"Double-double" tours en l'air in performance

[Jan McNulty]

12 hours ago, Ianlond said:

I wonder if he (Bracewell) will do the ‘double-double’ tours en l’air in Act 3 Muntagirov did. Does anyone remember if *any* other dancer did them last time??

 

9 hours ago, capybara said:

No, noone else executed the double-doubles in Swan Lake Act 3 last year. Indeed, not all Siegfrieds managed to land their single doubles every time. It just goes to show how very hard ballet is and how high our expectations have become.

 

 

Pardon my ignorance but what is a double-double tours?

Edited August 1, 2019 by alison
Context

[bangorballetboy]

17 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

Pardon my ignorance but what is a double-double tours?

 

A double tour en l'air followed immediately by another (the landing plié of the first being the preparation plié of the second).

[alison]

Are they both in the same direction, or in opposite ones?

[bangorballetboy]

29 minutes ago, alison said:

Are they both in the same direction, or in opposite ones?

 

I think doing it in the opposite direction would be physically impossible.

[alison]

26 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

I think doing it in the opposite direction would be physically impossible.

 

Yes, I wondered about that: certainly tough on the ankles and knees, I should think.  It's just that there used to be some film on YouTube of Patrick Armand in rehearsal doing, I thought, double doubles, but I couldn't remember whether they were in the same direction or not.  I think it was the first time I'd ever seen anyone doing them.  I had a conversation with someone else on Ballet.co about it, but can't find it now, and the video was taken down fairly soon after I found it.

[Jan McNulty]

On 01/08/2019 at 16:05, bangorballetboy said:

 

A double tour en l'air followed immediately by another (the landing plié of the first being the preparation plié of the second).

 

On 01/08/2019 at 16:47, bangorballetboy said:

 

I think doing it in the opposite direction would be physically impossible.

 

Some years ago Chi Cao, now retired from BRB, did 8 doubles in alternating direction while dancing Paquita.  The late John Percival, in his review at the time, described him as the best classical dancer of the day in Europe and the USA.  Joe Caley did 8, but all in the same direction.

 

All the other performances of Paquita I have seen the dancers did double, two steps forward, double, two steps forward, double.

 

Would Chi and Joe's feats be called octo-doubles?

[Ianlond]

Wow....the idea of doing repeated double tours in opposite directions boggles my mind! 

[Jan McNulty]

6 minutes ago, Ianlond said:

Wow....the idea of doing repeated double tours in opposite directions boggles my mind! 

 

It was a truly awesome sight and my mind was totally boggled.

[LinMM]

I imagine these eight doubles will have had some sort of step/s in between....not all coming from the same landing plies as a double double tour en L'air would!! 

[Jan McNulty]

1 minute ago, LinMM said:

I imagine these eight doubles will have had some sort of step/s in between....not all coming from the same landing plies as a double double tour en L'air would!! 

 

No - absolutely not!

[LinMM]

Do you mean eight doubles or eight double doubles.....which would mean sixteen turns altogether!! 

[LinMM]

Eight doubles from the same position with just plié in between each  ( equivalent of four double double tours)  would be pretty impressive but not sure if it would be possible to do eight double doubles .....at least not in performance on stage.

[Jan McNulty]

Eight doubles.  Octo-Doubles

[LinMM]

Wow that's still amazing ....the strength to do that! And the balance and precision required to change direction each time! How wonderful that you were there to see it.

[Jan McNulty]

20 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Wow that's still amazing ....the strength to do that! And the balance and precision required to change direction each time! How wonderful that you were there to see it.

 

Somewhat more amazing than a double double I would have thought!

 

I saw him do it several times in that run.  

[alison]

Wonder what it does to the ears and the brain ...

[Angela]

Here's Leonid Sarafanov with some more...

 

 

[alison]

Wow.  You surely must need more time between them if you're going to change direction.

[LinMM]

Sarafanov even made it look easy!!

[capybara]

Sarafanov 😃 A lot of dancers do those in the studio but I guess that it's quite another thing to perform them on stage, otherwise we would see them more frequently in the 'showy' male variations.

[LinMM]

Probably not enough music to keep 11 double tours going that often!! 

Perhaps the men should do the tours thing instead of the fouettés in Swan Lake 😉 

[jack.b]

Ivan Rabovski used to do 16 consecutive double tours at the end of his variation in Don Q ,he and his wife Nora Kovacs  were guests with London Festival Ballet in the 60's

Hungarian couple who escaped in 1956 

Not as tidy as Sarafanov I will admit .

I saw Prokovsky and Dubreuil doing 4 consecutive doubles in Etudes in the early 70's where now Sarafanov does 8 and Kimmin Kim does 9 (9is not musical but impressive Harold Lander must be turning in his grave )

Edited August 3, 2019 by jack.b

[mart]

On 01/08/2019 at 18:37, Jan McNulty said:

 

 

Some years ago Chi Cao, now retired from BRB, did 8 doubles in alternating direction while dancing Paquita.  The late John Percival, in his review at the time, described him as the best classical dancer of the day in Europe and the USA.  Joe Caley did 8, but all in the same direction.

 

All the other performances of Paquita I have seen the dancers did double, two steps forward, double, two steps forward, double.

 

Would Chi and Joe's feats be called octo-doubles?

In Paquita there is a releve between the right and left double tours , they are not consecutive. I agree Ci Cao was a great dancer 

[FionaM]

I personally don’t like this tendency for showy gymnastics it detracts from the art.  It can be ok in showy pieces at galas, but everywhere else I feel the point is to show no effort.   

[capybara]

1 hour ago, FionaE said:

I personally don’t like this tendency for showy gymnastics it detracts from the art.  It can be ok in showy pieces at galas, but everywhere else I feel the point is to show no effort.   

 

I take your point but I think that the double-doubles in the male variation in Swan Lake Act 3 can express wonderfully the ecstasy that Siegfried is feeling at that moment - especially when they are performed with no apparent effort.

 

[bridiem]

11 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

I take your point but I think that the double-doubles in the male variation in Swan Lake Act 3 can express wonderfully the ecstasy that Siegfried is feeling at that moment - especially when they are performed with no apparent effort.

 

 

Yes, I think it's the 'no apparent effort' that's key, here and in all balletic steps. I've just watched (since it appeared in my Twitter feed this morning) a youtube clip of the pas de deux in Rhapsody, danced by Collier and Baryshnikov. What really struck me was not just the beauty and harmony of Collier's dancing, but it's apparent effortlessness. She moves - and looks - as if ballet is the natural expression of human nature and every step is the simple expression of her thoughts and feelings as they soar in harmony with the music. Stunning.

[JohnS]

The ‘no apparent effort’ is key - just thinking of so many times last year when Vadim Muntagirov delivered technical challenges way beyond those of others, exquisitely, musically and in character.