Word: baryshnikov
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...history of that partnership, from rare daguerreotypes down to today's 35-mm snapshots. The focus of the collection is not on vanity icons of swan-necked ballerinas posing daintily in profile but on visions of grace and power. Two highlights: Max Waldman's grainy, lyrical image of Mikhail Baryshnikov rehearsing an impossibly bravura jete and an anonymous, easy-does-it portrait of Fred Astaire hoofing his way through Three Little Words...
GISELLE is one of those ballets imbued with the power to melt audiences. Mikhail Baryshnikov has been known to do the same. One would think that a cinematic synthesis of the two could offer an hour and a half of entertainment...
Dancers--said synthesis--has even been directed by Herbert Ross, whose 1977 The Turning Point accrued 11 Academy Award nominations. But in this endeavor, something seems drastically awry as Ross tries to translate the classical plot of Giselle into a modern-day romance between Baryshnikov and a 17-year-old siren...
...Baryshnikov plays Tony Sergeyev, frigid Adonis ballet-god who likes to sleep with lots of women and say poignant things like, "It feels terrible to have no feelings." Tony has been placed in charge of both directing and dancing the lead role in a performance of Giselle which is to be filmed in Italy. The leading lady (Alessandra Ferri) is his mistress. The other female principal dancer, Nadine the acid-tongued misanthrope (Leslie Brown), is his former mistress. And now he has the hots for Lisa (Julie Kent), the long-legged wunderkind of the corps de ballet...
...between whining to her mother over transcontinental phone wires, Lisa, like Giselle, finally submits to Tony's advances. Tony, whose ego matches Baryshnikov's, tells Lisa, "Try to think of me as just a guy." Lisa stares at him demurely and squeaks, "I'll try." But the encounter means little to Tony, so Lisa, with tears in her eyes, runs off and gets a tattoo. Really...