Toughest Evening-Length Ballet for Ballerina

[Ari]

Okay, everyone loves a poll. We've had a lot of suggestions on the thread Toughest Ballets -- In Respect to Stamina started by fandeballet. Now we can add up the numbers.

You only get one choice here.

[carbro]

Before I vote, are we talking ballerina, premier danseur or corps? I don't want to vote for a candidate and then find out I was considering the wrong qualifications.

[Dale]

It says for the "ballerina" -- so I take that to be the lead female dancer. I voted for Raymonda but I have read dancers saying it is Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty and I was tempted to vote for either of those. My reasoning is that the ballerina in Raymonda hardly stops dancing. She's in every scene. The other variations aren't too long, so she doesn't have much of a break for a rest. In the others, while the lead ballerina's role is taxing, there's larger sections where she doesn't dance.

[carbro]

Overlooked the headline. Sorry.

At last year's Works & Process on Raymonda, Kolpakova noted that while R. had five variations, it was not a terribly fatiguing role. I take her at her word. Kitri demands a lot of exertion, and Aurora needs a sustained level of energy. Odette spends practically the whole ballet on her left leg.

I'm still not ready to vote.

[BalletNut]

I think that the whole thing about marathons vs sprints that came up on the other thread applies here too. Giselle and Raymonda are marathons, to me. And Don Q is a sprint. Bayadere is split between Nikiya and Gamzatti. That leaves Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, which I'd say are "sprintathons." I picked Swan Lake because of the fact that it's like two ballets in one, and to be a good Odette and a good Odile take very different characteristics, and the ballet requires that the ballerina do justice to both, or else it doesn't work.

[fandeballet]

By ballerina, I meant the lead female.......Odette/Odile, Nikiya, Giselle, etc.

[atm711]

I chose Giselle---because of the anxiety a ballerina must feel over the interpretation. Fireworks wont help her out of this one.

[Daniil]

Of course the Sleeping Beauty in the original soviet version!!! Look at how many variations she has just in the first act...

[cargill]

I voted for Sleeping Beauty, which is tough because the dancer must be three different types--Swan Lake only has two!

[Hans]

I voted for Giselle. It looks easier than Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, but the choreography demands more stamina.

[Pointe1432]

I'm with BalletNut, I voted for Swan Lake...

And while we're at it let's give a round of applause to the corps de ballet as well, I never truly appreciated how long they were onstage for in Act II until I did it myself. By the time that beautiful adagio starts and Odette is slowly kneeling to the floor, all I wanted to do was bribe the conductor to have the orchestra play it just alittle bit faster next time.

[l321385]

I voted for Swan Lake, because it takes a good dancer to be able to dance "good" and "evil" parts. In one, she has to be graceful swan like, the other she need to be more "bam" with the 32 fouttes.

I was torn between Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake...