Yuri Grigorovich era and nowadays Bolshoi

[bolshoi lover]

Lavrovsky and Timofeyeva in La Bayadere

The movements they did on 9:06-9:08 and 9:36-9:56 really amaze me. And I have also watched some videos recorded in 1970-1980s. Many dancers are ferocious. But nowadays I have not yet seen a dancer spins like Lavrovsky.

When I watched the Swan Lake DVD(Alla Mikhalchenko), I didn't find it much like current Bolshoi's Swan Lake. The atmosphere, the movements...they're so different. Why?

Today even some dancers have very astonishing skills, their temperaments are still different from those old Bolshoi dancers.

[diane]

Thank you for posting this!

I wonder, what do you think are reasons for the differences now and then? Could it be that part of it is that audiences expect different things, too.

Also, I do wonder sometimes about the speed of older films; is this an accurate rendition of what it was then?

I do not know.

In Germany in the later 1980s I got to see the Bolshoi, but not Bayadere. (spartacus, it was) It did not appear to be quite as fast as this shows, but quite impressive nonetheless.

-d-

[Mashinka]

Also, I do wonder sometimes about the speed of older films; is this an accurate rendition of what it was then?

I do not know.

I imagine it is accurate, I've seen dancers move so fast they created a blur. Fastest moving dancers in the past twenty years would probably be Nina Ananiashvili and Nikolai Tsiskaridze: inerestingly, both Georgians.

Loved the clip, not one I had seen before, Lavrovsky was stunning but doesn't seem to be remembered much now. He still dances character roles and I saw him on stage only last year. Timofeyeva was never very popular with the UK critics I seem to remember, though I always rather liked her but she did have a rather short neck and high shoulders that make her line less than perfect.

In general there was a more uninhibited quality among the Grigorovich era dancers whereas today's bunch are a little more refined.

[Mel Johnson]

Shoulda seen 'em when Messerer was in charge. "Over the top" didn't quite explain it. "They're comin' in the windows" had to be added. It was attack, attack!, and ATTACK!!! I always liked Timofeyeva.

[sandik]

Messerer himself was such a fireball, how could they not respond?

[bart]

I must be aesthetically out of sync with this video, but -- are we sure that the film-maker did not speed up some of those turns, hops, etc., in the coda? Speeding up has been a common device in film (comedies mostly, believe) since the 1910s at least.

My suspicions begin at around 9:00 into the video. Timofeyeva's speed at that point is improbable. I found myself chuckling involuntarily at her backward hops. Lavrovsky's speed in his turns is more plausible, given his forceful use of arms. After all that hyper-speed, the end of the coda, with the abrupt and arbitrary shift to very grand, slow tempo, is jarring,

The film has been edited to eliminate the pauses that would be unavoidable on stage. What we see is an almost seamless succession of bravura passages, accentuating the impression of undiluted speed.

It's certainly fun to watch.

[canbelto]

An interesting comparison video:

A couple of things I notice: the relatively unsentimental treatment of this pas de deux by both pairs. Maybe the film is sped up a bit but I think the style back then was make the duets of Bayadere fairly impersonal and abstract. It's sort of like the Swan Lake pdd is now taken at a glacial pace by most ballerinas, whereas it used to be taken at a fairly brisk clip.

[bolshoi lover]

In general there was a more uninhibited quality among the Grigorovich era dancers whereas today's bunch are a little more refined.

Thank you all!

Though the film might be sped up a little, but it seems to me that there are still some differences between past and now.

When I first watched V.Malakhov on DVD(Variety and Virtuosity: American Ballet Theatre Now), I thought his style was very much like the dancers I saw on Alla Mikhalchenko's Swan Lake DVD, and then I found he graduated from the school of the Bolshoi Ballet.

Another time I guessed Valentina Kozlova was graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet School when I watched her La Fille Mal Gardée.

When I watched Maria Kochetkova on DVD or Youtube, I didn't find that she really looked like graduating from the Bolshoi Ballet School.

I also feel that P.Semionova has softer lines. She is not that athletic or muscular in my opinion.