Marga

Thanks to all for your wonderful responses! After ticking off Apollo (which Tiit Helimets had mentioned), Prodigal Son, Rubies, Stars and Stripes and Union Jack (the latter two, in featuring several men, are not ballets that leave you recalling only one male lead) in my mind, and then considering whether Puck qualified as a general "male" role, since to me it will forever remain an "Arthur Mitchell" role, I had to stop and try to remember all that I had seen back at NYCB over 35 years ago. That's where my visual knowledge of Balanchine comes from in addition to the few videos that have been made. My old brain has a hard time remembering actual choreography or even the gist of it sometimes. So, the Four T's, Symphony in C, Donizetti, etc. all seem hazy to me as I try to recall the weight of the male roles in them. Interestingly, Peter Martins had something to say on this subject in I Remember Balanchine: "I do not think Balanchine neglected his best male dancers. I just think he was not as interested in us as he was in the women. That's all. He thought of us, and he put us onstage, and he cast us, but he cast us according to the women." In reading your contributions to this thread, I can't say that I can fully agree with Martins about this. (I wonder if Martins still feels this way?) I don't think that Balanchine was thinking of his ballerinas when he choreographed Prodigal Son or even Oberon for Villella or one of the many roles he created for John Clifford, for example. He used Clifford because of the special talents Clifford had: an explosive jump, a quicksilver muscle memory and a determination to put his own creative ideas to use. When he choreographed for Arthur Mitchell in Agon, Balanchine was focussing on the contrast of black and white in both skin color and costume and another dancer would not have done as well for him because of that aim. In Slaughter, however, Balanchine picked Mitchell because of his ability to move in the jazzy way he wanted. This role was definitely made for the male without being cast "according to the women", as Martins said. It's unfortunate that the greater dance world has comparatively little intimate knowledge of Balanchine. That leaves them open to the hype and opinions of those who do not have a complete base from which to make critical assessments.

In February, Tiit Helimets was quoted in the Estonian online news as saying (referring to George Balanchine): "Aga noorele mehele pole tal palju rolle." (translation: But he doesn't have many roles for young men") Helimets is a principal dancer with the Birmingham National Ballet and received his training and start in Estonia. He and his wife, American Molly Smolen, were guesting with the Estonian National Ballet in Sleeping Beauty and Giselle. He was interviewed for "Eesti Päevaleht Online" in a sort of "local boy visits home company after attaining stardom abroad" vein. Because he has learned Apollo and Western Symphony in England, he cited these as ballets he liked to perform, and continued to say with regret that Balanchine didn't choreography many roles for men! That first struck me as absurd and naive. When I started to think about it, I found I had a bit of a hard time making my list of good (forget great!) Balanchinian male roles. Who can help? :shrug:

Paquita, where is it being held?

I just ran across this piece on Johan Persson's life and his reason for changing careers in his prime. It is on Darcey Bussell's webpage, which I found while looking for something else..... Johan, for those who don't follow Canadian or British ballet, was a well-known and popular principal dancer at the National Ballet of Canada for 11 years. He followed his girlfriend (now wife) Jaimie Tapper to the Royal Ballet almost 4 years ago, where he danced principal roles as well. Last fall he published his first book of photographs called 161 Images. He has captured stunning and evocative backstage and rehearsal images with his camera. For those who wondered how he could make such a seemingly sudden career switch, the following article tells the whole story. http://www.darceybussell.com/johan.htm

Do you mean the Ballerina Gallery, Carmen? http://www.ballerinagallery.com/

This goes back awhile, but Mimi Paul. In the shadow of Suzanne Farrell, she departed for ABT where she never rose to the top. She had elegance and style, beauty of line and wonderful technique. I'll never understand why Balanchine didn't see enough in her to make her one of his special ballerinas.

Oh yes! I saw him in Don Quixote with Suzanne Farrell and he was absolutely wonderful.....but, of course, they were in their own world all during the ballet, as Suzanne tells it.

Shaun O'Brien, NYCB

Would you believe there's a reproduction of that George Platt Lynes photo of John Kriza (see above) up for bids on ebay right now? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...1&category=2211

Until Suzanne Farrell came along, Patricia McBride was my favourite NYCB dancer, next to Allegra Kent. To me she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. In the 60s she was truly a young beauty, with a personality to match. I loved her feet, perky, but I know what you mean! On video they don't look quite the same as when viewed from the middle of Row A of the State Theater. They were such articulate, hard-working feet. Was she ever a fast dancer -- sharp, precise, nimble -- with a bright, wide smile on top of it all. I don't think she ever broke into a sweat! She could just about do anything, and I saw her in every ballet she was cast in, several times. She was classy, cute and intelligent, all rolled into one. Together with Eddie Villella, they were a star couple. They had a flirtatious, affectionate onstage connectedness, each flamboyantly bravura, yet warm and down-home, a boyfriend-girlfrend kind of partnership that always brought down the house. Oh, how I miss them!

Who remembers the beautiful head of hair Helgi Tomasson had when he danced with NYCB? Now, there was a hunky ballerino. (Still is!)

I was just reading an old Dance Magazine today that has that pic on the cover! John Kriza was my favourite dancer at ABT when I was a child. He certainly made my heart throb! He was my age (56) when he died in a swimming accident in 1975.

Gillian Murphy

And, of course, there's Carol Sumner of the NYCB. In I Remember Balanchine she recalls that "Balanchine said I looked like Danny Kaye."

Nothing wrong with one idea leading to another, Lovebird! The thought came to me, too, especially while watching the Mayerling which sparked my blond(e) thread idea. With flaming Lucille Ball-hair, Leslie Collier of the Royal Ballet made a striking statement in that video. Was she always a redhead?

Well, yes, Antonicheva is (was) blonde, but, you see, I have a large photo of her that my hubby took several years ago (she's in costume taking her bows) and her hair is light brown. I've seen her dance many times and have spoken to her, so I know she's not the yellow-blond I was talking about. Her hair definitely stands apart from the rest of her colouring. This has been an interesting, elucidating topic. Michele Wiles, another "blond", deserves a mention, too, although she is more of a what we used to call "dirty blond" in my day. What I've learned since posing my question, is what lighting does to hair, as well as what dancers do to hair to make it more visibly demarcated from the face. Thank you Victoria and Mel! Thanks to you, Herman, I've discovered why some dancers look "bigger" than others, despite being as bony as their fellow dancers. I remember the first time I saw some NYCB dancers up close. They appeared almost freakishly thin to me -- just skin stretched over long bones. Yet, on stage the same dancers looked just normally thin. At the time it was oft repeated that the stage "added" 10 pounds of weight to your frame. The concept of light reflection which you introduce, Herman, is absolutely fascinating, and unfortunately, yet another thing for a dancer to worry about! I've also learned that despite giving examples (from the past and the present) of the kind of "blond" I was referring to, individual ideas of what "blond" means are quite varied! For me, if the yellow is tinged with brown of any kind, it is no longer blond, but a degree of brown, starting from "very light sandy brown" and going on from there. That's just always been my personal interpretation. My original query stemmed from seeing Jane Burn, who had the palest (and fluffiest!) true blond hair, in the role of Princess Stephanie in the Royal Ballet's Mayerling (with Viviana Durante and Irek Mukhamedov). Because her hair was not pulled tightly back in a bun for the role, but framed her face softly, her "look" was stunning. She certainly stood out from the rest by dint of her hair colour. Thank you to everyone who pondered my question. I've enjoyed reading the responses very much and have again become more clued-in about another aspect of ballet. :yes:

Ari, you are so right. I watched a video with Polikarpova (Stone Flower) just yesterday! At my age, information forks into separate streams as it travels through my grey matter. Instead of recalling the experience of having just seen a blond dancer (in other words, putting 2 and 2 together), that piece of info just floated down its own waterway! Acchhh! perky, Osipenko was blondish, but like Makarova, not exactly yellow-blond. She was my daughter's teacher's teacher and there are many pictures of her in our studio, where she comes across as a dark blond. She keeps her hair a sandy blond these days.

Thanks to all for your thoughts and contributions on this subject. The first thing that I thought of is what you wrote, Alexandra, about the colouring not showing up. That still makes me wonder where all the naturally blond ballerinas are. Have they all gone and dyed their hair? Hans, I thought of the Danish angle, too, before I posted, so I looked up some pics of Danish ballerinas. I did not do an exhaustive search, but the ones I looked at had dark or light brown hair. I imagine we'd have similar results looking up dancers from Sweden and Finland, for example. And how could I forget Volochkova!!? I'm glad you mentioned her. For me, Lezhnina is in the ballpark, but not quite what I was thinking of. In Marc Haegeman's photos of her, her hair is brown, although it is a lot blonder in the videos I have of her. Sizova was never completely yellow-blond, either. Thanks, too, for naming Elena Pankova. Although I know her name, I don't know what she looks like. In trying to find a pic of her I found one of Tatiana Amosova of the Kirov (photo by Marc Haegeman), who, although quite blond with her hair down, is sandy-blond with it up. I guess she left the underside brown when she dyed it so as not to disappear into the shadows on stage?? Sandi, I guess that Patricia Barker comes closest of the present-day ballerinas. Thanks for bringing up Riabouchinska. From looking at some of her pictures I would hazard to guess that she is the blondest ballerina to date. Makarova and Ulanova do not fit the yellow-blond category, in my opinion. Their hair is not the pure yellow I had in mind. There ARE lots of male ballet blondies, Aspirant. That's why I am perplexed by the scarcity of female blondies in ballet. Thanks for adding to the list. Alexandra, I would not even try to guess who is a natural blond and who is not! With some you can tell, but even so, if one were to make the choice to dance blond, I would consider it a bold and very self-confident step made by a dancer completely assured of her technique and charisma that she would risk breaking the mold, so to speak. I would tend to agree with the young dancer you interviewed years back. Maybe now, with colouring one's hair as common as colouring nails, serious ballet professionals darken their hair just to be sure that being blond isn't holding them back....unless they're Amanda Schull with the crossover opportunity of gaining a certain fame in the movies as a blond and keeping the hair the same for a dance career. Thanks, Old Fashioned, for your Houston Ballet list. Leave it to Texas!

I was watching my Mayerling video and saw a beautiful Marilyn Monroe-yellow haired dancer in it. It brought back a longtime musing of mine, namely, why do we not see any ballerinas or female dancers, in general, who are blond? In my 50 years of ballet-watching, I can't think of a single one. Yellow-blond has always been the desired colour of movie stars and young women, and aren't men supposed to prefer it? So, can anyone name any prominent dancers with Jean Harlowe/ Jayne Mansfield/Doris Day hair? I gave examples of really-really blond celebrities, because I'm not talking about light brown or sandy-haired dancers. I'm referring to Charlize Theron/Paris Hilton hair. Why do you think there is such a dearth of blond ballerinas? :shrug:

A copy of The Ballet Cookbook (sans cover) is up for bids on Ebay right now: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...MEBBI%3AIT&rd=1

According to a short item in today's Globe & Mail (Paula Citron), it wasn't a question of "who would get the coveted vacancy, but when."

Yes, she was stronger in Act III. I found out the next day that she had been in the audience watching the matinée when she was summoned! Of course, given that she didn't even have a chance to warm up (and thinking back, it seems that she didn't have much makeup on either, contributing to her looking bland when she first came out -- I didn't even recognize her!), I can imagine that it must have taken a while for her to get into the role. I can just picture the search for her in the dark theatre! It was before intermission when she came on. My friend who also saw the evening's performance said that she had been "fabulous" in her second Aurora. In fact, with Coté dancing as the Prince, the whole ballet had left a much better impression in the evening! It really is true that the success of a ballet lies with the performances of the principals. No matter how well the corps does, the production is remembered for its main dancers. I remember Maria Tallchief writing that she felt it a great responsibility as well as a burden to know that your own performance either made or broke the ballet. I saw Nureyev dance Sleeping Beauty with Veronica Tennant in New York in the early 1970's. The company was indeed stronger as a whole then, and had its wonderful coterie of 5 special ballerinas as a drawing card. My "bad" for not remembering that they were using the same costumes and sets. Still, I have similar thoughts when I see the Nutcracker and other heavily-ornamented ballets. I didn't mention Burnise Sylvius, who danced a beautifully strong Principal Fairy. She, of course, is not a NBoC dancer. I wonder how things will turn out with her in the company. She is, after all, the card they must play to keep Coté. She has a distinctive style that makes her quite compelling to watch. I don't think I have ever seen Italian fouettés en dedans done as slowly, and with no seeming impetus behind the turn, as she did them! And yet, she was always on the music and as strong on the last one as on the first. She must have drawn on her momentum from some secret place that most dancers just don't know about. It was almost eerie how slow there were. One thing that the younger corps dancers must learn is that people in the front rows can see them mouthing the words they use while gesturing. I am sure that in the time in history reflected in this ballet, though a fantasy, people did not say "Oh my God!!" and "No, no, no!!!" when things went wrong, as with the arrival of Carabosse. It was jarring to see the dancers miming these words as part of their stage histrionics. Another thing which took me out of the moment was when one of the corps dancers flinched and winced as Xiao Nan Yu's hand swept dangerously close to her face. She didn't hit her, but even if she had, the dancer should have stayed in character and ignored it, like one is taught to ignore an itch while posing on stage. Ryan was having such a hard time that he didn't even look at his partner once during their pas de deux. He was a strong partner and supported her well, with his shining moment being in the pas de poisson, which came off twice without a hitch (and probably with only a hasty practice during intermission, if that), and a splendid pose capped by triumphant smiles to the audience. Not until the very end, with the whole cast dancing in unison, did the Prince look his Aurora in the eye. Many who danced Thursday afternoon would no doubt have liked a redo of that matinée. I feel very badly for Nan. What a horrible thing to have happen during your debut in a role! One little pas de deux I miss with this production is Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. I so wish they had done it. It would have delighted the children in the audience -- it's something they know and can identify with -- and it would have given a couple of dancers a chance to show us what they can do. To have only the Bluebird/Princess Florine and the Pussycats (I wonder why they are not called The White Cat and Puss and Boots?) as storybook divertissements seems to be truncating Act III a little too vigourously. I also hanker for Kevin Pugh's Bluebird! One more positive note: Rebekah Rimsay was just wonderful in her roles! She is a secure, technical dancer with an attractive, vibrant stage presence. She changes like a chameleon from role to role as she adapts to the characterizations of each act. Brava!

I just returned from today's matinée of Sleeping Beauty. With Xiao Nan Yu in her debut as Aurora, it promised to be an interesting performance. I was also waiting to see if Ryan Boorne could pull off the role of the Prince. Nearing the end of the Prologue, and soon after another dancer had fallen during the 'sauté arabesque--change direction 180º' sequence, Nan also fell. The ballet continued, and the unfortunate fall aside, I was still waiting to be impressed by this Aurora -- whose Rose Adagio was not a heart-stopper, whose arabesque-penchées were lukewarm in effect (she has the long legs which could dazzle in this post-rose adagio sequence with a nice sharp, upward thrust to the penchée, which was not at all how she did the movement) -- but, alas, today it was not Nan's day. After appearing to and dancing with the Prince briefly in Act II's dream sequence, a sudden change of personality occurred as Sonia Rodriquez danced in to complete the Act as Aurora. After intermission, the announcer only said that it had been Sonia Rodriguez at the end of the last act and that she would continue to dance Aurora in Act III as well. A dramatic and very unfortunate turn of events, for both Xiao Nan Yu, whose debut in the role was aborted because of the injury to her wrist (as my friend at the ballet found out during intermission -- the audience naturally assumed it was her foot), and for Sonia Rodriguez, who would have to give the role full energy again just a few hours after stepping in for Nan. Given the circumstances, Sonia Rodriguez danced a lovely performance despite her lack of sparkle, which she may have given the role had she not been pressed into service so quickly. Even so, she seems to me quite a mature Aurora who would have a hard time being taken for a 16 year old girl. Now, Ryan Boorne. My goodness, what can I or anyone say? He is such a sweet person that to criticize him too harshly seems unfair. But, to have ever made him a principal in the company seems unfair, too. Unfair to the audience and maybe to some other contenders for such a respected position. I have to say that I have never seen such a weak performance by a principal dancer in my life of ballet-going. He was clearly not up to the role, and despite the confusion of today's events -- losing the partner he had rehearsed with -- it was evident that he simply does not have the technique to dance Florimund. He did so poorly that the audience was nervous for him and, as his own face betrayed, were as anxious as he was for his solos to be over. He never embodied the character at all -- not in any way, shape or form. He could not handle the intricate footwork, the turns, or the jumps. He jumped just okay, okay enough for a corps member, but nowhere near what a principal should display in his jumps. I was in the third row so I could read his face, and he was in agony trying to complete his variation. He was lacking not only technique, but the strength required of the role, which was so painful to witness as he reached the end of his last major solo variation. It looked like, if he could have, he would have given up earlier and collapsed, but, of course, he soldiered on to the last pose, drawing on sheer will to finish. The audience never gave him more than weak, obligatory applause, and I'm certain he must feel just terrible tonight. Other observations: Roberto Campanella as King Florestan: I was very disappointed at his total lack of dramatic flair in this role. I have seen what a dynamic dancer he can be in class, so I know he has it in him, but he was a mere ghost of a character in this role. The gestures, the facial expressions, the walk, all fell flat. He had little dancing to do, and none at all in the Prologue and Act I, but had plenty of opportunity to emote. He gave us next to nothing. Linda Maybarduk, however, as the Queen, was just lovely, although I would have wanted to see more emotion on the death of her daughter. Such conservative reactions! If you weren't seated as close as I was, I wonder if these characters were noticed at all? To me the best performance of the afternoon was a total surprise. No, it was not Richard Landry's Bluebird (although he did a creditable job) or Jillian Vanstone's debut Princess Florine. She was quite nice enough, but Florine should dazzle us! Maybe as she grows into the role.... ...the envelope for "best performance in a brief role" goes to the Pussycats! In the persons of Lisa Robinson and Philip Lau, these felines stole the show and had the audience laughing with glee! Even though their dance is not especially technically difficult, they brought such personality to the characters -- especially Lisa Robinson -- that they made the performance for me -- and I daresay many others in the audience! I'll bet that many non-ballet types will go home remembering only their performance as something special. Their pas de deux was sharp and perfectly executed, with that something extra that I wish I would have seen somewhere -- anywhere -- in the Prince, or even in Aurora. With such expensive, and exp-a-n-s-i-v-e sets (the lavish scenery and props took up half the surface area of the stage, leaving the dancers with only the front portion to dance on), and such opulent costumes (which may be even more than a bit over the top -- they must have been so difficult to move in!), I would expect the dancing of the company to be on par with the accoutrements. But the National Ballet of Canada just cannot deliver yet what we are used to seeing in world class companies, despite a few real stars. (I'd love to see Guillame Coté's performance tonight). Maybe it dresses up its productions so excessively to mask the relative mediocrity of its soloists? Just a thought.

This is van der Wyst's own answer to what you are wondering (quoted from the same Globe & Mail article mentioned above):

Thanks for the information and URL's, Paquita. Greta Hodgkinson's pages's links are working perfectly today! It's a very well organized site.