Hans

I just had the disappointing realization that I have never seen a Swan Lake with the entire Queen Mother mime speech! (I knew I was born 100 years too late.) Has anything like a dictionary of mime been published?

How does one mime "yesterday," "who," and "Lady?"

I'm getting tickets for July 8--I can't wait to see Fadeyev!

Thank you, Mel. I shall buy it!

I didn't really like any of it...Murphy is heavy and not delicate enough for Odette, Corella is too short for her, and the Purple Pimp is completely inappropriate (I was shocked to find out that was Gomes--he used to have such beautiful legs and feet; what happened? He appeared almost heavyset) not to mention that beautiful "Russian Dance" music being wasted on such ugly choreography. To be fair, I missed Act I, which I hear contained some of the best dancing in the performance. Perhaps the price of the dvd is worth it for the pas de trois alone? Herman Cornejo is one of my favorites. I was glad to see that the big swans have been restored instead of the variation for Siegfried in Act II, and mime is always good. The "chuckle moment" for me was when Odette jumps off the cliff...and then Siegfried does...and then Rothbart runs up there too, and I always think "Oh my goodness, he's going to kill himself as well!"

Cliff, I never said Ferri's technique suffered because she was promoted early; rather what I intended is that I was surprised she'd be promoted without having sufficient strength. Also, merely taking class every day as a company member is very different from being in ballet school with a teacher diligently watching you and correcting your every mistake.

I have to add to my previous post: Yuri Soloviev and Andrian Fadeyev.

Thank you for the wonderful review, Natalia I love hearing about Michelle Wiles...is she really still not a principal? ::drums fingers, taps foot, nudges Kevin McKenzie:: I was sorry to have missed this performance--my favorite male and female ABT dancers in Swan Lake! And Sasha Radetzky to boot...I take it no one sneaked in a video camera :rolleyes:

From currently performing dancers...I'd say Larissa Lezhnina, Michelle Wiles, and Maxim Belotserkovsky. Among the recently retired...Elisabeth Platel and Isabelle Guérin. Are Manuel Legris and Laurent Hilaire still dancing? I'd put them on here, and I know you're all sick of this by now, but I just have to say Sizova one more time Oh...and although I never saw her, Pierina Legnani seems to have been quite formidable...wine with your adagio, anyone?

If Paul gets to put Swan Lake in his Petipa list, then so do I!

I didn't mean to imply that Ferri should have danced Aurora if it was the wrong role for her, but if she was so weak that any tutu ballet was completely beyond her abilities, why was she a principal dancer? I imagine that they saw her great talent and potential and simply promoted her too fast. To promote someone to the highest rank in a world-renowned company and then tell deny them roles because of their technique sends mixed messages IMO because to a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet, technique should really not be an issue. Whether her temperament is right for Aurora is one thing, whether she's technically capable of performing lead roles with one of the leading ballet companies of the world is another. About Ferri's technique vs. Herrera's...to me, they are not really opposites. Ferri's technique is clean, but not strong, whereas Herrera is (or at least was, I haven't seen her lately) strong, but riddled with mannerisms and holes. I would definitely not call Ferri's technique "bad."

Not that I want Ananiashvili gone (I think she's wonderful) but I can't help thinking excitedly about reading reviews of Wiles and Part in Raymonda and Ballet Imperial.

That sounds plausible, kfw.

Speaking of dancers doing too much too soon, I wonder how Alessandra Ferri's career might have been different had she not been promoted to principal dancer at the age of 18 or 19. (I also wonder how it might have been different had she been trained at the Vaganova Academy or Paris Opera, but that's another thread.) I remember reading that when she was a principal dancer, she wasn't given "tutu" roles such as Sleeping Beauty and Coppelia, and when she asked why, she was told that she didn't have the technique. Well, my question is: Why was she a principal dancer if she had such big holes in her technique? Couldn't the Royal Ballet and its school produce a principal dancer capable of performing a ballet as unchallenging as Coppelia? (Sleeping Beauty, admittedly, needs to be worked up to.) It just doesn't make sense to me.

Along with the Little Humpbacked Horse? More seriously... Does Le Corsaire count? Petipa re-worked it so extensively that it can't have borne much resemblance to the early 19C original. How sad that we can't even come up with five ballets for one of the "Big Three" choreographers...I suppose it really makes you appreciate just how great and influential his surviving ballets are!

Herman Cornejo might have very little hair naturally. I think a better question is: "Why doesn't the costume cover that area?!"

Oh, this is easy. Petipa: Sleeping Beauty Swan Lake Raymonda Don Quixote La Bayadere

Regarding Balanchine's advice to Kistler...if she was too young to portray the emotions involved in Swan Lake, why give her the role? I would always prefer an expressive performance than merely a technical one, however prettily it was executed, although I suppose Balanchine didn't see it that way. Regarding young dancers in big roles, I've read that historically, promising young dancers were coached extensively at the Kirov, sometimes for a year or more, before performing a principal role. I think this is an important distinction to make. Are young dancers being fully prepared for their roles or just given a video and a week to learn the steps?

That's interesting--Asylmuratova has such long limbs and danced so often with her husband, Konstantin Zaklinsky, who seems extremely tall (maybe he isn't really?) that I suppose she just seemed taller than she really is.

Well, all this talk of 121 fouettés makes my personal classroom record of 80 grands pirouettes à la seconde seem rather trivial. Of course, anyone will tell you that grands pirouettes are more difficult than fouettés! All in fun, of course

Canbelto, I'm pretty sure Asylmuratova is quite tall. Maybe you aren't as prejudiced as you think

Sizova Sizova Sizova! One of my favorite stories about her is the time when, teaching class around age sixty, she jumped so high while demonstrating a grand allegro combination that quite without meaning to, she did a double assemblé en tournant. Now surely other ballerinas have done similar feats, but At SIXTY?! Also, what makes Sizova's jump truly special for me is the fact that she was also an exceptionally delicate and graceful dancer, with creamy, elegant port de bras, exquisite carriage of the head, and some of the strongest, most shapely legs and feet on the planet. Other impressive jumpers, such as Bouder, Govrin, Terekhova, &c surely can/could not boast this ideal combination of lightness, strength, delicacy, and elegance.

Zerbinetta, reading back over my post, it does come across as more negative than I intended. Ferri is one of my favorite dancers as well, and I agree with you about her poetry and the great beauty of her movement.

Apparently, I was at a completely different performance from everyone else as well. Although sitting in the top balcony definitely changes the view. I saw Ferri, and while I found her acting and wonderfully silky, lush movement to be very potent, her technique just isn't what it used to be--she seemed to abandon hope on a series of relevés and didn't make it up to pointe for a relevé in arabesque in Act II. I'm not sure whether it's a conscious decision, but her minimalist petite batterie in Act II is too subtle--larger beats and a sharper retiré action would be more effective. Her shoes seemed nice and supportive in Act I, but in Act II, they seemed too soft, although she did hold some nice balances. There was also an unattractive moment during an overhead lift in the Act II pas de deux when Ferri's skirt tumbled down over her head, exposing her entire lower half, the very great beauty of her legs notwithstanding. I thought Part was wonderful as Myrtha--she has a lovely light, strong jump, beautiful port de bras, and long lovely legs and feet. Gillian Murphy could learn much from Part's arms and general demeanor--Part is tall without being gawky. I found Meunier disappointing, even in such a small part. Her body does not seem at all suited to ballet IMO, and she's too heavy to be delicate and too weak technically to be powerful. We definitely received appropriate technical fireworks during the Peasant Pas de Deux--nothing out of place, but Sascha Radetsky's long, beautiful lines and very clean technique were a joy to watch, and Erica Cornejo performed some truly heart-stopping penchés en pointe during her second variation. She did her relevé into arabesque and then slowly lowered herself into the penché, remaining en pointe the entire time. Once she'd done it, I thought she couldn't possibly do it again, but she did, and it was breathtaking. I found Julio Bocca very poetic and moving as Albrecht, although of course I couldn't see much from the stratosphere of the Kennedy Center However, he did manage to do the "superman moment" in Act II in such a way that I found it beautiful rather than irritating. One final word about Ferri--her mad scene still made me tear up. That moment when she runs to her mother, then to Albrecht...well, it may be cheesy, but it certainly is affecting! And for those of you who saw my former classmate Danny in Spectre--many more details please!

Lezhnina Sizova (Still gorgeous) Karsavina Fracci Ferri Whomever dances the third shade variation on The Kirov in London tape with Chenchikova. Wonder where she is now.