I'm posting this wonderful clip that fellow BT'r fadedhour sent me, which shows an interview with Boston's Principal Ballerina Lorna Feijoo about her rehearsals for the upcoming season's Swan Lake (which she couldn't do at all due to an injury). It also shows wonderful segments of the rehearsals. Scroll down until the May 14 stories, and click on the headline "Boston Ballet Principal Dancer Lorna Feijoo"
I hope you all enjoy it...
http://www.wgbh.org/gb/?item_id=3581635
fadedhour!

I've been a fan of hers since the CUban Ballet brought Giselle to Berkeley -- she was fantastic in the role,, wonderfully musical, light, and so strong -- she could jump all the way across the stage in a couple of bounds.
She's wonderful in this video of Tchai pas with Damien Woetzel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8lNWDfzcCY
She dances SO big!

I enjoyed the clip thanks for sharing. Shame about the injury. I wonder how things are going for her.

Thanks for the clip, Paul. She reminds me of other Cuban balerinas, but I can't put my finger on why... what the cuban ballerina style is... something about how they register the line in the poses? It's so hard to describe a style without implying things not intended and unintentionally slighting other styles... and yet I think there is a recogizeable Cuban ballerina style... or is it a physique?
What exactly is it?

That's such a good question, Amy --

I think you're right. Cubanmiamiboy could maybe say a LOT here --

I notice several things. Physique IS part of it. She's a lot like her sister, who's of course a principal dancer here in SF, but like many cCUban dacners, she's not particularly long-legged, and the upper body is VERY engaged in the dancing. THe way she carries her head and uses her eyes are freer and warmer and socially engaging, friendly. But the legs are very grounded, the pelvic floor is very very strong -- we see this in hte Cuban men and in hte women -- they've got incredibly strong standing legs.

She dances like a Balanchine dancer in some respects -- look how she floats above her legs, how big she moves, and how free and daring she is in her attack. THose releves are sensational. And most of all, she's SO musical.

I think of Cuban dancers -- female as well as male -- as being very squarely placed. Lorna's dancing is recognizably Cuban, but her torso is not square. She's very free in the upper body. I see something; I just can't define it.

Incidentally, the pairing of Lorna and Damian is wonderful. They seem to be on exactly the same wavelength in terms of style and musicality, and there's a lovely rapport between them.

Paul. the Cuban style comes from deep within the Cuban spirit, from our joys and from our sadness. Some people are turned inward. Cubans are always out, sensual. What looks natural on the Russians, done by Cubans would have looked mimetic, like a mannerism .Mme. Alonso alywas refused Russian ballet teachers except for character dances-(they explained cubans how to dance czardas and mazurkas very well). That's also a reason why in the past, CNB discouraged her own dancers from taking advantage of Soviet scholarships. Unlike the Russians, who emphasize arm work, or the Danish and Americans, who focus on legwork, Cubans use their whole bodies to dance. But gracefulness does not make -let's say-Sarabita less macho than any Habanero out in the street. When his partner walks in, their dance becomes flirtation. It took Sarabita eight years of training to dance like that and Fernando Alonso ( ) more than 20 to develop the system to teach him how to do it.

This is from an interview with then Mme.'s husband, Mr. Pedro Simon:

''When Lázaro Carreño (Jose Manuel's uncle) did go study in Moscow, we had to spend months after he returned just getting him to dance like a Cuban again. It was a constant fight with Alicia.''


Paul, I've always thought, back when whe she was dazzling in Havana, before defecting, that she should had been dancing at ABT. Ok, i said it. (BTW, did you see her coda with Acosta from Diana&Acteon, doing that diagonal of fouettes avec le tir a l'arc? )

It often comes across as mannerism on Russians, too. While a description of someone's dancing as "mannered" is generally not a compliment here, I get the feeling that within limits, it is not considered a negative value among at least the Russian teachers and coaches. And that's fine. These days, as national styles (Cuban not among them) are blurring into each other, it's good to have these distinctions.

Interesting take on the Russians and Danes (of course it is hard to lump all Russian dancers into one group since there are many styles of ballet within Russia). I would not say that either emphasizes a particular part of the body but rather that they use them in a different way than perhaps some of us are used to seeing.

Agree.