Here’s a palate refresher for you.

I complain a lot about how much the art of dance has been sacrificed to the extremes of contemporary ballet technique. And all too often that’s the case.

But here’s a couple I encountered on YouTube—although I never actually saw them perform in person, alas—who are an exception: an extraordinarily developed technique in the service of an extraordinarily developed art.

Note the steps known as renversés that Julio Bocca performs towards the beginning of the segment, particularly some very nice ones at around minute 3:04 and continuing for about 10 seconds after. This sweeping movement perfectly expresses the intense emotion of infatuation, swirling Romeo and practically carrying him away. The same for the impetuous energy of his jumps for the rest of his variation, and especially at around minute 3:40.

And see Alessandra Ferri’s astoundingly hyperextended feet and soaring extensions. This is extreme technique, but she keeps it just under control and uses it in the interests of expressiveness rather than distortion.

At about minute 6:00 there’s a moment, lasting approximately 10 seconds, in which Ferri makes you see Juliet the girl as she turns into Juliet the passionate woman, much to her own surprise (I’ve edited all of the following pieces so that they start with several minutes already elapsed). And it only gets better after that:

I was raised on less flashy stuff that seems a bit archaic now. But it still has its place and its pleasures. The following clip was posted by commenter “Beverly” here. It features much the same choreography with a few modifications, danced in 1966 by the legendary Fonteyn and Nureyev.

I saw their version in person many times, and I always had mixed feelings about it. The illusion did not completely work for me, although I admired parts of it. Fonteyn, although extraordinarily beautiful and with an especially lovely (and non-skeletal) figure, did not look like a girl. She is 47 years old in this clip, and her technique—never ever her strong suit—was fading precipitously. She has almost no extension (that refers to the height to which the non-supporting leg is raised), and her feet are stiff, the arches barely curved.

And yet, and still—there is something in her subtle acting that is luminous, restrained, and moving. Note once again that moment of transformation at about minute 6:00 (there’s an earlier on at 5:30, as well), more quiet than Ferri but transcendent nonetheless.

Nureyev is all drama, and his technique was very good for the time. But he always seemed to me to be mostly about Nureyev, and not about the dance or his partner:

Let’s do some editing and compare those dawning-of-passion moments more closely:

[NOTE: This so-called “balcony scene” cannot possibly occur on the balcony, of course, because there wouldn’t be enough room to dance. So Juliet is forced to descend the stairs.]