Toumanova's "Giselle"

[cubanmiamiboy]

Oh...and I also wanted to share the experience of watching some clips of Toumanova, specifically those of Giselle. Wow...what a beautiful ballerina!...but still, she looked too much sophisticated to convince me as being just a peasant girl...she looked more like a princess playing dress-up

Still...marvelous to watch.

[atm711]

Christian. I am assuming you saw the clips while you were in NY---and not on line. It's something I have been meaning to do, but never get around to. Toumanova was certainly a real beauty---if not the perfect Giselle type. She was my first Giselle and at the time I had no idea of the ballet or its style. It was the first time I heard the score; recordings of Giselle were very rare and when one was found there were only a very few excerpts. What I found strange at the time is that I could hum along with a score I had never heard. Anton Dolin was her Albrecht and I wonder if he is who you saw on the clip. It didn't take me too long to find out what Giselle was all about--my next two Giselles were the two Alicias--Markova and Alonso.

[cubanmiamiboy]

I KNEW I was gonna "get" you here, atm711! . I'm always marveled and, I must confess, a little jealous at all you got to see back then. Yes...you're right...I saw the clips while in NYC...I spent around 4 hours watching a total of 6 entries-(in between VHS and reels).

Toumanova's partner in the video was George Skibine.

http://catalog.nypl.org/iii/encore/record/...amp;suite=pearl

Tell me more about her, pleeeeeeease...!!

[atm711]

George Skibine---wonderful to have it on film---I never saw his Albrecht. However, I did see him as Hilarion to Dolin's Albrecht and when it came time for Giselle to refute Hilarion in favor of Albrecht---there was much audible snickering in the audience. At the time, the only Hilarion NYC saw was Dmitri Romanoff who came across as Judd Fry. Skibine was at the beginning of a long line of a more sympathetic Hilarion.