I’m fascinated by acting through dancing, it will be an ever present issue in this blog. So I want to begin this year with a great dancing actress, Alessandra Ferri, and her Carmen.

Some performers are sinous as snakes in Carmen, with high octane passionate behaviour and seductiveness. Real seductiveness, however, lies not on looks, outfit or behaviour, but on confident feminility – Alessandra’s Carmen knows that. She is comparatively much more discreet and contained, and still, or even because of it, you feel the air is hot around her. She manages to suggest lots of unreleased passion, and that containment is just her choice. She does not need to seduce him, she knows she IS seductive, and that is enough.
The slight tension on her neck, the smallest hint of a smile, the chin just a tiny little bit up, a sideways glance, the way she extends her hand to him, and we know: she is the one in control, over herself and over him. She concedes herself to him, she enjoys herself, but she does not surrender. Both are passionate, he is in danger of loosing control, but not her. A master lesson of acting!
Alessandra Ferri is SO good:
– she NEVER overdoes it, her acting is made of small details that add up
– her acting is consistent, makes sense in the whole context, and has internal logic, too, her roles have believable and identifiable personalities, and believable behaviour
– and all this, she imparts through her dancing – she needs almost no mime or striking facial expression.
She is five stars!