Opera: I saw a clip from “Carmen” with Elena Garancia –
https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=K2snTkaD64U
She is a Carmen that Bizet would have applauded.

To translate from ballet to acting like baryshnikov is not easy

But I can’t quite see him in a tux playing James Bond or a Cary Grant jewel thief. From his beginning as the greaser older brother in “The Outsiders,” he’s had more of a working class image, which I’m sure was part of his appeal for many. That really played to his strength in “Roadhouse.”

Swayze did all right, so I won’t worry. Maybe he was hard to cast. Maybe he was hard to please. Pity he died kinda young at 57.

Accounts differ, but it seems there was some tension, difficulty between Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in “Dirty Dancing”, but I sure would never have known it. Here’s Grey’s version:

https://www.thethings.com/did-jennifer-grey-patrick-swayze-really-hate-each-other-on-dirty-dancing/

They left behind this smokin’ dance scene — surely a peak experience in 80s movies.

–“Dirty Dancing – Time of my Life (Final Dance)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpmILPAcRQo

Swayze was something else.

Ballet dancing is very very difficult in all respects, so the acting part is just part of that. Some people are better at one aspect than another aspect.

The terminology of ballet is French, so a large movement would be grand.

Nuances are almost always different as time passes as different dancers do a piece and it gets further from its origins. The piece was set on Makarova and Baryshnikov by the choreographer. He choreographed it for them and coached them in what he wanted – they are the originals doing the original version.

Their connection is very clear to me, and it is partly the result of a push-pull effect between the two. Some of it is accomplished by Baryshnikov vis a vis Makarova. It is as though there’s a strand connecting the two, so that when she holds back he propels her forward again. You can see it at :51-:57, 1:24-1:37, and 1:49-1:51.

For example, in the first clip at around 1:02 Pagliero does a lovely swaying motion with her arms as she come out of a turn. She repeats this later on. I can’t find the same movement by Makarova (and I stopped watching Osipova when she didn’t make anything of that moment).

In general, Makarova pulls away/hangs back – both in the back bends, and when the couple points off to stage right – while the other pairs dance more closely. It’s certainly expressive, but it completely changes the shape formed by the dancers. And it doesn’t make it look like there is intimate rapport.

I actually liked the 1st and 3rd clips, and felt there was pretty good rapport in the 1st one. They look at each other, even Robbins has them separate as in a square dance, and use subtle head tilts as if they are asking permission of each other before going into a variation.

No, I don’t. I certainly am not familiar with all the younger dancers, though.

The sort of artistry of the past is neither trained for, rewarded, nor selected for these days. What is valued is extreme gymnastic ability, and a kind of surface acting that has no depth.

Ballet dancers have to know how to act.

A performance “connection” doesn’t necessarily translate into real life, although it can. It can be accomplished through movement style, timing, and acting.