A new post on the Pacific Northwest Ballet forum links to an article (by Sandra Kurtz) that contains a tribute to the retired character dancer Fleming Halby. One of Halby's roles was Father Lawrence, a character who is often underplayed -- or given very little stage time -- in performances, despite the pivotal nature of his role in the tragedy of the two lovers.

Generally, the way character roles are designed and performed seems to be something of an afterthought in American ballet. Or, at the other extreme, they are over-the-top, like several Carabosses I've seen.

Which character dancers, in which roles, do you remember most fondly? What did they do to -- or what did the role contain -- that made them memorable?

I'll start the ball rolling with Joseph Bucheck, in Ballet Florida's production of Val Caniparoli's "Lady of the Camellias." In the non-dancing role of Prudence -- Marguerite's "friend," mentor, and (ultimately) bad influence -- Bucheck was alternately solicitous, caring, judgmental, and downright scarey. More important, he brought an emotional "weight" to the character which balanced the powerful but sometimes overwrought Marguerite of Tina Martin.

I'd say Freddie Franklin. And I'd name three roles; Friar Lawrence, Madge , and the tutor in Swan Lake. He does the first and the last with such enate kindness. And as Madge he avoided the "over-the-top-ness" that seems to plague men doing female character roles.

My favorite Drosselmeyer performance ever was by a dancer who wasn't known primarily as a character actor, Francisco Moncion. (At least part of this time he was listed in the roster among the Principal Dancers; there was no special "character" category.)

His Drosselmeyer was particularly kind, and the scene to the violin cadenza in which he looked after the sleeping Marie and the broken Nutcracker and in which he cast his spell was perfectly paced and wonderous.

elena sherstneva (sp.?) of the kirov, particularly in the panaderos from raymonda. wonderful!

Gedeminas Taranda as Sultan Abderakman (Raymonda) and Yulia Malkhasiants in just about everything.

Shaun O'Brien as Dr. Coppelius

Top of my list, Sorella Englund as Madge.
Taranda as Abderakhman.
Derek Rencher as von Rothbart.
Ashton and Helpmann as Cindrella's Ugly Sisters.
Joseph Duell as the Rhumba Boy in Fancy Free.
Peter Brandenhof (of SFBallet) as Hilarion and Gurn.
David Bintley as the mother in Fille mal Gardee.
muriel Maffre as the Lilac Fairy.
Christopher Wheeldon as Marie's father in The Nutcracker.
Balanchine as Drosselmeyer, and as Don Quixote.

I may have mentioned this on another thread in the past, so forgive if I repeat myself . I think a better designation for these special artists is principal mime dancer rather than character dancer... I'm thinking of roles like Drosselmeyer, Madge, Kastchei, Dr. Coppelius, Widow Simone, etc. Stanley Holden and Franklin White of the Royal Ballet were famous in this catagory. Somehow, I've never thought of the Lilac Fairy in this way...

Firstly I was pleased to see Fleming Halby's name mentioned as I remember him as dancer coming from deep and long ballet tradition of a repertoire with plenty of character roles.

My personal choice is based on the following artists being able to fill roles without false actions, or lapses of staying entirely in character. All of those performances remain memorable for me in contrast to now when so much detail of character roles is often given in a sketchy manner as if it doesn't matter. For me, this can dispel the atmosphere of a ballet completely and I start watching dancing instead of appreciating a fully integrated art form of acting and dancing.

In no particular order:

Niels Bjorn Larsen as Madge
Alexander Grant, Stanley Holden and Anatole Gridin as Carabosse
Stanley Holden as Widow Simone
Alexander Grant and Gary Grant as Alain
Vladimir Levashev, Rudolf Nureyev as Drosselmeyer
Stanley Holden as Katschei
Frederick Ashton and Robert Helpmann as Ugly Sisters
Leslie Edwards as Prince of Verona in Romeo Juliet and Thomas in La Fille…
Wayne Sleep as the Notary’s clerk in La Fille…
Gerd Larsen as Berthe

Get on a plane, Paul - we saw her at Covent Garden last night. The only problem is that the company don't tell us minor details like which nights she'll be on, so you'd have to attend the entire run of Sylphide to be sure of catching her.

The Kirov's Vladimir Ponomaryev in any of his roles - most recently Lord Capulet. I also love his High Priest in Bayadere, King Florestan in Beauty or Khan Girai in Bakh Fontan. Ponomaryev -- he is "Da Best"!

YES! Absolutely my first choice, too, Natalia!!!

Every time I see the title of this thread, I envision Elaine Kudo leading the Czardas in ABT's Swan Lake. Proud and earthy. Gorgeous.

I'm glad you knew his work -- he had a long career in Seattle, so we got to see him evolve from leading man to character roles, alongside his teaching and coaching.

Currently, I've been enjoying Olivier Wevers' acting and dancing at PNB -- he's still performing principal roles with great skill and elan, but he's taken on several character parts as well. His Carabosse does indeed go over the top, but within that category he takes great pains with characterization and timing -- there's a wealth of detail in what he does that is, unfortunately, becoming unusual in these roles. It has been several years, but I still remember his Gamache in Don Quixote as a high point in the run.

Hey Sandi,

Is Olivier Wevers getting OLD? Isn't he the kid whom Julia Adam made "Ou est Olivier?" for when he graduated from SFB School a few years back?

He DID have a presence of an unusual kind -- which Adam made delicious hay out of, and it was fun trying to pick him out of each new crowd scene. Boal should get that piece for him -- well maybe not, but it was DELIGHTFUL. Can he still do "boyish"? Nobody I could compare him to except a comic actor I saw in a movie the other night, still with some of hte softness of a boy but precocious to a degree. If it's the same person, of course. but it sounds like it -- I wouldn't be at ALL surprised to hear that he could do Agon Sarabande and also Carabosse.

And Gina, until I saw Maffre do Lilac (she's also VERY good at Carabosse, she alternates the roles) I'd never before seen a Lilac whose character was even more impressive than her classical dancing. but the ballet benefits enormously from having a real sovereign power visible in Lilac -- it gives the ballet dramatic tension.

When Jim Sohm does Carabosse and Maffre Lilac, it almost stops the show -- and I'll never forget, on opening night of this production, many years ago now, the applause for Maffre when she came out for her bow was deafening -- until the audience bethought themselves and remembered that Aurora had not come out yet and they scaled it back, almost against their will, so as not to be rude to the titular ballerina. Marie Petipa, who originated the role, it says in the history books was a character dancer. I don't think this is jus a matte of wearing heeled shoes. What this actually means becomes more and more interesting to me. Amongst my top ten unfulfillable art-wishes is to see Petipa himself do the lezghinka at 60, and to see Marie Petipa do Lilac.

Meantime, the whole world should come here to see Muriel do Lilac. It would be worth the trip.

According to his bio on the PNB website,



I tried to Google "où est Olivier?" and Adam to find out who danced the role, but didn't find any matches.)

Wevers's wife, Kaori Nakamura is in her mid-thirties, having won the Prix de Lausaunne in 1986 when she was in her mid-teens. I don't know if they are the same age, because seeing in person in his (very stylish) civilian clothes, it's hard to guess his exact age, but I would guess their ages are in the same ballpark.

Off Topic: New (Feb) Dance Magazine has photo of Wevers dancing with Noelani Pantastico -- both wearing jeans and distressed sleeveless shirts in "Suspension of Disbelief."