Latecat

Dirac: I really enjoyed the article. Thanks for posting the link.

Rather than blame the dancers who use arch enhancers, blame the artistic directors who insist on the high instep and the audience members who discuss "feet." Everyone from Sarah Lamb to Irina Dvorovenko uses them, and it is not because they lack artistic ability or technique. And, yes, those two wonderful dancers definitely enhance their arches. For me, it is a shame that by today's "body" standards, it is possible that some of the great artistic dancers such as Plisetskaya or Fonteyn might not have had a chance to be hired into a major company unless they enhanced their arches. And it is hard to know who we are never going to see because of the new standards.

I found this thread really interesting. Thank you for leaving it.

I am afraid that I agree with Jane Simpson and Marga about the photo. Natalia was there so she is the ultimate authority on this dancer; I do wonder, however, about awarding the first gold medal in many years to a dancer who can barely get through the Black Swan pas de deux. A competition is about artistry, but it is also about technique.

Did any one get to the Kennedy Center for Such Sweet Thunder last night? It was a mixed media tribute to Sheakespeare with music by Duke Ellington. It featured music; acting; singing; and dancing. The music was fantasic and I really enjoyed the dance sequences....Lady Macbeth was done by a young dancer named Whitney Fitts with six partners....she did a jazz sequence on pointe and really moved, showing her long legs and turns off to advantage; Ashley Smith did a sultry tango with five partners for Cleopatra. Mercedes Ellington, Duke Ellington's grand-daughter, oversaw the choreography.