A ballerina's "perfume"

[Farrell Fan]

It seems to me I run into this more and more -- so-and-so's perfume. Can this elusive quality be pinned down? What do people mean when they use the expression?

[Leigh Witchel]

Just like a perfume or a scent, the impression of a ballerina you're left with when you think back on the performance.

[Alexandra]

I think Leigh's is a good definition. La Sublimova has perfume; "Shalimar," dark and musky (I write this never having smelled "Shalimar" -- she's exotic, perfect for Other Woman or cello roles. La Petite Fleur is lillies of the valley, or baby's breath -- all light and fast and sweet, the jeune fille. And good ol' La Drekova -- well, she buys gallon-sized bottles of Eau de Toilette at the corner drug store.

[Nanatchka]

Shalimar is a very sweet scent with a top note of vanilla, as my nose recalls it, but the original bottle was very oriental looking, and it was "oriental" in that it wasn't a flower scent. (Margaret Tracy, maybe. Cookies, not erotics.)It was extremely popular in the late sixties and seventies with girls who grew up seeing their mothers dab it on before going out at night. The flagon was dark blue cut crystal with a faceted pointy stopper. Guerlain makes a more intentionally oriental fragrance called "Mitsuko." Such good names. My favorite of theirs (name not scent, though it's lovely--all of those perfumes before the ghastly emergence of Opium, Poison, and Giorgio, which have ruined so many nights in the theater for those sitting near their wearers) is L'Heure Blue. So, Farrell Fan, I suppose this is what I am talking about when I talk about a ballerina's"perfume":a translation of the visual sensory impression to an olfactory one. I don't think of this as a lingering after the fact kind of thing, but one of aura at the time of performance. In the case, say, of Farrell, when I speak of her perfurme I am not speaking of an exisiting scent which she conjures, but of the synesthetic experience of Farrell as scent.

[Farrell Fan]

Thanks, Nanatchka. I recall experiencing similar feelings in 1968, when I saw her in Synesthesia and Pithoprakta. :rolleyes:

[Helene]

My favorite of theirs (name not scent, though it's lovely--all of those perfumes before the ghastly emergence of Opium, Poison, and Giorgio, which have ruined so many nights in the theater for those sitting near their wearers) is L'Heure Blue.

Mine too, both the name and the scent. In Maria Tallchief's autobiography, she describes a scene in which Balanchine bought her L'Heure Bleue, annointed her with it, and kissed her. It became her signature perfume.

[Veronica]

One dancer who actually has her own very lovely perfume is Carla Fracci (called Carla Fracci Perfume). My daughter was actually a promotion model for it last fall---all dressed up in her romantic tutu.

[Mashinka]

The mention of Mitsuko reminded me that it was Diaghilev's favourite perfume and in his book "In the Wake of Diaghilev", Richard Buckle recalls how he sprayed the perfume around the rooms of Forbes House where he held his famous Diaghilev exhibition in the 1950's.

BTW, at the risk of sounding uncouth, I rather like the perfume Opium.

[Mel Johnson]

A ballerina's perfume should be attar of roses, which is an essential oil and sells uncut for about $2,000 an ounce. And she should hold out until she gets it!

[carbro]

I remember that sometime in the '70s, ABT assisted a perfumer with its launch of the heavily floral Pavlova. The coordinator of volunteers at the time demanded that the volunteers hand out the tiny samples to the audience members after performances. This angered a number of the allergy-prone volunteers, who endured watery eyes, runny noses and stuffy sinuses. I guess they ended up suffering for their art!