whetherwax

I am grateful that you fixed this Bart. I am still a little unsure in finding my way around. It is a wonderful clip of Toumanova isnt it? and it conveys for me some of the sensuous delicacy revealed for me for the first time when i saw Ballet Russe DVD. The beaches were pristine in those days ( and that one quite remote then )and i can imagine the pleasure with which the dancers responded.

I realise this is not the right place to post this and is off the point. But you may be interested RQ in a short home movie of Tamara Touvanova dancing on the beach in Australia which i found in Australian Screen( a film archive). Murray - Will, Ewan:Ballet Russes in Australia: Home movie Aside from her beauty and the scene it has an extra pleasure for me as our family home was built on the headland 10 years later. Everyone will enjoy her dancing.

In another discussion re the best Giselle DVD to buy,Volcanohunter said that the Maina Gielgud version with the Australian Ballet was pleasing, in spite of Christine Walsh's technique being seen as weak. I agree. I have bought 4 Giselle DVDs in order to compare and learn and I love the general sweetness, good dramatisation and lack of superficial detail in this version. However its true Walsh's feet seem gently unsteady at times and she appears to lack the attack and power of say the Fracci version. ( I must say that the cinematographers of the Fracci - Bruhn version must hate ballet , they cut away so often). My question is this, could better pointes have helped Walsh. Her shoes look round and sloppy and generally SOFT. Some dancers shoes seem aerodynamically designed and often much more pointed. I'm not being nationalistic here and trying to talk up Walsh's performance but could better shoes have made her dancing seem more precise?

Thanks, I have ordered it. I also got a copy of the Cambridge Ballet companion and a second hand copy of. A History of Ballet and Dance by Alexander Bland.It looks good, although published in 1976.

I saw it on Amazon and was all excited but it is not in Region Four format and will probably take ages before it is. I consatntly see things i would love to have so i can learn more, but I dont know who makes the decisions to produce for places like Australia and so I may have to buy an all regions DVD player at great cost. Since seeing Terekhova as Myrtha i have wanted to see anything she does.

This board is wonderful. Thank you Mel. Have you any recommendations for a comprehensive ballet history book where such information can be gleaned or is it as I suspect, a lifetime of immersion in ballet matters that gives one such knowlege?

In the Metzentseva Giselle, the second of the two newbie Wilis does a little turning movement during her variation with her left hand - which is incredibly beautiful. It doesnt appear in other Giselle DVDs I've got and I wonder if it has a name and if dancers have a certain amount of freedom to improvise in such a case. ( I dont imagine the Kirov allows much freedom but I was surprised to see that other versions dont have this movement.)

I watched Ballet Russes last year was overwhelmed and realised that there was a vast intriguing world to explore. I had had a few lessons as a child but now saw that there was history, technique, biography, physicality,beauty, art, music, intellectual nitty gritty, etc to discover. To that end I have been buying second hand ballet tomes of all kinds - Loved Danilova's autobiography - and lurking on Ballet Talk. I have also been buying DVDs so as to compare and learn. I have also started ballet classes - at 67 - this affords my immediate family a vast resevoir of humour ( I believe my son rolled on the floor when he heard and friends go quiet ) but it gives me a chance to learn the names of steps and a challenging workout. (I've worked out NOT to do jumps.) So I take this opportunity to thank those who set up and maintain this wondrous intellectual resource. regards.