by Julia Guiheen | Jul 15, 2021 | TBT
Soviet-born ballerina Valentina Kozlova and the late Patrick Bissell, a principal with American Ballet Theatre, were both tall, glamorous and formidably strong dancers. Kozlova was known for her elastic extensions, yet she could also turn like a top. Bissell was...
by Julia Guiheen | May 5, 2021 | TBT
With its fairytale magic and ludicrous stepsisters, Sir Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella is full of whimsy and charm. The choreography is also playfully challenging with quirky, intricate phrasing that illuminates Prokofiev’s score. Antoinette Sibley, a...
by Julia Guiheen | Mar 31, 2021 | TBT
Updated 9/5/23 There is something special about watching a prima ballerina dance her signature role; her sense of ease and pleasure makes ballet’s complex vocabulary look completely natural. Natalia Makarova, one of the world’s leading dancers in the...
by Julia Guiheen | Mar 17, 2021 | TBT
The ballet world lost an icon earlier this month with the sudden passing of Patrick Dupond on March 5. The French dancer, a former étoile and former director of the Paris Opéra Ballet, had a larger-than-life persona onstage and off. He was renowned for his charisma...
by Julia Guiheen | Feb 17, 2021 | TBT
It’s not every day that you get to see two living legends share the same stage. In 2007, Carmen de Lavallade and Desmond Richardson, trailblazers generations apart, premiered Dwight Rhoden’s Precious Blood at The Joyce Theater in New York. In this clip,...
by Julia Guiheen | Feb 3, 2021 | TBT
The ballet Sylvia, which is based on a legend from Greek mythology, originally debuted in France in the late 19th century, but it soon slipped under the radar. However, the rich score by Léo Delibes inspired British choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton to recreate the...
by Julia Guiheen | Jan 20, 2021 | TBT
Carla Fracci, a former principal dancer of La Scala Ballet in Milan, is among the rare class of ballerinas who continued to perform into her 50s and beyond. Romantic ballets were her calling card throughout her career. In 1987, when Fracci was 51, she was featured in...
by Julia Guiheen | Dec 16, 2020 | TBT
In need of extra Nutcracker cheer? Watching Dame Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes, two former stars of The Royal Ballet, dance the ballet’s grand pas de deux is an instant fix. In this clip from a 1958 Nutcracker television broadcast, even black and white film...