cubanmiamiboy

I've been watching her ever since she came out of ballet school, and you just voiced what the general consensus was in Havana back then. I was telling another poster recently that even if she was all about pyrotechnics-(which she's at absolutely easy at)-she could never master the romantic ballets the way her rival and truly Prima back then, Lorna Feijoo, did. But, on the other side...her Kitri is just a real pleasure to watch, and I haven't seen that many ballerinas approaching the role, technically and dramatically, a good as she does.

The fairy tale "went away"earlier, when the 2nd Tsar Maiden was announced. Oh, Somova, right...?

Well, isn't K. Sergeyev's SB kind of the standard nowadays...?

If anything, expect anti-gravity balances. She stays, and stays...and then stays some more...and THEN she may do developpe to go in attitude devant, or from attitude derriere to something else, or standing in arabesque on pointe, and then starting doing a deep penchee...all while in balance...or something else . Oh, I've seen all kinds of crazy stuff from Vi.

I see we're flirting with that other thread of well articulated dancers...So for what I've read we're tending to associate the word with composure, verbal properness, elegance, beauty, class and the like. But then... I would like to ask if the lack of, let's say, class-(or well...on the contrary, the presence of even a tiny bit of vulgarity)-would, on your eyes, disqualify a candidate to opt for the glamorous position. Just curious...

Agree with Leonid about recordings. In her book Suzanne Farrell says something like she doesn't like people to think that she is the woman dancing in whatever has been preserved on video of her, because she KNOWS that she DID dance better than that-(In her own words).

Oh...that...

Yesterday when she came out from her dressing room her whole being screamed glamour: hair, makeup, the dress...the works. Definitely Feijoo. (One could tell she worked carefully on it too... )

...this last story is just going on top of the list...wow

Today at the matinee it was all about Lorena Feijoo's dramatic Medora...and not a girl, but a WOMAN Medora. At times I got so distracted by looking at her face and mannerisms that I forgot her footwork ...(Isn't that smart of her..? ) Brava!

I just listened to my newest Giselle adquisition: The Two LP set of the complete Ballet by the London Symphony Orchestra under Anatole Fistoulari, ca.1961. I love it, and I'm on my way to get me Zuraitis/Bolshoi Orchestra, just to listen to the whole Minkus Act I PDD

Just came back from tonight's performance. Great job Mamicha! , although I found the whole thing a little bit confusing, especially Le Jardin Animee...(Well, this was my very first full length Corsaire EVER, so I was kind of lost at some moments). Will be back after tomorrow's performance.

The Cuban Guaguanco-(A type of rumba, but the real one, not the exotic variations, BTW)

Yum,,,! Gotta see that one!

Oh, so Hayna is not doing Medora, ah...?

I just saw this clip, and found Lepeshinskaya's footage fascinating. The documentary is in Russian, but the clips are well worth to see . She seemed to have been well beloved among her peers too. Hope you'll enjoy it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REKu3XahS2E

Well, after all the re-thinking, de-desedimentation and multi-whatever , I am the one feeling mentally disabled now...

Femme Fatale wouldn't be seen sweating herself with practice clothes at the gym, or strolling around the city with her 5 kids in ragged jeans while sipping coffee. Times has changed, and Gilda doesn't have a reason to exist anymore. I work in a hairdressing salon, and the closest I've seen of women who are empowered by money, dressed in high fashion clothing since early in the morning-(of course she doesn't has to go to work)- and wearing heavy make up are only two types. Young ones who chased rich men and ended up marrying them and hence enjoy the off-limits of opulence and new money and then elderly ones for which this has always been their lifestyle. Maybe there are still some who resemblance the femme fatale within the first category, but usually they are not that sophisticated. This is real life. Movies are a world of their own, but unless you don't place the story back when this women were everywhere, I don't see that many stories that could be credible portraying one of this characters in the America of 2009.

She is Marina Franca, a ballerina who danced for Les Ballets Russes de Montecarlo from 1938-1940. (cute costume, right...? )

Going even further in the subject of ballet/glamour/peacocks... http://www.artsjournal.com/tobias/archives...5700r-thumb.jpg

Oh, definitely Lana..! http://s3.amazonaws.com/findagrave/photos/..._1023138229.jpg

In all my years watching ballet in Cuba I must confess I never though about weight as such a matter of death or life issue. I guess that this also comes from the fact that body types view vary according to certain pre-established/cultural standards. See, coming from a place in which the most accepted/common female body type includes big hips, thighs and lower back, a la Jennifer Lopez or Beyonce-(EVEN WITHIN BALLET)-, it is certainly shocking to see some of today's ballerinas thinness. Now that I'm thinking about it, probably all of the dancers that I have written about from the Cuban Company would have been considered fat to this standards.