sybarite2015@

I'm trying to buy tickets now online at ROH website but to my dismay no castings are listed so you are having to buy

tickets blind! Is it fair to assume Zakharova will be opening the Swan Lake on Friday 29th?

I'm from Oxford Dave...(though I live abroad but am there often)

Zakharova fell 

OMG!!! Unbelievable! 

I have thought for some time that I would like to say a big personal thank you to those who started this forum/ who keep it running.

 

I discovered ballet later in life, five years ago (Oh, all those years wasted!), and during that time, went to ballets on my own;  my ex wasn't interested, although I went to football with him (prob why he's an ex ), I took my best friend once, and she slept all the way through, my sister claims she has seen too many Nutcrackers when her godchildren were young and it's put her off, and no-one else I know was interested enough to come.  Although I was perfectly happy to go to the theatre/ cinema on my own, the worst thing was having no-one to discuss it with afterwards.  and then I found the forum two years ago!

 

Now I get excited to get home from a perfromance and see what everyone else thinks!  it's made such a difference

Hi Cavycapers! Well I am in a very similar situation. I only discovered ballet in 2007 and no one from amongst my friends or family is a fellow balletomane so I go on my own but this forum is great to discuss what I've seen! If you are going to the Bolshoi shows in July/August perhaps we can go together to one or meet up at the ROH?

I've seen Naghdi mentioned a bit both here and in the UK press. How can I find which ballets she is in for the RB and whether she is performing in other companies and when?

Well I think its only fair we also have a thread about male dancers too! Btw what is the equivalent term for 'prima ballerina' for male dancers in ballet? 

Of the ones' I've seen live:

1. Ivan Vasiliev (amazing! esp. with Osipova)

2. Tsiskirade (his stage presence was awesome)

I sadly don't remember the names of others I've seen from Mariinsky/Bolshoi.

On YT or TV/cinema only:/would like to see:

1.0 Nureyev (obviously) - any one on here actually seen him live? Would you like to share anecdotes/your stories?

1.1. Baryshnikov (ditto) - ditto!

1.2 Nijinsky (ditto)

2. Halberg -- I'd love to see him live. He is still dancing right? (He looked really very beautiful in Sleeping Beauty alongside Zakharova)

3. Polunin (heard so much about him I must see him!!)

4. Carlos Acosta

5. Erik Bruhn - because of Nureyev.

There is another one from USSR  I;d love to have seen but I can't recall his name. He is the one about whom Nureyev said, "if you think I am good you should have seen him!"

Thanks cavycapers, I will! 

Since we're talking of ballerinas here can someone tell me how tall the following are as I've tried to find on Google but come across vastly different answers if any:

1. Zakharova

2. Lopatkina

3. Osipova

Thanks

Really?  It seems you are not so new as to have formed some highly subjective opinions.

The first ballet I watched was in 2010 so i am quite new compared to the esteemed folks on here methinks!

One of the joys of going to the ROH is to see everyone dressed up in their finest. Well most people! Although the rush during intervals to get some food/drink is a bit undignified and I wish they could come up with a better system. Maybe you could order stuff online and they bring it to you at your seats or at another designated area?

I'm waiting for the 12th of April when tickets open for commoners like me!

Oh I forgot to add a biography about Frederick Ashton called I think just 'Ashton'. It was the first ballet book I read!! Is it just me or do all the choreographers fall for their prima ballerinas and use their power and influence to go to bed with their dancers?! Some of the things Ashton said about his dancers was eye-watering!!

Hi.

Here's a list of books i've enjoyed you might like too

Nureyev by Kavanagh - biography of the great dancer (but what a small minded and mean person he was in real life. almost put me off...almost but not quite!)

Apollo's Angels by Jennifer Homens - fascinating history of ballet from its origins to today but a mammoth book and so still reading...

White Swan, Black Swan by Adrienne Sharp (fiction) -- award winning short stories set in the ballet world. Enjoying !

Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal by Toni Bentley- -- highly recommended. (Her follow up book called Surrender is an eye opening look at her sex life!!)

Margot Fonteyn by M. Daneman - a very detailed book about the famous English ballerina. Very long but enjoyable. 

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I am just reading a novel called 84 Ribbons, which I suspect is for young adults really, but I am loving it. I am constantly looking for ballet novels and biographies, but I have have read everything I can find on Amazon,etc,and am now struggling to find anything new.

Has anyone got a favourite that they can suggest that I might not have read?

I suspect that my standards are lower when it comes to ballet books than they are for other books!

And i think one of the reasons Ms. Zakharova is so famous and popular other than being such a brilliant dancer is she is simply a stunningly beautiful woman whose sheer beauty makes grown men go weak at the knees, makes old men wish they were young again and makes women jealous! We can't overlook that fact.

I'm sure I would have been mesmerised by Fonteyn but when I watch, for example, Lopatkina doing the Dying Swan (which hardly has any leg extensions etc. -- it's all arms and acting and delicate feet) I feel even then that there is something about her that the videos of Fonteyn I saw did not display. It might be something as simple as today's dancers being more in conformity to the ballerina physical ideal of a long neck, and small head, and endless legs etc. (sometimes called the Balanchine or Vaganova ideal I think? I'm relatively new to this great art form so I am here to learn more than anything) and Fonteyn didn't have that perfect 'look' otherwise I don't just equate being able to raise the leg past your ears as being a better dancer but even overall I just don't feel as moved by Fonteyn. Perhaps she didn't conform to the ideals of ballerina beauty. I know Nureyev adored her and so who am I to argue?! In terms of physical brilliance I don't think we can get any better to be honest. The human body has physical limits and Zakharova or Somova or Skoryk etc. have shown us where they lie. Still she is only my second favourite ballet although for me she is the perfect woman so I would  choose her over Lopatkina but I'll be the first to admit I think Lopatkina is the (slightly) better dancer in my view. She has that je ne sais quoi and so does Osipova who doesn't compare in beauty to Zakharova or many of the other Mariinsksy/Bolshoi ballerinas but she has an electric presence on stage.

Sorry if i'[m not making sense! It's hard to describe in words. Its why we fall in love with one person and not another!

Thanks for the suggestion about Mao's Last Dancer Janet.

I meant I don't want this list to include recordings of great performances! (That can be a separate tread -- of course I do love watching those!!)

Hello everyone!

I love to read books about ballet and to see ballet movies and documentaries (not recordings of ballet performances though!) . I think here we can share suggestions with each other about those books and films we like and recommend.

All the following I've seen or read and recommend highly: In no particular order:

Books:

Nureyev by Kavanagh

Apollo's Angels by Jennifer Homens

White Swan, Black Swan by Adrienne Sharp (fiction)

Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal by Toni Bentley

Margot Fonteyn by M. Daneman

Does anyone know of any good novels set in the world of ballet or about ballet dancers? Nothing beats a novel for putting you in the mind of a real ballerina/ballet dancer!

Documentaries:

Ballerina*   - follows 5 of the greatest ballerinas of Bolshoi/Mariinsky early in their careers

La Danse - Paris Opera Ballet

A Beautiful Tragedy*  - 

Bolshoi Babylon

Svetlana Zakharova - La Tsarine de la Danse*

A Ballerina's Tale

Ballet 422

L'ame de la Danse - Lopatkina*

Nureyev: Dancing Through Darkness*

From Russia with Love: Nureyev BBC*

* = available on Youtube at time of posting

Films/TV 

The Red Shoes (famous but now a bit dated.)

Black Swan

Company (Altman)

Flesh and Bone (US mini-series) trailer: 

Any others?

Thanks

Were any of you lucky enough to see Nureyev live during his pomp? What was it like?

From your list of favourite dancers you appear to have a strong preference for gymnasts over dancers.  It doesn't surprise me that the qualities of Margot Fonteyn go completely over your head.

But I have Lopatkina as my favourite and she isn't a 'gymnast' -- I don't understand why it is used as a pejorative. Snobbery me thinks. Look, all sports and art forms have developed and athletes and dancers have improved with modern dietary regimes, training regimens, scientific knowledge of the body has improved. Just as Usain Bolt is better and faster than any previous male sprinter the same can, generally, be said about all arts and sports where the body is used including ballet. Sure there have been geniuses who are the exception -- Ali in boxing, Nureyev and Baryshnikov in ballet, Plisetskaya and Guilleme (imo) but the general trend is like that. Don't you agree? I'm not suggesting Margot wasn't a great ballerina -- what I'm saying is she was in no way technically comparable to today's ballerinas. 

I'm thinking of visiting in July if I can...

Are 'superseats' the ones with a smoked salmon sandwich and glass of champagne included during the interval?

Grand Tier Left,

Sadly not! If I could be young again I'd want to be a ballet dancer instead of my current profession!

Oh! I don't live in the UK actually so I didn't know about Cojacuro still active. I saw some doc where she was leaving the ROH and so i assumed she was retired.

--

BTW i have to heretical here and say that I've seen a lot of Fonteyn videos on YT and she really doesn't compare to the current bunch of ballerinas technically. Her arabesques for example....

I understand most film of her available is when she was in her 40s+ but still. I've seen Maya Plisetskaya dance at 60 on YT and she was still amazing. Just saying!

--

Quintus, three times I've bought tickets - stall tickets in first 3 rows at over £100+ a pop to see Zakharova only for her to be replaced at the last minute!! 2 times in the ROH and once in Munich!! I'm planning on booking all her shows this summer when the Bolshoi visit and I'll thankfully be in England then! Let's hope she doesn't cancel again!!!

Hi again!

I thought it would be nice to list your favourite ballerinas (especially those whom you have seen perform live).

So let me begin:

Of those whom I've seen live:

1. Lopatkina

2. Osipova

3. Somova

4. Semionova

5. Obraztsova

6. Skoryk

Those who I am desperate to see but haven't seen live on stage yet:

1. Zakharova (btw, someone on another thread mentioned her political connections which make her 'untouchable' -- can anyone explain this to me?)

2. Diana Vishneva

Those whom I wish I had seen  when i was able (i.e. they performed in my adult lifetime although I was not into ballet at the time)

1. Agnes Letestu

2. Cojacuru

Those whom I wish I was old enough to have seen in their peak!

1 Maya Plisetskaya

2 Sylvie Guilleme

3 Altynai Asylmuratova