Hello! I am discovering ballet, i have never danced, never taken a single class in my life... i am mostly able to watch ballet through videos since i don’t have easy access to live performances by a top-tier company. I am educating myself through documentaries and articles found online about Balanchine and his legacy. I realized that i enjoy his works more when they are not danced by the nycb! I know i might be stating a terrible heresy but i really feel that way! Maybe im just exposing my ignorance regarding how balanchine should be danced?
However, Ive watched some older videos of nycb on John Clifford YouTube channel. Some with Allegra Kent, or Suzanne Farrell, or Darci Kistler ... and i feel like those are very enjoyable. But somehow, for reasons that i cant properly articulate: the current crop of nycb dancers does nothing for me... there always seems to be something that takes me out of it: facial expressions, distracting body proportions ... i feel terrible for thinking that way because i know they are all beautiful dancers.
Maybe some of you could help to shed some light as to why it is that way? What changed in the past 10,20 or even 30 years in the way nycb dances its Balanchine repertoire?
Also, while dancers from other companies around the world can dance Balanchine reasonably well, i can’t imagine any of the current nycb principals dancing anywhere else... is it because of their technique? I don’t know and i wish i could better explain why i feel this way! Maybe some of you could lol?