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Memorable Partnerships


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Tyrone Singleton and Céline Gittens at BRB have really stood out for me. Their 'Two Step' in Take Five was mesmerising (the lighting really added to the mood, but the linked video is a good taster) as was their PDD during Faster. Their casting in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is the main reason why I've booked for the date I did on BRB's upcoming triple bill!

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A partnership I would have loved to have seen was Karen Kain & Frank Augustyn. I have a book charting their partnership with some wonderful photographs and interesting interviews attesting to it being a special partnership, but sadly I didn't get to witness this first hand.

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Isn't it a wonderful testament to the glories of Daria Klimentova and Vadim Muntagirov that their partnership is being regarding by so many observers as being among the 'greats'?

 

So happy that they still have several performances together ahead of them.

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A partnership I would have loved to have seen was Karen Kain & Frank Augustyn. I have a book charting their partnership with some wonderful photographs and interesting interviews attesting to it being a special partnership, but sadly I didn't get to witness this first hand.

 

I did not see them in live performance, but I do have a tape of them in Giselle - and they are wonderful together.

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I was lucky enough to see Seymour and Gable in almost everything they did as a partnership - and you are right, they were wonderful together.

 

Oh lucky, lucky you!  The problem is that there are so many clips of Fonteyn and Nureyev, but very few of any other partnership. 

 

There is a tiny snippet on Seymour and Gable  on Youtube in The Two Pigeons, and I think I saw a short clip of her dancing Juliet on a ballet programme, but I don't think it was with Gable.  Such a pity that these wonderful partnerships have no proper recordings as a permanent record.

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I saw the first night of R & J with Fonteyn and Nureyev, and then the 'real first night' with Seymour and Gable.  The latter were absolutely fantastic - Seymour sitting motionless on the bed is something I will never forget.  I have loved many other interpretations of the ballet, but I don't think Seymour will ever be equalled.

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Sorry - should also have said that it is such a shame that Seymour and Gable were not filmed in the whole of R & J.  At that time, of course, it was much less easy to film or record a whole ballet.  There was also no question of recording during a normal performance - the whole thing had to be re-lit for television and then recorded in front of an invited audience, partly I think because the cameras then were so much more bulky and took up so much space - several seats behind each one in many rows had to be left empty becasue of the restricted view.

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A partnership I would have loved to have seen was Karen Kain & Frank Augustyn. I have a book charting their partnership with some wonderful photographs and interesting interviews attesting to it being a special partnership, but sadly I didn't get to witness this first hand.

So pleased to see Kain and Augustyn mentioned here.  Having spent most of my school years in Canada, they were the first 'star' partnership of which I was aware, apart from Fonteyn and Nureyev who I saw dance but sadly never together except on film.  Kain and Augustyn therefore inspired my love of ballet and I saw them together in all the 'big' works:  "Swan Lake", "Sleeping Beauty", "Coppelia", "Giselle" a delightful "La Fille mal gardee" and, above all else, as the breathtaking and unforgettable lovers in "Romeo and Juliet".  Hence my huge disappointment when Kain, as Director of the National Ballet of Canada, jettisoned this Cranko masterpiece in favour of the Ratmansky version.  Kain and Augustyn always had great charisma on stage, and the rumours of their offstage romance added to the excitement of watching one of their performances.  Offstage, they were just as charming.  During 1977, my last year in Canada, I was allowed to be a dresser at the National Ballet of Canada's open-air summer venue, Ontario Place in Toronto where they were performing "Sleeping Beauty".  One day I was assigned to dress the principals and duly sat outside Augustyn's dressing room.  He had just come out to ask me to fasten his tunic, when Kain came out of her dressing room and said she would do it!  I never did get to help him but it was just a wonderful experience to be in the presence of these genuinely nice, down-to-earth people!

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I have an old video of Kain and Augustyn in Giselle and they really are superb.  Never saw them dance those roles live but did see Ms Kain as Giselle with Nureyev.  She was one of the best Giselles I ever saw.

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Osipova and Vasiliev.  I traveled to Teatro alla Scala to see Osipova and Vasiliev (presently, my favorite partnership) in Jewels on 9 March.  They were scheduled to dance in Rubies.  Osipova did not dance (I don't know why), and that was very disappointing for me.

 

Semionova and Vogel.  In that same performance, Polina Semionova and Friedemann Vogel danced in Diamonds.  They dance extremely well together. Semionova is beautiful to watch; she just flows when she dances.  Vogel is a great partner, and he looks great next to Semionova.  They have beautiful long lines when they extend.  And they seem to have good chemistry.  The pas de deux was mesmerizing.  The audience certainly appreciated their performance.  I'd like to see more of them together.

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