the Nutcracker/Prince
I remember when in college I first realized ballet could be PE. I took some classes and watched Baryshnikov movies :) Here's Baryshnikov below in a bit from The Nutcracker, as the Nutcracker/Prince dancing with Clara (Gelsey Kirkland) by the Christmas tree ....
posted by crystal | 9:13 PM
5 Comments:
Crys,
Who do you think was better, Baryshnikov or Rudolf Nureyev? Have you ever seen Nureyev dance?
I remember when I found appreciative respect for the physical abilities of ballet dancers. Back in the days when I was doing community theater one of the choreographers thought it would be a good idea for the guys to take a ballet training session or two. We were pretty good at jazz squares, basic steps, and mild acrobatics, but she wanted to see if we could handle something a bit more refined. I couldn't beleive how exhausting, painful, and physically challenging it was.
Too bad, too. Oh, to have been a straight man in a ballet troupe!
When I was a kid, my parents took us to see Nureyev, but I don't really remember it. But I have seen him on tv later. He was really good! Never saw Baryshnikov except in movies and tv. Maybe Nureyev was better but Baryshnikov more popular?
I wonder how good of a dancer Alexander Godunov (Die Hard and Witness) was.
It's true - I think ballet is one of the most physically demanding kinds of exercise. The guys have to be very strong - jumping from a standing position uses lots of fast-twitch muscle fibers. I had a friend in high school who was trying to be a ballerina. Pretty gruelling.
Jeff in ballet :) You'd be like that guy in the movie All That Jazz?
Jeff in ballet :) You'd be like that guy in the movie All That Jazz?
Roy Scheider as Bob Fosse! I love that movie. Yeah, the first musical I was in was Pippin, which was choreographed by Fosse, so that would be appropriate. :-)
I took a quarter of ballet in college, since everyone had to take PE credits. I thought it would be easy, because you never see ballet dancers crack a sweat. right? hah. Great exercise, though. (and I learned I had near-perfect turn out with my feet.)
Hi Jen,
Yeah, I didn't know either until I took a few classes of ballet PE that it was such good exercise. Our teacber used to play that Scott Joplin song from the movie The Sting all the time when we exercised and I still connect it to ballet.
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