Alexander Godunov, unique and unforgettable

[lmspear]

4 hours ago, Meliss said:

The context was as follows: "A singer will always become more famous than a dancer because of record sales". It can't be true, because any singer can't be more famous than any dancer.

Because of record (recorded music) sales every singer (with a record) would be more famous than every dancer.

Edited July 12 by lmspear

[lmspear]

4 hours ago, Meliss said:

Oh no, it's too sad.

Sometimes you have to do the math to prove your point.

[Meliss]

2 hours ago, lmspear said:

Because of record (recorded music) sales every singer (with a record) would be more famous than every dancer.

We didn't talk about every singer and every dancer)).

[Helene]

The context was Winehouse’s popularity and name recognition vs. Godunov’s, if you follow the conversation.  The number of people who have seen a Godunov performance, video of his dancing, or documentary is dwarfed by the number of people who have paid for a single Winehouse album, let alone have been exposed to her through advertising, mainstream and social media, the Grammy awards, streaming algorithms, background music in restaurants, etc. or have paid for a different album.

Winehouse’s Back to Black video on YouTube alone has 1.13 billion views.  One video.

 

[lmspear]

A late entry, Patrick Swayze

From the Biography.com website, https://www.biography.com/actors/patrick-swayze

     In 1972, Swayze traveled to New York City to pursue a dance career. He began training with the Harkness and Joffrey Ballet companies, and was soon hired as a principal dancer with the Eliot Feld Ballet Company. However, his success was cut short when an old football injury required that he undergo knee surgery. The operation, coupled with the infection that followed, caused Swayze to leave the prestigious Feld Company.

So Swaye had a good start at a legitimate career in the ballet world, but if he hadn't been sidelined into Hollywood this would have never been possible:

[On Pointe]

In terms of relative fame,  there is also the effect of time.  Godunov died many years ago.  Winehouse died recently, and despite her prominence as a singer,  I was scarcely aware of her as a musician.  To me,  she was famous as the latest member of the "27 Club",  music stars who died at the age of twenty-seven - Jimi Hendrix,  Kurt Cobain,  Janis Joplin and others.    As hard as it may be to believe,  given the world-wide hysteria,  there are millions upon millions of people who never listen to Taylor Swift.  Fandom is "siloed",  not universal.  

Ballet is a niche interest,  not that there's anything wrong with that!  We've devoted many pages to discussing a dancer most of the world knows nothing about.  Ballet dancers are far more prominent in Russian popular culture than they are in western countries.  There is little interest here in interrogating the non-mysterious death of Godunov,  as sad as it was.

[Helene]

I've been reading a popular fiction book that is one of Amazon First Reads, free to Amazon Prime members, called "Friends with Secrets", which has a number of real-life cultural references along with the ubiquitous "Who is your favorite Jane Austen male character" meme.  Just this morning, I read this:

Quote

Her reaction reminded Nikki of the obsessive crush she'd on Mikhail Baryshnikov at [her niece's] age.  Although she had never met, or spoken to, the famous Soviet-born ballet dancer, she'd known in her heart that his age presented the real obstacle to their love.

This would place the timeline right at the end of Baryshnikov's ballet career, which was a decade before he appeared on Sex and the City.

Re: Godunov's health and death, the first ICD was published in 1994 the year before Godunov's death.  ICD-10 was published in 2018 (and has since been replaced with ICD-11).  2018 was just a few years after alcohol medicine as a sub-specialty was first recognized in the US, after the first accredited residencies occurred five years before that.  Diagnoses change over time: it wasn't until 2013, with DSM-5, that homosexuality, explicitly or lightly veiled, ceased to be a disease.  That makes the chances that the ICD-10 language on alcohol diagnostics was present and generally accepted in 1994 very, very slim. 

Since where there is privilege and a robust medical system, a primary care physician would have medical history, their own observations, physical examination results, in-office test results, lab results, diagnostic tools, results of consultation with specialists they referred the patient to, and, possibly journal articles and reports of the latest research, conference presentations, professional discussions with experts, etc. over time.  If the physician is also a friend of the patient, they would have access to observe their patient in social settings.  that is a lot more information than public would ever be privy to without it being released by the person's executor or spokesperson, as it should be, by US confidentiality standards. 

By 1995, the Soviet Union had been dissolved for a few years.  If Godunov had been unhappy about his medical care in LA, there's no reason he wouldn't have been able to go anywhere in the world for treatment, aside from the handful of countries where US citizens were forbidden to go without express permission.  Plus communication with his family would not have been blocked, if both parties wanted it.

 

 

[Meliss]

2 hours ago, Helene said:

If Godunov had been unhappy about his medical care in LA, there's no reason he wouldn't have been able to go anywhere in the world for treatment,

Yes. It follows that he was pleased. And if (if only!) he had been diagnosed with alcoholism then, he would have, of course, immediately begun treatment.

2 hours ago, Helene said:

Plus communication with his family would not have been blocked, if both parties wanted it.

When was it blocked?

[Helene]

I haven't seen anywhere in official news that family communication was blocked.  There weren't political reasons for those obstacles, like there had been under Soviet times.

[On Pointe]

6 hours ago, Meliss said:

And if (if only!) he had been diagnosed with alcoholism then, he would have, of course, immediately begun treatment.

Not necessarily.  Alcoholics are alcoholics because they like drinking.  That's why it's so difficult to treat,  as with other addictive diseases.  Unfortunately there are no "do overs" when heavy drinking reaches the chronic stage.

[Meliss]

8 hours ago, Helene said:

I haven't seen anywhere in official news that family communication was blocked.  There weren't political reasons for those obstacles, like there had been under Soviet times.

Neither have I. Alexander often wrote letters to his relatives and sometimes phoned them. He also send parcels but they were not received by his brother's words.

[Drew]

I posted this video from youtube last night thinking I was on this thread about Godunov as a dancer, but gummed it up and put it under "News!"  and then deleted when I realized what I had done.  It seems to me that when discussing how little video of Godunov there is, this particular video comparing 10 Basilio variations was not mentioned. I am a bit dubious of these comparison videos partly because I am always dubious about video (though I watch it) and partly because the where/when circumstances of the taping are not comparable -- the Godunov variation looks to me as if it were done for television, so probably not on the best stage for ballet.

But characteristics of his dancing that have been discussed here recently (also under the "aesthetics" discussion), especially as compared with other male dancers both of his era and our own, are on show here. He is not the cleanest in showing classical form and not the most flexible--so certain elements are not articulated as they are with many of the other Basilios--but he is fast and he is fierce and he is really dancing. Almost like a character dancer. The flying hair is not my thing, but it does strike a memory chord of a certain kind of Bolshoi dancing one doesn't see much anymore. The Godunov variation starts at about 5:27:

 

 

[Mashinka]

He's fast, but Lavrovsky is even faster.

[Meliss]

Yoko Ichino is splashing Johan Renwall. That tour was clearly not boring for all of them. It's the summer of 1982.