who did the ballet dancing in black swan
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Black Swan dance double controversy "Black Swan" is a 2010 American psychological thriller film about a ballet dancer directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, and Mila Kunis. After the 83rd Academy Awards, in which Portman won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the film as a ballerina, controversy arose over how much credit for the dancing in the film was being given to her and how much to her "dance double", American Ballet Theatre soloist Sarah Lane. In a March 3, 2011 blog post (written prior to the DVD release) for "Dance Magazine",
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year to make a ballerina? We know that Natalie Portman studied ballet as a kid and had a year of intensive training for the film, but that doesn’t add up to being a ballerina. However, it seems that many people believe that Portman did her own dancing in "Black Swan"." This led to responses from Benjamin Millepied and Aronofsky, who both defended Portman, as well as a response from Lane on the subject. In December 2007, Lane married Luis Ribagorda, a member of the ABT's "corps de ballet". They reside in Jersey City, New Jersey. Sarah Lane Sarah Lane (born
Sarah Lane
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Black Swan dance double controversy "Black Swan" is a 2010 American psychological thriller film about a ballet dancer directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, and Mila Kunis. After the 83rd Academy Awards, in which Portman won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the film as a ballerina, controversy arose over how much credit for the dancing in the film was being given to her and how much to her "dance double", American Ballet Theatre soloist Sarah Lane. In a March 3, 2011 blog post (written prior to the DVD release) for "Dance Magazine",
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thing that bothered me the most.'" Benjamin Millepied (Portman's husband and a principal dancer from New York City Ballet who debuted in "Black Swan" as both actor and choreographer) responded to Perron's blog in a March 23 interview with the "Los Angeles Times". He states in this interview that "there are articles now talking about her dance double [American Ballet Theatre dancer Sarah Lane] that are making it sound like [Lane] did a lot of the work, but really, she just did the footwork, and the fouettés, and one diagonal [phrase] in the studio. Honestly, 85% of that movie is
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lies primarily in defense of ballet as an art form that cannot be mastered in a year. The DVD of "Black Swan" was released on March 29, 2011 and includes the featurette with Sarah Lane. The film's director Darren Aronofsky stated in a July 2010 interview: "Most of these women who are here started dancing when they were 4, 5, or 6 years old. Their bodies are shaped differently because they started so young. She was able to pull it off. Except for the wide shots when she has to be en pointe for a real long time, it's Natalie
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"Black Swan". Sarah Lane, one of Portman's dancing doubles in the film, claimed that Portman performed only about five percent of the full-body shots, adding that she was asked by the film's producers not to speak publicly about it during the Oscar season. Director Aronofsky defended Portman by issuing a statement insisting that Portman performed 80 percent of the on-screen dancing in the movie. Portman was trained by professional ballerina Mary Helen Bowers for her role in the film and later wrote the foreword to Bowers' book, "Ballet Beautiful". Portman co-starred in the 2011 film "No Strings Attached", alongside Ashton
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Wendy Perron asked: "Do people really believe that it takes only one year to make a ballerina? We know that Natalie Portman studied ballet as a kid and had a year of intensive training for the film, but that doesn't add up to being a ballerina. However, it seems that many people believe that Portman did her own dancing in "Black Swan"." This led to responses from Benjamin Millepied and Aronofsky, who both defended Portman, as well as a response from Lane claiming that she has not been given due credit. The non-original music featured in "Black Swan" consists of
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that it takes only one year to make a ballerina? We know that Natalie Portman studied ballet as a kid and had a year of intensive training for the film, but that doesn't add up to being a ballerina. However, it seems that many people believe that Portman did her own dancing in "Black Swan"." Perron followed up the next week with a second blog post on the subject. She interviewed Lane who states that she did not expect to be named during Portman's acceptance speech because a Fox Searchlight producer had asked her to stop giving interviews until after
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On this occasion, she danced the famous 'Black Swan' pas de deux with the ballet star Thiago Soares, premier dancer from the Royal Ballet. In September 2009, she performed the lead in Swan Lake in the Ballet Nacional de Cuba's visit to Madrid. She then traveled to Washington DC, to work as a guest artist in the 2009.2010 season opening performance for the Washington Ballet Washington Ballet, "Don Quixote" in the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater. Dancing the lead role of Kitri, this was a new staging of the classic ballet by internationally recognized choreographer Anna-Marie Holmes. Her biography, "De acero
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David Lang, Nico Muhly, Thierry Escaich, Daniel Ott, and Philip Glass. The Jerome Robbins Trust and Foundation has underwritten Millepied's work and donors include philanthropists Anne Bass and Arlene Cooper. In 2001, Millepied's dancing was motion-captured for the animated children's film "Barbie in the Nutcracker", along with that of other New York City Ballet dancers. His dancing was again captured for the 2003 Barbie film "Barbie of Swan Lake". In 2009, he served as choreographer for "Black Swan", a psychological thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky which stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as ballet dancers in New York City. He
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Didi Carli Didi Carli is an Argentinian former ballet dancer. The Russian balletmaster and choreographer Victor Gsovsky had seen Carli dancing at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and brought her to Europe, where he partnered her with Robert de Warren, to replace Karin von Aroldingen who had left Frankfurt to join John Taras at New York City Ballet. In his biography, Robert de Warren describes her as a "prodigy" capable of dancing the entire role of the Black Swan on a carpet without pointe shoes. In 1964, Carli appeared as Chloe and Falco Kapuste as Daphnis in the Frankfurt
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back and having experienced what you had and deciding to talk about what happened, would you do "Black Swan" again?" Her answer was, "Yeah, I would." Black Swan dance double controversy "Black Swan" is a 2010 American psychological thriller film about a ballet dancer directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, and Mila Kunis. After the 83rd Academy Awards, in which Portman won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the film as a ballerina, controversy arose over how much credit for the dancing in the film was being given to her and how much
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incorrect things are coming out, and they threaten the entire principle of ballet, then I feel like I need to say something." When Vargas asked if it is possible that both interpretations of the "math" can be correct, Lane responded: "It's possible, like I said, if you're counting the close-ups of her face as actual dancing shots. But I don't call close-ups of her face actual dancing." "20/20" also asked "Black Swan" editor Andy Weisblum for his take on the math. He responded that "there are about 35 shots that are full body shots in the movie. Of those 35
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was invited by that country's First Lady to dance in Montevideo and Punta Del Este. In August 1999, Riccetto joined American Ballet Theatre's corps de ballet and three years later she was promoted to soloist. Riccetto was the "dance double" for Mila Kunis in the 2010 film "Black Swan", a psychological thriller about ballet dancers in New York City. After 13 years of dancing in the American Ballet Theatre, in 2012 Riccetto came back to Uruguay to dance in the national ballet company, S.O.D.R.E., directed by Argentinian former dancer Julio Bocca. American Ballet Theatre. María Noel Riccetto Maria Noel Riccetto
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Ballet Theatre's Spring Season Opening Gala with American Ballet Theatre. Gillian Murphy Gillian Murphy (born April 11, 1979) is a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and Royal New Zealand Ballet. Murphy was born in Wimbledon, England and took her first ballet class at the age of three in Belgium while her father was working overseas. When she was young, the family moved to Florence, South Carolina, where she received most of her early dance training, most notably dancing the Black Swan pas de deux at age eleven. After some experience with the Columbia City Ballet, she continued her studies
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"I do want people to know that she did work really hard. And she lost a lot of weight so that if you looked at her, you would say she could pass from the arms up as a dancer. She's an amazing actor. I can't act like that. But to say that she did all of the dancing is absolutely ridiculous to anyone that knows anything about ballet." In response, people involved with the film (particularly Aronofsky) and Fox Searchlight disputed Lane's claim. They released statements that stated: "We were fortunate to have Sarah there to cover the more complicated
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Gillian Murphy Gillian Murphy (born April 11, 1979) is a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and Royal New Zealand Ballet. Murphy was born in Wimbledon, England and took her first ballet class at the age of three in Belgium while her father was working overseas. When she was young, the family moved to Florence, South Carolina, where she received most of her early dance training, most notably dancing the Black Swan pas de deux at age eleven. After some experience with the Columbia City Ballet, she continued her studies at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
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Educational Schools and the Royal Ballet School. Her first appearance on the stage was as a swan in "Swan Lake" in January 1956, when still a student. In July of the same year she joined the Royal Ballet company. Initially Sibley had small roles such as a friend of Swanhilda in "Coppélia" and Red Riding Hood in "Sleeping Beauty". Joan Lawson in "The Dancing Times" wrote of Sibley's dancing, "lyrical qualities and beautifully flowing line". On 21 March 1959 Dame Ninette de Valois, artistic director of the Royal Ballet, allowed Sibley to undertake her first major role, at a matinée
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version stands as the definitive version of "Gayane". In the end, Nina Anisimova proved that character dancing endures and should be included in the world of classical ballet. The dance in "Gayane" did not follow the Petipa tradition, for example "Swan Lake", wherein the audience is treated to national dance in discrete divertissements of "dances of le salon", in Petipa's words; in contrast, the dance in "Gayane", by force of character, is felt throughout the ballet; it is a natural part of the people and of their history. In time, the ballet helped choreographers understand the importance of choreographic art
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Marseilles, and Ballet of the 20th Century in Brussels. By 1962, following Ulanova's retirement, Plisetskaya embarked on another three-month world tour. As a performer, notes Homans, she "excelled in the hard-edged, technically demanding roles that Ulanova eschewed, including "Raymonda", the black swan in "Swan Lake", and Kitri in "Don Quixote."" In her performances, Plisetskaya was "unpretentious, refreshing, direct. She did not hold back." Ulanova added that Plisetskaya's "artistic temperament, bubbling optimism of youth reveal themselves in this ballet with full force." World-famous impresario Sol Hurok said that Plisetskaya was the only ballerina after Pavlova who gave him "a shock of
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that the dance today is often made to appear to be a variation of "Swan Lake", which she describes as "Odette at death's door." Isabelle says that the ballet is not about a ballerina being able to transform herself into a swan, but about death, with the swan as a metaphor. Pavlova was recorded dancing "The Dying Swan" in a 1925 silent film, to which sound is often added. The short ballet has influenced interpretations of Odette in Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake", particularly during the parting of the lovers in the first lakeside scene. The dance was almost immediately adapted by
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Ballet. Jeffrey Golladay joined San Francisco Ballet in 1997 at age 18 and continued dancing with the company until 2001. During this time he danced a variety of roles, including parts in Lubovitch's "Othello", Balanchine's "Symphony in C", Lew Christensen's "Con Amore" and roles in various classical pieces including "Giselle", "The Sleeping Beauty" and "Swan Lake". Golladay left San Francisco Ballet at the end of the 2001 Season and joined Houston Ballet. His repertoire with the flagship Texan ballet company includes roles in James Kudelka's "Firebird", McIntye's "Peter Pan" and Stevenson's stagings of "Cleopatra", "The Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake". His
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for her thesis on French Impressionism. During her time at Princeton, she continued her ballet training exclusively with Wilhelm Burmann, who remained her private ballet coach for the rest of her dancing career. Also during her college years, she performed as a guest artist in Japan, Canada and with several local companies in the New York area such as the Eglevsky Ballet, Connecticut Ballet and New Jersey Ballet. She performed the title role of "Cinderella", Odette in "Swan Lake" (Act II) and the lead role in Balanchine's Allegro Brillante for the Eglevsky Ballet, the role of Swanilda in Brett Raphael's
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Swan and the Black Swan to the script. When researching for the production of "Black Swan", Aronofsky found ballet to be "a very insular world" whose dancers were "not impressed by movies". Regardless, the director found active and inactive dancers to share their experiences with him. He also stood backstage to see the Bolshoi Ballet perform at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Aronofsky called "Black Swan" a companion piece to his previous film "The Wrestler", recalling one of his early projects about a love affair between a wrestler and a ballerina. He eventually separated the wrestling and the
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Black Swan (film) Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological horror film directed by Darren Aronofsky. The screenplay was written by Mark Heyman, John McLaughlin, and Andres Heinz, based on an original story by Heinz. The film stars Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder. The plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" ballet by the prestigious New York City Ballet company. The production requires a ballerina to play the innocent and fragile White Swan, for which the committed dancer Nina (Portman) is a perfect fit, as well as the dark and sensual Black
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her new career as a performer and choreographer of modern dance routines in a style that fused the classical elegance of ballet with the gymnastic and acrobatic moves of pole dancing. In 2005 she won Miss Pole Dance UK and then the inaugural Miss Pole Dance World, becoming the first ever World Pole Dancing Champion, with her Black Swan routine. She was later controversially disqualified from the World title because the removal of her tutu as she transformed from ballerina to pole dancer during her routine was deemed to constitute stripping (which was not allowed by the rules). In 2006,
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"Cinderella", "Swan Lake" and "Raymonda", gaining the title of prima ballerina assoluta. Carlotta Brianza (1867–1930), also from Milan, first gained fame at La Scala with which she toured the United States. She is remembered above all for dancing Aurora at the premiere of Petipa's "Sleeping Beauty" in 1890. New, more dynamic approaches to ballet developed from the beginning of the 20th century, the most influential being Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, promoting innovative collaborations between choreographers, composers and dancers. One of the early stars was Anna Pavlova (1881–1931) who gained fame by dancing "The Dying Swan" choreographed by Mikhail Fokine before
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did the heavy tricks, she did the fouettés, but they only had her for a limited time, a couple of weeks, so I did the rest of whatever dance shots they needed." In addition to the soloist performances, members of the Pennsylvania Ballet were cast as the corps de ballet, backdrop for the main actors' performances. Also appearing in the film are Kristina Anapau, Toby Hemingway, Sebastian Stan, and Janet Montgomery. Aronofsky and Portman first discussed a ballet film in 2000, after the release of "Requiem for a Dream", though the script had not yet been written. He told her
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Jocelyn Vollmar Jocelyn Vollmar (1925 – July 13, 2018) was an American ballerina, known for her career with the San Francisco Ballet. Vollmar was born in San Francisco, California where she began dancing with the San Francisco Ballet at age 12. Under the tutelage of Willam Christensen, Vollmar started dancing in small roles with the San Francisco Ballet in productions including the 1939 premiere of Coppélia and the first full-length Swan Lake produced in America, in 1940. Upon her graduation from Lowell High School at age 17, she joined the company. With the San Francisco Ballet, Vollmar went on to
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debut in a performance of "Swan Lake" at Covent Garden, dancing in the "pas de trois" in act 1, as a cygnet in acts 2 and 4, and in the Neapolitan Dance in act 3. Thereupon she was invited to join the Royal Ballet touring company. She was 17 years old at the time. Thus was launched the career of a dancer who was much admired in England and who became "the undisputed queen of ballet in South Africa." Spira remained with the touring group of the Royal Ballet for three years, from 1960 to 1963. Promoted to soloist in
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the film's story to that of "Showgirls" (1995) and "Burlesque" (2010) while concluding "Black Swan" is "simply higher-priced cheese, Aronofsky's camembert to ["Burlesque" director Steve] Antin's cheddar. The film has been criticized for its portrayal of ballet and ballet dancers. Upon the film's release in the United Kingdom, "The Guardian" interviewed four professional ballet dancers in the UK: Tamara Rojo, Lauren Cuthbertson, Edward Watson, and Elena Glurjidze. Rojo called the film "lazy ... featuring every ballet cliche going." Watson felt that the film "makes [ballet] look so naff and laughable. It doesn't show why ballet is so important to us
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it as ""All About Eve" with a double, set in the off-Broadway world." After making "The Fountain" (2006), Aronofsky and producer Mike Medavoy had screenwriter John McLaughlin rewrite "The Understudy"; Aronofsky said McLaughlin "took my idea of "Swan Lake" and the ballet and put [the story] into the ballet world and changed the title to "Black Swan"." When Aronofsky proposed a detailed outline of "Black Swan" to Universal Pictures, the studio decided to fast-track development of the project in January 2007. The project "sort of died, again" according to Aronofsky, until after the making of "The Wrestler" (2008), when he
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also took leading roles in "Giselle", "Swan Lake" and "Raymonda". In 2005, she joined the Dutch National Ballet where she became a in 2005, a soloist in 2007 and a principal in 2010. Anu Viheriäranta has received a number of awards including: Anu Viheriäranta Anu Viheriäranta (born 1982) is a Finnish ballet dancer. She joined the Dutch National Ballet in 2005 becoming a principal dancer in 2010. Born in Helsinki, Viheriäranta showed an interest in dance as a small child when she began dancing in her room. As a result, her mother took her to dancing classes. She went on
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Writing of the performance, Montreal Daily Star dance critic S. Morgan-Powell reportedly wrote, "Her dancing was characterized by a purity of style not often seen nowadays in ballet." She was also noted for her performances in Les Sylphides, Scheherazade, The Snow Maiden, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. In an "American Dancer" article, reviewer Albertina Vitak said, "Krassovska stands out over all and is one of the most valuable assets of the company." Krassovska's repertoire was not limited to ballet blanc. She learned tap dancing for her character in The New Yorker, Leonide Massine's 1940 ballet based on cartoons from the
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She first trained at The Dorothy Colebourn School of Dance before joining The Royal Ballet Lower School at the age of 11, and started taking ballet seriously at the age of 15. After graduating, Cope became a dancer for The Royal Ballet, and in 2009 she became First Artist of the company. The choreographer Liam Scarlett called her "a presence on stage like no other". In 2014, while dancing in The Royal Ballet's "Swan Lake", Cope was spotted by Christopher Wheeldon, who was looking for a leading actress for his stage version of the film "An American in Paris". Having
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worked out for five hours a day, doing ballet, cross-training, and swimming. A few months closer to filming, she began choreography training. Kunis engaged in cardio and Pilates, "train[ing] seven days a week, five hours, for five, six months total, and ... was put on a very strict diet of 1,200 calories a day." She lost 20 pounds from her normal weight of about 117 pounds, and reported that Portman "became smaller than I did." Kunis said, "I did ballet as a kid like every other kid does ballet. You wear a tutu and you stand on stage and you
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Cassel also compared "Black Swan" to Polanski's early works and additionally compared it to David Cronenberg's early works. Aronofsky first discussed with Portman the possibility of a ballet film in 2000, and he found she was interested in playing a ballet dancer. Portman explained being part of "Black Swan", "I'm trying to find roles that demand more adulthood from me because you can get stuck in a very awful cute cycle as a woman in film, especially being such a small person." Portman suggested to Aronofsky that her good friend Mila Kunis would be perfect for the role. Kunis contrasted
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She has since become an accomplished choreographer, including productions of "The Garden of Eros" for London City Ballet and "Dancing at Lughnasa". Porter teaches at the Royal Ballet School, where in 2008 she taught Marianela Núñez the steps of "The Dying Swan" as Michel Fokine choreographed for Anna Pavlova in 1907. She has also taught at the Ballet Rambert, and as a guest teacher at the Hong Kong Ballet. Porter is a Director of the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars (taking over from the retiring David Gayle), and a governor of the Royal Ballet Company, Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet
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art form to audiences who had never seen ballet before. During this time, she was a key figure in the formation of the American Ballet Theatre, dancing with the company during its early years. Markova appeared in ballets around the world, but is remembered mostly for her "Giselle", as well as for "The Dying Swan" and "Les Sylphides". During the Second World War she re-formed "Les Ballets Russes" in the United States and appeared as a dancer with Dolin in the Hollywood film, "A Song for Miss Julie". In 1950, Markova and Dolin became the co-founders of the "Festival Ballet",
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response to comparisons between "Perfect Blue" and "Black Swan", Aronofsky acknowledged the similarities in 2010, but denied that "Black Swan" was inspired by "Perfect Blue". Kon noted in his blog that he had met with Aronofsky in 2001. Amy Westcott is credited as the costume designer and received several award nominations. A publicized controversy arose regarding the question of who had designed 40 ballet costumes for Portman and the dancers. An article in the British newspaper "The Independent" suggested those costumes had actually been created by Rodarte's Kate and Laura Mulleavy. Westcott challenged that view and stated that in all
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Paul Hammond (ballet dancer) Paul Clement Hammond OAM (16 December 1922 – 10 September 2010) was an Australian ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. Inspired as a teenager by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Hammond started dancing at the age of 17, studying ballet with Mischa Burlakov, Helene Kirsova and Leon Kellaway. From his early twenties, Hammond held numerous senior roles with premier Australian ballet companies. As Principal and Soloist with the Kirsova Ballet, Australia's first professional ballet company, Hammond danced the principal roles in various productions including "Les Sylphides", "Hansel & Gretel", "Swan Lake" and "Harlequin". He went on
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Black Swan: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Black Swan: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2010 film, "Black Swan". The album marked the fifth consecutive collaboration between Aronofsky and English composer Clint Mansell. Mansell scored the film based on Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake", but with radical changes to the music. Because of the use of Tchaikovsky's music, the score was deemed ineligible to be entered into the 2010 Academy Awards for Best Original Score. Violinist Tim Fain was featured in performance both on-screen and in the soundtrack of "Black Swan", and the film also featured various new
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him with Yo-Yo Ma in "The Swan" performance that went viral on YouTube. Woetzel heard about Lil Buck from his wife Heather Watts who saw an old YouTube video clip of Lil Buck freestyle dancing to Camille Saint-Saëns’ "Le cygne" ("The Swan") in a New Ballet Ensemble (NBE) school performance in West Memphis, Arkansas. NBE director Katie Smythe introduced Buck to Saint-Saëns' music and the idea of applying jookin' to classical music. Watts showed the clip to her husband Woetzel who then showed the clip to Yo-Yo Ma. They all eventually met by using Facebook to contact Katie Smythe (Lil
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Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Arena di Verona Ballet and is a guest principal with the Ballet de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux. As from 2001 he is a permanent guest and principal dancer with the Ballet de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux and the Rome Opera Theatre Ballet. January 2004 marked his debut at the Kremlin Theatre dancing the title role in Sergei Prokofiev's ballet "Ivan the Terrible", and making him the first non-Russian to dance such role. He has created roles in various pieces including "Carmen", "La Traviatta", "Aida", "The Dying Swan" and "Don José". He married
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narrative action". Such ballets are theatrical works that have characters and "tell a story", Dance movements in ballet "are often closely related to everyday forms of physical expression, [so that] there is an expressive quality inherent in nearly all dancing", and this is used to convey both action and emotions; mime is also used. Examples include Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake", which tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse, Sergei Prokofiev's ballet "Romeo and Juliet", based on Shakespeare's famous play, and Igor Stravinsky's "Petrushka", which tells tells the story of the
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to Universal Studios, "Black Swan" was produced in New York City in 2009 by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Portman and Kunis trained in ballet for several months prior to filming, and notable figures from the ballet world helped with film production to shape the ballet presentation. The film premiered as the opening film for the 67th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2010. It had a limited release in the United States starting December 3, 2010 and opened in wide release on December 17. The film upon release was a critical and commercial success. Critics praised Portman's performance and Aronofsky's
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– why we would want to try so hard." The Canadian Press also reported that many Canadian ballet dancers felt that the film depicted dancers negatively and exaggerated elements of their lives but gave Portman high marks for her dance technique. In an interview with the "Los Angeles Times", Gillian Murphy a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre praised the visual elements of the film but noted that the film presentation of the ballet world was "extreme." "Black Swan" appeared on many critics' top ten lists of 2010 and is frequently considered to be one of the best films of
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and "unique feminine strength" by several critics including "The New York Times", "Dance Magazine", and "KoreAm". Seo's debut performance as Principal dancer in 2012 was as Princess Aurora in "The Sleeping Beauty" and the Swan Queen in "Swan Lake". Seo has said that "Swan Lake" was her most challenging ballet. The iconic classic ballet is notoriously difficult and demanding. The lead ballerina performs the contrasting roles of Odette, the White Swan, and Odile, the Black Swan. In an interview with "Pointe" magazine, Seo said that she "prefers the mental and physical challenge of full-length ballets over repertory works". In particular,
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Siegfried in "Swan Lake", Duke Albrecht of Silesia in "Giselle", Basilio in "Don Quixote", Oberon in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Count Dracula in "Dracula", and Franz in "Coppélia". He also danced secondary roles including Hilarion in "Giselle", Lensky in "Onegin", Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet", and Pinkerton in "Madame Butterfly". He danced with the Boston Ballet for twenty-two years before retiring from dancing to focus on his work as a choreographer. Yanowsky has choreographed numerous ballets for the Boston Ballet, Boston Ballet II, Bundes Jugend Ballet Hamburg, Festival Ballet Providence, Carlos Acosta's "Premiere's Plus", and for international galas. In 2015
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the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Born in Lancaster and after an early training at the Joan Ward School, he went on to the study at the Rambert School in London. He then performed with Rambert Dance Company, dancing Itzik Galili's A Linha Curva before joining the Vienna Festival Ballet in 2008 as a soloist. in 2009 he danced his first principal as the Nutcracker Prince, and was consequently cast as Siegfried in Swan Lake the following season. Joseph joined Vienna Festival Ballet for its 2010 production of 'The Sleeping Beauty'. Originally from Cambridge, Joseph graduated from Ballet West in early 2010
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Ballet shoe A ballet shoe, or ballet slipper, is a lightweight shoe designed specifically for ballet dancing. It may be made from soft leather, canvas, or satin, and has flexible, thin soles. Traditionally, women wear pink shoes and men wear white or black shoes. Tan colored slippers—which are unobtrusive and thus give the appearance of dancing barefoot—are worn in modern ballets and sometimes modern dancing by both men and women. All dancers typically wear ballet slippers at the beginning of a ballet class, whereas female dancers may change into pointe shoes for centre work and performance. Ballet shoes must fit
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took her dancing course from Leningrad Choreography Academy, the Vaganova Ballet School, from where she graduated in 1961. It was a tradition among the students of this ballet school to consider themselves incomplete till they performed the Swan dance. She was also keen to learn the complete music of the ballet. In 1961, after graduating she returned to Dushanbe and joined Onegin Theatre. She also joined People's Artist of the USSR and regularly performed at Tchaikovsky Hall. She was proficient in all classical forms of ballet and won several international awards. As a solo ballet dancer her repertoire included all
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Ballet School in Toronto for the talented youngster, and her parents agreed because they wanted a school that combined academic training and supervised boarding. At age eleven Hodgkinson began her studies at the National Ballet School after a successful audition. She joined the National Ballet of Canada in 1990 at age sixteen and was promoted to second soloist in 1993, and then to first soloist in 1995 after her successful debut as the Swan Queen/Black Swan in Erik Bruhn’s "Swan Lake". When James Kudelka assumed control of the company in 1996, he made Hodgkinson a principal dancer. In 1993 Hodgkinson
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Benois de la Danse, an international award for excellence in ballet, for her role as Odette/Odile in "Swan Lake". In 2000 and 2001, Dance Europe voted her Best Performance by a Female Dancer for her interpretation of Odette/Odile in "Swan Lake" and for Summer in "The Four Seasons". In 2001, 2002 and 2003, Hodgkinson performed in "Gala des Etoiles" with Rex Harrington and Carlos Acosta of the Royal Ballet. Also in 2001 Hodgkinson made her debut with the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, dancing the role of Hanna in "The Merry Widow". She has also performed with
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about it. You might howl at the sheer audacity of mixing mental illness with the body-fatiguing, mind-numbing rigors of ballet, but its lurid imagery and a hellcat competition between two rival dancers is pretty irresistible." Honeycutt commended Millepied's "sumptuous" choreography and Libatique's "darting, weaving" camera work. The critic said of the thematic mashup, "Aronofsky ... never succeeds in wedding genre elements to the world of ballet ... White Swan/Black Swan dynamics almost work, but the horror-movie nonsense drags everything down the rabbit hole of preposterousness." Similarly, in a piece for "The Huffington Post", Rob Kirkpatrick praised Portman's performance but compared
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U.S., routinely dancing the waltz solo in Les Sylphides. Her repertoire also included roles in Ballet Imperial, Le Beau Danube, Capriccio Espagnol, Gaite Parisienne, Giselle, Graduation Ball, Harlequinade, Swan Lake, and Variations Classiques. As an African American, she faced many difficulties while on tour, particularly in the segregated South. When the troupe stayed in "whites only" hotels, Wilkinson kept her race a secret. She later told an interviewer, "I didn’t want to put the company in danger, but also never wanted to deny what I was. If someone questioned me directly, I couldn’t say, 'No, I’m not black.'" For two
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of American Ballet Theatre" with Angel Corella, Ethan Stiefel and Vladimir Malakhov, directed by Judy Kinberg. On 30 June 2011 he gave his final performance with the ABT in New York City at the Metropolitan Opera House in Swan Lake featuring Julie Kent and Gillian Murphy as Odille and Odette. Carreño was joined on stage by other members of the company including Marcelo Gomes, Maxim Beloserkovsky and Cory Stearns who hoisted him overhead. Carreño served as the artistic director of the Ballet San Jose from 3 September 2013 until the company closed in 2016. He has performed on Dancing With
José Manuel Carreño
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"Beatrice" rather than "Berta". The title role is undoubtedly the main focus of the ballet. She is a gentle water sprite who the audience discovers dancing in a waterfall and then with her own shadow. Her love for Palemon is deep, which is what makes his unfaithfulness so devastating and dramatic. The male lead is bewitched by the feminine allure of Ondine. He has never seen a creature as lovely as her and decides to marry Ondine, forsaking his betrothed, Beatrice (Berta). Similar to the Prince in Swan Lake, Palemon is destroyed by breaking the trust of his intended. She
Ondine (ballet)
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pieces of music by English production duo The Chemical Brothers, although they are not featured on the official soundtrack. Black Swan: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Black Swan: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2010 film, "Black Swan". The album marked the fifth consecutive collaboration between Aronofsky and English composer Clint Mansell. Mansell scored the film based on Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake", but with radical changes to the music. Because of the use of Tchaikovsky's music, the score was deemed ineligible to be entered into the 2010 Academy Awards for Best Original Score. Violinist Tim Fain was
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Japan, in order to invite them to an exclusive ballet school designed to improve the quality of Japanese ballet. Her impromptu dance for Sergeiev and Prisetskaya captured the attention of Sergeiev, and so Masumi goes to Tokyo in order to compete. Once there, Masumi meets Sayoko Kyogoku and Hisho Kusakabe, who both witnessed her clumsy Black Swan at the theater. They are now competing against each other. However, the three become friends, along with Aoi Yanagisawa, Kusakabe's friendly rival. Out of the eight finalists, Masumi, Sayako, Kusakabe, and Aoi are all accepted. However, Masumi is obviously the weakest of the
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electricity" when she came on stage. Rudolf Nureyev watched her debut as Kitri in "Don Quixote" and told her afterwards, "I sobbed from happiness. You set the stage on fire." At the conclusion of one performance at the Metropolitan Opera, she received a half-hour ovation. Choreographer Jerome Robbins, who had just finished the Broadway play, "West Side Story", told her that he "wanted to create a ballet especially for her." Plisetskaya's most acclaimed roles included Odette-Odile in "Swan Lake" (1947) and Aurora in "Sleeping Beauty" (1961). Her dancing partner in "Swan Lake" states that for twenty years, he and Plisetskaya
Maya Plisetskaya
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aged 18-55 to take part in our new series about ballet. No previous ballet experience necessary. If you're interested to hear more, we'd love to talk to you!". The applicants were whittled down to a troupe of eighteen for the series. Big Ballet Big Ballet was a British documentary television programme produced by Rare Day and broadcast on Channel 4. The three-episode series was first broadcast on 6 February 2014. It followed Wayne Sleep and prima ballerina Monica Loughman as they worked with a troupe of amateur dancers to realise their dream of dancing Swan Lake. The dancers, referred to
Big Ballet
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meaning in movement. Among other notable roles in Verdy's repertory was that of Creusa, the "other woman" in Birgit Cullberg's "Medea," which entered the New York City Ballet repertory in 1958. As a guest artist, she appeared frequently in performances at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and on tour. In productions mounted by England's Royal Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, and the Boston Ballet, she danced the ballerina roles in such classic works as "Giselle, Swan Lake, La Sylphide, The Sleeping Beauty," and "Coppélia." From 1949 onward, she was also often seen dancing on French, British, Canadian, and
Violette Verdy
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Ballet Competition in 1999. Enikő Somorjai Enikő Somorjai (born November 17, 1981) is a soloist dancer with the Hungarian National Ballet in Hungarian State Opera House. Born in Budapest, Hungary, she began dancing at the age of four. She took her degree in 2001 at Hungarian Dance Academy. Prior to becoming a soloist, she was in the Company "corps de ballet". She has danced in many ballets including "The Nutcracker" (Sugar Plum Fairy), "Swan Lake" (Odette/Odile), "The Wooden Prince" (Princess), "Giselle" and many others. In 1997 Somorjai won the gold medal at the Győr International Ballet Competition and the third
Enikő Somorjai
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to principal dancer in 2009. In both Houston and Toronto, she established a close personal and professional relationship with Zdenek Konvalina. Following Konvalina, in 2011, she joined the English National Ballet as a principal dancer. She has danced principal roles in several classical ballets including "The Sleeping Beauty", "Swan Lake" and "Giselle" and in works by George Balanchine such as "Apollo (ballet)" and "Jewels". She received the Rolex Dancers First Award in 2009 for dancing the title role in Davide Bombana's "Carmen". Bridgett Zehr Bridgett Zehr (born c. 1985) is an American ballet dancer. After terms with the Houston Ballet
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speak annually to the England and Wales Cricket Board as part of their Level Four Training for international cricket coaches. In 2015 he was invited to take part in the BBC programme "Test Match Special" with an interview entitled, "View from the Boundary". In 2018 Campbell was featured on ABC Television (Australia) in a documentary charting his early life and that of fellow Royal Ballet Principal, Steven McRae. Campbell can be seen dancing in the following productions: BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET ROYAL BALLET Alexander Campbell (dancer) Swan Lake Alexander Campbell (born 1986) is a principal dancer in the Royal Ballet at
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enjoys dancing include Odile/Odette in "Swan Lake" and Aurora in "The Sleeping Beauty". She received considerable acclaim for both when she performed them with the Cuban National Ballet at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in 2005, one reviewer calling her "the company's technical genius". She very much likes to dance in contemporary works too. Sadaise Arencibia Sadaise Arencibia (born c. 1981) is a Cuban ballet dancer. In 1999, she joined the Cuban National Ballet where she has been a star dancer ("primera bailarina") since 2009. After beginning her training at Havana's Alejo Carpentier Ballet School in 1991, she continued her studies
Sadaise Arencibia
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Cynthia Harvey Cynthia Harvey (born May 17, 1957) is an American dance teacher and former ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre. Harvey was born in California, and joined American Ballet Theatre in 1974. Her roles included Odette/Odile in "Swan Lake". While Mikhail Baryshnikov was the artistic director at ABT, he personally selected her to perform as the prima ballerina in Baryshnikov's filmed production of "Don Quixote". She was a principal of the Royal Ballet, and made guest appearances with other companies before retiring from dancing in 1995. Now Ms. Harvey is Artistic Director, American
Cynthia Harvey
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Zhu Yan Zhu Yan () is a Chinese ballet dancer. Since 1995, she has danced with the National Ballet of China where she is now the leading prima ballerina. Zhu Yan started dancing ballet when she was nine. After graduating from the Beijing Dance Academy in 1995, she joined the National Ballet of China where she became a principal dancer in 2004. As of 2013, she is the company's leading prima ballerina. She has created leading roles in most of the classical ballets including "Swan Lake", "Don Quixote", "The Sleeping Beauty" and "Giselle". She has also danced in the contemporary
Zhu Yan
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She is also a sparkling classical dancer, dancing most of the leading classical roles with the Estonian Ballet before she was 21. Molly joined San Francisco Ballet as a Principal in 2006-2008. Repertory: with Estonian National Ballet: principal roles in Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake; Repertory with BRB: works by Frederick Ashton (Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan, The Two Pigeons Gypsy Girl, La Fille mal gardée Lise, Scènes de ballet, Dante Sonata and Voices of Spring); George Balanchine (Concerto barocco - Leading Ballerina, Second Ballerina, Prodigal Son Siren, Western Symphony First
Molly Smolen
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Big Ballet Big Ballet was a British documentary television programme produced by Rare Day and broadcast on Channel 4. The three-episode series was first broadcast on 6 February 2014. It followed Wayne Sleep and prima ballerina Monica Loughman as they worked with a troupe of amateur dancers to realise their dream of dancing Swan Lake. The dancers, referred to in the show as "fat" or "real women", ranged from UK size 12 to 24: all of the dancers were significantly larger than the norm in classical ballet, however, the slimmer dancers would not be categorised as "plus size" usually. "Profiles
Big Ballet
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as Franz in "Coppélia", Basilio in "Don Quixote", Albrecht in "Giselle" and Prince Siegfried in "Swan Lake". He has also performed in the principal roles in such works as "Le Corsaire", the "Diane and Actéon pas de deux" and the "Black Swan pas de deux". He has been principal dancer in the English National Ballet in 1990, The Royal Ballet in 1993 and the American Ballet Theater starting in 1995. In 2004 Carreño received the Dance Magazine Award for significant contributions to the ballet world. In 2007 he appeared in the movie, "Born to Be Wild – The Leading Men
José Manuel Carreño
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the Shanghai Ballet Company since he was 12. He was awarded with the Bronze Medal in the 1st National Ballet Competition of China in 1985 and the prize for Encourage in Shanghai Dance Competition in 1991. He danced leading roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, the Nutcracker, the White-haired Girl, The Butterfly Lovers, Coppelia, La Sylphide, Sleeping Beauty, The Latest Time, etc. He has also appeared in a Shanghai TV dancing show. Since its founding, many young dancers of the company have won total of 37 medals in various international dance competitions. The Shanghai Ballet is active in
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In 1995, Yoshida joined The Royal Ballet as principal dancer and was known for her partnership with such as Tetsuya Kumakawa, and Irek Mukhamedov. She was also appointed UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2001. In 2004, she married Takashi Endo, a Japanese football agent. In 2006, she joined K-ballet while she continued dancing with The Royal Ballet, before winning the Best Female Dancer in National Dance Awards. In 2007, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire for services to dance. In 2010 she retired from the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden. Odette/Odile (Swan Lake), Aurora, Juliet (Romeo and
Miyako Yoshida
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After a year in the Corps de Ballet, he was promoted to soloist and a year later to principal dancer immediately after his first performance of "Swan Lake". Morales danced with the Ballet de Santiago until 2003, when he moved to Paris to work as a freelance guest artist, dancing in Paris, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. He went on to join the English National Ballet in 2004, was Principal Guest Artist with Vienna Staatsoper in 2006 and then joined the Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2008. https://www.brb.org.uk/profile/cesar-morales César Morales (dancer) César Morales Anderson (born 17 November 1978) is a Chilean
César Morales (dancer)
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series Big Ballet with Wayne Sleep as she worked with a troupe of plus-size amateur dancers to realise their dream of dancing Swan Lake. Monica Loughman Monica Loughman is an Irish ballet dancer, writer, and television personality. She has featured on "Ballet Chancers", a 2008 television series which saw her attempt to train six young people, schooled in hip hop, to appreciate the art of ballet. Loughman has also co-written a book on her experiences as an Irish child in Russia. She has appeared in numerous publications including the "Meath Chronicle", "The Sunday Business Post" and "Woman's Way", as well
Monica Loughman
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and also proved especially gifted at ballet. After seeing Anna Pavlova in a production of "Swan Lake" in Paris with her former step-aunt Elsie, Rambova decided she wanted to pursue a career as a ballerina. Her family had encouraged her to study ballet purely as a social grace, and were appalled when she chose it as her career. Her aunt Teresa, however, was supportive, and took Rambova to New York City, where she studied under the Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Theodore Kosloff in his Imperial Russian Ballet Company. While dancing under Kosloff, she adopted the Russian-inspired stage name Natacha
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led their choreography. The theatre particularly remember that in 1978 she successfully stepped into the role of Swan Lake at the last minute after lead Maya Plisetskaya did not appear. Susana Agüero died in Buenos Aires on 26 March 2012. "She was the first Odette I ever experienced," commented choreographer Alejandro Cervera. "I remember her as a very beautiful and tremendously charming and entertaining ballerina." She defined herself as a lifelong dancer. At the time of her death, Teatro Colón's Clarín mentioned her fine, personalized dancing, her flexibility and her willingness to breach the bounds of academic ballet. Susana Agüero
Susana Agüero
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changed from using hard shoes to ballet pumps. This enabled a more free-flowing style of music to be used. Marie Taglioni (1804–1884) is credited with being the first ballerina to dance en pointe in "La Sylphide" in 1832. It was now possible to have music that was more expressive. Gradually, dancing became more daring, with men lifting the ballerinas into the air. Until the time of Tchaikovsky, the composer of ballets was considered to be separate from the composer of symphonies. Ballet music was an accompaniment for the solo and ensemble dances. Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" was the first musical ballet
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School and the Joffrey Ballet School. He performed with a number of dance groups, including the Florence Civic Ballet, Bay Ballet Theater, and the Dance Theater of Harlem. Carter joined the "Trocks" in 1995. He started with "the easier stuff" like "Go for Barocco", followed by "harder stuff" such as "Paquita" and "Swan Lake", especially works by Balanchine. Dancing with the Trocks, was his life dream, says Carter: Carter has received many kudos from significant critics. These include Jennifer Dunning and Gia Kourlas of "The New York Times", Robert Gottlieb of "The New York Observer", Joan Acocella of "The New
Robert Carter (ballet dancer)
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the original "Swan Lake," where customarily (although not always) one ballerina performs the roles of both the white swan (Odette) and the black swan (Odile), the same ballet dancer performs the white Swan and the black-clad young von Rothbart in this version. The Prince sees something of his beloved Swan in the son, and he is very attracted to his bravado and animal magnetism but shocked by his lewdness, especially towards his mother. During bump and grind group numbers and a sequence of national dances, it becomes clear that the Queen is powerfully attracted to von Rothbart's son. His father,
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the film. This led to a number of responses regarding Portman. Aronofsky and Fox Searchlight released a joint statement that argued: "We were fortunate to have Sarah there to cover the more complicated dance sequences and we have nothing but praise for the hard work she did. However, Natalie herself did most of the dancing featured in the final film." Benjamin Millepied and Kunis also argued in defense of Portman's dancing. Lane responded through an essay published in "The Wall Street Journal" (Portman declined through a representative to write one as well) and an interview on "20/20" that her interest
Black Swan dance double controversy
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standard women's ballet shoe had heels. Mid 18th century dancer Marie Camargo of the Paris Opéra Ballet was the first to wear a non-heeled shoe. After the French Revolution, heels were completely eliminated from standard ballet shoes, as they still are. Ballet shoe A ballet shoe, or ballet slipper, is a lightweight shoe designed specifically for ballet dancing. It may be made from soft leather, canvas, or satin, and has flexible, thin soles. Traditionally, women wear pink shoes and men wear white or black shoes. Tan colored slippers—which are unobtrusive and thus give the appearance of dancing barefoot—are worn in
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and to choreograph her own ballet, "Speaking In Strings", for her company. She returned to dancing after the birth of her son in 2002. Bears retired from the Houston Ballet in 2009. Her classical repertoire with the Houston Ballet included: Odette/Odile in "Swan Lake", Giselle in "Giselle", Aurora and Princess Florise in "The Sleeping Beauty", Cinderella in "Cinderella", the Sylph in "La Sylphide", Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet", Cleopatra in "Cleopatra", the Snow Maiden in "The Snow Maiden", the Sugarplum Fairy and the Snow Queen in "The Nutcracker", Valencienne and Hanna in "The Merry Widow", Solvieg and the Green Lady
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her dancing "Swan Lake" in 2011, she was honoured with the Order of the Dannebrog. Amy Watson Amy Watson (born 1981) is an American ballet dancer. She joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 2000, becoming a principal dancer in 2007. In 2011, she was honoured with the prestigious Order of the Dannebrog. Watson was born in Washington D.C. As her father was in the military, the family were frequently on the move. While in England, she spent two years at the Royal Academy of Dance before attending a summer course with the Richmond Ballet in Virginia when she was 12.
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of the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad from 1956 to 1970, achieving prima ballerina status during the 1960s. She defected to the West in 1970 while on tour with the Kirov in London. Soon after defecting, Makarova began performing with the American Ballet Theatre in New York City and the Royal Ballet in London. When she first arrived in the West, Makarova was eager to expand her choreography by dancing ballets by modern choreographers. At the same time, she remained most identified with classical roles such as Odette/Odile in "Swan Lake" and "Giselle". In December 1975, she and her dance partner
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School, Ravizzi was invited to perform with The Royal Ballet in several productions including "Giselle", "Swan Lake" & "Don Quixote", including an International tour on Australia in 2001. Ravizzi joined the Scottish Ballet in 2002 under the directorship of Ashley Page, where she spent her entire professional career. She was promoted to coryphée in 2008 and soloist in 2014. During her time with Scottish Ballet she performed in the following Ballets, including numerous international tours: Ravizzi retired from dancing in 2015. Following her successful career as a Ballerina, Ravizzi returned to Buenos Aires in 2017 to begin teaching the next
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and Odette/Odile in "Swan Lake". She has also performed as a soloist in George Balanchine's "Rubies". Nicoletta Manni Nicoletta Manni (born 1991) is an Italian ballet dancer. A member of the La Scala Theatre Ballet since 2009, she was promoted to prima ballerina in April 2014. Born in Galatina, in the province of Lecce in the south east of Italy, Manni began dancing as a small child, encouraged by her mother Anna De Matteis. When she was 12, she began training at the La Scala Theatre Ballet School, graduating in 2009. When she was 17, she joined the Berlin State
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Enikő Somorjai Enikő Somorjai (born November 17, 1981) is a soloist dancer with the Hungarian National Ballet in Hungarian State Opera House. Born in Budapest, Hungary, she began dancing at the age of four. She took her degree in 2001 at Hungarian Dance Academy. Prior to becoming a soloist, she was in the Company "corps de ballet". She has danced in many ballets including "The Nutcracker" (Sugar Plum Fairy), "Swan Lake" (Odette/Odile), "The Wooden Prince" (Princess), "Giselle" and many others. In 1997 Somorjai won the gold medal at the Győr International Ballet Competition and the third place at Vienna International
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in the Stuttgart repertory, from the classical purity of "Swan Lake" to the passionate romanticism of "Onegin" to the rambunctious humor of "The Taming of the Shrew". Their professional partnership endured for more than thirty years, from 1965 until Cragun's retirement in 1996, making it one of the longest lasting in ballet history. Blessed with a perfect physique for dancing, Cragun was a virtuoso of the ballet stage, equaled by only a few male dancers of his generation. He embodied the explosive, colorful form of classical ballet that was sometimes called "the Stuttgart style." Flawless triple "tours en l'air" were
Richard Cragun
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Kirov Ballet and Opera. Vaziev invited Thomas to residency with the ballet and a stipend of $150 a month while granting him freedom accept independent work; Thomas declined due to a filming commitment in the movie "Without a Word", so Vaziev extended his invitation to the fall. Thomas found the filming experience disappointing and, realizing his dancing career was finite. He then decided to dance for six months in Russia with the Kirov Ballet. Rasta moved to St. Petersburg in October 2001. While there, he most notably danced as "Swan Lake's" Jester, "Carmen's" bullfighter, and "Le jeune homme et la
Rasta Thomas
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She is fond of Shakespearean drama and loves romantic films and musicals, citing "Moulin Rouge!", "Casablanca" and "Grease" as some examples. Grace herself is a theatre performer and a talented ballet dancer, as evident from Rich's series 5 episode, where her dance recital moved him to tears. She states that her lifelong ambition is "..to be cast as Odette in Swan Lake, with The Royal Ballet... because you get to play the black swan and the white swan." Her ideal man is Mr. Darcy. In her "Skins" page, she also talks in lengthy details about her love for cats and
Grace Blood
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and Markova as one and the same being. Extract from Tretchikoff's Autobiography "Pigeon's Luck:" The Schlesinger organisation was sponsoring a tour of South Africa by the Royal Ballet from London, with its principals Alicia Markova and her partner, Anton Dolin. When I returned to Cape Town Natalie and I went to see them dance, and I was so intrigued that I went to see them rehearse. I was sitting in the stalls with a friend nicknamed Silver Fox from his pure white shock of hair. Markova was dancing the Dying Swan in 'Swan Lake' and I found the experience moved
Alicia Markova "The Dying Swan"
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roles as Basilio in "Don Quixote", Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Siegfried in "Swan Lake" choreography of George Balanchine, "In the Night" by Jerome Robbins, "Three Preludes" by Ben Stevenson for the Gala of Stars in Houston, Texas. He has also performed in the principal roles in such works as the "Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux", the "Black Swan Pas de Deux" and "Le Corsaire". He danced with the Boston Ballet in 2005-2006, the Miami City Ballet in 2007 and is a current dancer with the Béjart Ballet of Lausanne. Daniel Sarabia Daniel Sarabia (born 9 December 1984,
Daniel Sarabia
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Villamil, Alejandro Lugo, Andres Nieto and most notably, with Julio Arauz. Among her notable mentions with the National Ballet of Panama are: Black Swan, Grand Pas Classique, Grand Pas de Deux from the Nutcracker, "Le Corsaire, Les Sylphides, Pas de Quatre, The Dying Swan, Nikiya" in La Bayadère, "Nymph" in Walpurgis Nights, "El Diablo" in La Flor del Diablo, "Pena y Consuelo, Romance and Titania" in Midsummer Night’s Dream, among others. In 1976, Teresa Mann received her Master of Science in Ballet from the Music School of the University of Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana. As well as ballet, Mann studied,
Teresa Mann
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Igor Schwezoff and Antony Tudor. She performed briefly with American Ballet Theatre before joining the Paris-based Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas company (1954–1962), the first European troupe to feature ballets by American choreographers and American dancers. Her roles included Aurora and the Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty and Odette-Odile in Swan Lake. Ms. Melikova was the first Western ballerina to perform with Rudolf Nureyev after his defection to the West in 1961. They danced together numerous times - "The Sleeping Beauty" and the Black Swan Pas de deux - in France, Italy, and Israel (Ballet Today April 1964).
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choreographed into the Black Swan solo in act 3 of 'Swan Lake' and is still used to this day. Legnani was one of only two ballet dancers appointed prima ballerina assoluta at the Mariinsky Theatre. Her last performance was in the Minkus/Petipa ballet "La Camargo" on January 28, 1901, after which she retired to live in her villa at Lake Como. After retiring from the stage she lived in Italy and served on the examining board of La Scala Ballet School until 4 months before her death. She died on November 15, 1930. Ballets of Marius Petipa featuring Pierina Legnani:
Pierina Legnani
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ballet worlds as "too much for one movie". He compared the two films: "Wrestling some consider the lowest art—if they would even call it art—and ballet some people consider the highest art. But what was amazing to me was how similar the performers in both of these worlds are. They both make incredible use of their bodies to express themselves." About the psychological thriller nature of "Black Swan", actress Natalie Portman compared the film's tone to Polanski's 1968 film "Rosemary's Baby", while Aronofsky said Polanski's "Repulsion" (1965) and "The Tenant" (1976) were "big influences" on the final film. Actor Vincent
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choose math or ballet, she claimed there was no choice and then admitted herself to a one-year pre-curriculum program at the Vaganova Academy, before embarking on the eight-year course. She graduated in 2003 under the class of Lyudmila Safronova. After graduating from the ballet school in 2003 at age 17, she then joined the Mariinsky Ballet under the Artistic Director Makhar Vaziev. During her first year in the company, she was given the unusual honor of dancing Odette/Odile in Swan Lake on May 13, 2003. She was one of the youngest dancers in the company history to attain this kind
Alina Somova
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a great success, launching his directing career. Shortly after becoming chief choreographer of Maly Theatre in Saint Petersburg he retired from dancing. At Maly he choreographed "The Hump-Backed Horse" (1963, scored by Rodion Shchedrin), "Swan Lake" (1965), "Eleventh Symphony" (1966, scored by Dmitri Shostakovich), "The Gadfly" (1967) and "The Nutcracker" (1969). Disappointed with the Maly's preference for lyrical-comedy ballets, he returned to Kirov Ballet to focus on more epic themes. In 1973 he became artistic director and in 1974 choreographed "Icarus". After briefly heading the Cairo Ballet in 1977–78 he worked as the chief ballet master at the Leningrad Music
Igor Belsky
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designer, Takeshima has designed for choreographers George Balanchine, David Dawson, Jorma Elo, Krzysztof Pastor, Alexei Ratmansky, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and William Forsythe; for ballet companies such as The Royal Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Boston Ballet, Vienna State Ballet, Polish National Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Mariinsky Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, West Australian Ballet, Raiford Rogers Modern Ballet, and Semperoper Ballett; and her dancewear was featured in the Darren Aronofsky’s 2010 award winning film "Black Swan". Her designs have been called “elegant, simple and among the most beautiful dance costumes in the European dance scene.” Takeshima's
Yumiko Takeshima