Galina Ulanova was one of the most famous Russian dancers of the Soviet era. I saw her in person when I was very very young and she was close to 50 and nearing the end of her dancing days.

She was best in “real” roles where she played girls or women rather than sprites or fantasies. By the time the film I’m going to be highlighting here was made in 1954 she was 44 years old, no spring chicken in ballet terms, and the closeups aren’t kind (she was never a great beauty anyway). Films aren’t a good way to see ballet, but they’re all we have of Ulanova at this point.

Her proportions were not those of today’s ballerinas, nor of course was her technique or style, which some think is overdramatic. I don’t agree with that. She is always, always, always, expressing a character, never just doing steps and carefully showing off like so many of today’s dancers. Their emotional restraint and physical prowess were not her interests. She doth teach the torches to burn bright, even at the age of 44 without the forgiving distance a stage and theater provides.

The video I’m talking about is unfortunately unable to be embedded here; it must be watched at YouTube. So please go here and view minutes 21:24-23:00. This is a short variation where Juliet is introduced at the ball.

The second scene is from around 30:09 to 33:05 at the same video. It begins with a lift to which you should pay particular attention (you’ll see it again later, when she is an 86-year old teacher, in the next-to-last video I will post -and that one can be embedded, unlike this one). She originated the role of Juliet in this production. The male dancer, her Romeo, is a handsome guy but also far from a teenager or being able to pass as one. He’s not much of a dancer, either, although in those days standards for male dancers were very very different than now, and significantly lower. But he’s very much in the style of the time: strong and masculine. And boy, can he lift! The two of them make those lifts look like the easiest and most natural things in the world. They are most assuredly not (again, I refer to 30:09 to 33:05):

And here Ulanova is at 86, still showing em how it’s done:

No one today is even remotely like her. But then maybe no one was like her, even then.

Here’s a sampler of some excellent dancers of today – or of a little while ago (it’s not Ulanova who is number 2; that’s a mislabeling). They are so careful, so unspontaneous, and for the most part the tempos are slow and ponderous. I have to say, though, that the last dancer in the group, Ferri, is someone I saw in person, and this video doesn’t capture how wonderful she actually was in person. Very different from Ulanova, but still great: