Word: pas
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...ephemeral moment. Like the shapes in a dreaming mind, the dancers echo a single identity. All save the one man are dressed exactly alike in flowering tulle, and their interaction is a matter of motion, not of differing feelings. No sexual tension develops in the male-female pas de deux...
Onstage, Misha and Gelsey were magic from the start. A trial-run pas de deux from Don Quixote dazzled audiences in Winnipeg and later in Washington. Offstage, a love affair flared up between them, along with much professional bickering. Against a common background of rigorous classical training, Baryshnikov relied on instinct, Gelsey on analysis. Rehearsals became long and exasperating. They argued about the meaning of different positions. He: "It's arabesque, it's position." She: "No, it can be different in every ballet." There was also some competitive brain-picking. Gelsey sought the secrets of the Kirov's impeccable style...
...literally stumbled into ballet. Coaxed by a third-grade classmate into a tap class, he found he could not keep his balance; his father, a Vermont meat-packing company owner, suggested that he try ballet as a remedy. Even after achieving success in showpieces like Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, McKenzie is modest: "If I had to compare myself to Baryshnikov, I'd give up and take up carpentry." But not too modest. His aim? "To become the next Kevin McKenzie...
...would be a mistake to stretch the comparison to an American musical too far. Don Q does have a purely classical dream sequence as well as the familiar wedding pas de deux. Many of the steps come from the century-old Marius Petipa choreography (as revised by Alexander Gorsky). It is in the brashness, polish and satirical twists that Don Q seems transplanted. As Jerome Robbins broke up the anonymity of the old musical chorus line, Baryshnikov has livened up the role played by the corps de ballet, giving many of the 50-odd dancers at least some individuality. Several...
...part is interwoven into Baryshnikov's life. He danced the wedding pas de deux at his graduation recital at the Kirov Ballet school in Leningrad. Basil was his first full-length role, one he danced often. Playing it, he says, taught him a great deal: "Technical control, mime, how to use a cape, how to give a flower to a girl, how to be funny, touching, a lover . . . a lot." He is giving those gifts now to the A.B.T. dancers and, one suspects, a profligate present to the company at the box office as well...