Peter Schaufuss: UNDERRATED 1970s Star? 

l saw live many times schauffus at his top in late 70's early 80's mainly in london and also here in italy he could match baryshnikov step by step .he was absolutely tremendous imho one of the greatest of his time and his technique would be terrific also today saw him dancing many times with lovely eva evdokimov with elisabetta terabust with galina samsova and with his partners in NBC saw him dancing in many galas and in full lenght ballets included his restaging of la sylphid and napoli ,but was in galas that l realized that his technique was amazing when saw him in corsaire don q pdd and bayaderka shadows act .he surely deserved more fame but l don't think that he was underrated in london in late 70's he was an absolute superstar.l was very young then ,now l am 67 but still remember very well schauffus and also today among the nowadays ballet stars very few can be compared to him as technicall skills and bravado onstage.ENRICO ITALY

I have known of Schaufuss for many years but only by reputation. Thank heaven for RU-vid, this is the first time I have seen him in action. Very fine dancer. One more to add to my list. Thank you very much for this.

You offer the most informed ballet analysis I have read since falling in love with the NYCB in 1969 as a high school senior. While you build on the shoulders of Croce, Poirier, Acocella, Macaulay, and a few others of truly deep insight, your use of the videos, glossary, and extent of pure observation are unique. I am beyond grateful for your work.

Nowadays as a retired dancer, I remember I used to watch shauffus s vids when I was a ballet student, and he was amazing and we used to say that he was even technically cleaner than Baryshnikov. La Esmeralda, DQ, Le corsaire and most of the Bournonville repertoire, uffff awsome male ballet dancer. Thank you for bringing back memories lovely memoirs of this dancer. I think that Baryshnikov and Nureyev were more in the spot of the news because of all the details of their escape from Russia emphasizing the cold war matters .

He maintains his center during turns perfectly. Wow.

I didn’t know Schauffus, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity of admiring his art. Somtimes, I’ve seen this in the arts and in sports, somebody who could have been a great star has the “misfortune“ of developing their career at a time when all the attention goes to someone, not necessarily so much better, but extraordinarily charismatic.

What an incredible dancer, thank you for sharing.

What a brilliant dancer. I never knew him and thank you for this clip. Although Baryshnikov is still my favourite Schaffus is right up there with him.

His work HAS stood the test of time. He Absolutely would get a job today dancing. He was fabulous. Thank you very much for posting this, it has helped educate me.

I remember seeing him in the BBC Dancer Documentary and thinking “why have I not heard of him? He’s amazing”

How lovely to see this. I fell in love with Peter’s dancing when I saw a production of La Sylphide on BBC television. I knew his son Luke was a dancer and about Peter’s parents. Peter has been a great dancer and one of my very favourites. Thank you for this🇬🇧

Hi 👋 Kent, Enjoying discovering your great posts!!! Notes on the famous first Giselle with Makarova... It was a matinee at City Center. Earlier that day, Natasha and Ivan Nagy who was scheduled to dance Albrecht suffered an injury during a walk through of 2nd act lifts. Unbelievable as it sounded at the time, there were no available principals at ABT to dance with Natasha. A call went out to NYCB on availability of Peter Schaufuss to dance the matinee Giselle. At the time of Natasha's call, he was rehearsing Tin Soldier with Patty. He left the rehearsal and was immediately taken to City Center for a quick walk through with Natasha before the 2pm performance. Since there was no time for program inserts, an announcement was made I think by the Hilarion for the day from stage right to thunderous applause. What made this Giselle historical is the fact that they had no time to rehearse and everything was spontaneous and REAL. Peter was in a zone of artistic splendor and vitality, Natasha was living the moments without any "Staged" moments, she was in the zone too. Years later during an intermission on the centennial of the Metropolitan Opera House, I brought up that historical Giselle to Natasha, and the Giselle I rated as the greatest I saw her in... With a glowing wide eyed look on her face she replied... "I agree.." Interesting to note that Natasha wasn't on the program for the Metropolitan centennial. When I asked her why she wasn't on that stage in her white Swan tutuu she replied: "NOBODEE ASK!!!" Kevin Mckenzie was the director at the time...Come to your own conclusions why he didn't ask her. Many legendary dancers performed that night. Makarova was at the time already a legend. As for Schaufuss not being in the spotlight at his peak time, the headlines had Baryshnikov, Gudanov, and a Cuban named FERNANDO BUJONES. In closing, I met Peter Schaufuss in the physical rehab studios of a famous pilates guru named CAROLA TRIER. He had a back injury at the time. A fabulous man who blushed when I complimented him on his performances.

His technique is flawless; such elegant jumps and his landing!

Wow. He turns on a dime, and displays great strength, technique, athleticism, and artistry.

This is a great video topic, as I was blown away decades ago watching a DVD of his Swan Lake Seigfried, and then never really saw much else about him. It's almost as though the ease he demonstrated inspired less passionate fandom, I think, in the US

He was so ahead of his time. We were very lucky to be in class with him, at SAB.

Peter was SUPERB.....to his credit. Balanchine accepted him. Even over Rudolf....also to make mention of Finnish dancer,. Kenneth Greve,. Also. Fantastic...be had the MOST divine set of legs....geez. He was gorgeous 😍

I am in shock!!!!

What a fabulous dancer, whom I learned of from this outstanding video! I've watched a couple of your videos now, to my great benefit as someone untutored in ballet. I love ballet best of all the musical arts, though as a non-dancer I know nothing of techniques. Your work is terrific, and I look forward to seeing more. Thank you from the bottom of my earth-bound feet!

Wonderful compilation and analysis, thank you. I have seen Schaufuss only on RU-vid, never live.

Thank you for introducing Peter schaufuss to me as sadly I have never heard of him before. What a precision power house he is. I just wonder how generally great dancers slide under the radar. Change of career, injury etc? I truly learn a lot from your channel. Thanks.

La Bayadere....The ultimate magnificent Ballet for ALL the fabulous male danseurs

I love your videos !! How you explained 🙌

Definitely underated in the 1970s and his jumps are impressive. Turns in seconde are actually turns in first with leg to the front though.

You nailed the name: it's the Schaufuss Corsair jump. It's a variation on the last step of his manege in Corsair and Bayadere, (pioneered by Vladimir Vasiliev) but instead of a level ronde de jambe, a high battement to 2nd. Iconic and totally Schaufuss. You downplayed his cabrioles in Bayadere, but up to that point, nobody had bigger! Likely not until Bat Udval and Tatsuya Kumakawa, once again Peter was ahead of the curve. I thought the documentary was from '84, but I could be mistaken. Well spotted that his turns resemble the Cuban school: again he was on the right track well before anyone knew it. Schaufuss was a huge influence on me as a young dancer, and yes, he's way underrated

Thank you for this video! The Danish Ballet tradition deserves much more attention! They have given us amazing male dancers like Schaufuss and Bruhn, and forgive me for not being able to mention any of the ladies. There simply is little information about Danish ballet as such. Both Rudolph Nurejew and Richard Cragun went to study with Erik Bruhn! Another wonderful Danish dancer was Egon Madsen. And I am feeling awful as I am not being able to mention the stars which must be legends in their home country but are not so well known on an international scale.

People these days don’t know what “underrated” means! _Peter Schaufuss was not underrated-when he danced, he could go anywhere and DANCE with anyone!!_ He was celebrated for his technique, grace, strength, and passion, _when he was dancing!!_ “Underrated” means that nobody adequately valued or recognized his gifts UNTIL AFTER HE RETIRED. Geez, Darcy Bussell even included him in a retrospective documentary of her favorite partners after she retired! He doesn’t get much recognition these days, except for people like me who still are still thrilled to watch his videos, but that’s because there are too many videos featuring legendary and current danseurs to watch, so he gets lost in the shuffle.

Give the step 'the Schauffus' jump.

Number one !

It sounds like you feel the top dancers of today are better *generally speaking* than the dancers of the 60s and 70s. It would be interesting to see a piece on how and why you think that is.

Thank you, your videos are very insightful. I'm interested in knowing how you feel about Soviet dancers like Vasiliev, Soloviev, Lavrovsky etc... How would you compare their technique compare with dancers of today?

Thank you, Kent Becker, for this video and, as always, for your illuminating analysis. (Schaufuss's double tours to arabesque are the best I have ever seen). Since viewing your video I have been seaching youtube for more Peter Schaufuss clips. Here is one which shows the skill and sheer beauty of his dance: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AYHXe5BT8lg.html. (Evdokimova is incredible also!). There's also an interesting four-part documentary on Schaufuss ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lEY-51sBAR8.html

What does Peter say? The captions drop out in those sections.

4:04 it should be la sylphide right? Bc. LES Sylphides aka chopiniana is another perhaps lesser ballet invented certainly not by Bournville...

We used to call it reverse pistol

Yes ! Very underrated ! It was better than Baryshnikov !