Ballet spectaculars

Alina Cojocaru showing some promise at 15. I'm kidding, okay? She goes on to be one of the greatest ballerinas.

Alina as Princess Aurora in Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty. This is her first minute appearance in the ballet.

The Rose Adagio from Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky
Svetlana Zakharova as Princess Aurora

Searching on YouTube, there doesn't appear to be a lot of ballet displayed. And some of the filming is very poor quality by somebody sitting in the audience.

But even professional film editors have a very great difficulty filming and editing ballet, since a lot of the filming of ballet is very poor quality. The main errors are way too many cuts and the cutting off of the feet of the dancers, especially the ballerinas, since watching the feet is a major part of the experience. Of course filming the corps de ballet is difficult because you're trying to fit the whole thing on a small screen and sometimes it's acceptable to show closer-up action, so long as you don't do it too often. But when showing solos or duets or small groups there is no need to make cuts at all. Just follow the action smoothly so as to not interfere with the spontaneity.

Poor filming and editing on the various talent shows on television is the accepted norm now, with so many cuts to the action on stage and even to the jury member's faces and the audience that it's impossible to follow the action of the talented individuals on the stage. This is so pervasive that it seems like we have a lack professional filming and editing standard even after a hundred years of filming. I can understand why this is tolerated on television talent shows which are mostly schlock anyway, but why extend the poor quality filming and editing to something as sophisticated as ballet?

You're right all the way through.

Not bad for an eight-year-old.

Alina Cojocaru performs a solo from prokofiev's Cinderella. Ashton choreography.

Top 15 female ballet dancers.

Manon, ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan with music extracted from works by Massenet.

This dance is dirty dancing, as dirty as it gets in ballet.

Des Grieux, a student is living with Manon, a teenager. Des Grieux no longer leaves the apartment than Manon's brother, Lescaut, a ne'er-do-well, shows up with the old lecher Monsieur GM. Brother Lescault virtually pimps his sister to Monsieur GM, who beguiles her with jewelry and furs. The dirty dance follows. The dance not only is accompanied by wonderful music, but the 20th century choreography by MacMillan is exceptionally beautiful.

For the dirty dance begin at: 33:15.

The Rose Adagio from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet.
Performed by Darcey Bussell and the Royal ballet.

In 17th century France, Princess Aurora celebrates her 20th birthday and a coming out party where she receives four suitors, four princes from other countries.

Sleeping Beauty, wedding pas de deux. Kathryn Morgan.

Cinderella, the complete ballet with music by Prokofiev. The Mariinsky theatre conducted by Gergiev.

One of my favorite 20th century ballets. The two stepsisters and the self-serving stepmother with orange hair steal the show. They're a riot.

The Four Seasons dressed in solid colors are given prominence in this version.

Part I

Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, balcony scene Pas de Deux, A. Ferri/A. Corella

Top 15 ballet pas de deux.

Sleeping Beauty: Act 3, Pas de Deux and solos.

Stunning performance of the Rose Adagio from Sleeping Beauty. Princess Aurora celebrates her 20th birthday and her coming out party receiving four suitors, four prince's from other countries.