A much-needed dance break
One of my favorite ballet dancers of all time, Maya Plisetskaya, with some enticing and energetic cultural appropriation. Circa 1959:
I saw Plisetskaya in person right around the time this was filmed. She tore up the stage. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dancer more exciting.
Very fun.
I looked at some other versions and the difference is striking. In anything remotely modern, the dancer is in constant communication with the audience, constantly looking for approval, with the dominant emotion being pride. They don’t go beyond, “Look what I can do!” You can look at solos on an empty stage and they are pretty much identical to ones with others upstage. No sense of character.
Plisetskaya inhabited the character and her communication was with the other dancers. I’d rather have her less technical performance with more character, that the technical, cold modern versions.
Statue of Miguel Cervantes toppled.
This is a great Russian ballerina, winner of many awards, actress, choreographer, strong, bright and talented woman. Maya Plisetskaya herself was destined to belong to the world of art, since the bright talent of this outstanding star of Russian ballet was largely predetermined by genes.
Always love seeing Plisetskaya. Thanks, Neo!
And here’s a little unknown (to me) tidbit from Wikipedia:
“While in France in 1965, Plisetskaya was invited to the home of Russian artist Marc Chagall and his wife. Chagall had moved to France to study art in 1910. He asked her if she wouldn’t mind creating some ballet poses to help him with his current project, a mural for the new Metropolitan Opera House in New York, which would show various images representing the arts. She danced and posed in various positions as he sketched, and her images were used on the mural, ‘at the top left corner, a colorful flock of ballerinas’.”
Thanks, Neo!!!!!
I always feel a rush of joy when you “show and tell” these videos.
Thanks especially for the clarity of your words, and how much they add to the experience.
Beautiful work. Her performance delighted me. It put me in mind of Jeanette MacDonald’s performance in “The Firefly” (1937), in how she convincingly portrayed coquettishness with delicate hand and head movements.
Marvelous boost on a Monday morning in midst of so much mayhem. Please excuse the alliteration.
Thanks for the break.
I always admire the sheer stamina of these dancers, even though each “set” is not very long, they are immensely active.
Thirty-plus pirouettes!!
PS
I thought I would look up some technique videos of pirouettes, and got this.
At least Google is telling you they are watching now, instead of just doing it, but — what business is it of theirs or anyone else’s what I choose to watch?
I didn’t look at any of them.
PPS “As such” is an illiterate ungrammatical formulation lacking a meaningful predicate.