djb

Speaking of the Bolshoi, I saw Plisetskaya do something tricky with a balance that was quite entertaining, but I think it was the wrong ballet to do it in. She and Fadeyechev did the Act 3 pdd from Sleeping Beauty in a highlights program. In their version, the final pose is a supported (by the waist) low arabesque, with both dancers looking out to the audience. When they broke the pose to take their bows, Fadeyechev simply stepped away, leaving Plisetskaya comfortably balancing in arabesque for a few seconds. The effect was that they had tricked us. The audience cheered. But to me it seemed out of keeping with the atmosphere of Aurora's Wedding.

Is "Alfa Romeo and Juliet" the superior version of the ballet?

It is definitely overkill when the dancer chooses to stay in the balance so long that he/she is completely off the music coming out of the balance. This seems to be perfectly acceptable these days. In the adagio of the grand pdd in Don Quixote, dancers will take so long preparing for the first balance en attitude, and then balance for such a long time (looking fixedly at some point and doing a slight see-saw) that they reduce the choreography to only one repetition of the phrase. I prefer a short preparation and fast balance -- maybe looking at your partner or the audience rather than at the floor.

Of course, the divertissements in Act 2 of Nutcracker (chocolate, coffee, tea, etc.) could have as many different sponsors as there are productions.

Someone asked what people think of the emotional qualities of croise and efface. Croise always seemed very forceful to me, and efface seemed yielding. I liked efface better (don't analyze my character from this fact), mainly because I thought I looked better in efface, especially efface devant. But I also liked efface devant because of the feeling in the upper body -- the lifted, expansive chest combined with the feeling of reclining, almost. It gave me the feeling of stretching out on a large boulder warmed by the sun...maybe at Lake Tahoe! I still think the elongated S curve of the arms in efface devant (as I learned it) is one of the most beautiful lines in ballet.

Her intelligence comes into play as Myrtha. As Paul noted, she doesn't have a great jump. But, unlike some dancers of her body type, she doesn't expend all her energy trying to achieve a split while barely clearing the floor. It looks as if she focuses more on her elevation and timing, which gives her jetes a very nice quality. The first time I really appreciated her dancing was in "Liebeslieder Waltzer." She and Benjamin Pierce were the most elegant couple. The role in which she most impressed me with her acting ability was that of Medea, in Yuri Possokhov's "Damned."

Living in San Francisco, I have the good fortune to be able to see Muriel Maffre often. Although my taste in dancers tends to run to compact, powerful bodies (sort of the opposite of Maffre), I love watching her because of her very clean technique, beautiful port de bras and line, musicality and intelligence. And what an actress!

I would say you're a barrel of laughs, but that's pretty stock stuff.

Sandik, I don't care about the "olympian" aspect of dancing either, but to me, Fonteyn never looked strong. I'm not talking about high extensions, high jumps or multiple turns; I'm talking about something as simple as looking secure en pointe. When I saw Fonteyn live, I didn't notice her less impressive technique as much because her intangible assets were so much in evidence. But when I watch her in videos, it becomes clear to me that she was not a strong technician. According to her autobiography and the documentary about her, she did not consider herself a strong technician. However, when she made her first entrance as Aurora, no one that I've ever seen looked so right.

My teacher taught a number of ways of doing steps that I later learned were supposed to be Balanchine's way, but I don't recall her ever claiming to teach Balanchine style or technique. Perhaps she didn't want to claim to be passing on Balanchine's legacy when she was probably adding a lot of her own ideas to the classes.

I kinda thought it might be. Does anyone know whether it's taught this way in any other major school?

My first teacher was from NYCB. When we started pliés with our arms in second, we first raised the arm* as we started down in the plié, which gave the appearance of floating arms. I wonder whether that's what the parachute image refers to. Other teachers I've had didn't do that. How about other people? Have you noticed a difference in your teachers in their approach to the arms during pliés? * The arm is raised in relation to the shoulder, but since your body is descending, the effect is that the hand briefly floats where it is while the body descends, and then follows it.

Are you so sure the person you're talking about is not thinking? In my youth, I had a reputation in my classes for never making mistakes in combinations (I remember the day when, after several years at one studio, I finally made a mistake in class, and there was a cheer!) and being able to reverse combinations easily. Once when I was in college, we'd just completed a long, complex petit allegro, and the teacher told me to stand in 5th with the left front. He motioned to the accompanist to play, and during the 4-count intro, said "Reverse it." I did, with no mistakes, and it's possible that people might have thought I did it without thinking. It's true that for the most part I just reversed the feeling of doing the combination. But it did take some thinking -- some very, very quick thinking -- at a few points.

I'm not sure what sandik meant by "getting zinged," but I stand by my opinion that Fonteyn was not a spectacular technician. She had her strengths, but spectacular technique was not one of them.

A couple of years ago, I came across a website that listed all sorts of rare ballet videos, among which was one of the TV appearance of the Bolshoi on its first US tour. I couldn't let that one go by, so I inquired about it. The person who advertised it lives in Montreal, and he said he'd have check his sources for it. I wrote back every now and then for about a year, and he never found it. I hadn't sent any money, so there was no problem, but it certainly was disappointing to think I was going to have that treasure and then not get it.

Joanna Berman immediately came to mind as a favorite Aurora -- and then I realized I never saw her perform that role! She just seemed as if she would have been perfect.

Marianna, there are a few photos of the lovely Susan Jaffe at ballerinagallery.com. In Don Quixote, I love how her leg just keeps lifting every time she does an arabesque.

Although Fonteyn wasn't a spectacular technician, as far personality goes, I think she was the perfect Aurora. And she did hit some pretty nice balances in the Rose Adagio. I think Alla Sizova in the 1964 Kirov film is my favorite all-around Aurora. She has a luminously beautiful expression, and is very secure in both adagio and allegro. As for the qualities Aurora should have, I can't do better than say ditto to what Victoria Leigh wrote.

I just remembered that I thought the Yevteyeva Swan Lake is also worth having for Valery Panov's performance as the Jester.

Backstage at the Kirov focuses on Altynai Asylmuratova's debut in Swan Lake with her husband, Konstantin Zaklinsky, among scenes of other rehearsals and classes (both students and company members). I think it's beautifully filmed and edited. As rg said, it is available at kulturvideo.com, and also at amazon.com (the viewers' reviews at that site unanimously gave it top marks, the last time I looked). The Yevteyeva Swan Lake is no longer available (new, that is). Fortunately for me, a friend who had it made a copy for me. I like her very much in the role, although I can't say I like the production in general.

Maris is from Latvia (that is, that's where he was born).

I did enjoy the dancing in "Shag." My then-boyfriend and I would have taken Carolina Shag classes had we been able to find any. As is so often in the movies, the winners of the dance contest aren't nearly as good as some of the dancers in the background, who are doing really interesting stuff. But maybe Pudge and Chip won because of their heart.

The Glory of the Kirov The Glory of the Bolshoi Russian Ballet: The Glorious Tradition (there are 3 volumes in the series) The Magic of the Bolshoi The Magic of the Kirov Classic Kirov Performances I haven't checked recently, but I wrote reviews of all of these (and more) on amazon.com, and they were there the last time I checked.

Balletmom, you should be aware that often young dancers are not impressed by dancers of past generations, because their technique does not look modern. An online friend of mine who is a balletomane and loves the videos of the old Bolshoi and Kirov performances says that his sister, who is a dancer, generally does not enjoy watching performances from the '60s or earlier. If you are able to rent ballet videos somewhere, it might be a good idea to see whether your daughter likes the older performances before spending a lot of money on them. Or try to find them on ebay -- I found the Makarova/BaryshnikovGisellethere.

I just checked the Kultur Video website, and the 1964 (says 1963 at this site) SB looks pretty current: Kirov 1964 Sleeping Beauty