Bonnette

It's just lovely, Helene - thank you for your excellent taste, hard work and dedication.

Mezentseva has the most beautiful port de bras I've ever seen. Prior to watching this video, Galina Ulanova was my favorite Odette - but Mezentseva's technique, sensitivity and expressiveness have won me over. Thank you so much for this video, which was just a joy to watch.

So sorry to hear. Thank you for posting, CM, and my gratitude to leonid for the wonderful videos.

She is magnificent, exquisite. I do not understand Spanish, but she communicates with her dance, her hands, her eyes, her grace and dignity, her full presence. The accompanying clips are wonderful. Thank you, CM.

I watched both films this morning, too, and could not agree more with Natalia and Mel Johnson's assessments. Ballerina was sublime, especially for its time, and The Unfinished Dance was really cringeworthy (IMO). I noticed that several posters on the latter's iMBD board stated that they had loved the movie as children, but on seeing it again found it as awful I did on this first viewing.

I was eleven years old, a ballet student, absolutely exhilarated by the news and also - along with my mother - quite concerned for Nureyev's safety and that of his family and close colleagues. He had such a difficult time finding personal and professional moorings following his defection.

Wonderful, Cristian! Thank you!

Welcome, Ballet Foot. This forum is an island where beauty, intelligence, discernment and sensitivity are prized, and I know you'll enjoy it.

Welcome Jane, I recognize myself in your introduction - trained, then out-of-touch, then delighted to be back in the loop on a new level. What a wonderful forum this is. Here's to many happy hours here

BTW Bonnette, and a little , can you tell a little more about your recollections on the two Alicias back in the days...? I LOVE reading those stories-(hi atm711 ! )

I don't have personal stories about the two Alicias in terms of meeting or studying with them, but as an eight-or-nine-year-old ballet student I was privileged to see them dance as visiting artists with the National Ballet of Canada on tours that brought them to my hometown. Following the company's second tour, I sent a letter to Celia Franca expressing my appreciation - and, to my delight, she forwarded the relevant programmes to Ms. Markova and Ms. Alonso for personal messages and signatures, and then sent them to me; in addition, the programmes had been signed by Ms. Franca and every member of the company. Those programmes burned in a house fire ten years later and I have such sadness about that, to this day. What a gracious thing it was for those wonderful dancers to take the time to encourage a child! Thank you for bringing those memories to the forefront of consciousness today, Cristian.

Cristian, I share your appreciation of the two Alicias, Ms. Alonso and Ms. Markova. They were among the brightest artistic lights of my youth and it is always a thrill for me to see them, so thank you for these two clips of the sublime Dame Alicia Markova!

isn't it supposed to be a blog and not a 'reply'?

Hi Richka, here are the instructions on how to set up a Ballet Alert blog. I think your recollections would make a lovely blog.

Oh, I would also LOVE to read more of your recollections!

Thank you for taking the time to write them here!

Same here, these are so enjoyable.

Oh, lovely, Cristian! Thank you for lifting my spirits once again!

Oh, thank you for letting us know, this is wonderful. Simply beautiful.

But the best place to watch it was actually on youtube, at TheRoyalChannel. Their reboardcasting has no commentator. Just simply letting the whole event speak for itself from start to finish without missing a beat, like watching a live ballet performance

Oh, how soothing and just plain nice that must have been! The rustling of fabric, the clopping of hooves, the ambient noise...lovely. On a far less happy occasion (Princess Diana's funeral), a similar type of coverage was available on C-SPAN. It gives one's mind and emotions the opportunity to synchronize.

What a privilege it must have been to know Mr. Zoritch! I am glad that the collection has been donated to this dance-related group.

Anyone else notice how Harry and William shuffled to the altar like young upstarts in hoodies hanging out round the back of a shopping centre (mall)? Talk about seriously un-regal posture... it was borderline homo sapiens!

Yes! Absoutely.

They really should just point the camera at events like this and not try so hard to 'make sense of it all' for us. Allow people to enjoy their own thoughts as they watch. Like filming dance - less is more!

Agree completely. I had the TV on mute until the actual ceremony was underway, just so that I could "enjoy my own thoughts" (excellent way of putting it, GoCoyote) and not have some media interpretation layered over the moment.

I lost the power of speech when I saw the "hats" worn by Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie!

So did I! Who let them out of the house like that?

I thought Kate looked lovely and behaved with grace, inhabiting the role of princess bride with authority and calm (at times her expression reminded me of the cat that ate the canary). She actually looked happy instead of frightened, like poor Diana. I like her. But...I wish she'd had a proper makeup artist. She is radiant and fresh-faced ordinarily, but she made herself up to look so hard. I suspect it was a nod to stagecraft, and that she thought her features should be emphasized behind the veil, but (for me) it was the only off note in the presentation; a softer palette and a lighter hand would have been nice. Her eyebrows, especially, distracted me...they looked like they'd been stenciled on. She could have given Joan Crawford a run for her money!

The Queen was absolutely lovely, and the Prince Consort actually appeared to be enjoying himself. Wish the Queen Mum could have lived to witness this moment...and Diana, of course. I still miss her like crazy, and obviously William does, too.

That is lovely, Neryssa - thank you! The link worked perfectly. I find it so hard to believe that we still don't have a biography of this magnificent dancer and spellbinding spirit.

How awful. She was still relatively young.

That's too funny!

RE 'contractual challenges'. Rather than bother dealing with 'troublesome' ballet dancers in the future, I can imagine the next 'ballet film' makers deciding to use an entirely CGI/ animated dancer with some current skinny and in-vogue Hollywood starlet's face superimposed on top. But perhaps in the end that would be the best way for Hollywood to go....?

That is an intriguing idea. It wouldn't surprise me, and as you say, in the end it might be more advantageous from a filmmaker's perspective to do it that way. I know next to nothing about CGI - would it have to be based on the physical performance of a real-life dancer? If so, even that might pose problems (though at least some of the more disingenuous elements that have marred Black Swan's promotion might be eliminated in that way). Thank you for providing the clip.

I'd say if there was one thing the 20/20 segment made clear, it's that this is mostly about the Oscar, one way or another.

Hi Dirac. In this particular case, that is probably the hinge - though dancers, the public and management (of both movie and dance companies) have been sensitized to the issues via Black Swan, and there could be repercussions as to how such issues are dealt with in the future. If the principals on the motion picture side had not made such a big deal about Portman's "training" and virtuosity in this film, the controversy would probably have simmered down by now; but - hoist on their own collective petard - they've opened the door to scrutiny and contractural challenges in the future, and that would seem (to me) to be the take-away from all that has happened.

Oh, Helene, that's marvelous...my reaction is identical to yours!