“This little trick”—hovering in the air
I’m currently reading I, Maya Plisetskaya, the autobiography of the wonderful Russian dancer about whom I wrote this tribute. She was known for vivacity, smoldering sensuality, and her powerful yet graceful jump, the latter of which she describes as follows:
I quickly grasped the “jumping” mazurka in “Chopiniana” in two rehearsals with the rehearsal coach…and I danced it with thundering success. Nature had not passed me over when it came to jumps, and I flew across the stage in three jetés…I deliberately tried to hover in the air at the top of each leap, and the audience responded enthusiastically. Each leap was accompanied by a crescendo of applause. I myself couldn’t have imagined that the audience would take such a liking to this little trick.
Is this possible? You bet it is. Even I, not especially gifted by nature in that arena, knew how to add that extra little bit of oomph at the arc of my jump.
How does one do it? It’s not easy to explain, since it’s a subtle physical thing. The best I can do is say that, in the split second the dancer is at the peak of a leap, it’s possible to “freeze” the body for a moment and thus give the illusion of an ever-so-slight pause in midair.
Unfortunately, there are no videos at You Tube of Plisetskaya the Magnificent dancing the mazurka from the ballet known in Russia as “Chopiniana” but called “Les Sylphides” elsewhere, featuring music by—whom else?—Chopin. Though it was choreographed by Fokine in various stages around the turn of the 19th-20th century and looks very old-fashioned, it was actually one of the first modern ballets in that it had no plot.
Here’s a video of another Russian dancer doing the variation Plisetskaya describes, which begins at 4:36. This dancer cannot seem to accomplish what Plisetskaya did in terms of leaps—but who can? She’s awfully fine at balances, though (the three jetés are the big arching leaps straight forward that occur at the beginning of her variation, with little connecting running steps in between each one):
Even though we can’t see Plisetskaya dancing the variation, there’s ample evidence available of her ability to leap. Feast your eyes on this, for example:
And thanks to the magic of still photography, we can see Maya hovering in the air perpetually, in the full flush of youth, exuberance, and joy:
you might like this then..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYp5fhKeOMg&NR=1
Yesterday I read in Russian newspaper that Maya, in her 82, is going to dance in Spain at folk festival. How is this possible?
I know less than nothing about ballet, but have watched the BMX motocross riders do strange things at the top of their leaps above the dirt – they center on themselves not the ground and rotate and whirl – then realize they must come back down. That last still is awesome, especially when you consider she is 1, so high, 2 going to come down smoothly, 3 and going to leap that high immediately after. Thanks.
sergey: Take a look at this earlier post of mine about Plisetskaya. It contains links to videos of her dancing “The Dying Swan” at the age of 67, and one of her “dancing” at a benefit around the age of 80. In the first, she actually dances en pointe and looks like a woman in her 30s. In the second, she doesn’t really dance, she just walks around gracefully. My guess is that’s what she will do at the folk festival in Spain—strike some graceful poses and walk around looking beautiful and elegant.