Marga

I assume from your other choices (and from your screenname!) that you are of the younger generation and are referring to Julie Kent. I submit that Allegra Kent could easily fulfill those two categories of "Ballerina's Best Feature" as well!

I did all that during the competition, Alexandra, as well as going to participating countries' online newspapers (in their own languages) to see if they were reporting on their own dancers. My daughter's friend was competing in the junior division and her ballet teacher's family accompanied her and her parents to Varna. We had no one to ask as they were all in Bulgaria! I emailed from the Varna site the day after the competition ended and have yet to receive a reply from them. Since the news I heard from my daughter's friend, her ballet teacher and impresario husband upon their return was conversational and anecdotal, not published, I know I can't write it here. I did, however, receive an email from Ballet Alert member Marianna, who excitedly announced that "...Dastan Chinybaev (he is 19 years old) from Almaty State Ballet (Kazakhstan) has become a laureate of the International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria - in July 2004. He has won a bronze medal (third place)." Does that info qualify as published as it was sent to several people at once? If not, feel free to delete. It was very frustrating not to have any news at all, except for that short Bulgarian article informing us that 137 Varna competitors had descended on the seaside resort town. I spent so much time searching the web for more to no avail!

Alla Sizova is a living legend. Had Nureyev not defected, they may have had a long partnership at the Kirov. They were being prepared to be the "golden couple" at the Maryinsky. Although the PR at the time would have them as great friends in and out of ballet, the truth (as told by one of Nureyev's biographers) is that they did not get along offstage. She is indeed an inspiration, as mentioned, and a very good (and beloved) teacher. Her students revere her. I have, in addition to the videos mentioned, a video of her dancing the lead in Maritenka -- so light, strong and lovely! She was a ballerina who knew how to fly!

While Fokine's kin can count as Russian, Alexopoulos' cannot (kin-not?), as she is of Greek heritage!

How about Prodigal Son, Edward Villella's story? Or, the utterly fascinating and sincere Holding On To The Air, Suzanne Farrell's autobiography written with Toni Bentley's help? There's Allegra Kent's autobiography Once a Dancer for yet another in-depth look at life in the New York City Ballet. In Maria Tallchief, Tallchief wrote about her life and I found it quite interesting as it references the earlier years of NYCB and a younger Balanchine. Then, there's Moira Shearer, Portrait of a Dancer by Pigeon Crowle, Nureyev: a Biography by Peter Watson (and many other Nureyev bios, but I thought the Watson book was very thorough), and Erik Bruhn, Danseur Noble by John Gruen. Evelyn Hart: An Intimate Portrait by Max Wyman is a wonderful biography revealing the bittersweet life of a dancer driven by her quest for perfection in ballet and the sacrifices that such an obsession requires. Dancing from the Heart: A Memoir is Frank Augustyn's (National Ballet of Canada) fairly recent autobiography written with Barbara Sears and I enjoyed it very much. I also second the choice of Geva's Split Seconds which Alexandra suggested. It's a book I couldn't put down, it was so compellingly written and I marveled at Geva's facility for recall. I've read and enjoyed so many others, but this is a goodly list, so I'll stop now!

Alla Osipenko (Kirov) had a son who died tragically two or three years ago.

Whoops, right you are! I attributed it to my personal "Balanchine Era", hence the senior-moment mistake! And. two for two, it isn't a "guilty" pleasure, in the sense of the expression, but a true pleasure -- AND a masterpiece!

Then Lucia Lacarra must really get you going! My guilty pleasure was Balanchine's Afternoon of a Faun in the 1960's. It was almost like being allowed to be a peeping-Tom, watching the very personal goings on of two people in their bedroom (which the set that depicted a studio reminded me of). No matter who danced it -- Allegra Kent, Melissa Hayden, Patty McBride, Suzanne Farrell, Kay Mazzo -- with Moncion, Villella, D'Amboise, Ludlow, Martins, etc. as their partners -- I was mesmerized!

Maria Tallchief Melissa Hayden Jacques D'Amboise

Rex Harrington, who just retired from the National Ballet of Canada, is generally regarded as a hunk! For me, the young Jacques D'Amboise was gorgeous. He still is!

Thanks for those great pics, Marc! I see that Nina Kaptsova has gone for the dark-haired look this season.

Tony Randall, as host of the awards ceremony at the NYIBC last year, was his usual droll self. This is from the website of the competition: I'm saddened that we will not have the opportunity to see him in the same suit again.....

Union Jack Cheese and Nut Crackers

A HANDFUL OF TIME by Canadian author Kit Pearson -- an absolutely wonderful fantasy for young girls (and their mothers! -- I loved it too). Everyone can relate to it. This award-winning book falls into your category of "alternate reality".

There's a short bio of Ruta at the Lithuanian National Opera Ballet's website: http://www.opera.lt/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=367 There are pictures of both her and Egle as you scroll down the long page. She is a very lovely dancer who trained and danced in many different schools and companies around the world, including Lithuania (where she got her start), the U.S., Germany, and Het Nationale Ballet. Ruta Jezerskyte has won first, second and third prizes in Lausanne, Jackson (1998, as I remember), and Nagoya. She danced Nutcracker (with Mindaugas Bauzys) with my children's ballet school many years ago (Christmas 1996, I think) and I remember watching her in rehearsal and being amazed at the turnout of her heel. She had it so in front, even when just standing, making her the image of the perfect ballerina. She danced the role so beautifully, as if in a fairy tale.

Actually, Mindaugas has been a soloist at Boston Ballet since January.

I won't vote since there's no category "I'd go if I could", but that would indeed be my response! My daughter's teacher, who trained under Alla Osipenko at the Vaganova school, has told us many times that Eifman is absolutely brilliant. I'd love to go see for myself.

I'd welcome your Duncan website and give it due support! I would have preferred straight modeling of these gowns by the ballet dancers. They would have looked stunning just standing in them, with their hair down and the dresses properly done up. This leotard/dress falling off while in ballet motion combo photography has no appeal for me. Oh well! At least the NYCB got some more press. That's always a good thing!

Makarova herself has said that she does not make a good Aurora. Of course, she has danced Aurora many times. She rightly says that she makes a much better Bluebird.

That would be Catherine Zeta-Jones, silvy.

Several years ago, my daughter wrote to Merrill Ashley, telling her how much she had enjoyed seeing her as the Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker, and received a nice handwritten card in return. My daughter, the bookworm, had asked if Ashley had ever written a book and the ballerina told her about Dancing for Balanchine, and that she would send her an autographed copy if my child sent her $35. DD didn't jump at the chance, then, but perhaps should have. These days, autographed copies of that book go for $150-200 on Ebay!

I grew up watching Fred and Ginger, often with my grandfather. We would trade quips from our favourite scenes whenever we saw each other! I don't think there was a child anywhere who could love them more than I did back in the 50s! By now, I've seen their most popular movies dozens of times and never tire of a minute of them. They are always fresh and just wonderful. I don't think anyone mentioned "Carefree". While not their most popular film, I still love it. Ginger has a chance to show more of her comedic talents in it, too.

Suzanne Farrell works out of Washington now and has used several National Ballet of Canada dancers in her own ballet company and knows their strengths and styles. She would not be able to use them if the work was being done on NYCB dancers. I also doubt she is very familiar with the abilities of the current NYCB dancers. She and Martins have been estranged for quite a long time as well, so it would not be an easy request for him to make.

Well, for one big difference, Balanchine didn't use Minkus' music! Nicolas Nabokov, Balanchine's friend from Russia, composed the music for this Don Q. This tilter of windmills did not have a Kitri, but only the Dulcinea of his dreams (Suzanne Farrell), and it really was a ballet Balanchine designed for himself and Farrell to perform. In Holding On To The Air, she writes: ..... the basic dynamic of our relationship changed; he was no longer leading me -- he saw me leading him. I was called his muse, a category not listed in the program, and when Don Quixote premièred the whole world had an image of his muse in action. .....Mr. B told me sometime in the early part of 1965 that he was going to make a big three-act ballet about a man who is searching for his ideal and that she was going to be me....." She quotes Nabokov as saying to her "You know, George has always wanted to do this ballet, for 25 years he has wanted to do this ballet, but he always said, 'I never found my Dulcinea' ". She adds that a few days later Balanchine told her the same story. This was an intensely personal ballet for Balanchine and for Suzanne Farrell. She writes elsewhere in the book how they were in their own little world when they danced it -- as if no one was there watching it or dancing it except them (for there were many other dancers in it!). I was fortunate enough to see them dance it together and I can truly say that it was like watching a private relationship that maybe one shouldn't be witness to. It pulled you in at the same time as it kept you out, if you can understand that feeling. Since the ballet was made on such an intimate foundation for only two people, really, despite having been danced by others later, I personally think it should stay where it is, in the memory of those of us who had the privilege to see the genius of Balanchine manifest itself through his personal fantasy -- the unattainable made visual for a brief moment in time.

Growing up on Long Island in New York, I've often thought the "New York Islanders" hockey team is misnamed since there's not one member on the team from Long Island or the rest of New York..... :rolleyes: