No wheels involved
I’ve posted clips of the Russian folk dance company known as the Moiseyev before. A signature move in a few of their dances is a quick scurry of the feet that gives the illusion of the dancer being on wheels … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Dance
Osipova: the turning machine
Everyone up for a palate cleanser? I am. I’m not one for mere technical feats, however amazing. But Osipova’s turns here are so amazing they made me gasp, and it takes a lot to do that because I’ve seen a … Continue reading →
Baryshnikov shows what “ballon” means
It’s the illusion the dancer gives of pausing for a moment at the top of the jump and hovering in the air. This is from a film, probably made some time in the 1980s:
Continue reading →Is it racist to say…
…that the Chinese are really really really good at this sort of thing? I can’t say I like it better than the original version, but I’m certainly in awe of it:
Continue reading →Intermezzo
[NOTE: This is a revised version of a previous post.] Some time ago I was taking a walk, listening on my iPod to some ballet music, and I suddenly wondered—for no particular reason—whether the Eliot Feld ballet “Intermezzo” might have … Continue reading →
How to do an entrechat quatre
In the dance of the little swans thread, commenter “Paul in Boston” asked: What’s the step where they all jump in the air together and “clap” their feet 4 times. How do they do that? I’ll let these pictures (videos) … Continue reading →
Swans, little and big
The dance of the little swans (“cygnets”) from the ballet “Swan Lake” is famous for its precision. It’s not one of those great moments in ballet artistry, but it’s a triumph of technique and synchrony among the four swans who … Continue reading →
More of the astounding Gwen Verdon
Once you watch a YouTube video on a certain topic, YouTube keeps suggesting more. And more. And sometimes I follow their lead—such as recently, with videos of Gwen Verdon that kept coming up following my writing this post about her. … Continue reading →
Gwen Verdon: the greatest show dancer of them all
There’s a new TV series out entitled “Fosse/Verdon,” that follows the lives and times of Broadway choreographer/director/dancer Bob Fosse and Broadway dancer (and choreographic collaborator) Gwen Verdon, who were husband and wife and had a tumultuous relationship. It’s not as … Continue reading →
Use it or lose it
She’s not the dancer she used to be, I’m quite certain of that. Not even close. The legs are much weaker and not fully straight, the arch less pronounced, the turnout barely there, and her elevation is probably nil. But … Continue reading →
You think hula is just wiggling your hips? Think again.
I really knew next to nothing about hula as an art form. But here’s a video that taught me a bit. Enjoy!:
Continue reading →One of the very greatest dancers you’ve probably never heard about
I’m puzzled by the near-obscurity into which Fernando Bujones has fallen. Barishnikov and Nureyev are household words, even for a lot of people who know nothing else about ballet. Likewise, Nijinsky, who danced a hundred years ago. But Bujones, one … Continue reading →