The Evolution of Odile Over the Years (Swan Lake) 

To be honest, I find the newer versions more technically perfect and yes, more seductive. In the first videos you can see the ballerinas' bodies going diagonally when they spin. The last two have perfect straight postures. They also seem more slim and have longer legs, which I think adds to the sense of seductiveness.

I can give a better explanation as to why she’s not a sister to me guess what?? You’re the same Christy

I was born in 1942 in Havana, Cuba. My family held tickets for the “Musical Pro-Art Society”, which presented ballet, opera, symphony and drama productions as well as touring soloists of classical music. Since I was 4 it was my joy to see Alicia Alonso in all the rôles of the classical repertoire, usually 3 times a year. Giselle was my favorite, with Swan Lake a close second. What fascinated me most was the difference between Odette- warm, shy, gentle, playful, - and Odile- cold, precise, aloof, cutting. By 1947, I found myself in London with my parents and we went to see Swan Lake; I don’t remember who was the prima ballerina in that production, but I remember going to a restaurant afterwards and expressing a strange feeling of disappointment, despite the far more lavish scenery and costumes. As a child, my appreciation was for the storytelling and the personages of the tale. The rigorously exact steps were not able to communicate as well. In fact, over the years I’ve had difficulties embracing perfect technique with extreme extensions and total exactitude of positions. Regardless of how athletic and physically perfect they are, if a dancer doesn’t speak his/her role through the choreography, the performance is moot to me. When both aspects are present in dance, it’s a wonderful experience!

Gillian Murphy, nailed it! The way she, dances in moves is breathtaking and magical. She’s everything that ballet should be.

At least here the newer versions give lot more character and passion, the older Odiles kind of look boring.

Ratmansky reconstructed Swan Lake you can watch excerpts from his version.

Their performances aren’t really very different, but the way they were recorded is. The later ones, recorded live in theaters, are using much more sensitive mics that pick up the lower registers way better, plus they are picking up in the acoustics of the sound bouncing around the larger space. The earlier ones sound like they were recorded in smaller, acoustically “drier” spaces with much more limited microphones.

@@hk6970 he didn’t reconstruct he created his version

A failure. The first staging of Swan lake failed. So the way the music is alligned, sounds was changed as long as the choreography before the ballet became the hit we know today.

I wonder if the choreography has changed and evolved as dancers became more athletic and skills more bold? I wonder if the music we are hearing was added by the poster since it’s the same on every dancer.

I also thought that her moves are the softest of them all and her body is exceptionally smooth. No hesistation or preparation before moves are executed, the sequence is just flowing. That´s what i as a layperson see

Мне она понравилась.больше всех.

She feels like she's an embodiment of a black swan. I don't know how long she did that part but it just felt so natural

She's absolutely exceptional. The movie version of Swan Lake done in 1968 is one of my favorites and I was floored by her performance the first time I saw it. Her Odile is Odile pretending to be Odette (and not Odile being Odile). She's so charming and enchanting you can understand why the prince was willing to believe she was the Swan Queen.

Yes. All that you say is true. This performance is perfectly lovely. I'm thinking, however, that viewers are holding back with comments because there are places in this performance where she is just slightly off her center. The placement of her feet is just a bit off, for certain steps, and consequently her center of gravity shifts. This is where she seems to tip to one side, in a way that is barely noticeable, but also somewhat distracting. Your comment has me thinking that it is possible that the producer of this video made a deliberate choice to present a slightly off performance by this dancer, to show off the third and the fourth, in a comparison. That would be the usual process, for youtube videos of this type.

мой комментарий, только на английском языке!

I like Murphy's version better less cold and more alluring. I like also smoothness of Murphy's moves more than Osipova athletic and more technical approach.

This is because back then it was painful to stand for long periods of times now days we have more support on pointe shoes.

I agree, she was the most mesmerizing

@@amaliaemirova1169 I think probably the cuts and editing in the earlier ones don't help

My favorite by far!

Having fun isn’t really the point though

She was dancing like the black swan pretending/convincing the prince she was the white swan (Odette?) which I thought made her the most enjoyable to watch ^^

She's my favourite also.

my favorite

Omg that's so sad....

I noticed that as well, the first two dancers while athletic still looked slightly curvy compared to modern-day ones. You can really see that in their legs and shoulders. I don't know anything about ballet though so I don't know why this change happened or whether it has positive/negative effects on the dancers

If you do not eat good you do not have strenght and power to do all that. The dancers eat goed but they burn a lot of calories during the work out. It is a myth about malnutrition. A lot of them smoke also. My daughter is a dancer

absolutely! They had the more 50s kind of ideal of curves...thin, but curvy. Once Balenchine became popular, it was anorexic and athletic. I was just explaining to someone above, who is a fencer, that thought there was better support for injury and nutrition. Ha! It's an art form, not a sport, and that hyper flexibility and malnutrition we know runs rampant

@@tolde are you kidding me? In professional companies, the dancers starved. Our company only allowed the women to have a handful pf candy all day while training. Of course the body needs fuel, but the person has an excellent point; once Balenchine hit the scene, the style was starvation thin and hard training. Think Gelsie Kirkland in the 70s. The 50s ballerina looked completely different from her; 50s one probably cooked dinner for her family before performance...70s was anorexic.

Yesssssssssss🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

I find Gillian’s Odile superficial, and her hold on the character very weak.

where did you copy and paste that cliche nonsense from

That is a wonderful comment. I agree!

​@@An_Gold that is a copy and paste comment made of cliche prejudices. that is what people from certain part of the world, always say when they want to criticize ballerinas from certain other part of world. contemptible envy.

Техничность? Опущу владение кистью - это явная американская школа, но руки! Как, изображая птичий полет, можно забыть локти? И, кажется, во вращении и толчках она не везде опускала пятки на пол. Да, шаг кажется воздушнее, но этим она убивает связки.

@@vilchyr ее руки в этой партии просто прелестны, изумительны, великолепны

She seemed off from the music to me, not dancing on the beats.

Yes yes yes! This!

This is so true, technically. Artistry, musicality and interpretation, though - they're something else again. In those areas, some older stars had what some newer stars don't, despite technical advancement. In addition, I think there are a lot of modern dancers who would give a lot for Alicia Alonso's balance. Or Anthony Dowell's. To this day, so far as I've seen, no one can do des Grieux in Manon technically as well as Anthony Dowell did (especially the Act I solo), with the one exception of Vadim Muntagirov. Muntagirov has everything, (and it helps he's a lefty, as Dowell was).

The progression in gymnastics in particular is pretty shocking

I love your insight! I know nothing about sports so would have never imagined that.

Yes, but the actual artistry is missing. I see the same in the bellydancing world. Lots of abs but very little dancing.

agreed!

I saw her dance many a time. Usually with Igor y... as her partner Wonderful memories

I miss grace and elegance in ballet and gymnastics. Athleticism has a time and place but modern gymnasts and ballerinas seem to only show athleticism :( P.s also figure skating

я тоже за этот элемент!

I wondered if anyone else would mention that! Her dance was overall a little less fluid than the others, but that sequence was amazing.

Considering that Alonso was 47 when she danced that and had been partially blind since 19 years of age, she did amazing!

@@tessie7e777 That certainly makes her performance ~ and this element ~ even more amazing and remarkable!

Yevteyeva. She is perfection.

yes, same feeling for me, I like when there is variation in the rythm, giving more sense to the move; dance must express something, not be just a performance... whatever the talent of these dancers.

Interesting… I expected the dancers to be more impressive over the years and while flexibility extension fluidity and technique might have some gains over Alicia … Alicia is the only one who accomplished 5 pirouettes 👏👏👏👏👏

@@IfeelMT I was a very young girl and had the honor of dancing a bit part with National Ballet of Cuba 🇨🇺🩰 right before Dame Alonso passed. I was so little but in awe of the fact that she’d be brought on the stage by wheelchair ♿️ with the curtains down for final bows, but she mustered the strength to stand up and bow like the Prima Ballerina Assoluta that she was without the audience ever knowing. Never let them see you sweat. I’ll never forget and vowed to dance and live like that, like everyone is watching. Brava!🇧🇷🇵🇹🩰

Her posture was better and her moves more graceful and carefree than the newer ballerinas. Which is crazy because she is visibly weighing a bit more than the younger ballerinas so you would think she’d struggle more. I noticed the newer ballerinas also have a more bony and muscular look that makes their moves look less easy-flowing and more mechanical and rigid. The two earlier clips of those ballerinas were very magical on the eyes, looked beautiful.

@@qtpiefuuurrrever да 👏🏻 пожалуйста, I appreciate having been coached by Ирина Колпакова and other primas from mainly the Большо́й . Their artistry, epaulement, everything down to the fingertips was addressed. Yes, I’m more of the bony and athletic type (naturally) but that didn’t matter to me or especially my Ballet Mistresses and artistic directors.🇧🇷🇵🇹🇷🇺🩰

Абсолютно верно!

Само видео сравнивает не балерин, а партию Одиллии.

Вообще четыре танцовщицы это мало , чтоб сравнить . И потом , а почему Плисецкой нет в этой подборке ? Самый прекрасный и известный русский "лебедь" . У нее Одиллия тоже хороша .

Видна тенденция к упрощению партии. В последней версии больше половины элементов выброшены, либо заменены на упрощенный аналог, что никак не красит партию, выглядит скупо и неинтересно.

Sounds like a Fae name

@@raccoonchild I know right! It sounds like Oberon

Не сказала бы, по-моему она очень известна

Thank you!! I had really wondered about this!🖤🖤🖤

I don’t think her greatest years are coming to a close, she’s only 36. Sarah Lamb and Marianela Nuñez are in their early forties and still exquisite. She’s hitting her prime now with the maturity of her technique and acting ability. I predict she’ll have her own company when she does retire from performing as often (hopefully not for a while yet). Alessandra Ferri is 59 and still performing brilliantly for the Royal Ballet.

And who prevented to film major dancers in your country? I even do not know what to think of your comment. There are really many, many wonderful ballet dancers in Russia, we are lucky that some of them were filmed. Filming was always expensive, so if a ballet dancer was filmed - that was the reason for that.

@@melissatranfield4054 I agree, perhaps the best years of Osipova are coming to end. After all, 36 for ballet is quite a number, the body possibilities have limits, unfortunately.

@@An_Gold that’s not what she wrote. Quite the opposite, actually. Your other comments above are very confrontational too. Quite unpleasant to read.

меня она тоже поразила своей утонченной женственностью.

Семь

Русская не версия ,а оригинал. Это русский балет

Защо смятате, че руската школа е по-духовна от френската, английската, италианската или занзибарската? Важното е да има високо майсторство на изпълнение без значение от националната принадлежвост. Поздрав от българския балет!

@@user-qy4ov8dp5y Вы не совсем правы.Я согласна,талант и мастрество не зависят от национальной принадлежности. Но понятие "балетная школа",будь то русская или французская существует официально в мире хореографии. И русская школа балета,которой почти три сотни лет,по праву считается одной из сильнейших в мире. "Школа балета" значит традиция,свод правил и методик преподавания искусства классического танца.

She’s with ABT and has been for a very long time.

You need to see her in the movie Center stage from 99 she does quite a lot of dancing in it. It’s a favorite movie among ballet fans

imho her Odette is one of the best, if not the best, out there. Her Odile is more a seductress/hot girl than someone evil... the best Odile I've found so far has to go to Monica Perego. Awful costume but she really, really exudes evil with the variation. it's the original Odile variation, though, not the Mischievous Child.

@@lasylphide-s5j I will look it up thanks

The full ballet is on RU-vid just look it up

I disagree. Murphy falls in and out of the role of Odile. Is it Odile, or is it Gillian? Wait, is it Odile again? You can see it in her dancing how how Odile falls off her face, and she’s back to being “oooh-I-tawt-I-taw-a-puddytat!”-Gillian again.

@@avesraggiana I never expected to read something like this but it does make sense

What amazes me about Alonso is that she was *Blind* -- and yet she kept on dancing.

Agree she radiates charm and there is very little difference technically between her performance the most contemporary ones.

I agree. She impressed me the most despite the not so great choreography.

I am old enough to have seen Alicia Alonso dance. She usually partrned with Igor Youskevitzl4bo5z

Me again their Giselle made me cry.

Yes exactly! I got light airy flowy vibes from Murphy and evil Queen vibes from osipova, both are amazing but Murphy embodied this role better

Евтеева в представленной четвёрке - лучшая. Осипова - мелкая кривляка, переигрывает. Как по мне она не дотягивает до примы балерины по всем параметрам. Лучше бы Захарову в пример показали.

Ох! Как вы правы! Была рада прочесть ваш комментарий.

So true. Watching the later dances I can recognize that they had a lot of good technique, but I still feel more captivated by the first 2 dancers.

Споделям вашето мнение.

Sylvie Guillem.

She’s retired and was never close to Ulanova, Plisetskaya, Makarova, Kolpakova, etc.

@@anastasialenkova-molchalin5874 She's retired and was far better then all those you named.

@Flonoii Sana I disagree. I think she was more of contortionist than ballerina, of course many don’t agree with me. Ballet is subjective of course, unless we’re talking about technique (which would mean 1960s-1990s Vaganova graduates are the best obviously).

@@anastasialenkova-molchalin5874 We have to respectfully disagree.

Beata te!

😍🙆🏻‍♀️🙆🏻‍♀️🙆🏻‍♀️🙆🏻‍♀️🙆🏻‍♀️🙆🏻‍♀️😍

うらやましい😂

Сравнение с куклой не очень лестно, она здесь именно по-женски очень соблазнительна🙂

I had the joy of seeing Piletskaya perform the Dying Swan when I was younger. Her performance brought tears to the eyes of all the audience

@@SweetButDeadly101 Да.Это так. Майю никто не перетанцует.

@@SweetButDeadly101 PLisetskaya

I love Zakharova in this role!

@@MaryanaMaskar Zakharova is great in this role. But in the role of Odette, the best is Ulyana Lopatkina.

I'm not sure what you mean by being a youngster: Alonso was 47 in 1967 (born in 1920) but her technique and strength were amazing (including the quintuple en dehor pirouettes at the beginning)

@@btzigane 47 years old. Not many dancers have careers that long. Alonso was amazing but the video was comparing her Odile at 47 to dancers who were much younger. Thanks for expressing your opinion.

You're right. We haven't seen what she did when she was 22 and dancing in ABT because there's no videos from that.. Remember that Balanchine coreographed for her his most difficult pieces. She have probably been one of the most important ballerinas of the history,not only because of her technic but for her grace and acting skills. I saw her dancing whe she was very very very old. I actually was in the audience in her last performance I think was 1996,not her official retirement because she never did It officially.

@@rascaypica73 I remember an article about Alonso having too much Latin passion to dance Giselle. Alicia Markova was the standard then. Alonso created her own interpretation. She gave us a different Giselle and developed her own following.

@@btzigane Беше велика! Имах щастието да я видя на живо, макар и в късните й години, и пак беше пленителна!

Согласна с первым предложением

Вы правы. Одиллия не лебедь. Она - демоница!! Я не знаю,отчего в мире пошла путаница с тем,что она черный лебедь.

@@user-qn9ij8gm9k I think the main problem are her swan movements- with those she is pretending to be Odette. Also Odette is not a swan on stage, but rather hinting her swan enchantment with her movements. This is the other common mistake and often target of parody. Swan Lake gets constantly mistaken with "The dying swan" - actually Odette's "classic, but actually modern" swan tutu is based on Anna Pavlola's dress, and so there the tradition is from. Plus, "Black swan" is probably more poetic than the darker imagination of a demon. Yet, there is also "Arrival of black swans" a piece by Richard Wagner, and it reminds me also greatly of Pas de Six No 2 (Andante con moto), and Odile's instrument is also like Odette's the oboe, which is fitting to the whole swan connection....Which means, that Odile is also not a black swan on stage, but black swans are also associated with demons (There's also an opera by Siegfried Wagner: "Realm of the Black swans").

А мне как раз не понравились руки и какая то заторможенность в их работе. По музыке руки уже должны быть подняты на позицию а такое ощущение, чо предплечья до последнего момента провисают. Это какие то доли секунды, но мне почему то это чувствуется

@@user-ph1yf5zc1q на мой взгляд у Осиповой здесь волшебные руки

@@user-ph1yf5zc1q Вы все правильно чувствуете, но это как раз и создаёт эффект ее танца, несколько декадентского или даже мистического свойства, это завораживает, порочно обольщает. Не просто очень хорошая гимнастика как у Осиповой. Искусство - это не про правильность, это про другое!

Атлетизм здесь не к месту( ее руки в этой партии бесподобны

@@user-kw4lx3pt2z Natalia Osipova (2018) was the best.

Вот уж лебедя я здесь не увидела, при том что Осипову я обожаю

Споделям мнението ви.

Это не лучшая ее партия(

You mean Murphy

Откуда Вы это взяли? Какая музыкальность?!!😯

I agree!

Осипова не балерина, а гимнастка.

@@janaselle8063 К сожалению такое сейчас сплошь и рядом. Многие зрители не понимают искусство, только спорт.

Просто эта партия не ее. Для меня она лучшая Жизель современности

Осипова великолепна, но эта партия не для ее темперамента(

I will never understand how she has such Endless energy!!!!👁️👄👁️😮💀🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️

Вы, типа, не видите, что в классике она вообще никакая? Недаром ей в Большом только девчушек-попрыгушек давали танцевать. Даже на фоне других исполнительниц в этом клипе она выглядит плохо, а уж если мы вспомним про Лопаткину и Захарову...