Favourite ballerinas

[Jan McNulty]

I don't really tend to have "favourite" dancers of either gender, more dancers I like in particular roles - although obviously there are some dancers I like (a lot?) better than others.  I mean, I very much like Tamara Rojo, but despite that I still wasn't prepared to go and see her in Sleeping Beauty again.  So, certain dancers for MacMillan, certain dancers for Ashton, certain dancers for the classics, and so on, and even sub-selections within those classifications .

 

 

That's a good point Alison.  Some dancers, like Trinidad Sevillano, Desire Samaii, Altynai Asylmuratova, Martha Leebolt and (now also) Francesca Hayward for me walk on stage, breathe and I am lost!  Of the other favourite dancers I listed they have all seared performances onto my mind even if I have not seen much of them.  I agree that some dancers are better in some styles than others but those dancers I listed on my initial post have all had that certain something that has made them special to me (although I may prefer other dancers in certain roles).

[sybarite2015@]

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. 

[sybarite2015@]

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

[Anna C]

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.

 

But technicality is only a part of ballet watching. Extreme hyperextension is not everything; I value musicality, artistry, grace and acting above 6 o'clock penchées. When I watch recordings of Fonteyn, I find myself watching her face more than anything else. It's not snobbery, it's a love of the ballet as a whole; the acting, the storytelling, the sublime music - as well as lovely lines. It's all a part of the whole experience.

[Jan McNulty]

But artistry is not just about technique.  I have seen technical brilliance that has left me stone cold and in one performance left me on the verge of leaving at the interval (actually it was a male not female dancer).

 

David Nixon, AD of Northern Ballet, made a comment to the dancers in class one Saturday morning when we were watching along the lines of "just because you can through your leg up behind your ear does not mean to say that is how you should do it if it is not called for by the choreography".

 

I never saw Margot Fonteyn dance live but I have seen some stuff on TV over the years and boy, even on the small screen, she had that indefinable something that makes a great artist in spades.

 

BTW, introducing a discussion about Nureyev on a topic about favourite ballerinas is taking it too far off topic!

[Anna C]

Jan, you and I were posting simultaneously again. :-)

[now voyager]

I agree wholeheartedly with the comments above about artistry. As for Fonteyn's technique, no, she did not raise her leg to her ear (thankfully), but I believe it was Tereshkina (no slouch by today's technical standards) who said, after dancing Ashton's Sylvia (a role created on Fonteyn), that it was the hardest thing she had ever danced.

[MAB]

I agree wholeheartedly with the comments above about artistry. As for Fonteyn's technique, no, she did not raise her leg to her ear (thankfully), but I believe it was Tereshkina (no slouch by today's technical standards) who said, after dancing Ashton's Sylvia (a role created on Fonteyn), that it was the hardest thing she had ever danced.

 

None of the dancers of that generation did that outside of the classroom, it's a good stretching exercise but is ugliness writ large and shouldn't be inflicted on an audience.

 

In my opinion Tereshkina, together with Maria Alexandrova, has the most impressive all-round technique of today, actually I'd give a lot to see her dance Sylvia. 

[Two Pigeons]

I was very lucky to see Tereshkina as Kitri. I can still remember my jaw dropping when I saw her do the pas de deux in the third act. She was just astonishing.

[Melody]

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. 

 

None of the older ballerinas are technically comparable to today's ballerinas. However, ballet is more than pure technique. One thing I know I've quoted before is this comment by a RBS teacher about the difference between her generation of dancers and the current crop. ""They're so lovely," [Anita] Young sighs after the class. "And their legs go far higher than ours ever did. All this, though…" And here she strikes an attitude, the position pliant and alive, her arms framing her face with subtle épaulement. "All this is gone."" From this article by Luke Jennings.

 

The thing about Margot Fonteyn, and maybe you had to see her live in order to appreciate it, was her sheer radiance onstage. She lived the roles she was dancing, she didn't just act them. And she certainly didn't put the dance, the music, and the characterization second to sheer displays of technique, which some dancers were doing in her day even though the technique wasn't as advanced or as exaggerated as it is now.

 

If you're watching ballet mostly to see how high a dancer can do an arabesque, or how long she can hold a balance, or how many double and triple pirouettes she can manage in a piece of choreography that only called for singles, then of course dancers like Fonteyn will bore you rigid. For those of us who see more to ballet than technique, she's still one of the standard-setters. The same is also true of Galina Ulanova, who made a memorable Juliet when she was well into her 40s.

 

Personally I much prefer Fonteyn's line in an arabesque to someone who's trying to hit the ceiling with her foot. Maybe that's just a matter of familiarity since that's the style I grew up with. But in ballet, as in many other art forms, less is very often more.

Edited March 29, 2016 by Melody

[Two Pigeons]

I dare say that if anyone us had the chance to see Pavlova we would be aghast. However, it should be remembered that she so inspired Ashton he put his memory of her into practically every ballet he ever wrote.

 

It is worth thinking that in 20 years time there will be posters saying that today's great technicians are inferior to what will be around then. This should not detract from our enjoyment of what we can see now and our cherished memories of what we have seen.

[LinMM]

I have a feeling that in Fonteyns time more emphasis was given to the upper body and face generally than today where more emphasis seems to be on the lower part of the body with fabulous or ugly leg extensions ....depending on who is performing them...being much more important.

 

For me personally I do love to see beauty of form and some dancers whose bodies can take it more naturally can be very beautiful in these modern extensions but these extensions and to some extent gymnastics should never be at the expense of dance flow and expression or interpretation and expression of music and/or character.

Fonteyn excelled in all the latter. She completely drew you in when playing a character and had a wonderful flow with the music which was very satisfying and soul feeding to watch. She also had a great stage presence which was enhanced once she started dancing with Nureyev.......can't talk about him on this thread but can't resist adding he is still one of my all time favourite dancers as is Fonteyn of course.

From the past I also liked Sibley a lot. Lynn Seymour in any role with a strong character content ( have a wonderful memory of her in Anastasia) Lesley Collier ......a very speedy dancer.....and I did like Makarova....though she could be a bit naughty with the timing sometimes but wonderful in Giselle.

 

I also liked Alessandra Ferri when she was around but didn't see her in enough to say she would be an all time favourite.

 

And Syvie Guillem in more modern roles though liked her in Cinderella but she didn't have great beauty of line which is important to,me.

 

I love seeing the Russians when they come over but don't have a favourite really though would like to see Lopatkina in something other than Swan Lake.

Currently I really couldn't say. I love Osipova in the things I've seen her do so far and Cojocaru of course and there are some great young dancers coming up in both Royal and ENB the two companies I see most of so,exciting times ahead!

 

I greatly admire Rojo for what she has achieved with ENB but she didn't touch me that much as a dancer for whatever reason.

 

In fact it's terribly difficult to do this as I know as soon as I've posted I'm going to think of someone important I've completely forgotten in this moment ( senior thing)

Sometimes it's only when you've seen a dancer in a range of roles and then they stop that you realise you miss them!

[MAB]

How is technique better today when they are incapable of performing petite batterie?   The Danes as ever are the exception along with some of the French.

[sybarite2015@]

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!

Edited March 29, 2016 by sybarite2015@

[sybarite2015@]

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.

[Rachelm]

Favourite dancers I have seen live:

 

Alina Cojocaru

Marianela Nunez

Darcey Bussell

Tamara Rojo

Sarah Lamb

Irina Kolesnikova

Jayne Regan

 

Ballerinas I've admired on film:

 

Agnes Letestu

Sylvie Guillem

Viviana Durante

Evelyn Hart

Evgenia Obratzova

[MAB]

 I'm relatively new to this great art form

 

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

[LinMM]

Well if it's Fonteyn versus Zakharova in the beauty stakes it's Fonteyn every time for me!!

 

I don't know how close you've been to Zakharova but I've stood next to Fonteyn. Apart from her stunning looks especially in street clothes I think she had pretty much one of the best proportioned bodies for a ballet dancer I've seen.

 

I haven't seen Zakharova very close up but she certainly gives off a harder quality.....and in her dancing too ...though I know she is technically perfect etc..though to be fair haven't seen her do as many roles for real as Fonteyn and as you never actually saw Fonteyn for real it's probably not right to talk about her to be frank!

 

It's why I didn't list any dancers (like Ulanova for instance) who I never saw dance for real ...only on film. I'm sure I would have loved her but you can only pick up so much on film so don't feel qualified to say.

[penelopesimpson]

That's a good point Alison.  Some dancers, like Trinidad Sevillano, Desire Samaii, Altynai Asylmuratova, Martha Leebolt and (now also) Francesca Hayward for me walk on stage, breathe and I am lost!  Of the other favourite dancers I listed they have all seared performances onto my mind even if I have not seen much of them.  I agree that some dancers are better in some styles than others but those dancers I listed on my initial post have all had that certain something that has made them special to me (although I may prefer other dancers in certain roles).

So well described, Janet.  On the train going up to London this afternoon to see Giselle I was thinking about what it is that, for me, makes a great ballerina and found myself stumped for a description.  I know I adore Cojocaru, feel pretty much the same about Hayward and was similarly moved by Asylmuratova but I can't really say why.  Osipova tonight was sublime and I love Rojo but neither give me the goosebumps of the other three.  I'd probably add Viviana Durante to that grouping.  With the men, Edward Watson moves me whatever he does.

 

Why is it that Sarah Lamb doesn't twang my heartstrings, despite her being a wonderful dancer?  Ditto the Nunez/Soares partnership.  Seems to me it is that indescribable something, probably akin to how people who saw Fonteyn dance felt.

[Fonty]

 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?!

 

 

Ashton described Fonteyn as "having the proportions of Venus."  Today's "perfect look" that you describe is much thinner, which is apparent in all walks of life, not just dancing.  Just compare the film actresses of today with the lush beauties of the past.  Not to mention the current trend for stick thin, gangly models in magazines.  

 

I never saw Fonteyn perform live, only read about her, and I can't think of many clips of her on Youtube that show her at her best.  A lot of this might be to do with the constraints of filming at the time.   Some of it seems to be taking place on a rather cramped stage, and the camera positions are often from a strange angle, either slightly to the side, or looking up, rather than directly from the front, which is obviously how the audience would see her.  Hence some of the leg positions look a little strange.  There used to be a wonderful one of her doing the whole of the Rose Adagio, taken at a speed that today's dancers never, ever attempt, showing her perfect balance, and all done with a radiant smile that lights up the whole stage.  No idea what happened to it; when I search now there are other clips but none of them as good as that one. 

Edited March 30, 2016 by Fonty

[Nina G.]

I have never been fortunate enough to see all the great RB dancers of the past.

 

Of the current crop of ballerinas I very much like:

 

Sofiane Sylve and Yuan Yuan Tan who really left their mark on me when SFB danced at Sadler's Wells.

 

At ENB: Shiori Kase, Ksenia Ovsyanick, Rojo, Cojocaru and Summerscales.

 

At BRB: Momoko Hirata and Maureya Lebowitz

 

I mainly watch The Royal Ballet nowadays and give me Marianela Nunez (and Vadim Muntagirov!) any time!

I very much love Yasmine Naghdi and Fumi Kaneko for their beautiful classical line, clean strong technic and great stage presence (Matthew Ball and Reece Clarke are my favourite young males). I also appreciate Francesca Hayward.

There are of course other female dancers I love watching but these are the stand-out RB dancers for me.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Nina G.

[zxDaveM]

Miyako Yoshida for me. She mesmerised me when I stumbled across Nutcracker one Christmas, and inspired me to go and see my first ballet at the ROH in 2004 - and get me hooked!

 

The dancer to have any chance to overtake her as my favourite, is Yasmine Naghdi; others I always enjoy seeing (in no particular order) include Sarah Lamb, Zenaida Yanowsky, Yuan Yuan Tan, Maria Alexandrova, Marianela Nunez, Tamara Rojo, Natalia Osipova, Fumi Kaneko,  Begona Cao and Francesca Hayward.

 

(to add - and Sylvie Guillem from days past)

[Quintus]

This could be a very long list, so I'll keep it to those I've seen live and who have a very special something that makes me particularly excited to see them

 

Of the current crop of superstars.... Polina Semionova (to Sybarite's point about grown men going weak at the knees, I think she takes the biscuit. I do have reservations about her rather ungainly backwards hops though), Natalia Osipova (her and Ivan Vasiliev's awesome DQ in London was a real high point), Evgenia Obraztsova (unmannered and fluid), Svetlana Zakharova (very commanding on stage albeit regal in manner)

 

More parochially I always love to see Fran Hayward and Ksenia Ovsyanick (despite my having to check Ovsy / Ovys every time!).

 

​Biggest regret would be never having seen Sylvie Guillem. 

[sybarite2015@]

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!

[sybarite2015@]

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

[FLOSS]

Sybarite2015@. There are fashions in everything including ballet. Fonteyn was lucky enough to have a body which was almost perfect for the style and type of ballets which were created by Petipa and most of the major choreographers working in the West after the revolution. The idealisation of the tall dancer is a comparatively recent fashion and like all fashions it produces advantages for some and disadvantages for others.

 

One of the disadvantages of the fashion for tall dancers, it seems to me, is that it has tended to lead to an emphasis on a rather static style of dancing which emphasises posing and line rather than flowing movement and fast neat footwork. It is not that tall dancers can not dance quickly, they can if they are trained to do so, but they have to work on it and it seems that many take the simple option of slowing down the music to accommodate them. Both Balanchine and Ashton when they choreographed for tall dancers expected them to move rather than unfold. I'm afraid that I find dancers such as Lopatkina rather affected.

 

Some seem to think that Fonteyn lacked technique but you need to understand that the general ballet aesthetic has shifted. In the years immediately after Petipa's Tchaikovsky ballets Fokine and his contemporaries reacted against the overt bravura of the Italian school that had been incorporated into Russian ballet by Petipa. Even the most radical of them did not create choreography to display technique for its own sake. This was the aesthetic world in which both Ashton and Balanchine created their ballets and the world in which Fonteyn danced. Hers is the art that conceals art. Someone who reportedly said that she wanted to make the Rose Adagio look as normal and natural as getting on and off a bus is unlikely to astound you with bravura fireworks. Hers is the art of ease, elegance, lyrical musicality, balance, symmetry, fast footwork and the flow of movement not a display of dance and technique. The wheel has turned again and we are back in a dance world which seems to appreciate technical display for its own sake and dance with a comparatively limited range of steps and precious little terre a terre dancing.

 

I will tell you who my greats are later but they include Beriosova, Sibley, Seymour, Evdokimova and Barbieri.

Edited March 30, 2016 by FLOSS

[Two Pigeons]

I am pleased other posters have mentioned Eva Evdokimova. She was a dancer unlike any other I have seen. Ethereal, romantic ballerinas like her are very few and far between. I count my memories of seeing her dance with Peter Schaufuss in La Sylphide and Giselle as amongst my absolute favourites. She really understood these jewels of early 19th century ballet

 

By contrast I also have great memories of her as Swanilda and Tatiana which you would have thought she was less suited for. That may have been true but she was terrific in both roles.

[Fonty]

One of the disadvantages of the fashion for tall dancers, it seems to me, is that it has tended to lead to an emphasis on a rather static style of dancing which emphasises posing and line rather than flowing movement and fast neat footwork. It is not that tall dancers can not dance quickly, they can if they are trained to do so, but they have to work on it and it seems that many take the simple option of slowing down the music to accommodate them. Both Balanchine and Ashton when they choreographed for tall dancers expected them to move rather than unfold.

 

As usual, Floss, you have explained it perfectly.  Having said that, I don't think a lot of today's dancers do have a good line.  I am particularly irritated by the tendency to crook the foot up and over when in a penche arabesque, rather then keeping it in alignment with the rest of the leg.  It is so common now, it must be the way they are being taught to do it, but I do think it looks very ugly.   

[northstar]

 

Sofiane Sylve and Yuan Yuan Tan who really left their mark on me when SFB danced at Sadler's Wells.

 

Really glad someone else mentioned Sylve ! I really missed the boat by not going to Sadlers Wells when she was dancing there. Who knows if she will dance in the UK again before she retires?

 

 

This was the aesthetic world in which both Ashton and Balanchine created their ballets and the world in which Fonteyn danced. Hers is the art that conceals art. Someone who reportedly said that she wanted to make the Rose Adagio look as normal and natural as getting on and off a bus is unlikely to astound you with bravura fireworks. Hers is the art of ease, elegance, lyrical musicality, balance, symmetry, fast footwork and the flow of movement not a display of dance and technique. The wheel has turned again and we are back in a dance world which seems to appreciate technical display for its own sake and dance with a comparatively limited range of steps and precious little terre a terre dancing.

 

An extremely good perspective here, that I find difficult to achieve in practice. I must admit my view of Fonteyn's style is clouded by the modern style that I can't 'unsee'. That quote about getting on and off a bus I remember too, and I always think why doesn't anyone try to do that nowadays with the Rose Adagio?  

 

Likewise I'd love to see some attempts to dance the Swan Lake Act II with zest, like Fonteyn or Moira Shearer (I've only seen video recordings).

[bridiem]

Floss's comments about first impressions are so true. The first ballerina I loved was Lesley Collier, and I realised recently that in spite of all the other wonderful dancers I have seen she is still my ideal. Her clarity, sincerity, musicality and harmony set the standard for me. Others I loved in my early years of ballet-going included especially Bryony Brind, Fiona Chadwick, Alessandra Ferri and Eva Evdokimova. And I'm so grateful that I caught the last years of Fonteyn and Sibley, and some of Seymour's great performances. I have only seen Maximova perform once live, but it was seeing her feet in The Nutcracker on television that awoke my fascination with ballet before I had ever even seen a performance. I adored Suzanne Farrell - such grace and dignity. I thought Makarova was amazing in her technique and dramatic power. Two great dance actresses would be on my list too: Marion Tait and Sandra Madgwick. Maria Almeida had a quality all of her own, and I was so sad when she stopped dancing. More recent ballerinas I've loved: Benjamin, Cojocaru, Rojo, Yanowsky, Osipova. Many others have enriched my life too and I'm so grateful to all of them.

[WoodlandGladeFairy]

My favourite female dancers in no particular order

 

Lauren Cuthbertson

Francesca Hayward

Lesley Collier

Tatyana Terekhova

Melissa Hamilton 

Alina Cojocaru

Alessandra Ferri

Marinela Nunez

Darcey Bussell

Viviana Durante

Evgenia Obraztsova

[Odyssey]

I was fortunate to see Fonteyn dance Swan Lake out in the provinces at Coventry Hippodrome and although I was a child, her performance has stayed with me as a touchstone for the role of Odette. Today when I see photographs of Fonteyn from Act 2 I can visualise the way she projected the character through her facial expressions, her beautiful shaping and exquisite lines all those years ago. I agree that first impressions are key, and there are quite a few dancers who I would regard as amongst my favourites from my early years of watching ballet such as Margaret Barbieri and Doreen Wells, but Fonteyn stirred something deeper in me. Many years later Natalia Markova did the same in Onegine and Sylvie Guilem in Manon - neither of these I would have regarded as my favourite dancers, but they were able to communicate an emotional response which went beyond the pleasure of watching a dancer whose physique or technical capabilities I might admire .

[SusanR]

My favourite of all time is Altynai Asylmuratova. Others I love are, Tamara Rojo, Alina Cojocaru, Zenaida Yanowsky, Natalia Osipova, Viviana Durante, Sarah Wildor, Agnes Oakes,Sylvie Guillem, Marianela Nunez, Martha Leebolt,Ekaterina Shipulina & Nina Ananiashvili.

I'm sure others will come to mind after I've posted this!

Susan