On Pointe

Which, in my opinion, was a colossal waste of time. Kirkland was totally different as a dancer and performer. It's also my opinion that Kirkland was miscast as Kitri in the first place, like casting a coloratura soprano as Carmen. The first time I saw Plisetskaya dance was in the Bolshoi's Don Quixote. At one point she and her partner misjudged a one arm overhead lift and he almost dropped her. Instead of trying to play it off, Plisetskaya rolled her eyes and let out a hearty whoop, turning a near disaster into a thrilling moment, and the audience went crazy. There is no dancer today with her huge stage personality, and there hasn't been in some time. Kirkland's great gifts did not include a warm personality and a sense of humor. She was wonderful in the grand pas de deux, but I didn't buy her as Kitri in the rest of the ballet. Speaking of style and aesthetics, I'm watching the opening of the Olympics, and the French just presented the dullest, most dispirited rendition of the can can that I've ever seen. What the hell was that?

Part of Sinatra Suite popped up in my Youtube feed, with Baryshnikov and Elaine Kudo, and I found it shocking. The That's Life pas de deux has not aged well at all. I find it hard to believe that ABT plans to revive it. It's a celebration of misogynistic abuse, even in the context of the whole piece.

When it comes to ballet, truly " God is in the details". The details are what makes it so hard. Like it or not, ballet has a definite aesthetic. You can be a very good dancer with knees that don't completely stretch, no turnout, and unpointed feet, but you can't be a good ballet dancer. (You can also have perfect legs and feet and a beautifully proportioned body and be dull as dishwater.) Godunov had height and long legs, and power. I didn't find him particularly handsome while others did, but in person he had charm to burn. What he didn't have was the drive, the technique and the stage persona of the others. He simply didn't.

What's fascinating to me is the great dancers of the past whose style and technique don't look dated. For example, Olga Spessitsiva compared to Tamara Karsavina and Anna Pavlova. There isn't much of a film record of any of these dancers, but what exists shows stark differences. Yvette Chauviré and Erik Bruhn also look contemporary to my eyes while other dancers of their time do not. Godunov's style looks dated, but there were Soviet contemporaries with far better technique irrespective of style, such as Soloviev and Vassiliev and a bit earlier, the very refined Maris Liepa. It could be that Godunov never reached his full potential in the west, distracted by the notoriety of his defection.

Not necessarily. Alcoholics are alcoholics because they like drinking. That's why it's so difficult to treat, as with other addictive diseases. Unfortunately there are no "do overs" when heavy drinking reaches the chronic stage.

In terms of relative fame, there is also the effect of time. Godunov died many years ago. Winehouse died recently, and despite her prominence as a singer, I was scarcely aware of her as a musician. To me, she was famous as the latest member of the "27 Club", music stars who died at the age of twenty-seven - Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin and others. As hard as it may be to believe, given the world-wide hysteria, there are millions upon millions of people who never listen to Taylor Swift. Fandom is "siloed", not universal. Ballet is a niche interest, not that there's anything wrong with that! We've devoted many pages to discussing a dancer most of the world knows nothing about. Ballet dancers are far more prominent in Russian popular culture than they are in western countries. There is little interest here in interrogating the non-mysterious death of Godunov, as sad as it was.

There is a college that makes a list each year for the faculty of things that the incoming freshmen will likely know nothing about. For example, many eighteen year old students can't read cursive handwriting, which limits their ability to study historical documents. They also don't know how to use a dial telephone. To them, the internet has always existed. It's a fun list, but also very sobering.

It's noteworthy that James Cagney and Christopher Walken, two legendary "bad guys" in the movies, were also outstanding dancers. And it absolutely sucked, totally unwatchable. Black Swan was a psychological drama about a young woman descending into madness, but it had no connection to reality. It could have been set in any number of highly competitive professions. (And the off screen romantic shenanigans of the cast and director, which continue to this day, would make a pretty hot telenovela.) Baryshnikov's performances were not the only ones preserved. There is a montage of excerpts from a fictional ballet gsla that included many of the leading dancers of the day, including Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins in the Tchaikovsky pas de deux. Only a few seconds of the performances are in the final cut of the film, but extensive footage was shot. Turning Point was a big, soapy box office hit, but I imagine it might have been a very different film if Gelsey Kirkland, who was originally cast, had been well enough to play the young dancer who has a fling with a playboy superstar.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beho!der. Perhaps illness is too. To me, Godunov does not look "healthy", " cheerful" or "great" in that photo. He looks like a sick man barely holding on. May he rest in peace.

As the death of Amy Winehouse sadly illustrated, stopping drinking can be deadly for an alcoholic. It is a complex disease. If Godunov had realized that he was addicted and tried to quit, he may have hastened his death. As it was, it appears that hepatitis is what took him out, complicated by alcoholism. It may be unfair or inaccurate, but Russians have a reputation for being heavy drinkers. What is considered average consumption in Russia might be considered problematic elsewhere. And of course there are individual tolerances.

Mr. Limonov is being a tad dramatic. I remember those years well, but I don't recall any "war" between Baryshnikov and Nureyev or their fans. Doesn't mean there wasn't one, but if there was, it only concerned a few people. It certainly was not of particular interest to the media.

No.

When I first started watching the Royal Ballet, Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell were considered the epitome as far as dancing Ashton was concerned. But back then, they were English roses in a company made up almost entirely of English dancers, with a few Scots and South Africans thrown in the mix. Today's Royal is an international ensemble made up of dancers from around the world who did not train at the Royal Ballet School from childhood. Most of the Royal's principal dancers are not English. There is a definite English quality to Ashton's work (even though he grew up in South America). It must be difficult to convey that essence and style to foreigners, even if they made it a priority, and there's little evidence that that is the case under their current direction.

Godunov had the desire to work with Bejart. A desire is not a contract. This kind of quote in the press is a ploy often used by actors to indicate to directors and producers that they are available and want to work with them, without seeming too needy.

I've long felt that Mark Morris was the American equivalent of Bejart. Despite the rapturous reviews he's gotten from American critics, try as I might, I see little choreographic substance in his work. I think his dancers are quite ordinary as well. Maybe it's just me, but I don't get the appeal, at all. I wouldn't call it crap, though. It's just not for me.