Dancers Who Make You Cry (or feel very moved)

[bridiem]

My most recent tears were in Gloria danced by Northern Ballet at the ROH. The dancers were so pure, so beautiful. so true; as soon as the three leads began dancing, I was overcome. That's never happened to me before in this ballet (much as I love it) so it took me completely by surprise.

 

Leanne Benjamin and Lesley Collier in Requiem; again, the quiet, pure, contemplative beauty of the choreography and of their dancing.

 

Juliet's silent, desperate scream by Romeo's body - that's brought forth tears many a time, especially with Cojocaru or Rojo.

 

Alessandra Ferri in Woolf Works - the last act. Grave and dignified.

 

Giselle's mad scene/betrayal, especially (again) Cojocaru and Rojo. Most of Act II of Akram Khan's Giselle - the sheer power of it, and the thrilling music.

 

Penguin Café - the section with the man, the woman and the child (sorry can't remember what it's called); the essence of humanity so sweetly expressed.

 

The Christmas tree growing in the RB's Nutcracker - gets me every time.

 

Mark Morris's L'Allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato. Harmonious, joyful, positively celestial.

 

Hofesh Shechter's Political Mother - tears of sheer excitement and exhilaration.

 

And I don't think I've ever shed actual tears watching Symphonic Variations; but inwardly, they flow.

 

 

[Riva]

First time I cried at the ballet was Leanne Benjamin and Edward Watson in Romeo & Juliet. Since then I think just two more occasions where I’ve really had the tears coming thick and fast - Marianela Nuñez and Thiago Soares in Onegin, and Yuhui Choe and Alexander Campbell in The Two Pigeons. 

 

I was also very moved the last time I saw Symphonic Variations (Marianela Nuñez, Vadim Muntagirov, Yuhui Choe, James Hay, Yasmine Naghdi, Tristan Dyer) and watching Zenaida Yanowsky and Reece Clarke in After the Rain. Since then, I can’t listen to Spiegel im Spiegel without finding myself getting emotional! 

 

I was surprised to feel moved by the beautiful choreography watching William Bracewell and Anna Rose O’Sullivan rehearse Le Rossignol at the recent Ashton foundation masterclass - something about the arms was just so tender it really took my breath away.

[loveclassics]

9 hours ago, RuthE said:

 

Funny... Marianela Nunez's Tatyana in Onegin was probably the most I've ever cried at a ballet.  Her Giselle made me cry too.

I was moved by her Juliet, the first time she danced the role.  She seemed like a totally different dancer: much more fragile and vulnerable.  It was a wonderful performance.

 

Linda

[loveclassics]

2 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

Penguin Café - the section with the man, the woman and the child (sorry can't remember what it's called); the essence of humanity so sweetly expressed.

Rain Forest People

 

2 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

The Christmas tree growing in the RB's Nutcracker - gets me every time.

 

For me it's the gorgeous pdd music that follows when Clara first dances with her restored Nutcracker prince.  I know in the RB version he's not THE prince but in many other productions he is and to me that makes better dramatic sense.

 

Princes sometimes get the best music - think of the last act of Swan Lake just as the prince comes on looking for Odette to forgive him.  Best part of the entire score as far as I'm concerned and I'm not the only one.  Deborah Bull wrote in one of her books that she often thought she'd rather like to dance the Prince's role just to come on to such wonderful entrance music.

 

I do sometimes cry when listening to one of Puccini's operas.  La Boheme is favourite but oddly enough, considering the story matter, the first act of Turandot often has me groping for the tissues.

 

It's really the music, the dancing is a bonus.

 

Linda

[DrewCo]

16 hours ago, Mary said:

 

 

Not just dancers but, sheer spectacle, beauty makes me cry- Midsummer Night's Dream always. The end of Symphony in C. Anything with  a procession in it.

Not just sorrowful or touching scenes- [...

 

 

 

 

I don't much cry at the ballet and like several others I am often most moved by sheer beauty, especially in a dancer I consider very "pure" in style on the one hand or very "intense" and in-the-moment on the other.  Or both--and, in fact, the dancer who brought me closest to tears no matter what the role seemed like "both" to me: Gelsey Kirkland. I'm also very moved by choreography I find particularly compelling in its musicality. Spectacle can sometimes move me as well--and grand 'processional' dancing like the rousing polonaise at the end of Theme and Variations. In Ratmansky's Whipped Cream, the parade of fantastical creatures coming to rescue the sick boy in Act II makes me feel like an over-excited child.

 

But the one thing I keep coming back to when reading people's responses to this question is that I am always deeply moved--and have even once or twice gotten teary--when the Lilac Fairy intervenes to soften Carabosse's curse in the prologue of Sleeping Beauty and then a bit again at the end of Act I when she reappears to confirm the power of her protective spell and summon the forest. I won't say that it doesn't matter who dances the Lilac Fairy or what the production...but it almost doesn't matter. So I assume it's the music-and-mime-and-story in tandem that affect me so much. 

 

Edited December 6, 2017 by DrewCo

[cavycapers]

Everything Marianela Nunez does moves me, always making me feel the same joy she feels in her dancing.  I don't often cry at ballet, but Carlos Acosta and Tamara Rojo as R and J were definitely the exception.

[akh]

On 12/5/2017 at 11:54, RuthE said:

 

Funny... Marianela Nunez's Tatyana in Onegin was probably the most I've ever cried at a ballet.  Her Giselle made me cry too.

Marianela always moves me 

[cavycapers]

Elyse Borne mentions in this clip of Marianela and Thiago rehearsing 'Diamonds', that she can see the joy of dance in her, I paraphrase, but that is always how Marianela makes me feel.

 

Edited December 6, 2017 by cavycapers

[Sim]

So beautiful, even in rehearsal.  Marianela always personifies the joy of dance.

[penelopesimpson]

Terrific thread:

 

First time I saw Asymuratova at the beginning of my ballet journey.  She and Faroukh Ruzimatov were just so magnificent and opened up a world of beauty for me

Cojocaru and Kobborg in Mayerling took my breath away and I miss them

Edward Watson in anything, even as The White Rabbit(!) but especially Mayerling

The male pdd in Woolf Works with Watson and I think James Hay

The music in Woolf Works which I can’t play in the car because I tear up

Osipova and Watson in final Act of Mayerling when their intensity was terrifying

Christine Opolais singing Butterfly three years ago, cried buckets

Jonas Kaufmann debut as Othello.  Those first moments when he strode on stage and his voice was exactly as I’d anticipated.  I looked at my friend and then around the House which was spellbound and thought how lucky I was to be in such company.  And then when he killed Desdemona the tears came.

oh, and Rojo and Polunin in Marguerite and Armand.  Her stillness, his, unusual, vulnerability

[Melody]

Margot Fonteyn in Swan Lake. The only other Odette who's really moved me to anywhere near that extent was Zenaida Yanowsky.

 

I'd love to have seen Markova dance Giselle; I have a feeling it would have been a three-Kleenex experience.

 

 

[JohnS]

Thank you Penelope

 

I'll never forget the Domingo/Price/Kleiber Otello - the whole of Act 4 had been in tears.  Tears of joy throughout Haitink's Meistersinger, Act 3 in particular.

 

Many very special debuts - we've been so fortunate in the last couple of years seeing Francesca and Yasmine.

 

Nutcracker and Clara's recognition that she has her pendant - Francesca and Anna Rose.

 

And the closing minutes of Song of the Earth.

 

 

[ninamargaret]

I find it's usually the actual ballet rather than individual dancers that gets the tears going. Song of the Earth, end of Manon, end of Onegin, Mayerling, Two Pigeons, all do this almost regardless of who is dancing. But Fonteyn's entrance in Sleeping Beauty did it with her perfect arabesque, Ferri/Bonelli in Marguerite and Armand, Marcia Haydee as Juliet come to mind. 

[RuthE]

23 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Nutcracker and Clara's recognition that she has her pendant - Francesca and Anna Rose.

 

Talking of pendants... Zenaida Yanowsky at that moment in Winter's Tale when Paulina spots Perdita's emerald.

[Timmie]

Marianela Nunez is the one that really gets to me. I think it is because her joy of the dance is so evident (that big smile) that when she has danced a joyous scene (as in Giselle) and then a following sad scene the contrast is so intense. In the theatre both her Giselle and Odette have made me misty eyed and at home those recordings can have the same effect, with the help of a glass of wine.

And of course Yasmine Naghdi in Romeo and Juliet, and also in Sleeping Beauty.

(To be fair I mainly book to see Nunez and Naghdi so other dancers don’t get too much of a look-in anyway).

[Myddle]

Sylvie Guillem & Jonathon Cope in Romeo and Juliet

Sylvie Guillem & Jonathon Cope in Romeo and Juliet

Gloria

Yasmine Nagdi and Matthew Ball in Romeo and Juliet

Belinda Hatley in Les Noces

The Christmas tree growing scene in The Nutcracker - gets me every time!

Requiem

The conclusion of BRB's Carmina Burana

 

Edited December 7, 2017 by Myddle

[SPD444]

Alina and Johan’s last performance at RB in Mayerling, top of the list.

Alina in R&J at O2 - big close up on big screen, sitting on bed.

Alina - Giselle.

Osipova and Marianela ditto.

Lauren in Winters Tale.

Akram’s Giselle

ENB’ tribute to WW1

 

looking forward to many more watching Frankie and Yasmine ( and Alina).

 

[Sim]

Welcome to the forum, Myddle!   Please keep the posts coming.  ☺

[alison]

Don't we already have a separate thread on ballets which make you cry, or am I imagining it?

[Sim]

14 hours ago, alison said:

Don't we already have a separate thread on ballets which make you cry, or am I imagining it?

We may well do, and my original question was about dancers, not ballets.  The responses have broadened to include ballets or moments in ballets as well as dancers, and that's fine by me....I am just interested to know what/how/why dancers and ballet move so many of us in so many different ways!

[Blossom]

No crying as such but the following make me feel very emotional.

Tamara Rojo as Marguerite.

Alina Cojocaru and Natalia Osipova as Giselle- both for very different reasons. And Peter Wright’s choreography of Nutcracker grand pas de deux, the steps and the music are such a perfect fit. Although otherwise I could take or leave Nutcracker.

[zxDaveM]

 

I don't know about dancers, but the box office certainly makes me shed a tear as they empty my wallet come ticket buying time...

[bridiem]

I've just remembered Akane Takada's Giselle, which I found incredibly moving having had no real expectation at all beforehand. The purity, line, simplicity, dignity - bowled me over.

[Jillykins]

For me Margot Fonteyns final performance of Juliet. Then big contrast Edward Watson and Alina Cojacura at the opening of my first viewing of Chroma! Eyes always fill up as the orchestra plays its first notes. Magic moment.

[ninamargaret]

As a theatre of many years standing I have found in recent years that theatre moves me rather less than ballet. As an example the scene in Winters Tale where Leontes and Hermione are reconciled I find .more affecting in the  ballet than in the play, which is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. Is it my age, are actors less skilled,dancers more skilled or what? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MAB]

No comment necessary.

 

 

[Two Pigeons]

2 hours ago, MAB said:

No comment necessary.

 

 

You are so right!  I was there and I have never forgotten it.  It set me up for my lifetime of ballet going.

[penelopesimpson]

22 hours ago, SPD444 said:

Alina and Johan’s last performance at RB in Mayerling, top of the list.

Alina in R&J at O2 - big close up on big screen, sitting on bed.

Alina - Giselle.

Osipova and Marianela ditto.

Lauren in Winters Tale.

Akram’s Giselle

ENB’ tribute to WW1

 

looking forward to many more watching Frankie and Yasmine ( and Alina).

 

Oh my, I remember that night.  I was with a friend who had only ever seen one ballet before and had never been to ROH.  She went wandering while I kept a date with a glass of something in the bar, and then when she came back she kept saying the stars were leaving.  I was dismisive and then the news started to spread through the Floral Hall like wildfire.  I was beyond gutted.  They were, and remain, my favourite couple and Icouldn’t believe this was the last time I would seethemdance.

 

As you will know, the Curtain Calls went on forever and I kept expecting a management presence to acknowledge these two stars.  I am a great supporter of KOH but I still think it was shabby treatment.  Whatever bad blood there may or may not have been, KOH should have put the audience need to have their favourites recognised ahead of any other concern.  Still rankles with me.

 

[bridiem]

5 hours ago, ninamargaret said:

As a theatre of many years standing I have found in recent years that theatre moves me rather less than ballet. As an example the scene in Winters Tale where Leontes and Hermione are reconciled I find .more affecting in the  ballet than in the play, which is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. Is it my age, are actors less skilled,dancers more skilled or what? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think that the impact of movement to music (at its best) is so powerful that it caps the more cerebral effect of words.

[Guest]

Tears of sadness:

 

Eva Evdokimova as the Sylph in La Sylphide as she lost her wings and her sight 

Sarah Wildor in Ondine as she mourned the dead body of Palemon under water

Jennifer Penney and whole cast of Gloria

Sylvie Guillem and Jonathan Cope in Manon third act pdd

For the hopeless, isolated, dejected Julia in A  Wedding Bouquet (thank goodness she has her dog for comfort)

The moment when Giselle discovers Albrecht's deceit, and the end of the ballet as he is left there alone knowing he will never see her again

Svetlana Beriosova

Bryony Brind

 

Tears of happiness:

Nadia Nerina/David Blair, Lesley Collier/Michael Colemann, Roberta Marquez/Alexander Campbell, Francesca Hayward/Marcelino Sambé in La Fille Mal Gardée during the final pdd and the finalé

For whoever is performing The Two Pigeons final pas de deux, when the pigeons behave

Watching Daria Klimentova and Vadim Muntagirov dance together in Nutcracker

Many moments in Sir Fred's Cinderella

The finalé of Firebird  - its the hope in the music and the whole spectacle

Margot Fonteyn's entrances in Sleeping Beauty and her joy of dance

 

Tears of laughter:

Chenca Williams as Mrs. Dimple in Pineapple Poll (and I was crying uncontrollably!)

When the Pigeons don't behave!

 

 

 

[Sharon]

I remember being incredibly moved when I first saw L'Arlesienne with LFB, starring Mirielle Bourgeois & Peter Schaufuss. I went again to the following performance it was so amazing. It was recently on Sky Arts danced by POB - I had my tissues ready knowing how emotional I'd been last time. But somehow it just didn't move me as it had in 1985. LFB had a special magic in those years under Schaufuss. 

[Guest]

On 12/7/2017 at 08:40, penelopesimpson said:

 

First time I saw Asymuratova at the beginning of my ballet journey.  She and Faroukh Ruzimatov were just so magnificent and opened up a world of beauty for me

 

YES!

[Geoff]

7 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

I think that the impact of movement to music (at its best) is so powerful that it caps the more cerebral effect of words.

 

Yes. I can go further, with an example of ballet sometimes trumping words with music: even though the opera Eugene Onegin is one of my favourite works, the ballet Onegin has on occasion moved me more deeply.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2017 by Geoff