can't do all the steps in the principal role, and do them beautifully then she shouldn't be cast. And if no one in the company can do the steps beautifully, they shouldn't dance T&V.

Some ballets are meant to have fireworks, or have evolved to have fireworks over time. SB, SL and DQ all have fireworks because principals are expected to have those skills!

For me it depends on whether or not the steps are essential to the role. A ballerina who can't execute all "the Fonteyn touches" can nonetheless dance a lovely and expressive Rose Adagio. Maintaining a beautiful line throughout her balances is far more important to creating the desired effect than getting both hands up over the head.

I'm privileged to live in a city that supports two major ballet companies and can play host to any number of first-rate visitors in any given year: I have the luxury to be picky about who should or shouldn't be performing ballet's great masterworks. But what if I lived somewhere else — a smaller city with a not-exactly-in-the-first-rank regional company, say, or a place where no first-rate company ever toured — should I be denied the opportunity to see SB just because the ballerina who was available to dance Aurora couldn't do all the steps with the level of perfection that a Fonteyn could?

I'd argue that SB, SL, and DQ have fireworks because audiences clap hard for them, not because one must have 32 fouettés to be a principal ballerina.

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