Word: danseur
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Besides pitting Bruhn and Nureyev against each other, the two companies squared off with competing full-length versions of the seemingly inexhaustible classic, Swan Lake. Here the Americans scored an ironic coup, for their production was staged by a premier danseur of the Royal Ballet, David Blair. By going back largely to the seminal 1895 production in St. Petersburg, Blair restored the choreographic brilliance of the work; but he also added dances of his own and reshuffled the story with a knowing eye for drama. The result-handsomely mounted and costumed-was not only the most substantial Swan Lake...
...veteran is the greatest Dane of them all, Erik Bruhn, who at 37 is the supreme danseur noble. The finest technician on two feet, his endless pursuit of classic perfection forgoes the kind of passionate abandon that marks the style of Rudolf Nureyev, the only other dancer in his class. Says one ballerina: "Nureyev is like Callas singing Bellini; Bruhn is like Schwarzkopf singing Mozart." But Bruhn has learned something about characterization from his friend Nureyev. As Don Jose in Roland Petit's version of Carmen, Bruhn was a man possessed, a smoldering Valentino driven by lust and racked...
...called ballet "renaissance" that you credit to visits by the Royal Danish and Royal Ballet actually originated in America's Ballet Theatre-the cradle of Jerome Robbins, Michael Kidd and Eugene Loring, to name a few. If anyone had anything to do with freeing the male danseur of sexual suspicion it was these gentlemen, and, of course, Agnes de Mille. Martha Graham, as well, influenced more forms of the arts than people would like to admit. To witness Miss Graham standing still for one minute has all the oomph of a Nureyev dancing for an entire evening...
...dreamy and hungry psyche trapped in Sargasso's sea of weeds, Toni Lander's split leaps in Etudes were electric, and Veronika Mlakar in Giselle made a Queen of the Willis of intense malevolence. Royes Fernandez is the company's able, and sometimes distinguished premier danseur, and young Bruce Marks has the extra ebullience that sets off a star from the corps...
...even after opening night the wait went on. Impresario Hurok filled the stage with ballets as old and rococo as the Metropolitan Opera House itself. Then he tried the most loyal fans' patience by first presenting Fonteyn and her young new premier danseur in Giselle-one of the most forgettable of all ballets. She danced well, but that was nothing new. So did he, but still nobody could tell whether he could live up to his billing...