This is clearly one of the burning questions of our times, and I’m willing to tackle it: are rhythmic gymnasts tall? They certainly are thin; the quintessential ectomorphs, with elastic limbs and extreme grace. Their lean bodies and long legs … Continue reading →
Edward Villella used to be the most famous male dancer in the US. He slightly predated Nureyev’s defection and Baryshnikov’s later arrival, and they eclipsed him to a certain extent. But he was quite a star, and I saw him … Continue reading →
Most of you have probably seen the movie “Yankee Doodle Dandy” starring James Cagney as George M. Cohan. I watched it on TV many times as a child, and loved it. A while back I read that Cagney’s stiff-legged dancing … Continue reading →
For a nice palate change, I bring you this biography of Tommy Rall, one of the greatest cinema dancers and a real natural. He also was an excellent singer (even of opera) and painter. Enjoy:
Continue reading →[NOTE: I was going to put up a bunch of smaller posts, after my post earlier today on Iran. But the news of a possible deal – and the nervousness about its terms and whether they will amount to a … Continue reading →
Here’s a very short clip that compares Natalia Osipova with Maya Plisetskaya. It’s from the ballet Laurencia. The Bolshoi-trained Osipova is a very fine dancer, still performing at 39. Plisetskaya was a star of the past who had her heyday … Continue reading →
Commenter “RigelDog” has this request: Neo, have you seen the video of Alysa Liu’s skating at the Olympics? I am so impressed by her dance/ movement, and I can’t describe why it seems different, and wonderful. I would be interested … Continue reading →
He had it all – perfect technique combined with utter ease and freedom of movement, musicality, “attack,” charm, sex appeal, and acting ability: I was fortunate enough to see him dance many many times in person. I also once stood … Continue reading →
I thought this ballet video purporting to show the ten greatest male dancers of the 20th century would be bad, but it’s kind of okay in many ways. However, one way it is annoying is that it can’t be embedded, … Continue reading →
There are tons of songs about dancing, for obvious reasons. But that’s not the subject matter of this post – songs about dance for the sake of dance. This is about songs that use dance as a larger metaphor for … Continue reading →
I first saw professional Russian folk dancing when I was a child in the late 1950s, when during Khrushchev’s cultural “thaw” the Moiseyev Dance Company came to New York. The performance I attended (with my family, of course) was in … Continue reading →
And I’ll throw this one in, too. Pretty racy for 1953:
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