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Hi. I gathered all the tiny snippets that can be found on Youtube on the very neglected grand dame of Ballet Alicia Markova, being encouraged after revisiting her "Giselle and I" and "Markova remembers". Proper justice to her importance in the history and development of British Ballet is long due.

In Fedorova's staging of "The Nutcracker" with Youskevitch-(Alexandra Danilova also appearing)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd4qggX0xNk&feature=related

In Dolin's "Pas de Quatre" with Danilova, Slavenska and Krassovska.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5xzQ57VRqI&feature=related

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Thank you Cristian for posting these fragments.

I have seen several of them before and I am grateful to have seen them again.

There is something quite unique in Markova's dancing some of this appears to arise from her strength en pointe.

Sadly the filming is fairly crude and in Giselle the stage is very small.

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How did you insert the videos?

Innopac...I posted the link just as I've always done it, and apparently this new format does the work for you on inserting the little Youtube window-(well done, Helene!, BTW :clapping: )

Leonid....in my recent visit to NYC, when I spent those four hours at the NYPL dance collection searching for Alonso, many of her videos also carried many fragments of Markova. I was very impressed on seeing how much of her Alonso took to build up her own dancing style, particularly the carriage of her upper body..that emphasis on the perfect vertical line, accentuating the "lithograph effect" on given poses. Many of the snippets I posted are fragments of those longer clips. Like the Dying Swan. which they have it complete at the library. I was also very interested in watching fragments of the Fedorova-(Ivanov)-fragments of the Sugar Plum Fairy PDD, and they are just identical as the current staging of CNB-(it's a shame there's nothing longer on Youtube).

A little :off topic: , but I would love to know when and how this staging was taken out of the ABT repertoire-(did Lupe Serrano danced it during the 60's...?)...basically what happened to that version between then and the Baryshnikov staging. (Maybe I should ask this question in another forum...?)

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How did you insert the videos?

Innopac...I posted the link just as I've always done it, and apparently this new format does the work for you on inserting the little Youtube window-(well done, Helene!, BTW :clapping: )

Leonid....in my recent visit to NYC, when I spent those four hours at the NYPL dance collection searching for Alonso, many of her videos also carried many fragments of Markova. I was very impressed on seeing how much of her Alonso took to build up her own dancing style, particularly the carriage of her upper body..that emphasis on the perfect vertical line, accentuating the "lithograph effect" on given poses. Many of the snippets I posted are fragments of those longer clips. Like the Dying Swan. which they have it complete at the library. I was also very interested in watching fragments of the Fedorova-(Ivanov)-fragments of the Sugar Plum Fairy PDD, and they are just identical as the current staging of CNB-(it's a shame there's nothing longer on Youtube).

A little :off topic: , but I would love to know when and how this staging was taken out of the ABT repertoire-(did Lupe Serrano danced it during the 60's...?)...basically what happened to that version between then and the Baryshnikov staging. (Maybe I should ask this question in another forum...?)

You are right to comment on the echoing similarities that occur in the films of Markova and Alonso espcially in the port de bras. The pull-up exhibited in the Giselle films registers quite clearly and in Markovas case takes on a new meaning, with the vertical especially registering, due the narrowness of her frame.

To me, Markovas poise appears to have a truly unique quality.

Link to comment

How did you insert the videos?

Innopac...I posted the link just as I've always done it, and apparently this new format does the work for you on inserting the little Youtube window-(well done, Helene!, BTW :clapping: )

Leonid....in my recent visit to NYC, when I spent those four hours at the NYPL dance collection searching for Alonso, many of her videos also carried many fragments of Markova. I was very impressed on seeing how much of her Alonso took to build up her own dancing style, particularly the carriage of her upper body..that emphasis on the perfect vertical line, accentuating the "lithograph effect" on given poses. Many of the snippets I posted are fragments of those longer clips. Like the Dying Swan. which they have it complete at the library. I was also very interested in watching fragments of the Fedorova-(Ivanov)-fragments of the Sugar Plum Fairy PDD, and they are just identical as the current staging of CNB-(it's a shame there's nothing longer on Youtube).

A little :off topic: , but I would love to know when and how this staging was taken out of the ABT repertoire-(did Lupe Serrano danced it during the 60's...?)...basically what happened to that version between then and the Baryshnikov staging. (Maybe I should ask this question in another forum...?)

You are right to comment on the echoing similarities that occur in the films of Markova and Alonso especially in the port de bras. The pull-up exhibited in the Giselle films registers quite clearly and in Markovas case takes on a new meaning, with the vertical especially registering, due the narrowness of her frame.

To me, Markovas poise appears to have a truly unique quality.

Definitely, Leonid. I've always noticed the passion and respect that Alonso always radiates when talking about Markova, even admitting that at the time of her own first performances of Giselle she knows that she was merely copying her idol. She has always been very owed of some other dancers' influence on her career, like Nora Kaye, but she certainly places Markova at the very top of her list.

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