Plisetskaya: Style. Musicality. Power. Flow.
Here’s a variation from the ballet “Raymonda” that features a dance with a scarf (or shawl, if you prefer). It’s not a bravura variation, technically, although it requires strength and control – as all ballet does, actually. Also, the dancer has to master the prop, which can always be tricky. There are a lot of styles in which it can be performed: lighthearted? regal? slow-ish? faster?.
Here’s one that’s typical of what you might see today, from a fine dancer in her mid-30s, about seven years ago. She seems the epitome of the slow-ish regal style:
Here’s another recent dancer, also Russian-trained. She’s slightly younger than the first dancer, and her version is a bit warmer and lighter; more girlish:
This is another Russian dancer, a bit younger still than the previous one, and again in the mold of the first dancer – that is, regal and a bit cool, very elegant, long-necked, and slender:
I would describe all three performances as very careful and controlled. As with so many dancers today, these women seem to go from pose to pose, making sure their lines are beautiful all the while. The tempo is somewhat slow, the better to show off these poses.
It makes for a lovely picture, or rather series of pictures. You also might have noticed that, when each gets to the part where she must hop around in a circle on one leg with her other leg in arabesque, there’s a bit of effort to make it seem smooth and not thump-thump-thump (which is harder than it looks). But don’t you wonder – why are they dancing with a scarf? Is this an assignment of some sort, or what?
Now we go back in time to one of my favorite ballet dancers ever, Maya Plisetskaya. She does the same variation here, circa 1959, over sixty years ago. But what I find very different from the previous three – and from every dancer of recent vintage – are the four things I put in the title above: her style, her musicality, her power, and the flow of her movement. It’s somewhat faster, too; Plisetskaya doesn’t pose – or rather, when she does, it’s for a moment of quick emphasis to counter the flow of her dance.
And why is she dancing with the scarf? Why, she seems to be playing. She’s having fun. It’s as though she’s making up the movement as she goes along, in an impromptu game. She doesn’t worry, either, about making each moment elegant and pretty. She doesn’t worry about anything, or seem to. She dances.
See if you agree:
I’ll add one technical point about what gives Plisetskaya some of her freedom of movement: she doesn’t hold her body above the waist rigid. It moves and sways in every direction in a way that’s more extreme than the others, who seem to be afraid they’ll break or fall off-balance if they allow their torsos and heads to become more pliant.
The difference between robotics and humans.
Sports has this alot
The phrase “requires strength and control” brought memory of a clip I find rather amazing. Not at all related other than exhibiting strength, control, beauty – and being utterly mesmerizing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrnLTmvi_Uw
Neo, I’ve learned a lot from you about the ‘classic’ arts. Your love and passion for it just adds to the examples you show. I bet you could develop and teach one hell of an introductory course on the subject for us backwoods bumpkins. My appreciation for arts has grown as I have aged. I a few years ago walked into the Prado and almost immediately stumbled upon a large Velázquez painting. I was so overwhelmed I started to weep. I guess there really is more to life than rockabilly. ;>).
neo:
Yes, I would be the poorer for having not read your dance commentary nor attended the videos you have linked.
Then there’s my specific debt for introducing M. Plisetskaya. I was certainly impressed by the first three dancers, but then came Plisetskaya.
She was “being” ballet; they were “doing” ballet.
huxley:
You’re welcome!
I think recent dancers and present-day audiences don’t even know what they lack. The dancers care almost solely about how high their leg rises – which makes an uglier line, is of zero interest, and has nothing to do with dance. The audiences cheer and applaud.
Sterile (present) versus stirring (past).
From this old folk dancing fan, thanks, Neo, for sharing the clips and your observations.
Wow. This is perhaps the clearest of your “compare and contrast” dance posts…
Plisetskaya is definitely not worried about long lines – her head cranes forward as she looks with interest at her plaything, the scarf… making room for its billows as she steps on pointe.
The last modern dancer has a little of this – she makes the nicest shapes with the scarf, and uses its motion to motivate the swing of the hopping pirouette.
I watched just a bit of all four, and I know zero about dance…
…but what struck me was that Plitsekskaya moved like the scarf. She seemed to have a reason for holding it, an identification with its unstudied grace – no reason for this thought, but I thought of “the lilies of the field,” blowing in a breeze.
The other three seemed to me to be holding a prop, as you said. I thought of Gerbera daisies.
One dancer,
Three gymnasts in pointe shoes.
Love your dance posts, Neo!