Fouettes and The Nutcracker
For me, it was easy to see what was unusual about this dancer’s fouettes – because of my long ballet background which includes some teaching. The narrator explains somewhat, but I’ll add that holding the arms above the head increases the difficulty immensely because it creates drag, and the style of fouette with the whipping leg to the side when the supporting leg is in plie is more difficult because you don’t get as much oomph from the whip. I was initially taught fouettes that way, but later on was relieved to learn the other type, which is easier.
Fouettes are far from easy, though, especially on pointe. I could do them in soft shoes but was very bad at doing them on pointe:
Last night I went to the Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker, something I hadn’t done in ages and ages and ages. The Boston Opera House is as lovely and opulent as ever. This is a photo I took of the main lobby, designed in the days when the arts were elegant. The colors were actually much more intense, but the sparkly chandeliers washed them out somewhat in the photo:
The rest of the building is just as beautiful, although I didn’t take photos. The production was – well, let’s just say I thought that the dancing was of the modern mechanical variety for the most part, technically proficient but no more – except for the guy who played Drosselmeyer, who had a magnetic and riveting presence and paid attention to the details of every single gesture.
Ah, but the costumes and scenery – gorgeous! Again, no photos, but I’ll mention three things. The first is the design of the lovely Waltz of the Flowers costumes. The second is that the snow scene was practically a blizzard, very impressive and effective and the audience was enthralled. The third is that in the Kingdom of Sweets scene (Act II), I suddenly realized after about twenty minutes that the set designer had done something exceptionally clever – he had made the proscenium stage ballroom in which the dancing takes place an extension of the room in which the actual audience was sitting, with similar pillars decorated with gold, matching chandeliers, and murals in the same style. Bravo!
And Tchaikovsky’s music is always a treat.
The audience loved the whole thing, but they especially loved the fouettes. To me, fouettes are some of the least interesting steps in dance, although I understand how much strength and balance it takes to do them well.
And fortunately I’ve managed to find a video of the Boston Ballet’s snow scene that shows the profuse amount of snow the production manages to generate. I’ve never seen a snow scene with a snowfall this thick, which can be a hazard to the dancers but last night nobody slipped. In this video the snow really gets going starting around 0:20:
Does one learn to do turns – any turns – in both directions (but eventually focusing on the direction at which one is better), or are they always in the same direction? It would seem to me that doing turns always in the same direction would be a recipe for asymmetric muscle development, which could then create all sorts of problems in dance.
Obviously I’m no dancer! I’m fact, I would say I’m exactly the opposite of a dancer…
Jamie:
You must practice everything in both directions. But everyone has a much better side, usually turning to the right, and onstage the dancer turns to the favored side.
I loved doing those. Nailing the spotting like those women did was beyond me so I usually only did half dozen before switching to other stuff. Then again I mostly did it as part of Celtic celebrations at fairs so – no choreography. I could go pretty fast, just not for long.
Fun stuff. To paraphrase Mr Universe: “You always bring the best dance stuff, neo.”
As a side-echo of neo’s response: Same goes for martial techniques. Both sides. You could see it as dance with a target.
Much rather watch ballerinas though. 🙂
neo, query. Have you ever come across videos of dancers using traditional techniques in extended ad lib?
Brooms, vacuums, or leaf blowers?
Recycle or fresh each time?
I’m just guessing here but I suspect her slim body along with perfect symmetry between the hips and shoulders with the arms and legs in synchrony is what enables her to accomplish her turns. In the martial arts with which I am familiar, as the hips and shoulders go, so follows the body. You can’t throw an effective punch or execute throwing another person without them.
Here is an ad for theatrical snow, who knew:
“ America’s Finest Snow Events featuring our High Range – High Volume Artificial Snow Machines which Evaporates Within 90 Seconds Of Air Time with No Staining, No Residue, No Messy Cleanups, Non-Allergenic Biodegradable, Flameproof, Nontoxic and Has No Slippery Properties. We can turn any Hotel Ballroom into a Walk-in Snow Globe with our Simulated snow. Let the # 1 number installer of snow falling events plan the logistics and execute your project. We maintain the highest industry standards and use the latest state of the art equipment. We have 6 machine options. We use the lastest Evaporative Snow® machines.”
…
“ Dance companies, who try to avoid having anything on the floor that might cause their performers to slip, stumble or fall, love the fact that they can have a realistic fake snow effect without the worry of anything under their dancers’ feet. Rock ‘n’ roll bands and other entertainers have started making use of fake snow to create blizzards over the audience without having to pay exorbitant cleanup fees to the venue’s management. Because the fake snowflakes that the machine creates are mostly air, they behave more like real snow as they fall and simply evaporate. We will leave our machines on for an hour over a stage dance floor and we will have a dry floor with no residue.”
Well, that definitely beats our little town (Eugene – Oregon) ballet company.. We loved the show however, and just like Boston – the Snow scene was amazing and just beautifully danced and staged.. and the snow filled the stage.. not quite as much as Boston.. but, enough to give me the jitters… No Falls or mis-steps though!
… and our Drosselmeyer was clever, funny, magical and spot on with his dancing… So we matched Boston there… LOL
and just a note on small town USA ballet.. all of the young dancers in the company school have parts in the Nutcracker.. even the tiny tots… They do several shows just for the local schools and community to give the kids an experience outside their cell phones… A real hi-lite for the season…
I’m just guessing here but I suspect her slim body along with perfect symmetry between the hips and shoulders with the arms and legs in synchrony is what enables her to accomplish her turns
Geoffrey Britain:
I had that thought too, particularly with regard to “slim.” She looked even more anorexic than most ballet dancers.
Genetic endowment is a huge factor with great athletes and dancers.
I heard back from my niece. I had recommended Maya Plisetskaya’s electrifying performance of Ravel’s Bolero and she watched it! She responded:
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That was a really beautiful performance I loved her style and movements they were so controlled and elegant. Her movements look like she was doing them underwater. She also reminded me of a lot of a bird flying it was beautifully done. I watched most of it because I did enjoy the music as I get older I’m finding more appreciation for classical music it is deeper and brings out emotion a lot of music today sounds the same and has the same crappy autotune background soundtrack, even as a little girl I appreciated the classics like swan lake and the nutcracker.
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Keep in mind that my niece is the product of a total disaster — daughter of drug addicts, sibling of drug addicts, growing up on welfare in the Boston metro.
You can only do so much for another person. But in my life some people lent me a hand and now I’m trying to pay it forward.
And if you haven’t watched the Divine Maya Plisetskaya, you still can:
–“Maya Plisetskaya – Bolero (choreography by Maurice Béjart)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsSALaDJuN4
MP is fifty years-old here and still a goddess.
If you’re referring to Elizabeth as anorexic, the gal’s muscles are fine. Watch her series at 2:50. Her thigh is very well muscled. If she were anorexic her thighs would be more the thickness of her knees and she wouldn’t have the stamina to do what she does. Slender but nicely athletic.
Oligonicella:
Note I originally wrote “more anorexic.” As an ordinary person I find all ballet dancers anorexic!
Then, on that sliding scale, I’m slip-sliding-away.
“–“PAUL SIMON – Slip Slidin’ Away
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aytg0TtkcKs
YouTube has many wonderful ballet clips, including some full length ones from the great companies.
Search for Balanchine — there are some wonderful biographies and interviews
Search for Makarova — again, wonderful clips and biographies and interviews. Look for the series, Ballerina, narrated by Makarova and produced by the BBC
Finally, look for NYC Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet. The NYC ballet clips are narrated by the dancers.
neo:
My wife and I love the Boston Ballet company. They are awesome.
My introduction to ballet performed live was their performance of the Nutcracker. We loved it. After attending that performance, they started sending us information about future performances. We’ve attended every classical ballet and some modern ones.
A big part of my interest in this art form has been your articles on the subject. Many thanks.
huxley:
Some dancers eat little and are anorexic, but those dancers usually fall by the wayside because they can’t sustain the necessary energy. Many dancers are naturally thin and eat plenty. And the rest are very careful about what they eat but are not anorexic. Except in the most egregious cases of anorexia, you can’t tell who’s who just by looking.
neo:
Nonetheless, Beyer was a tranche down from M. Plisetskaya.
As us engineers like to say, there are always trade-offs. In our world: Good, Fast and Cheap — pick two.
I’m not sure what that is in ballet world.
Good, Thin and Enduring? Pick two.
huxley:
Yes, in general dancers are considerably thinner today than in Plisetskaya’s time, and that’s not just about Plisetskaya. Most dancers were more “normal” looking back then. But today’s dancers are also naturally more thin, although some are indeed anorexic. They are thinner in part because the type of dancing required is different. Today they are selected for enormous flexibility, which goes with a certain body type. Plisetskaya was flexible, as are all ballet dancers, but by the standards of today she was not flexible. Her extensions were nowhere near what is required these days even of corps dancers. Flexibility often runs counter to some of the other qualities Plisetskaya had.
I’m not at all keen on hyper-flexibility among dancers, or hyper-thinness.
huxley:
Note I originally wrote “more anorexic.” As an ordinary person I find all ballet dancers anorexic!
I might ask you to consider this.
Anyone mention the smoking?
Oligonicella:
I’ve never forgotten Cyd Charisse since I first saw her in “Singin’ in the Rain” with Gene Kelly.
Though I didn’t think then of Charisse as anorexic. Nor did I realize she danced ballet.
That Kelly/Charisse performance was an OMG moment in my life.
neo:
Yes. I’m an engineer (among other things). So much depends on what one optimizes for.
}}} The Boston Opera House is as lovely and opulent as ever. This is a photo I took of the main lobby, designed in the days when the arts were elegant.
This should make you cry, Neo…
It’s a lot of photos from the late site Retronaut, via Archive’s Wayback, so it takes a bit of time to load — I miss Retronaut. It was a cool site.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220710152103/https://howtobearetronaut.com/2011/01/detroit-in-ruins/
And yes, those are BOOKS abandoned in the libraries. (sniff!)
Ah the Nutcracker, beyond your writing it needs no introduction!
My wife & I saw a number of Broadway shows in 2017, one of which was The Glass Menagerie I believe. There’s a scene with rain, and I was stunned to see this very large amount of plumbed rainfall come down on the actors and stage.
There’s a moment of disbelief. Maybe it is just a thin sheet of rainfall? No, it was both wide and deep covering most of the stage. Are big puddles collecting on the floor? Yup. There was also a weird effect, when most of your visual space (we were sitting close to the stage) is now enveloped in this highly realistic rainstorm. Usually, a stage and the sets are only a thin veneer of an artificial environment. But this bit of stagecraft suddenly spun your sense of environment around and into a different level.
huxley:
That Kelly/Charisse performance was an OMG moment in my life.
Same, the one with the green dress. I posted this before but long after I was into my book series (book 13 I think), I discovered that that dance was the inspiration (very subliminal) for my main man and his deep love. I was actually surprised.