cubanmiamiboy

Sarabita...Mmm..He was sublime...

Your post makes me wonder to whom you are alluding? I read back through the thread and am perplexed as to the identity of the dancer you mention. Could you reveal his name? Marga, i just guided your hands to type this question.. now, the answer, please!

Usually, yes. And of course, it's obvious to anyone, including fans, what you are talking about. But you cannot disagree in purely reasonable and logical terms with the reaction someone could have had that is quite the contrary to what one's own is. When artists who become legendary continue to perform after their technique has largely disappeared, they have earned that right--if only because there are those 'adoring crowds' who may well be allowing their legend to continue to ride the wave of this diva-type thing as well as those who do not care to see it this way. If you are not involved in the specific persona, you cannot experience this yourself, but you cannot also determine that someone else could not legitimately do so (I doubt you meant it quite that harshly). Not terribly steeped in this persona myself, I did not care to see Alonso dancing Giselle at that age, but I consider that beside the point: Even those performances when Alonso was very old and technically waning are part of who she is. I had not given this much thought before either: If we come to ballet (as I did) through the New York City Ballet, we are not going to ever see this sort of mutation, but neither can we determine that that is the only viable way to go. Isn't the ultimate purpose of ballet providing sensorial pleasure to a given audience...?, If so, then Mme. is a total winner, and i would even assure that the hundreds inside the theater that day, (and probably the other hundreds who couldn't get in) would agree with me...so mission accomplished, Mme Alonso. Yes, we had shaky developees, but an amazing mad scene...having she retired on her 30's, nor me, or even my mother's generation, would have been able to see it...so, again, mission accomplished, Mme. Alonso. Ulanova, Dolin, Vasiliev and me still disagree with this statement... p.s-(God, am i being annoying..? )

...lovely Mme. Bessmertnova, your exquisiteness and fluffy dress in Giselle have helped save my day in many many ocassions...you may RIP

God,but what's the whole drama about Clara and sexual awakening and all that..?!?! Honestly, sometimes i feel lost and blown out when i read all about the apparent sexual implications of this or that version and so on, ...even poor Freud getting into the whole dilemma! I'm telling you guys, i grew up with adult ballerinas portraying Clara the child, and it wasn't different at all from the ilusion of, let's say, Lisse portrayed by Mme. Alonso in her 50's (with a convincing effect, right bart?) Oooh, you certainly will dirac, if it depends on me!. Remember that i don't acknowledge the ballet semi-official "seasonal" portrayal

Mmm...( ) The "Most handsome male dancer(s)" thread has casted more votes and discussion than its female counterpart. (121 vs. 114) so far... Interesting, right..? ...but back to beautiful ballerinas...

Can i keep adding names to this list...? ( I voted already.. ) Well, let's assume a "yes" as an answer, so in that case: POB Roberto Bolle RB Federico Bonelli (both italians, BTW. Happy dancerboy...?)

And now called "Prima Ballerina Assoluta". Thank you rg for the link. This is its content: Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina Assoluta A compilation of performances from 1963 to 1985 includes many of Alonso’s most celebrated roles. These range from Giselle, Swan Lake, Don Quixote & Coppélia, Romeo & Juliet, and others. She is joined by members of her company, The Ballet Nacional de Cuba. As bonuses are performances from the CBC (with Igor Youskevitch,1958) and Bell Telephone Hour (with Melissa Hayden, Nora Kaye & Mia Slavenska, 1960). 74 min., Color, B&W. Playable in all regions. Swan Lake: Black Swan Pas de Deux Music: Tchaikovsky Choreography: Alicia Alonso, after Petipa Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Azari Plisetsky, Hugo Guffanti 1968 Romeo & Juliet: Bedroom Scene Music: Berlioz Choreography: Alberto Alonso Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Azari Plisetsky 1970 Giselle: Act II Pas de Deux Music: Adam Choreography: Alicia Alonso, after Coralli & Perrot Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Azari Plisetsky 1963 Coppélia: Dr Coppélius and the Doll (Swanilda) Music by Léo Delibes Choreography: Alicia Alonso (after the original by Arthur Saint-Léon and the version by Marius Petipa) Dancers: Alicia Alonso, José Parés 1968 Don Quixote: Act III Pas de Deux Music: Minkus Choreography: Alicia Alonso, after Petipa & Obukhov Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Azari Plisetsky 1968 Pas de Quatre Music: Pugni Choreography: Alicia Alonso, after Perrot Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Mirta Plá, Loipa Araújo, Aurora Bosch 1968 La Fille Mal Gardée: Lisette Keeps Her Love a Secret Music: Hertel Choreography: Alicia Alonso, after Dauberval Dancers: Alicia Alonso, José Parés and Alberto Méndez 1968 Oedipus Rex; Bedroom Scene Music: Brouwer Choreography: Alicia Alonso & Jorge Lefebre Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Jorge Esquivel 1971 La Peri Music: Burgmüller Choreograhy: Alberto Méndez Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Jorge Esquivel 1985 Carmen Suite: Variations & Habanera Music: Shchedrin, after Bizet Choreography: Alberto Alonso Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Azari Plisetsky 1968 All with Ballet National de Cuba National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba Manuel Duchesne Cuzán conductor Bonuses Black Swan Pas de Deux (First Adagio) Music: Tchaikovsky Choreography: Petipa Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Igor Youskevitch Orchestre de Radio-Canada, Jean Beaudet December 4, 1958 Pas de Quatre Music: Pugni Choreography: Anton Dolin, after Perrot Dancers: Alicia Alonso, Melissa Hayden, Nora Kaye, Mia Slavenska Bell Telephone Hour Orchestra/Voorhees April 1, 1960

Always a pleasure !...

Yummy! I just discovered this video on Youtube. ( I can never get enough of this ballet) Comments anybody...? P.S- Mme, as usual, grand and regal-(just as bart once said)- doing Taglioni (he,he) and faithful to her idol Markova-(the original cast in Dolin's revival)

I just saw tons of clips of Hayna Gutierrez and Domitro on Youtube...(Giselle, her Black Swan solo, Carmen, Flames of Paris...) The Act II Giselle PDD particularly shows Gutierrez inner lyric qualities, which suits her more than Odile's seductive mannerisms... Their Swan Lake is due this weekend...let's see...

Carbro, you're a genious!! I have a computer at work that has no speakers, and many times i look at her Black Swan 60's clip while humming the music, because you can almost SEE it on her movements, so precise they are...(and i've realized that i can't do with a great majority of ballerinas...)

Many many times did i see her doing "Giselle", "Carmen" and other ballets (fragments) after 1991 when i moved to Havana. I saw her arriving at the theater, leaving it, and giving press conferences...I even talked to her a couple of times. She was TOTALLY, LEGALLY BLIND BY THEN, and still, while onstage, those who didn't know would have never guessed it. It was unbelievable to connect this person wearing huge black sunglasses that was being carefully guided by two persons by both hands to walk from her car to the theater to the ballerina onstage, sometimes still giving us the joy, at that age, of those famous sautees on pointe from her black swan coda...(Her amazing balances on pointe were the last display of technique that she was able to keep until the end of her career) Note: Look at the moment from Act I, after she does one of her diagonals of pirouettes left-to-right to land on Vasiliev's arm that she looses her balance a little bit...That was famously discussed on those days, as it seemed to be that he was a little out of her expected perfect situated position. For that matters, she has always been concise with her statement that nobody like Youskevitch ( ) mastered the art of choreographic memory in order to partner her with the maximum accuracy.

Thanks, atm711 for putting it like that. I only wish i could see some footage of her from that era too, ( i know there's a 1945 Giselle with Mme. and Youskevitch, and another one from the 50's with her and Erik Bruhn, and I've been in the process to get me a copy for a while now...). And let me tell you, even if her persona and her dancing is being referred as "shaky"( ), "old" ( ), "disturbing"( ), "technically unaceptable" ( ),"beyond her reach" to finally describe this performance of her most beloved role as a "Nursing Home Giselle”, ( ) i can only account for what i felt every time i saw her dancing,-(which you wrote so appropriately )-, "IT WAS MAGICAL" Thank God she didn't have it. Otherwise I would have missed her performances 11 years later, when I first started watching her dancing the role… Mr. Anton Dolin, Mme.Galina Ulanova and myself among them... (P.S-BTW, all my opinions to be taken as the view of a hardcore fan. My profound respect, as usual, for everone else's).

mmm...just thinking about posting...(or how to do it)...

Yay..dirac !!! Two thumbs up for our-(or at least mine)-semi-hidden cult to frivolity and Haute Cuture...(oops..!, guilty pleasure revealed )

...LOVE AND PEACE!!! and hoping you are all having a lovely day...and if alone, HERE'S MY BIG HUG!!!

Mme. Alonso on her adoration of Giselle: "I can't wait to see Giselle staged in Mars!" Mme. Alicia Alonso

...and next, why not, about Jenna Jameson...?

Some input: About the ballet: "It portrays Spears as she fends off the paparazzi, shaves off her hair and is carried off on a stretcher" From the choreographer Hubert Essakow: "(This is) a modern day tragedy". And later on about watching Britney's footage of one of her nervous breakdown as "inspiration" : "We were horrified at how explicit it was" From the dancer playing Spears, Gemma Nixon: "I was a bit embarrassed. It is sort of grotesque this persona" And again Essakow: "This is a homage to Britney." (A "homage"...?!?!?!. Wow, he really has some nerve to state that...) Overall this whole thing is just sad...Shame on Ballet Rambert. They are the grotesque ones... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7218522.stm

The following quote from innopac in the "That Swan Lake jump" thread made me think of one onstage disaster of another kind that i once witnessed. If a similar thread exists, please move it where it belongs: Here The Diva was my beloved Mme. Alonso . The occasion, one of her last Giselles, at the end of the Act II. By the end of her career, Mme. was getting so supra-ethereal on her interpretation of the role that special tutus with extra, (and i mean EXTRA ) layers of tulle were made specially for her to make her appearance more spectacular and ghostly-like. Now, in the Cuban version in Havana, a special device is built under Giselle's grave at the theater-(like a little platform-elevator that goes up and down) in order for her to disappear into the ground. And here it was Mme. at the end. ...she made her usual 6 o'clock arabesque and then positioned herself on top of the device to go down...A total silence, and then, slowly, she started to descend, when suddenly, horrors of horrors!: halfway through, she stopped, STOCKED ON HER ENORMOUS TUTU all wrapped aoround her upper body. The tutu was just to big to geth through the hole, so she couldn't go down nor go back up and so the curtains went rapidly down in a middle, of course, of the extra amount of applauses of her devotees, (me included)...still, it was a very awkward moment...I always wondered if some evil mind was behind this. Any other stories...?

Time to confess papeetepatrick...i too was several weeks thinking that it was a new format adopted by the board and having a hard time following discussions.. (Oops...!! )

It could be worse -- they could look so Eighties yummy!...vintage...