omshanti

I do not think it is possible to use the word pure so simply for the Russians before the Tartar Mongolian influence. They originaly started as a mix anyway ,of a Germanic scandinavian tribe (Vikings) and a Slavic tribe that lived in present day Ukraine which was mostly inhabited by Persian tribes at the time. They adapted the name Russ from the Germanic side and the language from the Slavic side. Christianity had nothing to do with them yet. And then there were the Romans, Greek( who brought christianity), Majjars, Huns, Bulghars, Chinghis khan , that influenced them before Tartars. Tartars were already influenced by the Greek, Persians, Arabs before they reached Russians. And as the Russian empire started to expand its territory they included that immense flat land of Euroasian continenet which was the ancient crossroad of numerous horse riding tribes from east , west, south and north. So maybe this back ground has some effect on ballet in Russia as well as the psyche of Russian people.. I think one thing that is distinctively Russian is their way of approaching folk and national dances in ballet.

Nureyev when he was really sick or Plisetskaya recently might be like that. But the height of the leg was not the issue really. The issue was that they could not do the positions properly any more. For example their arabesques were not arabesques any more regardless of the height of their legs. That is why Margot Fonteyn was so amazing. Her arabesque was arabesque to the very end.

Just for the record.The word caucasian includes people from Europe to north India, central Asia and north Africa. The origin of the word is from Caucasus which is between Caspian sea and Black sea. So I think this caucasian equal blond image is not accurate. As with ballet and race, eventhough I live in a country where everybody is obssesed with blond ballet dancers, I see absolutely no racial difference in ability to dance ballet. After all using the brain is the most important thing in ballet not the body. My Japnese teacher whom I consider the greatest living ballet teacher on this planet is a living proof of that. PS . the level of professional ballet in Japan is quite bad though.

shantaram review I found this review of the book. Hope you enjoy it.

Has anybody read this book? I read it almost 2years a go but just heard recently that it is going to be a movie. The violence in it was hard to read but I really liked the book. To me it was also really easy to understand the situation and feel sympathy with the people in it since some of the main characters were from Afghanistan(my birth country) and Iran( the country I grew up in). What did you think about it?

Wow Leonid thank you for writing about your memories of Margot Fonteyn as Giselle, that was incredible. Is there anyone out there who has seen Galina Ulanova in Giselle and can share memories of her like Leonid did with Margot Fonteyn. I am so interested.

This whole thread is very interesting and I enjoyed reading the posts, however I could not help thinking why categorize ballet? Why not just enjoy ballet as it is , as a dance. And dancing does not necessarily need to be artistic or athletic. Ballet is ballet. And also if there is really a need to categorize ballet, why only between art and sport? It could also be categorized as theater , circus or a craft (I used to think ballet is a craft since you learn and preserve a specialized skill from one generation to the next). Any way what is art? Can anybody define what art is? Just to avoid misunderstanding , I am not trying to be offensive at all. I know it might be a touchy issue ,but I am just curious. I feel that people in USA have a tendency of comparing ballet and sport more than poeple from other places. And I do notice that in America people clap more to turns and jumps in ballet. What is it in the society and culture of USA that gives people a need to compare ballet with sports?Can anyone explain?

Are there any dancers who do it without the split now? Has the split become the standard for coupe jete?

When did men start to do coupe jete en tournant with 180 degrees splits and who was the first person doing it?

I was just stating the difference that exists between Russian school and French school regarding approach to turn out , and what happens as a result of that. I did not realize that I wrote anything to agree or disagree with.

In Europe Ballet scene only exists in big famous companies such as royal Danish, paris opera, except for Germany which has more midsized companies. I do not know about the benefits and payments of European companies. But it is doubtful that companies other than those very few big royal or national companies pay after retirement. I am not sure even if those companies do that anymore. As to the children and every one going to the ballet in Europe ,price of the tickets being affordable, it might have been like that 50 years ago but not anymore. Europe has so many countries and the situation is different in each. There are so many towns, cities and countries that in which ballet is simply non-existant. Any way if ballet was doing so well in Europe ,there would not have been so many companies turning in to modern dance companies.So it appears that the situation in both Europe and America is bleak for classical ballet.

Soloviev is one of the greatest dancers of all time in my opinion. And I would say he was technically perfect ,or very close to perfect if the perfect ideal in ballet is impossible as MR Hans said. And he looks so natural in ballet positions without any forcing or tensing which shows how good the training must have been at the kirov in that era. The picture of him in 5th position that I saw was in Dance and Dancers from the 60s. I have never seen Henning Kronstam so I can not give any opinion of him. Are there any videos of him available?

This seems more like the difference between Russian school and French or west Europian school of traditional ballet that has been there for a long time than a newly discovered fact. In Russia they simply open their legs to the side for turn out while in the west they rotate every thing outward to the full. If you look at French dancers you can see the sole of the shoe in a la second. I think that is why Nureyev increased his turn out after he defected to the west.

I thought ballet positions were the result of continuous effort in the body and positions to go through when dancing the steps therefore parts of the flow rather than isolated poses to stop at. So would not the emphasis on CORRECT positions improve the whole flow? Maybe the students who can create good poses but not move in between are not doing the positions correctly but just creating the shape superficially because they are able to do so physically. Correct positions with feeling of movement in them would definitely look more beautiful than perfect shapes made superficially.

Every ballet teacher says that your knees and toes have to be facing the same direction with turn out. But even With Nureyevs turn out it seems like that the feet have to turn out more than the knees in 5th position. Is it really possible for a human being to stand in 5th with knees and feet completly facing the same direction? Also the hip of the front leg seems to be visible in most of the dancers which means that there is a slight twist in the torso. In Nureyevs case this is almost invisible which is really rare.

I think the situation is same in Europe too. Classical ballet companies are getting less and less worldwide. For example I have heard that in France nowadays It is really hard to find a classical company other than Paris opera. And even Paris Opera seems to be much more interested in modern dance recently.

I am writing again because I just realized that ms/mrs Pamela Moberg has replied while I was writing my previous post. That is What I was wondering too. That if 5th position is merely something that people with better phisique can achieve. My teacher always says that he is not turned out, eventhough his 5th is beautiful. He also says that people who have perfect body tend to just sit in 5th with fallen buttocks. So i guess there must be more than just a good phisique in it. But again I can only guess because I myself am not yet able to disprove that law of better body better 5th .

Sometimes I feel that 5th position in ballet is like lotus position in yoga. The most important and basic position. In a book about the life of the buddha it was written how beautiful his lotus position was. My ballet teacher who is almost 70 has beautiful 5th position and when he does tendu from 5th it takes my breath away. Actually everything he does is so beautiful. I guess that is because his 5th is so beautiful. Or maybe other way round? Also he treats 5th position as if it is a sacred position.

I have heard that 5th position shows if a dancer is good or not good. Is this true? Can you really tell just from 5th position? Also I was really impressed by a picture of Soloviev in 5th position. It was beautiful. Reading the threads here I have seen lots of pictures of dancers posted , but none in 5th position. Does anybody have pictures of dancers in 5th position to share on line.

thank you for your responses . so nobody knows how tchaikovsky wanted his music to be heard? i thought at least the tempo and speed of the music must have been written on his notes. can anybody in the world just change bits of another composer s music to suit their productions? is there any thing like copyrights? i did notice that in borne s swan lake the music was played faster.

i recently saw mathew borne s swan lake. somehow watching it ,i was moved by the beauty of the music more than when i see the classical productions of swan lake. is the tempo and the order of the music in mathew bourne s swan lake closer to what tchaikovsky actually wrote?

thank you so much for the information chrisk217.

i have erik bruhn i am the same only more. it is great. one more thing i love about him is that even in his 40s he had not changed technically at all. i think this shows how correctly he was using his body in ballet. i have vasilievs little humpbacked horse too. his transeformation from a country boy to a beautifull prince in the end is breath taking. does any body know where i can purchase comme les oiseaux? it sounds so interesting and i still dont have it. one more thing i love about bruhn and vasiliev is their ballon. when they jump they both posses this floaty quality which none of the dancers today seem to have.

i just posted the same topic in the ballet talk for dancers , i am not sure if it is ok to post same one here. but just thought different people might read it here . any way i love erik bruhn and vladimir vasiliev. vasiliev is amazing because when he is not moving he seems to have stickey out hips and short bent legs. but once he starts dancing he has this beautifull quality to his movements that i have never seen in any other dancer. erik bruhn is just so ellegant and effortless . he is like the fred astaire of ballet to me.