Comments on: The majestic Gillian Murphy as the Swan Queen Odette

By: BenDavid

BenDavid — Sun, 19 May 2024 18:13:48 +0000

huxley:
Murphy seems to have the Plisetskaya gift in a taller package.
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Exactly. Thanks to Neo I can see that she is doing highly extended leg lifts, etc. but it’s all one organic, expressive – and elegant – line, not gawky acrobatics.
She is *acting* with her torso and all her limbs, like Plisetskaya.

By: buddhaha

buddhaha — Sun, 19 May 2024 06:04:52 +0000

I feel guilty watching ballet in general, and especially a performance as beautiful as this.
I feel bad deriving pleasure from watching a woman destroy her feet.
If Pointe had been invented 10 years ago, it would be extinct by now, because the plaintiff’s bar would have bankrupted any company requiring it, and any school teaching it.

By: huxley

huxley — Sun, 19 May 2024 04:34:02 +0000

neo:

It’s OK.

Even if artists look human I know, for the great ones anyway, there is an insane level of accomplishment beneath the surface.

Thanks for introducing me to ballet. I doubt I would have figured it out on my own.

By: neo

neo — Sun, 19 May 2024 04:01:31 +0000

huxley:

I agree that at this level, she doesn’t look human. But in this role she’s supposed to look not quite human.

By: neo

neo — Sun, 19 May 2024 04:00:10 +0000

Anne:

Some day. 🙂 . Actually, I think a full length version with Murphy is on YouTube, but the resolution isn’t as sharp.

I think Murphy is much better as Odette than Odile, though. However, reasonable people may differ.

By: Anne

Anne — Sun, 19 May 2024 03:18:58 +0000

OMG! Sweet elegant perfection! I am somehow more human because I have seen this piece! Thank you so much! Can we see Act III ?

By: huxley

huxley — Sun, 19 May 2024 01:57:41 +0000

Wow!

I put this off until I had done my French and my chores. I know I have to strap in for neo’s ballet videos like I do for Shakespeare and other High Art, but it’s always worth it.

Ballet still looks almost inhuman to me. But I remind myself that I am watching professionals aspiring to the same perfection as Larry Bird, one of my other gods.

There’s nothing natural about what Bird could do and did.

Murphy seems to have the Plisetskaya gift in a taller package. I’m so grateful to see such skill rendered in hi-res color.