Ballet’s Dramatic Entrances
Whether it’s an oh-so fashionably late arrival to a ball or an endless line of impressively in-sync penchés, ballets know the power of a dramatic entrance. (Appropriate, perhaps, that the word “entrance” has a double meaning, depending on how you pronounce it: “an entry” and also “to enthrall.”) Take a look at some of our favorite wing-to-stage moments.
Cinderella
Antoinette Sibley, Anthony Dowell, The Royal Ballet (1969)
Clad in a wide, diaphanous cape, Cinderella glides onto the stage and down the stairs during the ball scene of Sir Frederick Ashton’s version, as if in a dream.
Odile
Uliana Lopatkina, Bolshoi Ballet (2007)
Odile enters on Rothbart’s arm in a flurry of horn blares and a stormy lowering of stage lights (0:50). Intrigued, the Queen acknowledges the late arrival, and Odile casts her spell with a glittering, dark smile.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=CQ_IeLDNTDc
Kingdom of Shades
Paris Opéra Ballet (2012)
When the first group of eight dancers has zigzagged its way down the ramp in La Bayadère‘s Kingom of Shades scene, it seems impossible that they just keep coming—and coming and coming. The precision in the adagio section that follows is truly mesmerizing.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=HKpm6x9ai5Y%2520
Marguerite and Armand
Tamara Rojo and Sergei Polunin, The Royal Ballet (2013)
Again, Ashton proves to be a master of drama. Marguerite, utterly still, watches her clandestine lover enter. So much emotion charged in one stare! This pas de deux is a must-see.
