cubanmiamiboy

I have said this before, but will repeat it here...I think Osipova recently was able to break thru many decades of Giselle copying and made a real difference with the role. What a wonderful artist...

Another choreographic detail from Spessivtzeva that seems to be followed by some western ballerinas is during the sautes en pointe. As we can see, Olga-(as Markova, Fracci and Gutierrez in the previous clips)- intertwines her sautes on pointe/petit battement with simple sautes in attitude devant-(many dancers even make some sort of choreographic zig-zag pattern here). I notice that the Russians just go with the sautes/petit battement. And yes...Olga indeed gets into arabesque penchee...

It was Giselle-(I know...always Giselle..)-, in Havana...during my teen years.

There seems to be two approaches to this solo. The Western after Markova, which is currently followed by Alonso's troupe, and have no arabesque-penchee in the opening variation, and then the Soviet one, which ABT seems to have followed post Baryshnikov-(sources told me that the choreo was pretty much the same as what we see in the Markova/Alonso/Fracci video all the way up until Misha brough the Kirov one. The double turns on each side with one leg are also part of this old heritage, which POB seems to still follows, but not RB or ABT-(or MCB for this matter). Osipova seems to be trying to bring up the choreographic past into her Giselle. She has talked already about incorporating the Spessivtzeva's diagonal into her solo instead of the Soviet round of pique turns, but when she tried in Saint Petersburg, she wasn't allowed to. Another little detail I observe is that for the performances using the pique turns sequence, the orchestra usually makes a stop to allow the ballerina to slow down her final turns before making the final accord timed with the ballerina kneeling down in her ending bending bow. The finishing of the Spessivtseva's diagonal is, on the contrary, extremely sharp , and the ballerina needs to nail down that final pas de chat to 5th position uprigh right on time without musical slowing. Here is a contemporary "after Markova" offering of the variation, by Hayna Gutierrez, pre defection from Alonso's company. vs.a contemporary "Soviet' rendering by Semionova with the Kirov.

I like Kirkland's, but for me, the P E R F E C T version ever being filmed is Fracci's. Everything is there. The highly technical accomplishment, the wonderful, but restrained port de bras-(not a fan of the all-over-the-place/twiggy arms/hands/wrists so in vogue today)-the turn of the century choreographic heritage, the never restrained face, even during the Spessivtzeva's diagonal, the so necessary attention to her surroundings and to Loys/Bruhn-(hate productions where he's not present during the pas). I mean...PERFECTION with capital letters. Edited to add: I realize we're getting off Part's topic. Sorry about that...

Yes...they do indeed the double pirouettes without changing legs, although I observe a tendency to loose balance more frequently this way.

I wonder why ballerinas nowadays are not up to the technical challenge of the double pirouettes on each side without having to change the working leg...(it is probably the fact of having to do the trick with a leg that's generally not used as the working one, usually the left one...) @ 0:33 in Markova.. vs. Part @ 1:11

I also have a problem with Part's natural princess-like demeanor and how it weights on the role here. She looks way more regal than "the girl with the hat..."

@ 1:17.

As much as I have loved Veronika in what I've seen from her-(Lilac, NIkiya, Chopiniana's Prelude)-she does not "get me" as Giselle...that on top of seeing some of her old technical struggling coming back, as with her Act I Pas Seul).

I seem to recall from Danilova's biography that she had been promised the role at the Mariinsky when a revival was going to take place. I think Lepeshinskaya is the earlier interpreter we know of so far post revolution..?

Here's Lepeshinskaya's earlier rendition of the part in question. As we can see, @ 1:06 she opens her variation with a sissone, pretty much a smaller scale version of "The Plisetskaya". Now, at the very moment where Plisetskaya does the first of the two, Lepeshinskaya dances a completely different series of steps-(@ 1:18).

Mrs. Long has been hired by MCB as a Soloist. Congrats! http://miamicityballet.org/dancers

They did this program already-(right when I was flying to Italy). My friend, whom also follows MCB,went to see it and loved it. Yes...they are excerpts of the ballets. Computarized projections of Benois and Baskt backdrops were used with great results, as I was told.

I won't be able to make it-(working tonight)-but nevertheless, wishing much luck to this dancers, the last wage of defectors from La Assoluta's company. (My mom is going, so I will have first account on the performance..;-) ) Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami. Artistic Director Pedro Pablo Pena By popular demand the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami will bring to the Miamian stage some of the most beloved selections of the Diaguilev Ballet Russes, featuring Bolshoi ballerina, Katherina Markowski, the nine recently exiled Cuban ballet dancers and other guest soloists and corps de ballet of the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami. The program will include audience favorites of the Diaguilev era, like "Les Sylphides" , "Afternoon of a Faun", "Cleopatra", "Firebird", "Le Carnival", "Narcissus", "The Dying Swan" and "Scheherezade", with the added bonus of some favorite gala ciurcuit PDD's, like "Le Corsaire" "The Fairy Doll" and "La Bayadere" Sunday, July 27 / 5:00 pm 2014 Miami Dade County Auditorium TICKETS ON SALE NOW TicketMaster.com-1800-745-3000 THEATER BOX OFFICE-305-547-5414

And if you add to the dragging tempi a bad orchestra, then the experience is excruciating...

I would actually really like to see that; I would like the original Act 2 Pas de deux because I'd like to see how the group of hunters partnered the Swan Maidens. I think it sounds really interesting. And here is a clip from the Royal Ballet's 1960 production starring Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes with Ivanov's original scheme for the pas de deux: I think this is a really interesting scheme for a Pas de deux, but I wouldn't use it today because no dancer today does what the great Pavel Gerdt did. I'll just stick to following the great Nikolai Legat's example, as he was the one to turn the pas into a Pas de deux when he succeeded Gerdt in the role of Prince Siegfried. What a beautiful clip. Oh, I wish ballet would revert to this beautiful short, high waisted crispy tutus..! I really dislike very much the huge, bell shaped, low waisted Pavlova-like ones, now very much in vogue....

There are productions in which Siegfried's friends stand onstage at times during the PDD, each of them with a pair of swans leaning on them, a la Chopiniana's first tableaux-(I believe Balanchine's staging has it, as I recall from the MCB production...?). Me, I would like to see a company actually staging the whole '77 ballroom Pas de Six, with all its variations, in which Odile apparently danced the Danse Russe. On the other side, I've always considered the '77 Act IV sequence of music way more fitting and logic than Drigo's '95 reworking.

Good to know..!

Where is doug when we need him over here...? (I miss his posts a lot...they were wonderful to read)

I think Miss Gregory deserves for this thread to be bumped up from time to time. I have been watching videos of her non stop for a while now both online and pirate bootlegs, and wow...I think that, would I had been young enough and in NYC during her prime, I would had been her rabid, screaming fan. She is DEFINITELY my type of ballerina, and everything that I look for in a female dancer. She totally reminds me of the strong, perfectly centered, wonderfully balanced, powerfully limbed, great a terre females I saw while growing up that eventually became my ideal of a ballerina. Brava Cynthia!!

This thing sounds now weirdest than ever. Now her original "interview" wasn't an interview, but a story given to the press by a third person, without the knowledge and consent of its owner and then made into an interview. I don't recall reading about Womack declaring nothing on this matter originally. To be honest, the whole thing seems to me yet another advised damage control strategy.

Thanks for the heads up, Kristen! If my work schedule allows me, I will go. Never seen Mearns onstage. If I do maybe we can get together over the intermezzo or before the performance...?

More interesting excerpts/conversations between D'Amboise and Balanchine... JD'A- "Mr. B...in the history of all the ballerinas you've taught and choreographed for-from the earliest days...Toumanova, Barnova, Riabouchinska...all the way up till today-who do you consider the most talented...? He immediately answered... GB- "Allegra. She is the most gifted. She is missing only one element in the "formula to be perfect"....Allegra has the right ingredients, but something prevents her from being consistent. I can't count on her"