And the video is amazing. I watched it some detail before reading any comments and came up with the same two outstanding performances as BenDavid did: Vishneva and Osipova. While I would probably rank Osipova higher overall, the Vishneva spin seems uniquely special. There’s a mechanical precision to it, or something…, that makes her seem like a spinning top.

The Osipova spin is very quick, and one can hear her heel plants. Plus, I noticed that the conductor started with a beat that was considerably slower than her heels plants, then he quickly upped the tempo to match. Also, the music tempo matched her leaps.

I’m no ballet aficionado, but all the leaps seemed ho-hum to me except for Osipova’s which really did capture that weightless & beyond her control feel. In addition to being an outstanding dancer, I suspect her dress was a factor in the visual impact of it.

I also found it interesting that the orchestral tuning changed round about #5.

The idea of being possessed takes me straight back to your clips of Plisetkaya and your comments about her flexible spine and “imperfect” vertical alignment.

Some of these dancers get a bit of that wild abandon in the initial spin, but only Vishneva and Osipova (the last one) continue it naturalistically into the turns that follow, as if in a dizzy trance. She also gives some impression of being jerked around in the jumps jetes(?).

Cojocaru and Nunez are also somewhat convincing. Nunez seems slow and trancelike – is there a dance equivalent of “rubato” in music? And she dances up to the Queen Walli as if still in her thrall – a nice touch.

The rest of them are hampered by being plumbline vertical – too perfect.

You have also pointed out the extreme extensions – I thought this might be exploited to give an otherworldly feeling, with limbs whipping around. But again – the arms are too perfect for someone possessed/frenzied.

Thank you again for the education!

In a similar vein, until someone told me, I didn’t figure out Jurgen is a form of George. (Which the Germans also pronounce with two hard Gs “gay-org.”)

And, of course, Diego is Spanish for James. Lots of confusion with those j and g sounds across languages.

Coaches are generally very important. And it takes a long long time to prepare for a major role, ordinarily.