Hans

Opps, I thought you were asking about the Dark Angel in Serenade!

My mistake is worse: when I read the thread title I thought immediately of all those little angels in many productions of the Nutcracker, and asked myself: They have NAMES?

I first thought of the Nutcracker angels, too!

It is a bit difficult to explain, but when, for example, the leg is extended at any height (even pointe tendue, or in fact even when simply standing), the dancer must feel a core of energy moving through the center of the leg and through the tips of the toes, as if one is reaching with one's toes for a point just beyond them. Of course, the foot must be fully pointed, with the toes curved (but not clenched) to finish the line, but the feeling is one of length rather than merely the foot curving around.

The ideal these days seems to be a very hyperextended leg (knees that bend a little bit backward) and a very pronounced arch and instep, much like the photos posted of Svetlana Zakharova, and I fear that in attempting to achieve these extreme lines and exaggerate them, students do not focus enough on the feeling of lengthening the leg and reaching out through the ankle and foot.

Is the aforementioned Dance in America video still available? I want to see this famous sur le cou de pied.

Thank you for that, Mme. Hermine--I had forgotten Mason was Myrtha in that production. Quite a jump! She is one of the ones who almost makes me forget she is wearing pointe shoes.

Evdokimova's unbelievable footwork (as well as her many other extraordinary qualities) can be seen to advantage here:

and here:

as well as in several other videos on youtube. She is another one, like Sizova and Rojo, with a very strong, beautiful arch.

Cristian, I am with you re: your last two links. I find Fonteyn's line impeccable.

There is one misconception that I'd like to clear up: a highly arched foot is not always naturally weak. Some are, some are not. An example of a well-arched, strong foot is Alla Sizova.

It is always important for the dancer to perpetually lengthen the leg and foot, a detail that I fear is too often ignored in the modern quest for extremely curved lines.

And finally, when an academy such as RBS or POBS, &c., evaluates a child for admission, the arch is one of many factors considered. Also important are proportions, face, how tall the child is likely to grow, the depth of the plié, musicality, and coordination.

Just returned from "Manon" with Alina Cojocaru and Johann Kobborg. My goodness, what beautiful dancer-actors they are! Cojocaru was very effective as a youthful Manon, just a teenager perhaps, who impetuously runs away with Des Grieux and is soon after seduced by the glamour of Monsieur G.M. Her teenage appearance was quite striking in the brothel scene--I could very easily imagine Sylvie Guillem dancing the same steps with seductive confidence, but I found Cojocaru's young, naif Manon, covered in unfamiliar silks and jewels, quite striking as she half-hesitantly abandoned herself to this new world, torn between the glamour and her feelings for Des Grieux. She was very moving, without being over the top, during the death of her brother, the rape scene in the gaol, and the final flight into the Louisiana swamp.

Kobborg, as no one needs to be told, is an impeccable artist, with beautiful line, a strong stage presence, and nuanced acting. He was able to convey his character's thoughts even while standing around the brothel, and he was sweetly protective of Manon.

Ricardo Cervera as Lescaut also seemed quite young, and perhaps not so much distasteful (considering he basically sells his own sister to the highest bidder) as thoughtless. I received the impression that perhaps they had not spent much time together as children, and as a result he does not really have feelings for her as a person. Self-absorbed and wily, his most entertaining moment came during the drunken Act II pas de deux with his mistress. Both he and Laura Morera displayed excellent comic timing, and it was a pleasant, light, well-choreographed contrast to the syrupy darkness of the rest of the ballet.

This was my first time seeing Manon, and I feel about it the same way I feel about MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet--I'll only watch it with a really good cast. It seems that MacMillan wants to tell the story through the dancing, without mime, but doesn't quite know how. We therefore see a lot of rather pedestrian steps repeated one (or two or three) too many times and must rely on the dancers' acting ability to understand characters' relationships and what is happening in terms of the plot. MacMillan is clearly a master of clever and complicated lifts, but unfortunately when he thinks he's come up with some really interesting gymnastics, he feels the need to beat us over the head with it and make absolutely certain we get to watch it several times, regardless of what the music is doing. In the same vein, he has to show us quite graphically and specifically just how Manon is defiled by the Gaoler, as he is apparently unable to get the point across any other way.

Thankfully, the rest of the cast was up to the standard of Cojocaru and Kobborg, so we had a beautifully danced, finely acted performance that triumphed over the unfortunate choreography to produce a moving evening of theatre.

OP--Original Poster

I agree with those who say the answer to the "good feet" question is two-pronged. A dancer may be born with beautiful arches and insteps but not use them well at all. From what I have seen of her, Eva Evdokimova may well have my favourite pair of ballet feet, in terms of both natural beauty and her exquisite use of them. Manuel Legris is an example of a dancer who does not have extremely high arches (though they are more than adequate) but he uses them beautifully, and his dancing is more of a pleasure to me than that of others blessed with lovely feet but no idea how to use them.

Edit: I realise this is blowing my own horn, but in case you are interested, iczerman, I have written a blog post on this subject: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/blog/de...hp?showentry=45

Thank you both for the advice. If I'm able to go, I think I'll just spend the extra $7 and get a Family Circle seat.

Back on topic, I had noticed the Sylvia micro-site--it looks lovely and contains a synopsis, biographies of Ashton and Délibes, and more. Thank you, ABT.

I am really tempted to go to NY to see the Wednesday performance, but the only seat I can afford is a balcony box, which is described as having a partial view. Is this worth it?

Thanks, Helene, for that reminder. While I'm personally fascinated by the implications of this discussion, I'd like to refocus if possible to the ballet Le Corsaire. Here comes a confession: I have never found that this ballet deserves the attention and frequence of performance it has achieved -- except as a challenge for bravura dancers. I tend to agree with Drew:

(I have to admit that for me, in any case, Corsaire is no sacred text--and the Jardin Anime, especially in the Bolshoi's splendid version, is the primary reason to see it as a full length ballet at all.

I have a couple of questions which I hope won't be seen as heretical or tendentious by Corsaire lovers: Why IS this ballet revived and revived and revived, while others are ignored? Why does every ballet competition include what appear to be dozens of young people performing portions of it?

One might very well ask similar questions about The Nutcracker, which has even less to recommend it. Le Corsaire, apart from all the classical dancing Natalia mentioned, is light entertainment, not Heavy Art. It reminds me of I Puritani, which has a plot so stupid it makes me want to pull out my eyes, but some very beautiful music.

Just got back from the performance--rather tired, might add more tomorrow, but here are my initial thoughts:

Chroma--showed off the dancers' lovely bodies and technique impressively but nothing else. Extremely pretentious, no substance IMO. I agree with those who say program notes oughtn't to be necessary, and in the case of this ballet they add nothing.

A Month in the Country--couldn't be more of a contrast to Chroma, both in style and quality. Ashton is an excellent story teller, and the characters and events were very clear. Ansanelli has beautiful footwork, and it was shown off to great advantage, but the part is really meant for someone older. Still, her pas de deux with Beliaev was touching. I have two questions about this ballet: first, did Ashton choose to use Chopin's theme and variations on Mozart's "La Ci Darem La Mano" from "Don Giovanni" on purpose? It seems to maybe have some relevance in terms of the older/younger, experienced/callow relationship of Natalia and Beliaev, although with the sexes reversed. I'm not familiar with the play. Also, is the ending with Beliaev kissing the ends of the ribbons on Natalia's dress in the play? I recall reading about a similar gesture in a play described in Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence", but I cannot recall whether the title of the play is mentioned, and I don't have a copy of the book with me.

DGV--left me cold and rather bored. I would not mind if I never saw it or Chroma again. However, A Month in the Country left me longing for more Ashton! I wonder if it might pair well with The Dream...?

It may be that many of today's dancers are deficient in qualities needed for Ashton's repertory, but all the more reason to have them dance his ballets. At least you'd think an AD might think so.

I certainly agree with that. Dancers work on skills they will need to use in performance, so an Ashton infusion could be just what we need in order to see some more lively and expressive upper bodies. I also think Ashton might complement Balanchine well, and his full-lengths provide some variation from the usual 19C Russian classics--not that I don't love those, but we've all seen countless Swan Lakes and Sleeping Beauties, and Fille, Sylvia, Les Deux Pigeons, &c would be a pleasant departure from the routine (not to mention that story ballets sell).

Are there biographies of Maria Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, &c? How about Jules Perrot? Is there enough material to be able to write bios of these people?

Odette in the forest with a lake.

I would like to see the Royal be Ashton's standard bearer...

Absolutely, I agree entirely.

Unfortunately I was a bit late to the performance on Sunday, so I had to watch Act I on the monitor outside the KC opera house and was therefore unable to see the portrayal of Lanquedem. From the description above, it strikes me as very poor taste, much like the blackface children in La Bayadère. Surely the offensive references could be removed with no damage to the ballet, especially considering that Lanquedem is not portrayed offensively in the productions of the Mariinsky (as far as I can tell) or ABT.

Thank you, Mikhail, for that additional information. In that case, I really cannot blame Shipulina for her average-quality performance on Sunday--in fact I would say that given the circumstances, she danced excellently! No one could ask a dancer who both had a fever and fainted to perform, and it sounds as if Shipulina was the only option. I am grateful she was able to dance, and I'm sure we all wish Osipova a speedy recovery. Hopefully Shipulina will have some well-deserved time off after this tour!

The fact that Peter Boal is not terribly familiar with Ashton's work does bother me, but it does not surprise me. I would not be surprised if such a statement came from Helgi Tomasson, Kent Stowell, Francia Russell, Edward Villella, or Peter Martins, either, because of what Helene mentioned in one of her posts: dancers at NYCB were/are not encouraged to educate themselves regarding ballet outside the world of Balanchine under the assumption that it is not worth watching. This is, of course, ridiculous, but the fact is that when you consider all the companies led by former NYCB dancers who only want to program Balanchine, watered-down Petipa, Robbins, or new choreography (regardless of quality) it is really not surprising that Ashton is unknown here, apart from ABT (which apparently performs only The Dream, Sylvia, and occasionally Les Patineurs) and the Joffrey Ballet, which does not have much of a visible presence outside Chicago.

Re: Ashton style, it appears to me that Ashton is similar to Bournonville in two ways: the importance of the upper body (port de bras, épaulement, expressive face) and petit allegro. Few dancers today can do both competently, much less well.

There may be a small glimmer of hope in the fact that many Ashton ballets are filmed (even if the quality is not the best) and notated, considering that several Petipa ballets have recently been restored to coherence (somewhat). Of course they do not look the way they did in the 19C, but many cobwebs have been cleared from them, and when they are performed as living works of art, as the Bolshoi's "Le Corsaire" was this past week, they sparkle and enchant. We are now in a much better position to restore Ashton's ballets (although we may not be much longer) than we are to restore Petipa's works, and I hope we will not allow Ashton's works to be edited as heavily as Petipa's were over the years. Another bright spot may perhaps be found in the Royal Danish Ballet's continuous performances of Bournonville throughout the centuries, but if the Royal Ballet does not get its act together and take on such a role, audiences 100 years from now will not have the opportunity to appreciate Ashton the way Copenhagen has appreciated and preserved for us such treasures as La Sylphide, Napoli, &c.

I was at the Sunday matinee performance. Definitely agree with others that this production is entertaining and never boring--I would happily have sat through more dancing in Act III, but I love mime, so I was happy. As others have noted, the highlight of this production is the Pas des Fleurs in the Jardin Animé scene, which is easily the most elaborate ballet blanc I have ever seen. Even if the rest of the ballet were dull, I would sit through it just for that and consider it time well spent! The enormous basket in which Medora stands at the end did leave me with a craving for a Cadbury creme egg, though...

Shipulina is a competent technician, but not Bolshoi lead role quality, IMO. Granted, she was probably tired from dancing Saturday night and not expecting to perform Sunday, so I'm sure that was a factor. Kaptsova as Gulnare was delightful, which makes this the second time Gulnare has outshone Medora--the other being Osmolkina's beautiful, lyrical Gulnare to Tereshkina's harsh and wobbly Medora a few years ago. The first two Odalisques were lovely, the first for her extremely neat, quick technique and the second for beaming beautifully out to the entire audience. Lanquedem performed his assemblés into grand plié in Act I with an added touch--a huge sissonne out of the grand plié. Very impressive.

The corps looked beautiful--only a few moments in which lines were not perfectly straight reminded me that this was not the Mariinsky, but otherwise they were top quality. The company in general looked very good, in many instances--dare I say it--better than the Mariinsky. They did not "pose" through their dances but kept everything lively and engaging, and they have not stretched themselves to the point of being unable to move--beats retained the quality of the legs "bouncing" off each other, pirouette preparation time was minimal, &c. In general, I was very impressed, and I very much look forward to the company's next visit!

I think it was Hagar in the Kingdom of Sweets with the pirate sword!

It really seemed to me that what she meant was that most ballets would drag in even less time, but we could go back and forth for weeks. It was definitely a positive review of a beautiful performance, and I know we are all happy about that!

Kaufman's only reference to the length of the ballet was this sentence:

At two hours, and then three, into the ballet, she was still stretching those legs and feet like rapiers.

It sounds to me as if she meant this as a compliment to Alexandrova rather than a complaint about the length of the ballet. I don't think she said a single negative thing about it, in fact. I would assume she's used to seeing three-hour ballets--that is, after all, how long many productions of Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty last.

Oh, that reminds me...I'd love a Raymonda (or anything, really) with Dumchenko.

I would love films of Pillar of Fire, Lilac Garden, The Leaves Are Fading, and any other Tudor it's possible to capture.