Nanarina

Character Dance or the term Character Dancers, as they perform, in the West, cannot be compared to those Dancers from the Bolshoi or Kirov companies who specialise in these roles within classical Ballets and other modern productionds that include this element of dance. unlike in our repertoire when the dancers perform dual roles, classical and character, in Eastern culture, the dancers are two totally sister, different groups, each trained completely separately, one style never crossing over to the other. The classical ballet dancer wears pointe or flat shoes, but her character associate only will wear boots or shoes, never dancing on pointe.In the former companies each have equal status, and are considered to be as good as each other The training is as thorough as a classical ballet course. with Tutors and Coaches being former renouned Character Dancers themselves.. who pass their wisdom and experience on to their pupils. However, there does seem to have originated a confusion in the difference between character dance, and National dance.To differentiate I will try and suggest some comparisons, a person playing a character such as Von Rothbart in Swan Lake, or Bottom in Midsummers Night Dream, the Pasha in Le Corsair, Severyan the Bailiff in The Stone Flower, the Miller and his Wife in Le Tricorne, these are Character Roles, Czardaz, Marzurka, Neopolitan Dance, Spanish Dance from Act 3 Swan Lake, Jobo from Le Cid, are in fact National Dances, but to confuse the situation even more, the Wonderful Gypsy Dances in the Stone Flower, the Pirates dance in Le Corsair are Character Dances. People =character, places = National This brings up the subject of retaining the original choreography in revised productions of the tradional classical ballets, sadly a lot of the formerl steps have been changed to its detterement. A lotof Nureyev's work has failed here, in the most recent DVD released by POB of his Swan Lake, you can see the degree to which the original Nationale dances have suffered. I am not a a supporter of Nureyev as a choreoghrapher, most of his productions are messy full of too many steps, without clean lines or breathing space for the Dancers every note is filled with a step, apparently some of the POB dancers are not keen on his work, When it comes to Act 3 and the National Dances, they leave a lot to be desired, in fact they are not in character at all. The steps are performed in a balletic way, much to high in the air, and some elements of the choreogaphy represent a ballet solo or group, with the men jumping about, as if in a virtuoiso movemnet instead of in a controlled down to earth, stylish manner. Sadly there is no defination between ballet and national style. Considering Nureyev's first experience in dance, was in a local club, where he learnt Russian folk dance, I am very disapoint ed by his reproduction of these great traditions. I am not against moderning and bringing Ballets up to date, such as John NeumanuerSylvia, and Sasha Waltz's Romeo & Juliette, but please let the originals retain their history .

I know that Aurelie Dupont has been mentioned before in this subject, but I wanted to say that I feel she should have a special place in the list of Beautiful Dancers. For anyone who does not already know, Aurelie is an Etoile (Star) at the Paris Opera, where she appears in many different types of Roles. She is an equisite Dancer, very musical, and with a marvelous technique and presence on stage. As a woman (35 years) she is very beautiful, with dark brown hair and brown eyes full of expression. Beauty is not just in ones "eye" but comes from within, and Aurelie is very natural, kind and down to earth. Her successful career does not seem to have gone to her head, she can be seen in some interviews sitting on the stairs at the PariS Opera, or simply sitting casually cross legged on the floor in her dressing room, with a pile of new pointe shoes at her side. She is reputed to be very approachable, although perhaps a little shy, she seems to be happy to talk with people who wait to see her at the Stage door, where she is considered by her supporters to be someone very special. Both in France and abroad, in countries such as Japan, she is admired like a pop star. And yet she still stays humble, quite willing to talk about her career and life. Recently Aurelie has annouced that she is expecting her first child " A dream in her private life" which she told Ivan Sebastini in a interview in Dance magazine in December 2003, when asked about life in the future, she said "She would very much like a family, hopefully before the end of her career, as she could not imagine herself without children". Papa is, Jeremie Belingard, also a Star Dancer at the Opera, and their little star is expected in early summer 2008. A BEAUTIFUL DREAM COME TRUE, FOR A BEAUTIFUL COUPLE. HE IS LOVELY TOO !!!

Hello Kiwidancer. Just a little advice, as I am retired, and can suggest the following, It is very important to choose a Dancing School, where the Teachers are fully trained and belong to a accredited Dance Organisation. In the UK, we have the RAD(Royal Academy of Dancing, ISTD ( Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance), BBO (British Ballet Organisation. They all start with Nursery Classes, then go on to Primary, at about 5 years, depending on the childs ability. From this grade onwards is much more regulated. Ask to visit the studio's to see the children working, and choose the best you can find in your erea.a I feel sure there must be similar schools in France, and suggest you go on the Internet to find out., there must be equivalent arrangements as in the UK. I worked for many years in the professional world of Dance, but now my interest is to sit back watch and enjoy. although I occasionally still design and write for Ballet.

Reply from Nanarina re: Nureyev Versions of Classical Ballets I find the majority of his work to be fussy and complicated, and does not represent the original productions in In Paris, many of the POB Dancers find his choreography difficult. Whilst their version of Don Quixote is one of the better productions, comparable with Barish. ABT version.. Raymonda seems very little like the original, for instance the wonderful Bolshoi one, Abra. is a true Warrior, not a seemingly weak animal like character as in Nureyevs version. The Court dances and character dances are just that. We know that in Russia these roles are played by specially trained dancers, and they certainly excell in their performance. I found the recently released DVD of POB Swan Lake to be most disapointing, I liked the fact that the Princess actually appeared in the first Act, before she was taken by Von Rothbart, and also enjoyed the two extra Solo's for the Prince. The final act was also beautiful, particularly the Corp de Ballet variations. However I felt that Act 3, was a complete let down, for someone who grew up in Russia, and whose first introduction into dance was in native National/Folk Dance, the Character Dances in this part of the Ballet were a disaster. No clear cut lines, a muddle of steps, which were far too balletic and danced in the air, insteadof down into the ground. Mostly featuring ballet steps, instead of the required elements of true Marzurka, Czardaz, etcl In this sense give me the Bolshoi or Kirov, in preference every time, w ho I have seen live and on DVD.