Great Cojocaru and Vasiliev provide the cherry on top of a wonderful company production. Review by Hanna Weibye
Dancers
Dancers that make a difference.
Quote of the Day – Alina Cojocaru
“I can’t do the same thing twice, even if I try. But at the Royal there was one way of doing things – the Royal Ballet way. Now I’ve cut the ropes that were holding me, I can experiment, and I’m not afraid to fall.”
Yeeeesss! I love brave dancers!
Now she will be in ENB’s Swan Lake (7, 11, 13, 16 January) with another brave one, Ivan Vasiliev (not that Swan Lake’s choreography leaves you any room to experiments!).
It would be so nice if they could be partners more often, in the future! She is SOOOOO good!
Alessandra Ferri and Carmen
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!
Ivan Vasiliev’s Injury – Good News!
Ivan Vasiliev is already rehearsing in London. It will be a memorable Swan Lake, for sure – both he and Alina Cojocaru are real, great artists, and ENB’s production has earned so much praise!
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Never, never! could I have imagined that post about IV’s injury would have such visibility, it certainly was not my intention- but then, he is a very much loved artist!
Obviously those linking wanted to know more details about the injury, not my “wise” opinion about it, and all that post did was help brew a storm in a teacup. As there were no news until the 27th Dec, there was no way to ease his fans worries… Fortunately, it seems his injury was not an ACL – as a russian newspaper stated – or there are ways of treatment that don’t require long months of rehabilitation. Anyway, he is young and strong, and is already back!
Now let’s hope the best to Natalia Osipova and Guillaume Cotê, too,
THANK YOU, IVAN VASILIEV!
In this post, I will not defend any idea – I will be only a fan.
First of all:
This link is a Christmas gift to Ivan Vasiliev’s fans, and maybe to him too.
It is also an “I am sorry” gift to him, because of the stir my first post about his injury unwittingly caused – besides the fact that I’m always writing about him.
But most of all, it is a Thank You, Ivan Vasiliev!
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Now, why am I grateful? Because there is so much to like in his dancing. What do I see?
… the same all do:
– his super-hiper-ultra jumps: the ballon, extra-difficulties, clean landings;
– his turns, and their nice controlled ending;
…. but also:
– the sure feet: where he steps, where he lands, there they are, planted on the ground like roots, no fidgeting, no need of correction;
– that he is able to perform in such different styles of dancing (much to his choreographers joy), and fearless to try new ones – how could a dancer with classical training possibly master Labyrinth of Solitude so quickly? Or have the swing to dance Jazzy Five? or deal with all that was new in Solo For Two? … was he BORNE knowing all this?
– his expressive power in any kind of role, and how he uses dancing as a way to expression, instead of just glueing some pre-choreographed poor mimic on the surface of dance;
– how he dares to let go of a classical line if it doesn’t help expression: outstretched hands, contracted shoulders and chest, relaxed arms, and so on, and it is still SO beautiful dancing, sometimes more than ever before;
– the beauty of his movements: he is asked to point a finger, he points, and there it is, ridiculously beautiful, deserving a picture to be taken. Never knew a dancer so graceful, moving, standing, whatever, he is always nice to look at – I suppose it’s still the borne dancer thing;
– his reliable partnering. In Vasiliev’s PDDs, my natural reaction is to sit back, relax and enjoy, because I have no doubt, at all, it will work seamlessly and be beautiful to watch;
– the commitment to his partners, making us pay attention to them because he, the great star, pays so much attention to them;
– the disarming joy in dancing, and disarming pride on his feats;
– that he is the most masculine dancer ever, not just in his looks – all his dancing is masculine;
– that he is handsome, and I don’t give a fig that he does not fit “classical” standards – in fact, he could be the new standard, because I like it better;
– that he gives his best every single time!;
– his self-esteem and individuality – he is always stepping outside of invisible limits others try to set on him. He is fearless, like Ratmansky said, and is always accepting new challenges . Irrepressible, I called him, and I hope he will not change, ever!!
– his charisma. It permeates all other items, and enhances them, and the outcome now becomes really impressive! In order NOT to see and feel it, well, you will have to close your eyes and walk away very quickly… If you stay, you are hooked – wellcome, one more fan! And this quality, more than any one other, enabled him to the next:
– his communication skills: he knows how to create rapport with his audience, how to win them to his role AND even to Ivan Vasiliev himself – awesome feat for a dancer! How many dancers can boast of such a skill? to such an extent? in classical Ballet?
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Has Vasiliev really all these qualities? Oh, they may not be there all the time, or may not be there all at the same time, but, yes, they are all, already, HIS.
He also may not have reached perfection in all these features, and other dancers may be favourably compared on this or that feature, but if you sum these up, you’re compelled to realize he is unique, no superlatives needed. Not a single dancer, until now, had them all together.
Dance becomes DANCE, when he steps on stage, and I’m grateful, deeply grateful every time I see DANCE. So, yes, Thank You, Ivan Vasiliev, I wish more classical dancers were like you!
I hope your example give other dancers “ideas”, boldness. I Hope! I don’t like to see all that weight on just your <classical> shoulders, muscled as they are, because it is cumbersome, you should not know about all this, you should just DANCE! Please!
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Now it’s Natalia Osipova…
Ballet is ruthlessly darwinian
This is the headline of Luke Jenning’s review of ROH Don Quixote, on the 20th Dec, when Natalia Osipova falled during Act 1, and injured badly her leg.
She could not go on after Act 1, and was replaced by Akane Takada. It’s her third injury since joining ROH.
I have no other information about it, I only hope she is lucky, and it was more painful than serious!!!! Good and speedy recovery, fair Queen!
That are still no news about Vasiliev ‘s health, either.
I will try no to make such a fuss this time, because in the mean time I realized dancers keep usually a low-profile about their injures – it makes sense, if you think about it – but it’s hard on their fans, not to know what happened and when we can expect them back.
King GUILLAUME COTÊ: a deserved Title!
I wanted to make a tribute to injured Guillaume Cotê, dancer and compose (such an excess of talent!), but could not choose between TWO videos I like best, so here are the links to both of them: one was made during Nijinsky rehearsals (http://youtu.be/JtlgScaCBKQ) the other one has Roberto Campanella as Director/Choreographer, , and Music and Dancing by Cotê (http://youtu.be/TbA5eK4C-60).
Good and speedy recovery, we need your talent back!!!
Dancers & Athletes
Dancers know all about it, but we, audience, see only the beauty of Dance and easily forget some facts about the physical challenges dancers have to face.
They are several athletes in one: high jump, long jump, hurdles race (without hurdles). But athletes have several advantages over dancers:
special foot-wear that helps the take-off and softens the landings,
they can turn and twist and tighten-up and loosen-up and throw their legs and arms in any way that will increase efficiency and spare their muscles and joints,
they land on soft floor, like sand and mattresses,
they specialize in only one modality,
where they have highly-specialized coaching.
In dancing, it’s their feet meeting directly the hard floor, nothing in between, nothing to enhance efficiency or spare them, all the jumping done with full poise and elegance.
Dancers are also rythmic gymnasts, in that they need the same flexibility, extension, balance and ballon. Gymnasts are always small, lightweight creatures, with almost child-like bodies – most are just teenagers, and retire well before the age of 25.
But the male dancers! Male dancers MUST be heavy-muscled, because they are weightlifters TOO!, and still you expect them to be as agile and flexible as those wispy adolescent gymnasts!
And what to say about point-shoes? What kind of athlete or gymnast must use such a make-it-still-a-lot-harder thing?
Dancers make use of all those different physical abilities one swiftly after another, and another and another, or worse, at the same time – while they feel and exactly follow the music, while acting, while taking care of their partners, while finding their place on stage, while caring about pretty lines, while smiling and making it look easy, while striving… to create magic!
Awesome creatures!
How can they possibly cope with all these different physical, mental and emotional demands, all the time taking high risks on their safety? And they can, driven as they are by the joy of dancing, and by the wish to please US.
Next time, let us remember and cheer them all the more!
I will write a lot about Ivan Vasiliev
Ivan Vasiliev will be a recurring subject in my texts. Why all this attention? Am I just an old woman secretly dreaming about a handsome young boy? Maybe I’m that too, kkkkkkk…
I always acknowledge that I am a fan – a certain amount of my writing is firmly rooted on admiration: as I see it, he is a really gifted dancer, not because he is perfect, or my superhero, but because he has a combination of assets that makes him unique (nice subject to another post).
But I will insist on him as a subject because he is also emblematic. If I were to list my worries and hopes about Dance today, and then I had to exemplify them, I could always pick something about him, or out of his professional life. Often, when I write, the larger picture is in my mind, but I pick Ivan Vasiliev because spotlights are always on him, and even if they were not, HE unwittingly draws our attention (one of his assets being an overload of charisma). So it is so easy to single him out (poor lad, I’m sure it would be very annoying, would he ever be aware of it): he is so “visible”, anything I write about him can be understood, seen, conferred, by anyone who loves Dance, bringing the broader view in it’s wake.
What I mean? For example, he is emblematic TO other dancers, in that he is a Despite-Success.
He is successful despite his “inadequate” physique, despite “technical flaws”, despite a one-sided development of virtuosism (the bravura thing), despite being “unrefined”, “brash”, “vulgar”, despite “inflated ego”and “bad manners”, despite “show-offing” (and so on, it is a huge list, since Solo For Two, even more so), despite flirting with the audience, despite sending joking messages to supercilious critics…
Ooohhh… (wondering…)
So it is possible to be so out-of-limits, and still be a success? So maybe all the rules he bended or broke are not really that wise? Perhaps they should not even exist? hhmm…
He is also emblematic OF other dancers, who share this or that trait with him, traits that make their lives difficult: those trapped into only one kind of role because of their bodies, like it or not; those who expose themselves more and more to injuries as they continuously try to excel in inhuman technical feats; those who suffer severe control on their… 5th positions (as if Dance would cease to exist without perfect ones); those who are not allowed to participate in the creative process; those who are not allowed individuality; those who cannot take a stand to a choreographer or wardrobe designer without being accused of inflated ego; those who had to damp down communication skills; those who had to damp down acting skills (no, no, you must dance Aurora exactly like Fonteyn did… and of course, be unfavourably compared…).
So when I think about Vasiliev, I’m looking well beyond him too, but he stands in the front and middle of the picture. Like Sylvie Guillem in her time, Vasiliev IS a potential revolution by himself.
If he can, others can, too. If he finds a better way, others will follow, or realize they can find their own. He has been opening closed doors since he stepped on the Bolshoi stage for the first time, 7 or 8 years ago. I would totally believe him if he said it was never his intention, that he did nothing like that, that he only wanted to dance. He may even not be aware that he, inadvertently, IS revolution. No problem, there is no need he DOES anything, actively.
But there are a lot of innovative companies and choreographers and dancers nowadays, you can say, pointing accusingly at me with your almost empty glass of wine.
Yes, there are (waving my almost full glass at you – I talked so much I had no time to drink). But they are smaller and have less impact than the maybe 10 big companies. It is inside these Sacred Temples that a conservative audience dictates what is Dance, and their priests sanction liturgy rules accordingly (costly big productions, always the same hard-classical ballets each season – how many Swan Lakes and Sleeping Beauties were already staged, year after year? In how many ways can you stage them with a really new twist? – Matthew Bourne, I love you!!!! – I grudgingly admit, however, that Giselle is an exception: dancers, and nobody else, can bring some freshness to it). My, what a confusing sentence! But I bet you got it.
As long as change does not definitely and surely enter the holy recincts, innovation will have limits. AND it is right inside, in the midst of this holy ground that Ivan Vasiliev IS revolution!
And he is also, in a most personal view, emblematic of my hopes. If he would choose a REAL growing path (bravura roles are a dead-end), any one nicely to his liking, and take a stand about it! No more would be needed: the more he fulfills his potential, the more revolutionary he will be. Because, you see, he already winned a fair parcel of the audience to his side. So he already has enough power: his audience is great, the greatest an individual dancer had in a long time, AND he is able to bring more in, AND has enough charisma to convince at least HIS audience to follow him in new experiences, and ensure they still have fun.
What a grand all-win situation: IV happy, audience pleased, a great example to other dancers. Even the sacrossanct Temples Of Dance would win: more, and new, audience… more $$$$…
So I watch his steps so closely. So I worry: he must step out of this bravura roles BEFORE a serious injury – there is still so much to explore!
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A “posthumous” Note: this was written just a few days BEFORE his injury, can you believe me?
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If Ivan Vasiliev keeps going and kicking, more stones in the foundation of the Sacred Temples will be shaken…
The derisive remarks in reviews about him, however, may be a problem to my hopes.
Or not.
Who knows? He already surprised me with this new, unheard-of behaviour in curtain-calls… I really couldn’t have imagined anything like that, ever, not when such a lot of negative remarks about “bad-manners” were already showering on him. But deliberatedly or intuitively, he found a way to break rules AND finish the Mikh Tour in NY as a winner, and as a winner to be received in San Francisco.
Oh! I love to be surprised!
Full of Dance 