Wow for both Markova and Dowell, but Dowell absolutely shone, what an incredibly elegant and memorable dancer he was. He and Markova brought a level of genuine acting and elegance to this ballet that is seldom seen today with the prevalent vulgar emphasis on gymnastics.
The amazing thing about this woman is that she was so passionate that she even knew where to look ,how amazing she placed her head,her face and eyes expressions are what made her so great,besides the fact she is a perfect ballet dancer,a one of a kind dancer❤🌠.no other dancer expresses herself the way she does❤
I have a 2nd generation copy of this, and especially in the White acts, her presence is so strong that you would swear she's a tall Balanchine-type dancer. You actually have to go out of your way to compare her to the corps dancers to see how tiny she is. I think in this generation with RB her height would actually have disqualified her from consideration.
Makarova is a goddess! No one can compare with her in this ballet. She is able to cast a spell on everyone who sees her dance. And how she moves! She is floating!
Agreed! I've never seen a better Odille. She's plays it flirty, fun, sexy and dangerous, not evil. She's also the sweetest and most innocent Odette. Truly, the most balanced White/Black Swan performance I've ever seen.
God that chemistry!! And she's just the most incredible Odile, every movement no matter how small means everything in her interpretation. Like the way she moves her shoulder and she's so aware of her neck!
What a moment to watch when a dancer meets that still center! All the years of perfecting. 🌹One word - Markarova! And wonderful Dowell as a consummate partner! ♥️
Oh Sir Anthony Dowell, the most elegant and perfect ´stepmeister¨ partner and performer- years of practice, again and again every day have made you the well deserved star that you are. xx
Yah...Von Rothbart crowding these two sublime dancers...interfering with/obscuring their exquisite shapes in space..I may be presumptuous in saying, but whose idea to have him hovering like that??
Wow, how do you have such a clear copy of this? Can you post the rest? This is, for me, the definitive production. No silly endings like Siegfried marrying Odile or both the lovers dying with no "resurrection" scene or only Odette throwing herself into the lake. Their recostumed nightmare with Von Rothbart looking like Quasimodo still had good Swan Lake-y choreography, although I think that production omitted the Moody Prince bit in Act 1. Thanks for posting!
Perhaps not the most technically brilliant or secure Odile, but definitely the most dramatically gripping. Watch her eyes harden at 1:00 minute, as she faces the Prince for the first time. And again at 14:55 when she vanishes literally into thin air.
Technique? Aren't we talking about art? Nowadays technique is mistaken with over extensions and contortionims... that is NOT ballet dear, Mr. Aves. But THIS performance is... It is all that ballet is about. For more information: www.attitude-devant.com
+attitude - devant. Oh, I’m completely with you, believe me. I just finished writing another post where I described how Makarova’s fouettes fell apart about halfway through, in the one live performance I was very fortunate to see her. But her indifferent fouettes were nothing, compared to the remarkable and thoroughly compelling reading of Odile that she gave. Bewitching, beguiling, menacing, her hold over the character of Odile and over her audience never wavering. I’ve watched many, many Odiles, including the vaunted Cynthia Gregory, Olga Chenchikova, Altynai Asylmuratova, Galina Mezentseva, Darcey Bussell and Uliana Lopatkina, to name a few. In spite of their stronger technique, none of them gave as riveting or as memorable performance as Makarova did on that night. Truly a singular theatrical experience, and this recording with Sir Anthony Dowell and the Royal Ballet captures a little of it.
The speed at which Makarova performs the entire pas de deux and the demands that places on her are what make this truly exciting and difficult to do. I think it's a masterful performance. I don't need stunt fouettes with double and triple pirouettes between fouettes that slow down the music to thrill me--that type of thing is just 7 seconds of pleasure--a kind of obscenity--we don't seek at the ballet unless we've arrived very late in the game and as "attitude-devant" says, represents "technique" that is "mistaken" for "contortions" of all kinds. Dowell was one of the greatest technicians of his day and is also completely present on stage and a wonderful partner. They do a marvelous Odile/Albrecht. Makarova has so many different interpretations of Swan Lake and I love seeing her so lithe and lean in this one. It's unusual for her and I think she's the bomb!
Unfortunately this seems to have been compressed width-wise and the distortion makes everyone look taller and skinnier than they really are. Please can you correct this
Love Makarova, he have a dramatic intention in every role. Dowel excelent. But...are various and splendid etoile dancing black swan. Perhaps too many for to name in this occasion.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNEW THAT. I NOTICED A FEW NEGATIVE COMMENTS ABOUT BALANCE MOVES AND LINE EXTENSIONS I HAVE SEEN HER AT HER BEST AND EITHER WAY SHE WAS THE ULTIMATE "ODILE"
Came to his video to see how Makarova (whom I thought would be very precise) would sweep the leg back into attitude derrière at 1:17 only to find that she went with a développé. I wonder if she changed it because of that awkward moment going through 1st to get to attitude.
Of all the partners she ever really had, Dowell was perhaps the only one she ever really fell in love with. She had real genuine romantic feelings for him... but like many good men in ballet, he personally goes the other way. She was... somewhat broken. Huh. How many other ladies in the field of ballet personally really did go through this themselves?
@@FredMaus But there's still some character work going on in how Siegfried expresses his joy in his solo, and how Odile builds on her persona and seduction.
Not a lot of warmth in this partnership and why oh why does she insist on holding that wobbly balance at 5.37 on much better to finish quickly and cleanly
She is an imposter, wickedly fooling him, and I think her radiance with an undertone of malice is perfect here. Watch more to see how different her Odette is.
She doesn't have the energy, posture and those magical hands that Maya Plisetskaya had. Just one more confirmation that Plisetksaya was the best of the best.
?? best perhaps for you...both great artists, but two different characteristic energies, personalities, eras, differing styles & training, different body types...
@@bw3747 actually Makarova is one of the best technical dancers ever, she can do the steps while doing the most difficult and expressing port de bras. So yes, technique is everything, and she has surpass it.
What a moment to watch when a dancer meets that still center! All the years of perfecting. 🌹One word - Markarova! And wonderful Dowell as a consummate partner! ♥️
