ronny

You probably already know this, but the Bolshoi Prokofiev Gala has 3 sections in it and the longest part of the tape is "Ivan the Terrible" (1991 Alexander Vetrov and Maria Bilova as Anastasia).

I was wondering, why are these ballet dancers dancing? Many people do what they do for the money... but that sounds unlikely here. There has to be more here. Is it something that was encouraged by parents?? or was it just something simple like "I hear the music and I just want to dance". Or is it that you like to perform and be on stage... or is it something a bit more esoteric. A person does Yoga for the mind and body, I was thinking that the movements in ballet may have that kind of effect... lifting the mind, body and spirit. So I was just kind of curious, why do you dance?

I heard a small section from the old movie "the little humpbacked horse" and was impressed with the music that I heard. Is the complete score very good?

Have you ever heard a ballet score or dance score that in your ear would rival the best of Tchaikovsky? This question is a focus on the musical score rather than the skill of the dancers. Has this thought ever come to you... "gee, this is as good as Tchaikovsky!"

Did some reasearch on Amazon recently and since it took so much time, I wanted to post the results. I was looking for hidden treasure so I entered "ballet" and got 365 video tapes. I was looking for the performances that were rated a solid 5 star. Then I read the comments. The video that seemed to stand out with regard to enthusiastic endorsement was "Marcia Haydee, Lady Camellias". I don't have the tape yet, but I will post a review after I see what the excitement is all about.

Thanks for these very frank and honest answers. The same extreme trends seem to be going on in ice skating with the triple jumps and even quads that we saw during the olympics. I used to enjoy the skating but now that the programs are so difficult the grace of it seems to be gone. At least the beauty of the ballet is still very much present in spite of the risk to the female dancers. Boy, the men really got off easy in ballet, no pointe work for them!!

Dancing on the toes is lovely, but I always have the concern that the toes are not made to take the weight of the entire body. Should I be concerned about those dancers that I see perfoming? Are they being good to their toes or are they enduring some pain for the sake of the art?

We have Aurora Indiana (a sleeping beauty of a town) and we have aurora borealis (beauty in the nightime sky) and of course we have Princess Aurora in the Sleeping Beauty? So which one came first? I am a bit partial to the notion that the princess came first and that she was such a sensation that the others followed. But what do you think?

Hi, I am new to the ballet scene and I have a lot of questions but I'll start with this... I have a video tape of Swan Lake and the Sleeping Beauty performed by the Kirov Ballet company and I LOVE them both. Can you make any recommendations of particular video tapes that you think are outstanding? My preference is traditional ballet that is uplifting. There is the nutcracker of course but there must be more out there that has that kind of joyful music and great storyline... any ideas for me? Thanks. PS I also have a tape of the Bolshoi Prokofiev Gala, but for some reason it was not so appealing to me. Seems to be quite a difference between Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev... so I guess I need some help to find things that I will enjoy.

Hi, I am new to the ballet scene and I have a lot of questions but I'll start with this... I have a video tape of Swan Lake and the Sleeping Beauty performed by the Kirov Ballet company and I LOVE them both. Can you make any recommendations of particular video tapes that you think are outstanding? My preference is traditional ballet that is uplifting. There is the nutcracker of course but there must be more out there that has that kind of joyful music and great storyline... any ideas for me? Thanks. PS I also have a tape of the Bolshoi Prokofiev Gala, but for some reason it was not so appealing to me. Seems to be quite a difference between Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev... so I guess I need some help to find things that I will enjoy.