Gelsey’s prep to her solo around 6:15 gives the viewer a foretaste of her extraordinary musicality. She stretches and bends her dancing within the composer’s bars ~~~ seamless legato and a wonderful rubato (Callas did this as did Sinatra…) A tragedy that personal demons interfered with her career much as it did with Allegra Kent’s. But thankfully we have these videos to cherish and brighten our days in a world gone mad.
Gelsey's dancing was So Beautiful. She was definitely one of the world Greatest Ballerinas. 🌹🌹🌹 Baryshnikov, too, of course, one of the Greatest male Dancers of the century. I saw him in ballet class in LA once, and his jumps during center floor, were Literally about 3 times the height of the other men dancing. He jumped so high and Hung in the Air! He was Amazing!
@@patricias5122 Yes! It was in the late 1980's and He was in LA to perform at the Hollywood Bowl. He took a Professionals' Class in the morning from a Prominent LA teacher..🌟🌟🌟
@@christar9527 Yes, True!🌟 Baryshnikov was definitelyTHE TOP Male Dancer! I did not think ANY Dancer could ever Exceed him. However, After Baryshnikov, there have actually been some other AMAZING Russian Dancers, like Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Have you seen him? His dancing is Amazing! ( Not sure, but he might have recently retired from performing)
You know...I get so sick and tired of people judging Ms. Kirkland for her shortcomings as if they have none of their own, when we all have things in our lives we are ashamed of and if not then you are only lying to yourself alone! This woman was and still is a true prima ballerina, heights above many of those calling themselves ballerinas today, despite "whatever"! Show me a ballerina today besides Marianele Nunez or Ulyana Lopatkina who can do what she did back then! These so-called ballerinas today can't even run on stage without sounding like they weigh four hundred pounds. And asking them to be still in a sous sous position is an impossibility. Ms. Kirkland was always soundless when she blessed us with her performances on stage and held every position rock solid even though she was feather thin, until she decided it was time to continue or the musical score did. We have been short changed with today's examples of what once was! Thank God there are enough of us still living who know what a true prima ballerina is and have not been duped by the tricks these new generation types are trying to impress us with.
It's not that people don't appreciate her talent. It's the fact that she's very entitled and has a very abrasive personality. I watched a biography on her, watched her talk, and listened to the things she had to say. She was sarcastic, negative, and acted as if she was above everyone else.
Two legends I love them together and she is so light I have never seen another ballerina come close to her light as a feather execution. It’s like she never touches the ground❤️
I love your comment, she makes the most difficult choreography look so simple. She has always been my inspiration to dance and continue to dance at times I was so exhausted. Some of my greatest achievements was because of her. There will never be anyone who is more talented technically and artistically than her ❤
Her perfection of tragedy makes her dancing almost come to life in words. You can feel the abandon in her moves, you see the despair and desperation in her eyes. Only a ballerinawith this much sadness can dance with this level of perfection.
Val Whittington At 07:45 I heard years ago that she would intentionally break down her shoes so they acted more like a hinge at the arch. She would then use the sheer strength of her foot to keep herself en pointe. It made it easier for her to do the demi pointe to pointe work she shows here.
Hi Alex thanks for your videos always varied and interesting with many explanations. An enrichment for us! Here Misha and Gerslay are great and Misha dance steps hardest naturally and lightly. (I hope my English is not too incomprehensible)
hi Virginia glad you're liking what i'm posting on my channel! i try to be varied rather than just upload the same kind of thing. yes, Baryshnikov makes all these difficulties seem easy and natural your English is great - my French is poor now, shameful for coming from a French background!
Wonderful to see all these ballerinas with their different styles. I see Gelsey is thinkig thinking ballerina. Even when she is dancing in Balanchine's company in Theme and Variations I can see herr resisting the Balanchine style thinking through all her movements. Baryshnikov lovely of course.
I agree with you. But every dancer has his/her approach. Every movement for Kirkland had to have its motivation. She got on people's nerves, Baryshnikpov's, people at the Royal Ballet's. My friend Shirley Graham cpouldn't stand her.. But wise old Dame Ninette said let her do things her way. I do admire what I have seen of Kirkland's dancing on video - one does not need to know about her obsession, but it adds a nuance of its own to her dancing.
yes, i too admire dancers that think about / need a motivation for each step - and agree it adds nuances to performance, even if the audience is unaware of these - Baryshnikov in his book 'Baryshnikov at Work' is very interesting about the motivations for chore and steps - probably he had a less annoying way of approaching such considerations with others than Gelsey did?
Felix de Villiers In her book, Kirkland made everybody in ABT look like they were inconsiderate, stubborn when they don't listen to what she said. But because so many reacted badly to her attitude, I believe Kirkland had her fair share of inconsiderations for other's feelings. In her book, a doctor said somewhere that Baryshnikov might be more insecure than she was. Even though I believe Kirkland was the more insecure, I do think that Baryshnikov was really insecure because of his defensiveness and getting mad easily.
Almost unbearable is this performance of both dancers. Mischa’s magic combined with Gelsey’s precision and grace sends you to a level of emotion that could be the state of grace described in sainthood.
Theirs was a partnership destined for Fonteyn/Nureyev level of legend. Shame her personal self-destructiveness sabotaged it. I once saw her performing at the Met in Balanchine's La Sonnambula with ABT and remember leaving the theatre feeling haunted by the level of her dancing. Later, when reading her notorious book "Dancing on My Grave", I realized she was flying on coke on stage. Oh, well...
@@freddiemercury4evr Oh, thank you for that detail! I must admit, I was very worried that Gelsi spoke negatively about Misha, I thought that perhaps she spoke against the background of her health problems... and I did not know that she apologized, I did not see such a publication
@@JohnRaymondHall Makarova early just out of the soviet union was remarkable. She had other western world class dancers rethink their approach to technique and acting . But t after dancing in the west for so many yrs she lost something , its almost like she became a caricature of herself . All of a sudden she became over exaggerated . (Think Juilet in the balcony scene where Makarova literally is doing a back bend combre over the railing . It got to be too overt , too much ! )
Mikhail Baryshnikov has completely ruined ballet for me, because I've seen no other male dancer who can compare... That, and now I think all my toys could come to life so I can have a secret affair with them...
i loved your comment - wisdom and a laugh at the end - who could want for more! :) i might be circumspect when i start having that affair with my living toys - but that's my inadequacy! LOL
I am not generally a Baryshnikov fan. I understand him to be the Horowitz of ballet, with an astonishing technique that is all about him. That said, there were works in which Horowitz dazzled, and here Baryshnikov does so as well.
i'm not sure Louise - this performance was part of Mikhail Baryshnikov 1976 US TV debut at Wolf Trap so what chore was chosen i'm not sure. i'll google round and see what i can find. :)
Gelsey’s prep to her solo around 6:15 gives the viewer a foretaste of her extraordinary musicality. She stretches and bends her dancing within the composer’s bars ~~~ seamless legato and a wonderful rubato (Callas did this as did Sinatra…) A tragedy that personal demons interfered with her career much as it did with Allegra Kent’s. But thankfully we have these videos to cherish and brighten our days in a world gone mad.
Gelsey Kirkland + Mikhail Baryshnikov = Perfection
Gelsey's dancing was So Beautiful. She was definitely one of the world Greatest Ballerinas. 🌹🌹🌹 Baryshnikov, too, of course, one of the Greatest male Dancers of the century. I saw him in ballet class in LA once, and his jumps during center floor, were Literally about 3 times the height of the other men dancing. He jumped so high and Hung in the Air! He was Amazing!
You saw him in ballet class? Hmmmm....
@@patricias5122 Yes! It was in the late 1980's and He was in LA to perform at the Hollywood Bowl. He took a Professionals' Class in the morning from a Prominent LA teacher..🌟🌟🌟
Was there a better male dancer in the last century? I thought he was the best.
@@christar9527 Yes, True!🌟 Baryshnikov was definitelyTHE TOP Male Dancer! I did not think ANY Dancer could ever Exceed him. However, After Baryshnikov, there have actually been some other AMAZING Russian Dancers, like Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Have you seen him? His dancing is Amazing! ( Not sure, but he might have recently retired from performing)
@user-tc7mf4mj6w 🌟🌟🌟Sí, absolutamente Nureyev fué uno de los Mejores bailarinos del Mundo 💙
You know...I get so sick and tired of people judging Ms. Kirkland for her shortcomings as if they have none of their own, when we all have things in our lives we are ashamed of and if not then you are only lying to yourself alone! This woman was and still is a true prima ballerina, heights above many of those calling themselves ballerinas today, despite "whatever"! Show me a ballerina today besides Marianele Nunez or Ulyana Lopatkina who can do what she did back then! These so-called ballerinas today can't even run on stage without sounding like they weigh four hundred pounds. And asking them to be still in a sous sous position is an impossibility. Ms. Kirkland was always soundless when she blessed us with her performances on stage and held every position rock solid even though she was feather thin, until she decided it was time to continue or the musical score did. We have been short changed with today's examples of what once was! Thank God there are enough of us still living who know what a true prima ballerina is and have not been duped by the tricks these new generation types are trying to impress us with.
Do you know how she was able to dance so quietly? Surely, most of it is technique.
Amen!!
It's not that people don't appreciate her talent. It's the fact that she's very entitled and has a very abrasive personality. I watched a biography on her, watched her talk, and listened to the things she had to say. She was sarcastic, negative, and acted as if she was above everyone else.
She truley is amazing
Viegsay Valdés.
Gelsey is the best I've seen.
They both have such amazing musicality (in addition to their many other qualities).
Mikhail Baryshnikov is the god of ballet
on the top of Parnassus!
Concordo pienamente.....semplicemente sublime!!!
Non ci sono parole.....
The two most amazing athletes in the world to date. So exquisite, so elegant, so unmatched!!!
Athletes??
I’m about to sound old, but Gelsey is such a joy to watch. Those are the words in my head right now lol
Two legends I love them together and she is so light I have never seen another ballerina come close to her light as a feather execution. It’s like she never touches the ground❤️
Yes, this and "Nutcracker"! I`m always frightend again: Gelsey was dangerous thick!
I love your comment, she makes the most difficult choreography look so simple. She has always been my inspiration to dance and continue to dance at times I was so exhausted. Some of my greatest achievements was because of her. There will never be anyone who is more talented technically and artistically than her ❤
She had no shortcomings when she was healthy. The best dancer ever bar nobody.
@@jondavwal13 Agreed!!!
Прелестная Гелси и очаровательный Михаил
Gelsey was more talented than many top dancers are today.
Misha and Gelsey were so perfect together.
On stage,but, off?...... yeesh!
@@deanndrakaydee123 yuuupp. He treated her like crap.
Realy?
@@iwonaskowronska7303 he did! She wrote her autobiography many years ago, “Dancing on my Grave”, where she told how badly he behaved.
@@CDS-pb4ng It's so sad....it changes my minde...
So right for all the classical ballets, I've loved everything I've ever seen her dance.
Her perfection of tragedy makes her dancing almost come to life in words. You can feel the abandon in her moves, you see the despair and desperation in her eyes. Only a ballerinawith this much sadness can dance with this level of perfection.
i think that's right - great tragedy can make you able to understand and express that in movement or dance.
Gorgeous, just gorgeous! Her balances.. his elevations...and so on..Thank you!
hard to find fault with these two dancers here!
She's having trouble with her balances. Looks like her shoes are a bit too dead.
@@annettefournier9655 Это не туфли, а пуанты😁
Gelsey is truly like the ballerina in a music box - so perfect!
true - and so delicate and so strong too
@@JohnRaymondHall A true artist - and so talented. It's terrible that the ballet culture was so brutal on her and others. She's still standing strong.
@@firenze5555 i agree - and yes, still standing strong and honest about her life in that recentish interview which i'm sure you know
@@JohnRaymondHall Do you have a link to the recent interview?
@@firenze5555 yes, :) ruclips.net/video/kcTDFMSZM6M/видео.html
How wonderful! Everyone who dances now is doing work, and in their dance only art and beauty.
Tańczą jak motyle w słońcu 💞
She was the best ❤️
Thank you for posting this! I'm so grateful that we have footage of these two in action - they are phenomenal.
Her balances were bravura. Just lovely.
Somebody sent an angry reply don't know why about Gelsey???
I did ballet 11 yrs. Never.😮
She’s the only ballerina could stand out with Baryshnikov.
Thank you, this was magnificent. I love Misha's height in the jumps, and Gelsey's beautiful balances, her port de bras, and joy of movement!
His elevations are so high, they seem impossible. Absolutely amazing.
So light. Superb. It looks like she hardly has a box in her shoes.
i thought the exact same thing - her feet are so delicate - so many good things to like - her beautifully and beautifully graded balances in solo.
Val Whittington
At 07:45
I heard years ago that she would intentionally break down her shoes so they acted more like a hinge at the arch. She would then use the sheer strength of her foot to keep herself en pointe. It made it easier for her to do the demi pointe to pointe work she shows here.
Tenderness and the exuberance of youth. Reminds me of two kittens of a litter - with incestuous tendencies
Absolutely exquisite
Thank you! I always wanted to see Baryshnikov in the Coppélia.
Gelsey magnificat!!!
Cudny taniec 🌹🌹
So very excellent. What more can one say?!
i second that by saying nothing too :)
Thank you!! So lovely and the quality of the film quite good, so we can enjoy it even more!!!
pleasure - the quality is okay - it could be better - but i found the performance so thrilling is forgot this quite quickly :)
All your videos are so interesting and a pleasure to watch! Thank you!❤️👏🌹
thanks for your nice comments - they are really appreciated ❤️👏🌹
I must agree... thanks so much for all your uploads. 💕🌼
that's so kind of you to say so - much appreciated! just hope i can keep finding interesting things to upload!
Brilliant
Sublime
Hi Alex
thanks for your videos always varied and interesting with many explanations. An enrichment for us!
Here Misha and Gerslay are great and Misha dance steps hardest naturally and lightly.
(I hope my English is not too incomprehensible)
hi Virginia
glad you're liking what i'm posting on my channel! i try to be varied rather than just upload the same kind of thing.
yes, Baryshnikov makes all these difficulties seem easy and natural
your English is great - my French is poor now, shameful for coming from a French background!
Wonderful to see all these ballerinas with their different styles. I see Gelsey is thinkig thinking ballerina. Even when she is dancing in Balanchine's company in Theme and Variations I can see herr resisting the Balanchine style thinking through all her movements. Baryshnikov lovely of course.
yes, things are spoiled when you see the dancer thinking though his/her performance - takes you away from the meanings of the ballet.
I agree with you. But every dancer has his/her approach. Every movement for Kirkland had to have its motivation. She got on people's nerves, Baryshnikpov's, people at the Royal Ballet's. My friend Shirley Graham cpouldn't stand her.. But wise old Dame Ninette said let her do things her way. I do admire what I have seen of Kirkland's dancing on video - one does not need to know about her obsession, but it adds a nuance of its own to her dancing.
yes, i too admire dancers that think about / need a motivation for each step - and agree it adds nuances to performance, even if the audience is unaware of these - Baryshnikov in his book 'Baryshnikov at Work' is very interesting about the motivations for chore and steps - probably he had a less annoying way of approaching such considerations with others than Gelsey did?
Felix de Villiers In her book, Kirkland made everybody in ABT look like they were inconsiderate, stubborn when they don't listen to what she said. But because so many reacted badly to her attitude, I believe Kirkland had her fair share of inconsiderations for other's feelings. In her book, a doctor said somewhere that Baryshnikov might be more insecure than she was. Even though I believe Kirkland was the more insecure, I do think that Baryshnikov was really insecure because of his defensiveness and getting mad easily.
Almost unbearable is this performance of both dancers. Mischa’s magic combined with Gelsey’s precision and grace sends you to a level of emotion that could be the state of grace described in sainthood.
Theirs was a partnership destined for Fonteyn/Nureyev level of legend. Shame her personal self-destructiveness sabotaged it. I once saw her performing at the Met in Balanchine's La Sonnambula with ABT and remember leaving the theatre feeling haunted by the level of her dancing. Later, when reading her notorious book "Dancing on My Grave", I realized she was flying on coke on stage. Oh, well...
agreed - the was an interview where she talks about cocaine and Balanchine and things - very sad to see
Misha didn't help.
@@deanndrakaydee123 what is that supposed to mean? Do you even realize she apologized for her negative words about Mr. Baryshnikov??
@@freddiemercury4evr Oh, thank you for that detail! I must admit, I was very worried that Gelsi spoke negatively about Misha, I thought that perhaps she spoke against the background of her health problems... and I did not know that she apologized, I did not see such a publication
@@freddiemercury4evr Yes I read that article as well! It is never a good thing to speak negatively about others in public.
Ms. Kirkland was divine, second only to Galina Ulanova in perfection!
i agree - i would add early Makarova to that list. her early 'Les Sylphides' with Soloviev are perfection.
@@JohnRaymondHall Makarova early just out of the soviet union was remarkable. She had other western world class dancers rethink their approach to technique and acting . But t after dancing in the west for so many yrs she lost something , its almost like she became a caricature of herself . All of a sudden she became over exaggerated . (Think Juilet in the balcony scene where Makarova literally is doing a back bend combre over the railing . It got to be too overt , too much ! )
@@havenization Makarova herself said about leaving the SU "I`m loosing myself I must go" that happened in London.
بالتوفيق والنجاح الدائم
It's ironic that Gelsey truly did reach absolute perfection & yet she herself could not see it
Superb.
absolutely!
🇪🇬❤💚
Isnt there anymore videos with Gelsey Kirkland , I cant believe it.
Mikhail Baryshnikov has completely ruined ballet for me, because I've seen no other male dancer who can compare...
That, and now I think all my toys could come to life so I can have a secret affair with them...
i loved your comment - wisdom and a laugh at the end - who could want for more! :) i might be circumspect when i start having that affair with my living toys - but that's my inadequacy! LOL
Omg. I totally forgot the what they were dancing .I was like, wtf? Lolololol
Can someone please explain to me why cameramen keep cutting off ballerinas feet in the frame?
they want closer up but don't realize the cost
Infuriating!!
Lol! I’ve seen Russian-filmed ballets where the dancers dance right out of the frame and they don’t adjust it.
Incredible performance.
A wonderful couple.
Is it the choreographic version of Enrique Martínez?
i don't know - i'll check around.
5:00 He loves dancing by himself lmao. He seems pressed when he is dancing with another person.
I am not generally a Baryshnikov fan. I understand him to be the Horowitz of ballet, with an astonishing technique that is all about him. That said, there were works in which Horowitz dazzled, and here Baryshnikov does so as well.
well put
Dear Alex, Whose choreography is this? It isn't the traditional one as used by the RB from Sergeyev's Imperial notebooks.
i'm not sure Louise - this performance was part of Mikhail Baryshnikov 1976 US TV debut at Wolf Trap so what chore was chosen i'm not sure. i'll google round and see what i can find. :)
, someone know the name of tu music?
Leo Delibes
Léo Delibes
@@susannevollmer2347 just saw your comment after i posted mine :)
Its ust painful to watch gelsey so painfully thin such talent such tradgedy