Dying Swan rankings

[artist]

no one said their favorite was Les Ballet Trockadero !!! Come on, now....

Maya Thickenthighya's heart-wrenching 'Dying Swan' even received roses thrown on the stage at the end. :blush: Must have been that good; when's the last time you've seen flowers at the end of a performance...

creativity was key to keep this quality alive..

[artist]

Also :blush: for Pavlova. T'was superb as her heart was calling and crying giving chills to me. such slender legs she had for her day. I don't know who I like better, Karalli or Pavlova. Karalli was just so gentle throughout w/ beautiful round arms and a lovely curvature in her head positions/inclinations. Pavlova was dramatic and really allowed a transformation to occur...

This is what we've 'moved forward' from. IMO, the only thing that improved was the turnout.

[artist]

4) Makarova. Not as impactful as I expected. With her usual virtues and within her emploi, but a bit fetishized.

I actually liked hers, esp. w/ bending at the wrists. In the beginning she started off with some 'rippling motion' and thought I wouldn't care for it, but I could see her develop into a swan w/ the positions, poses w/ nice bent over body and head and arms, and good bouree. Of course those legs of hers - gorgeous. I really thought that she enabled her arms to become like a separate entity, like wings wanting to go one way and the body desparately pulling back in agony.

[canbelto]

Watching Anna Pavlova's Dying Swan is truly spooky. Even by today's standards she's thin, but moreover, her limbs have that super-tapered look that make her seem ethereal, even ghostly. Especially her arms, with those thin wrists that make her hands seem as if they would dissolve in air. Her big floppy flat tutu, that looks so different from the more "modest" tutus of her time, was obviously designed to show off her legs, which could give Uliana Lopatkina a run for her money. Her face, like Plisetskaya's, has those sharp features that are more soulful and haunting than conventionally beautiful. The patriotic would call it a "Russian" soul.

But most of all, I watch it and I see the greatness of the Mariinsky tradition. Because her port-te-bras, so elegant and delicate, is still there in Kirov ballerinas and corps de ballet, over a century later. I saw it myself when I saw the Kirov in Swan Lake. Her back, so pliant as to seem completely boneless, is still a part of the Russian tradition. Her bourree is, as one critic said, "like pearls."

Critics might still sniffle at the piece. Even in her time, the more avant-garde (like Karsavina, Fokine, and Diaghilev) thought Anna Pavlova was old-fashioned. But it seems as if 100 years later, ballerinas all over the world are still trying to look and dance like Anna Pavlova. Every time I see a Giselle, Bayadere, or Dying Swan, I can picture the haunting effect she first had on the audiences.

It's available on YouTube. Search for "anna pavlova dying swan."

[Paul Parish]

Sorry everybody, but I LOVE Ananiashvili's Swan. I do happen to like the details, but if I didn't, I think I would still be impressed y her conviction and hte relentles logic of her interpretation.

THe key to it all for me is hte hands -- it's like they're trying to extend and extend and hold onto the air -- even in the bow -- the clip's on yourube -- there's a moment where the fingers wilt. i find it singularly compelling.

[glebb]

My first 'Dying Swan' was Lydia Diaz-Cruz in Miami.

There was a yearly event at Dade County Auditorium called "Ballet Spectacular" - an evening of pas de deux and solos featuring guest artists. (Margot Fonteyn did the Balcony Pas de Deux from Romeo and Juliet one year)

Lydia Diaz-Cruz very much resembled Marcia Haydee but she was extremely thin. Her port de bras was so beautiful she always brought the house down and an encore was demanded every time. I know Lydia danced with National Ballet of Washington but I don't know much more about her.

I recall the Gelsey television version and will never forget the rehearsal clip where the camera caught Liza Minnelli breathing a huge sigh at Gelsey's completion of the solo.

But I always think of Ms Diaz-Cruz when I hear the words dying swan.