Gelsey Kirkland--'80s

[Mme. Hermine]

I just watched the PDD with Dowell and while there were some beautiful moments, on the whole I did not find it as appealing as others I have seen. I strongly preferred Dowell's performance to Kirkland's. Her's seemed a combination of spastic and affected. I did not think of a young and naive girl making a leap of faith. Rather, I just saw a very affected ballerina.

You're allowed your opinion.

I saw a passionate girl with wild feeling in her and a fairly dry and unmoving performance from him. So you never know.

[bart]

besides A.Dowell the partner/danseur who seemed most welcome in Kirkland's time by ballerinas, including i believe, GK herself, was often Ivan Nagy.

Ivan Nagy! This is a dancer who isn't referred to much on Ballet Talk -- but ought to be.

Nagy and Kirlkand danced more in the 70s, didn't they? I remember more his partnership with Makarova.

[Drew]

Bart, in my opinion, Kirkland's inconsistencies had much more to do with her health -- specifically her eating disorder -- and later in her dancing career her drug problems than who was partnering her per se.

I saw her dance with a number of partners: in addition to Dowell and Baryshnikov, Jonas Cage (in Leaves are Fading), Patrick Bissell (in Tiller in the Fields), Richard Cragun, Peter Schaufuss (both in Nutcracker), Charles Ward, Johan Renvall (Great Galloping Gottschalk) and even (unless my memory hugely betrays me) Ted Kivitt in a Corsaire pas de deux when she first danced with ABT at City Center. Some of those pairings worked better than others, but I have some great memories from all of those performances. (Clive Barnes raved about a full length ABT Raymonda with Kirkland and Nureyev that I did not see...they danced it in New York and were scheduled for D.C.; I had tickets for the latter, but D'Antuono danced in Kirkland's place.)

I do think that in those early seasons with ABT Kirkland responded with a special energy to Baryshnikov and there was a certain classical purity to their dancing together that was very appealing.

[tutu]

Thanks to all commenting! There's so much information about Kirkland's personal demons, and relatively little about her performances. It's wonderful to be able to read all of your reminiscences.

(Please keep 'em coming!)

[Brioche]

I saw her dance the Shades act from Bayadere in San Francisco, very late 70's with Bujones. Really fabulous!

[leonid17]

besides A.Dowell the partner/danseur who seemed most welcome in Kirkland's time by ballerinas, including i believe, GK herself, was often Ivan Nagy.

Ivan Nagy! This is a dancer who isn't referred to much on Ballet Talk -- but ought to be.

Nagy and Kirlkand danced more in the 70s, didn't they? I remember more his partnership with Makarova.

Also with Fonteyn. I remember him as a handsome elegant prince with noble bearing and an excellent (and thankfully not flashy) technique as well.

[nijinsky1979]

I saw her Sleeping Beauty at Covent Garden, and I know I've written about it before. I don't recall a single review that wasn't a superlative, and she really deserved them all. I only ever saw her twice, and the first had been a particularly terrible Giselle at the Met, so that exquisite Aurora was very very impressive.

Do you mean that the production of Giselle as a whole was particularly horrible, or that Kirkland's performance was particularly horrible?

[Mme. Hermine]

The production was fine, she was terrible. I was acquainted with the girl who was dancing Myrtha so I stayed out of respect to her, but I would have left otherwise.

[leonid17]

The production was fine, she was terrible. I was acquainted with the girl who was dancing Myrtha so I stayed out of respect to her, but I would have left otherwise.

I am sorry that you had that experience and I believe what you say is true.

Miss Kirkland was a dancer that divided opinion and in my time, to keep with the era of this thread, there have been a number of leading female dancers some of whom had famous careers in America and elsewhere, that were definitely NIFM for many seriously knowledgeable and fair minded balletomanes.

[Mme. Hermine]

The production was fine, she was terrible. I was acquainted with the girl who was dancing Myrtha so I stayed out of respect to her, but I would have left otherwise.

I am sorry that you had that experience and I believe what you say is true.

Miss Kirkland was a dancer that divided opinion and in my time, to keep with the era of this thread, there have been a number of leading female dancers some of whom had famous careers in America and elsewhere, that were definitely NIFM for many seriously knowledgeable and fair minded balletomanes.

I appreciate that, Leonid. I didn't want her to be bad, she just was, out of control, off music, everything else.

But it was incredible not a couple of years later to see her dance so beautifully at Covent Garden, that performance was thrilling.

[vipa]

Miss Kirkland was a dancer that divided opinion and in my time, to keep with the era of this thread, there have been a number of leading female dancers some of whom had famous careers in America and elsewhere, that were definitely NIFM for many seriously knowledgeable and fair minded balletomanes.

It was complicated because when she was good she was very, very good and when she was bad she was horrid. Some dancers one likes or dislikes, some dancers one likes in certain roles but with Kirkland, she could amaze and bring a role to new heights or make you want to leave the theater in despair.