Post by NeonUnicorn on Jul 25, 2013 22:12:18 GMT
Every dancer knows it's not enough to be technically perfect. You need to know why you dance; for me, it's too feel connected. There have been thousads od dancers throughout history, some only dancing from ages 3 to 5, whilst some dance for as long as they can, living out their dreams.
Anna Pavlova: 1881-1931 (50 years) Anna Pavlova was the first great ballerina of the Russian school of classical ballet and the first worldwide star. Born in St. Petersburg, she studied at the Imperial Ballet School, making her debut in 1899. She became Mariinsky Theatre’s prima ballerina in 1906 and the following year made her first tour abroad. In 1908, Pavlova danced briefly with Diaghilev’s itinerant Ballets Russes. In 1911, she moved to London, where she lived the rest of her life. Pavlova started her own company and toured extensively on all continents. Before air transportation was available, she was seen by millions in Brazil, Australia, China, Japan, India, South Africa, Egypt or the United States (five tours). She died of pleurisy three weeks before turning 50 while on tour in The Hague, Netherlands. Pavlova changed the perception on how a ballerina should look — from the strong, muscular, compact body popular at the turn of the century, to the delicate, frail look required by romantic roles like Giselle. Her masterpiece, The Dying Swan brought audiences to tears everywhere.
Galina Ulanova: 1910 – 1998 (88 years) Galina Ulanova is regarded as one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. Composer Sergey Prokofiev called her “the genius of Russian ballet, its elusive soul, its inspired poetry.” Dame Margot Fonteyn said, “Ulanova's dancing is so marvellous, I am left speechless. It is magic.” Rudolf Nureyev described her as ‘the world's Number One ballerina,’ and Maya Plisetskaya, perhaps her equal, raved, ‘She was an angel and she danced like one.’Ulanova was born in St. Petersburg and she studied there under renowned teacher Aggripina Vaganova. In 1928, she joined the Mariinsky Theater. An intellectual, a perfectionist and a wonderful actor inspired by the great Constantin Stanislavsky (of the Method school of acting fame), Ulanova created ravishing, complex performances that made one British critic claim: ‘My memories of Ulanova are, to me, a part of life itself, bringing a total enrichment of experience. To me, hers are not theatrical miracles but triumphs of human spirit. She is so completely identified with the character she impersonates that nothing outside exists.’ Brought by Stalin to the Bolshoi in 1944, Ulanova danced until 1962. Because of World War II, then the Cold War, the West couldn’t see Ulanova in her prime. She was 46 when she performed in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in London, receiving, according to the British press, ‘the greatest triumph of any individual dancer since Pavlova.
’Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias DBE: 1919 – 1991 (72 years) Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias née Margaret Hookham, had a career that spanned over 40 years, highly unusual for a ballerina. The reason could be a late heavenly onstage partnership with Soviet defector Nureyev, which created perhaps the most famous couple in the history of ballet, or the cost of the medical bills for her quadriplegic husband, a Panamanian diplomat shot by a political rival. Fonteyn (stage name changed from Fontes, her mother’s father name) joined the Vic-Wells Ballet School, the precursor of the Royal Ballet School, at 14, studying with Ninette de Valois, the ‘godmother’ of English ballet. At 20, she was already a prima ballerina, with principal roles in ‘Giselle,’ ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘The Sleeping Beauty’. Her performances with the Royal Ballet during the 1949 tour made her a star in the US. Fonteyn, then 30 years old, stunned the audience in the Metropolitan Opera House with her performance as Princess Aurora in ‘The Sleeping Beauty,’ her most memorable classical portrayal, wrote the New York Times. Margot is known worldwide as the greatest ballerina ever. Others have had better technical skill, but Margot had amazing timing, precision and a quality that cannot be taught - presence. atching her, you can notice the way she becomes the role, not just dances it and the joy of performing. Knighted in 1956, Fonteyn was 43 when she first danced with Nureyev in 1962, who was 24. Instead of retiring, as people expected, she made the second part of her career a smashing international triumph. The onstage chemistry and ‘almost tangible sexual tension’ between the two produced memorable performances of ‘Marguerite and Armand,’ ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ ‘Les Sylphides,’ which inspired repeated curtain calls and bouquet tosses and resulted in critical acclaim and box office success. She retired as the grand dame of British Ballet, its greatest homegrown superstar.
Alicia Alonso: 1920 Alicia Alonson is a Cuban ballerina highly regarded for her convincing portrayals of leading roles in the great works of classical and Romantic ballet. She was best known for her lively, precise ‘Giselle’ and for her sensual, tragic ‘Carmen.’ Alonso is a miracle not just for her exceptional qualities as a ballerina, but because she was practically blind throughout almost her entire career, the result of a detached retina. Born in Havana, she took flamenco lessons in early childhood in Spain, then started ballet at eight with Sophie Fedorova, a former dancer with the Bolshoi and Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Married early to a fellow ballet student, she moved to New York where she trained at the School of American Ballet and took private classes with Alexandra Fedorova. She danced with George Balanchine's company and the American Ballet Theatre, then toured as a guest dancer forming a great partnership with Igor Youskevitch. In 1948 she founded the Alicia Alonso Ballet Company in Cuba, which was renamed Ballet de Cuba in 1955, then National Ballet of Cuba in 1959, after Fidel Castro took power. In the late 1950s Alonso was the first ballerina from the West to dance with the Bolshoi and Kirov ballets in Moscow and St. Petersburg (Leningrad). She did not perform again in the US until 1975, when she was still in exceptional shape. In 2002 the United Nations Educational,, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named her Goodwill Ambassador for ‘outstanding contribution to the development, preservation and popularization of classical dance.’
Maya Plisetskaya: 1925 Maya Plisetskaya is a name that belongs in any discussion about ballet’s ‘greatest ever.’ Intelligent, charismatic, seemingly eternally young, unique in the surreal fluidity of her arms and the height of her jumps, Plisetskaya is a megastar that shone with unequaled brightness, grace and durability in ballet’s galaxy. Russian critic Anatoly Korolev called her ‘the true queen of the Bolshoi’ who brought her Latin sensuality to the cool, rational, classical style of the prestigious company. That’s no small praise because, remember, she took over the Bolshoi stage that Ulanova had owned for 16 years. Plisetskaya’s signature part was ‘The Dying Swan,’ created in 1905 for Pavlova by Michel Fokine to music by Camille Saint-Saens. Plisetskaya danced this role more than 20,000 times in 50 years. Watching her on youtube.com, a viewer exclaimed with more eloquence than any critic: "she’s the only dancer who has wings, not arms!" Plisetskaya was born in Moscow in a Jewish family with theatrical and ballet heritage on her mother’s side. Maya was 9 when she entered the Bolshoi Ballet School, 12 when her father was arrested and executed, victim of Stalin’s purges, and her mother was sent to a gulag in Kazakhstan. Adopted by an aunt, Plisetskaya returned illegally to Moscow to continue her studies,and, in 1943, joined the Bolshoi, where she rehearsed some roles with the great Vaganova. Because of her background, Plisetskaya wasn’t allowed to travel abroad when the Bolshoi went to London in 1956, or Japan and Argentina in 1957. Apparently she was cleared to travel to the West after Aleksandr Shelepin replaced Ivan Serov as KGB chief, and she became instantly an international star when Sol Hurok brought the Bolshoi, with Plisetskaya, to the US for the first time in 1959. The year before she had married composer Rodion Schedrin, with whom she worked on several productions beginning in 1967. The rest of her career is a triumphal march — she received all the honors, at home and abroad, an artist can get. At 87, she remains one of ballet’s biggest names. Maya as The Dying Swan, age 61 This performance is more physically and emotionally taxing than almost any other to me. Not only do you have to remain n pointe, but express yourself as a swan who is living her final minutes. Maya captures that beautifully, 2nd only to Pavlova in my opinion.
Anna Pavlova: 1881-1931 (50 years) Anna Pavlova was the first great ballerina of the Russian school of classical ballet and the first worldwide star. Born in St. Petersburg, she studied at the Imperial Ballet School, making her debut in 1899. She became Mariinsky Theatre’s prima ballerina in 1906 and the following year made her first tour abroad. In 1908, Pavlova danced briefly with Diaghilev’s itinerant Ballets Russes. In 1911, she moved to London, where she lived the rest of her life. Pavlova started her own company and toured extensively on all continents. Before air transportation was available, she was seen by millions in Brazil, Australia, China, Japan, India, South Africa, Egypt or the United States (five tours). She died of pleurisy three weeks before turning 50 while on tour in The Hague, Netherlands. Pavlova changed the perception on how a ballerina should look — from the strong, muscular, compact body popular at the turn of the century, to the delicate, frail look required by romantic roles like Giselle. Her masterpiece, The Dying Swan brought audiences to tears everywhere.
Galina Ulanova: 1910 – 1998 (88 years) Galina Ulanova is regarded as one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. Composer Sergey Prokofiev called her “the genius of Russian ballet, its elusive soul, its inspired poetry.” Dame Margot Fonteyn said, “Ulanova's dancing is so marvellous, I am left speechless. It is magic.” Rudolf Nureyev described her as ‘the world's Number One ballerina,’ and Maya Plisetskaya, perhaps her equal, raved, ‘She was an angel and she danced like one.’Ulanova was born in St. Petersburg and she studied there under renowned teacher Aggripina Vaganova. In 1928, she joined the Mariinsky Theater. An intellectual, a perfectionist and a wonderful actor inspired by the great Constantin Stanislavsky (of the Method school of acting fame), Ulanova created ravishing, complex performances that made one British critic claim: ‘My memories of Ulanova are, to me, a part of life itself, bringing a total enrichment of experience. To me, hers are not theatrical miracles but triumphs of human spirit. She is so completely identified with the character she impersonates that nothing outside exists.’ Brought by Stalin to the Bolshoi in 1944, Ulanova danced until 1962. Because of World War II, then the Cold War, the West couldn’t see Ulanova in her prime. She was 46 when she performed in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in London, receiving, according to the British press, ‘the greatest triumph of any individual dancer since Pavlova.
’Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias DBE: 1919 – 1991 (72 years) Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias née Margaret Hookham, had a career that spanned over 40 years, highly unusual for a ballerina. The reason could be a late heavenly onstage partnership with Soviet defector Nureyev, which created perhaps the most famous couple in the history of ballet, or the cost of the medical bills for her quadriplegic husband, a Panamanian diplomat shot by a political rival. Fonteyn (stage name changed from Fontes, her mother’s father name) joined the Vic-Wells Ballet School, the precursor of the Royal Ballet School, at 14, studying with Ninette de Valois, the ‘godmother’ of English ballet. At 20, she was already a prima ballerina, with principal roles in ‘Giselle,’ ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘The Sleeping Beauty’. Her performances with the Royal Ballet during the 1949 tour made her a star in the US. Fonteyn, then 30 years old, stunned the audience in the Metropolitan Opera House with her performance as Princess Aurora in ‘The Sleeping Beauty,’ her most memorable classical portrayal, wrote the New York Times. Margot is known worldwide as the greatest ballerina ever. Others have had better technical skill, but Margot had amazing timing, precision and a quality that cannot be taught - presence. atching her, you can notice the way she becomes the role, not just dances it and the joy of performing. Knighted in 1956, Fonteyn was 43 when she first danced with Nureyev in 1962, who was 24. Instead of retiring, as people expected, she made the second part of her career a smashing international triumph. The onstage chemistry and ‘almost tangible sexual tension’ between the two produced memorable performances of ‘Marguerite and Armand,’ ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ ‘Les Sylphides,’ which inspired repeated curtain calls and bouquet tosses and resulted in critical acclaim and box office success. She retired as the grand dame of British Ballet, its greatest homegrown superstar.
Alicia Alonso: 1920 Alicia Alonson is a Cuban ballerina highly regarded for her convincing portrayals of leading roles in the great works of classical and Romantic ballet. She was best known for her lively, precise ‘Giselle’ and for her sensual, tragic ‘Carmen.’ Alonso is a miracle not just for her exceptional qualities as a ballerina, but because she was practically blind throughout almost her entire career, the result of a detached retina. Born in Havana, she took flamenco lessons in early childhood in Spain, then started ballet at eight with Sophie Fedorova, a former dancer with the Bolshoi and Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Married early to a fellow ballet student, she moved to New York where she trained at the School of American Ballet and took private classes with Alexandra Fedorova. She danced with George Balanchine's company and the American Ballet Theatre, then toured as a guest dancer forming a great partnership with Igor Youskevitch. In 1948 she founded the Alicia Alonso Ballet Company in Cuba, which was renamed Ballet de Cuba in 1955, then National Ballet of Cuba in 1959, after Fidel Castro took power. In the late 1950s Alonso was the first ballerina from the West to dance with the Bolshoi and Kirov ballets in Moscow and St. Petersburg (Leningrad). She did not perform again in the US until 1975, when she was still in exceptional shape. In 2002 the United Nations Educational,, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named her Goodwill Ambassador for ‘outstanding contribution to the development, preservation and popularization of classical dance.’
Maya Plisetskaya: 1925 Maya Plisetskaya is a name that belongs in any discussion about ballet’s ‘greatest ever.’ Intelligent, charismatic, seemingly eternally young, unique in the surreal fluidity of her arms and the height of her jumps, Plisetskaya is a megastar that shone with unequaled brightness, grace and durability in ballet’s galaxy. Russian critic Anatoly Korolev called her ‘the true queen of the Bolshoi’ who brought her Latin sensuality to the cool, rational, classical style of the prestigious company. That’s no small praise because, remember, she took over the Bolshoi stage that Ulanova had owned for 16 years. Plisetskaya’s signature part was ‘The Dying Swan,’ created in 1905 for Pavlova by Michel Fokine to music by Camille Saint-Saens. Plisetskaya danced this role more than 20,000 times in 50 years. Watching her on youtube.com, a viewer exclaimed with more eloquence than any critic: "she’s the only dancer who has wings, not arms!" Plisetskaya was born in Moscow in a Jewish family with theatrical and ballet heritage on her mother’s side. Maya was 9 when she entered the Bolshoi Ballet School, 12 when her father was arrested and executed, victim of Stalin’s purges, and her mother was sent to a gulag in Kazakhstan. Adopted by an aunt, Plisetskaya returned illegally to Moscow to continue her studies,and, in 1943, joined the Bolshoi, where she rehearsed some roles with the great Vaganova. Because of her background, Plisetskaya wasn’t allowed to travel abroad when the Bolshoi went to London in 1956, or Japan and Argentina in 1957. Apparently she was cleared to travel to the West after Aleksandr Shelepin replaced Ivan Serov as KGB chief, and she became instantly an international star when Sol Hurok brought the Bolshoi, with Plisetskaya, to the US for the first time in 1959. The year before she had married composer Rodion Schedrin, with whom she worked on several productions beginning in 1967. The rest of her career is a triumphal march — she received all the honors, at home and abroad, an artist can get. At 87, she remains one of ballet’s biggest names. Maya as The Dying Swan, age 61 This performance is more physically and emotionally taxing than almost any other to me. Not only do you have to remain n pointe, but express yourself as a swan who is living her final minutes. Maya captures that beautifully, 2nd only to Pavlova in my opinion.