Ballet Symphonie

I'm not sure it's been tall to small, but more tall to average?

There's still plenty of tall, leggy ballerinas but it's becoming much more common to see dancers who look tall due to exaggerated proportions, then dancers who in the 170-175+ height range. I think it has somthing to do with the 'technical revolution' that's been happening. There's a push for more turns, crazier jumps etc as that's what competitions and the media has been largely rewarding.

It's physically easier for shorter dancers to do more pirouettes, shorter limbs are quicker and lighter to move and easier to place. This is not about weight or anything at all, this is just simple physics. How many tall, leggy guys do you see doing a dozen pirouettes or chucking triple tours or 540s. Think about gymnastics or skating for instance, all the quads are physically more possible with shorter, more compact body types.

Rewarding people who can do the technical feats results in a talent pool that favors average height dancers, I would say around 165cm (5'5"). Why not short dancers, if we're comparing to gymnastics? Ballet is comparatively less extreme, and also balances aesthetics more clearly. There has long been the perception (and has been often proved wrong) that shorter dancers do not have the line or the elegance of taller dancers, so the ideal has ended up someone in the middle as a compromise.

You are right that his espeically becomes problematic for taller girls because it becomes difficult to find them partners. Especially for classical ballet, it's much easier if the girl is shorter than the guyA 5'10 girl will likely be taller or the same height as a guy who is 6'1" or 6'2." Not only are tall guys in high demand but a lot of the taller guys are now less attractive hires, because they lack the coodination to do the crazy tricks. Directors ideally want guys who can DANCE, in addition to partner. Sometimes it's simply hard to find or hire a partner for a very capable girl, so she just doesn't get hired.

However, taller guys with solid partnering skills get hiried all the time just to partner taller girls. But the numbers have to make sense, if a small company has just that one tall guy It's not smart to hire 5 or 6 girls if you only have one guy that can partner them- there's hiring and financial contrasints as well. Lots of factors here

I'm trying to be back! It's been a hectic season!!

I'm overjoyed to hear that you had such a marvelous experience watching Swan Lake and also ecstatic to hear yet another positive review. The tension and expectation for her Met debut this summer feels huge but I'm sure she will rise to the challenge. I was hoping to be in NYC this summer in time with ABT's season but it looks like it won't be happening. ABT is always so hush hush with the videos...I'm sure we'll see some clips!

Hello!

If ballet is something you want to do- go for it! Are you taking classes? Ideally, you'd want some foundational/basic classes with an experienced teacher, in person if at all possible. Once you get started with those, your teacher can help you progress and develop strength and coordination and also keep up your cross training.

While a professional career is likely out of the cards for you, there's no reason why you can't enjoy ballet to its fullest extent that makes sense in your life. Ballet is becoming more and more open to adult performers and it is becoming more possible to find a variety of different performances, workshops, and training opportunities. I am happy to recommend more specifics if I knew your relative global whereabouts.

Oooh some interesting choices here.

I'd kill for a Tiler Peck in Etudes. I also think it would be super fascinating to see the Balanchine style in such a classical ballet. We differ on Giselle, I think she would be wonderfully charming, especially in Act 1. She'd need someone of substance to coach her, I hear Ferri is coming back stateside for the Met season?

Marianela would be a dream in Paquita Etoile, I can just imagine her sailing around endlessly in those attitudes so smoothly. I'm not significantly attached to any version of Pharoh's Daughter. What I am much more interested in is Marianela in a full-length Raymonda. I have been tempted by the far too low-quality video of her doing the Hungarian Wedding Variation and I need the whole thing.

Smirnova will certainly get that role, although I'm more interested in her trying her chops in more modern-era works.

I've read some reviews of City Ballet this season saying that La Somnambula has felt a bit flat this season without a compelling leading lady. If nothing else, Osipova can absolutely bring the drama needed for that role. Dewdrop could also be interesting, but we'd need Bolshoi era Osipova and her speed.

I could take or leave Vishenva in Flames of Paris and we've already talked about Pharoah's Daughter. I'd rather see her in some more MacMillan (Mayerling or Isadora) or Maillot (Perhaps Katherina in Taming of the Shrew or Daphnis and Chloe)

Nothing to say about the Novikova and Tereshkina choices, both would be excellent in those roles. I'd also throw Swanilda to Novikova.

I have read on some forms that he's either injured or on 'sick leave', neither one sounds good. :(

This variation is tough, easily one of the hardest in the classical repertoire. It's a stamina challenge, not so much in terms of crazy bravada, but in terms of the sheer # of releve's. Your calf muscles are screaming even before the famous diagonal of ballonees. The choreography is also quite exposing for the dancer, with body angles that are hard to keep turned out, and intricate transitions. Stylistically, the variation needs to be confident and crisp, authoritative but charming- not the easiest thing to convey when the choreography is a bit terrifying. Especially with students, you'll often see them walk on with one of two emotions: fear or overly aggressive 'I'm gonna nail this' gusto- both miss the mark for me.

Let's start with the first section, obviously the easiest. I like to watch the depth of the plies out of the pas de chat and into the different releves. The strongest dancers, and the one's with the technique to really shine in this variation, will have their heels firmly, safely pressed into the floor any time they get a chance.

I haven't performed this variation but remember having a master class on this variation with Jurgita Dronina. She stressed the importance of musicality and footwork in the first diagonal. Your arms are trying to sustain your legs, float the attitude and en dedans turns, and really sing the melody. To keep you balanced, she told us to think about our legs and lower body acting as the bass, the accompaniment. Yes, you need to float the balances and coordinate your body but not excessively. Each plie should be measured right on the notes, this becomes easier if your feet are stepping precisely in the rhythm of the piece.

Moving on, the jete's going up the diagonal should have actual height- this is still a jump even though it's the preparation for a developpe. It also should create a feeling of spontaneity, the releve out of the jump should be lightly unexpected. Afterward, one of the most difficult sections is the consecutive turning releve's in attitude into a big battement to the side. It's a fatiguing moment, but the leg should remain at the same height, not a bobbling up and down attitude. Watch also how the leg transitions from attitude, to coupe, to a la seconde.

Now on to the ballonne's that made this variation famous. It's supposed to be done on the croisé line, with the leg crossed to the audience. You may see it done on the effacé line to favor a stronger supporting leg or to make it a bit easier to keep turnout. It's an exhausting step, but also a great way to see how well someone has been trained and how strong their turnout is. When they do the ballonne to the side, they should plie with the leg in a la seconde before going into the turn. What often happens is that dancers will 'cut' the ballonne short and plie with their leg in either sur le cou de pied, or retire passe, before pushing up to turn. Most professional dancers aren't cheating at 45 degrees, but when the legs 90+ for the second set....things can get wacky. Watch for that plie, and the turnout of the supporting leg, as well as the stability of the spine. Here's two examples to consider, specifically comparing the diagonals:

And finally, consecutive tour pique is not terribly difficult on its own but it's somehow so much harder to do (and to finish) at the end of all this, especially for those who are trying to make it really exciting by nearly jumping them and throwing in a double to finish.

I WANT THIS. The trouble with Kondaurova is its so hard to find her a partner who's tall and strong enough enough to dance with her and emotionally vulnerable enough to match her on stage. Choreographically, there's a lot of partner work in that ballet that is difficult to do with similarly sized people, and casting usually favors more medium-height girls for the main two pas de deux. I'd want her dancing with someone outside MT.

5'6" (167cm) is the average height, particularly in Europe. It's also quite common here for companies to post a minimum requirement of 165cm for women- certainly not always followed though. I think the bar for being a 'short' dancer needs to be dancers under that minimum.

Short (under 5’4 / 165): Skylar Brandt, Misty Copeland, Evgenia Obratsova, Alina Cojocaru, Natalia Makarova, Tiler Peck, Maria Kochetkova, Iana Salenko, Natalia Osipova

Average (5'5-6"/ 167) Maria Alexandrova, Marianela Nunez, Diana Vishneva, Ekaterina Krysanova, Nina Kaptsova

Tall (5’7+ / 170+): Viktoria Tereshkina (I think she's just 170, looking at pictures with her and Vishenva) Svetlana Zakharova, Ekaterina Shipulina, Ulyana Lopatkina, Olga Smirnova, Alina Somova, Olesya Novikova, Isabella Boylston, Polina Semionova (definitely over 170), Maria Khoreva (also right about 170)

Not everyone who is a good soloist is made to do leading roles. Tikhomirova has repeatedly delivered stunning performances in soloist roles with great jumps and charisma. However, when she was given chances in roles that suited her such as Swanhilda, Kitri and Gulnare, the general conclusion was that she often didn't have the stamina and presence required to be a real 'leading lady.' Her maternity leaves could also be a factor, she hasn't gotten a significant debut in 4-5 years.

I don't have the time to look for you but hopefully someone can help point you in the right direction!

There have long been rumours of this. I think she's absolutely ambitious enough to want it but she also has a lot going on with everything she's built associated with CONTEXT, which would have to take a back seat as MT AD. But Fayteev is unlikely to just go away, he's not that that old, and Vishenva has her own political web to get through. I can't see it happening anytime soon, especially now that Vishenva has announced her solidarity for Ukraine.

The rumours seem to indicate that she is.

I did see this and was surprised by this! Would love to know if anyone has more information!

Krysanova, Zakharova, Kokoreva, possibly Sevenard depending on the repertoire but thats a big if.

ETA: I might have to put Obratsova back on this list, repertoire dependent. That Marco Spada, while not quite as crisp as the 2014 recording, was much more refined than I expected to see nearly 10 years later

I wouldn't hold my breath. Smirnova has nothing to gain by doing this, it only fuels fire against her - which is already quite large. Gracheva will have to answer to God.

I think she's adamantly against it. I think people have to have reasonable expectations for public figures denouncing the war. She's not about to condemn Putin, there are too many unforeseen consequences even for someone who is outside Russia, but she's come pretty darn close by acknowledging that what's happening in Ukraine is terrible. I look at her actions, such as dancing in Ukrainian relief galas, dedicating proceeds from the Force of Nature performance at NYCC to the Ukrainian Relief Effort, and featuring a Ukrainian ballet student/pianist. All of those are choices, she certainly doesn't have to be doing them and she's doing quite a bit more than some other Russian expats. This Times article makes her position plenty clear. I obviously don't know her status with her exes, but she has been publically distant if nothing else.

She's also in a position where she can do these things. She has an American husband and is working in a liberal country. If someone working in a Russian theater did or said similar things, they'd be ruining their career AT BEST- it's worth repeating that all major Russian theatres are directly funded by the Ministry of Culture.

Now people also ask why aren't there more people like Olga Smirnova. Allow me to make another comparison. Some members of MT corps de ballet have left, thinking of MT's Oleg Ignatev, Murat Ushanov, Vsevolod Mayevskyi. The latter is Ukrainian but the first two aren't. None have attracted major attention for leaving simply because they're not huge stars. Mayevskyi talks about leaving Russia with only a few hundred dollars and no credit cards - a terrifying transition. Yet he's the only one of the three still dancing in a company, largely because he is Ukrainian and YAGP made a massive effort to network for them.

I'm certainly not trying to make false equivalencies here, but a Russian dancer speaking out would cost them their job at a minimum, and not all of them have the connections or Smirnova-equivalent star power to convince another company to take a chance on them. Not all of them have the money to just drop everything and leave if their safety was threatened- something that Smirnova certainly didn't have to worry about given who she's married to. They also likely don't have the money to get their family out safely if things turn sour - corps members are making a pittance. It's much easier and safer to just leave without making a public statement if you are willing to take that risk or even just keep your mouth shut and stay- especially when you have colleagues and bosses who do support the war. Of course, the regime and government are horrible, but I find it hard to condemn individuals who are simply trying to protect themselves and their families. It's not as simple as just pressuring people to speak up.

I don't know how many fellow tennis fans follow me, but I'm finding parallels between criticism directed at Osipova and at Daniil Medvedev, the current world #3. He hasn't been quite as direct as some of his contemporaries, Andrey Rublev and Daria Kasatkina, but has repeatedly said that he is for peace, wishes the war would stop and his wife has been pictured during matches in his box wearing a blouse with a blue and yellow collar.

There are higher consequences for public figures speaking out, Duma agents have visited Kasatkina's house (she was not home) and is apparently going to be classified as a 'foreign agent' for her actions. She likely will never return to her home country, she's incredibly brave and this is getting renowned praise as it should. That being said, it's a tremendous sacrifice to make and one that you can't expect everyone to replicate. This NYT article is about Ukrainian and Russian tennis in this turbulent time, but a great read for the intersection of sports and politics, much of which would apply to arts as well.