26 replies to this topic

[rg]

here and following, a few pictures of Yuri Vladimirovich Soloviev.
first, as Prince Siegfried in SWAN LAKE, undated

Attached Files

•  YSsgfried.jpg   7.95K   8 downloads

[rg]

Y.V.Soloviev as the Prince in THE SLEEPING BEAUTY

Attached Files

•  YScindrsPrnc.jpg   7.47K   4 downloads

[rg]

Y.V.Soloviev as Genii of Water from the Little Humpbacked Horse

Attached Files

•  YShbkhors.jpg   11.04K   5 downloads

[rg]

further soviet postcards of Y.V. Soloviev, all dating from 1964.
the two facing cards show the dancer as siegfried in SWAN LAKE - in the ballroom act, costumed in white, and in the birthday gathering & following lakeside scene, wearing the darker, caped costume.
the third card documents the dancer costumed as albert in GISELLE, act 2.

Attached Files

•  _YSswanlake2x.JPG   49.75K   85 downloads
•  _YSalbrt.JPG   20.37K   85 downloads

[leonid]

rg, on Dec 5 2006, 03:05 PM, said:

further soviet postcards of Y.V. Soloviev, all dating from 1964.
the two facing cards show the dancer as siegfried in SWAN LAKE - in the ballroom act, costumed in white, and in the birthday gathering & following lakeside scene, wearing the darker, caped costume.
the third card documents the dancer costumed as albert in GISELLE, act 2.

Thank you for posting these photographs. I was still at school when I first saw Soloviev and the deep sincerity of his performances then and later, caused me to feel an extreme sadness when he died far too young.

Physically you would say he was a demi-classical dancer, but his innate grace and perfection in technique and epaulement took his appearances to a plain of his own making.

Not an obvious actor, however his physical expressivness in a wide range of roles, characterised absolutely perfectly, together with such convincing sincerity, made him for me a most unique performer of a type never seen again. In soviet ballets he definitely was a hero mixing revolutionery zeal with what one always imagines to be the historic simple honest Russian peasant type. As a prince, not possesing a conventional princely face it is true, but not that many other dancers have matched his seemingly inner princely manner.

[carbro]

As one who never saw this legend, I thank you, leonid, for such a vivid evocation of his essence.

And thank you, rg, as ever, for sharing the photos.

I notice that in the Swan Lake photos, he is wearing shoes with heels and buckles.  Not big heels, but certainly not your standard ballet slippers.  I wonder if those were used for the photo session or if they were indeed the shoes he wore in the respective acts.  Anyone?

[leonid]

carbro, on Dec 5 2006, 05:34 PM, said:

As one who never saw this legend, I thank you, leonid, for such a vivid evocation of his essence.

And thank you, rg, as ever, for sharing the photos.

I notice that in the Swan Lake photos, he is wearing shoes with heels and buckles.  Not big heels, but certainly not your standard ballet slippers.  I wonder if those were used for the photo session or if they were indeed the shoes he wore in the respective acts.  Anyone?

Heels were worn and changed for pas de deux and variations by Russian dancers in the past.

[carbro]

Thanks, leonid!

[rg]

not to go too far afield here, but i seem to recall that nikolai fadeyechev's prince in SWANLAKE, opposite plisetskaya recorded in the 1950s film, has him in heeled shoes for the first lakeside scene's encounter and duet with odette.

[Paul Parish]

THanks, Robert--

oh these are beautiful. Just looking at him standing still makes me cry. What MUST it have been like to see him dance.

THank you Leonid. I think we can all see that he is presenting something supremely physical that is simultaneously really visionary, and that the hierarchy is clear, the body submits to the vision as the cavalier does to the ballerina.

"I am a cloud in trousers," as Balanchine said, quoting (I think) Mayakovsky. What a cloud, and what trousers.

[rg]

as luck would have it, my first view of the kirov - london 1970 - included my one and only season seeing soloviev - i saw him in Flower Festival PdD, Bluebird, Albrecht and Leningrad Symphony - opposite sizova!
i was young dancewatchingwise to be sure and somewhat taken w/ the 'nureyev way' of performing but soloviev was the other revelation: light of touch, boundless of depth, and essentially, marvelously aloof.
he seemed to do nothing to draw you to him, nothing about his stage presence was signaling or teasing you to watch - there seemed an overwhelming privacy about him. 'watch me if you want.' o'course it was nearly impossible not to watch him.
his jump was everybit as light and airy and his elevation every bit as astounding as word had it. i'd say he floated, but that suggests, perhaps, a lack of center, a weightlessness, and soloviev he had notable, fully controlled weight, and still there was a expansive freedom to his jumps etc an ease and largeness of scale that went beyond the quantifiable evidence of his strength.
too bad i hadn't seen more or known more when i saw these unforgettable performances.
this was the same season i got to see for the first times, v.semyonov and m.baryshnikov - as well as s.vikhulov and v.budarin and whatever wonders any of these kirov exemplars provided, solovieiv's were the most wonderful of all. it was mostly about soloviev's performing that i filled the letters and cards i sent gushing back to unsuspecting ballet friends in the states.

[carbro]

rg, on Dec 6 2006, 12:51 PM, said:

light of touch, boundless of depth, and essentially, marvelously aloof.  he seemed to do nothing to draw you to him, nothing about his stage presence was signaling or teasing you to watch - there seemed an overwhelming privacy about him. 'watch me if you want.' o'course it was nearly impossible not to watch him. . . .  expansive freedom. . . and largeness of scale that went beyond the quantifiable evidence of his strength.

But for the masculine pronouns, you could be describing Suzanne Farrell.  Do you see them as equivalents?  Or am I misreading?

[rg]

within their respective traditions, both farrell and soloviev remained incomparable classical artists, but i can't say i was imagining farrell's greatness as i tried to recall soloviev's.

[Paul Parish]

Dear  rg,

What testimony. Thank you.

[fandeballet]

I saw a doc. on Soloviev, and of course I was totally blown away.  Are there any dancers today that are in the same universe with his dancing? A trully unique dancer. A rare bird.
  I remember going to see "The Turning Point" and discussing Misha.  A lady walked by us and said,"You should have seen Yuri Soloviev!"(At the old Walter Reade Theater, when it was on 57th St in NYC.)
  I did not understand until I saw this documentary.