someone has put these two clips on youtube from the documentary on Yuri Soloviev:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVKb9VuV66w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXjxIGXcZxs

Thank you. That was lovely. Such a light jump!

they appear to have added a few more.

Ther is something of an academic classical exquisiteness of the execution of steps in his very best moments, that combined with his self-effacement touches me in a way that other technical examplars such as Mikhail Barishnikov did not. Soloviev along with Komleva (in certain roles) and Sizova, could express a simplicity of innocence that one rarely sees today and for me expresses a sense of servitude to the art rather than just playing to the audience.

Leonid, it's interesting that you mention Komleva. YouTube also has the following, a 1975 pdd with Soloviev and Komleva:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0itBRzTJ1Q...feature=related

He's obviously older and bulkier. Some elements of his dancing are different, some are very reminiscient of his youth. What do you think about the comparisons?

He is heartbreakingly beautiful...

i don't know when all of those films were made, but he was only 36 when he died.

I think it has been at least a couple of years since I last posted (as some of you may have at one point gotten tired of reading) that the very first ballet I ever saw was the Kirov film of Sleeping Beauty with Soloviev and Sizova. I was completely awestruck by it -- a very small child, but a ballet fan for life. And though only a fan, I feel ballet has brought a great deal TO my life, so these two dancers, whom I never saw live, have a very special place in my heart and memory.

I loved the videos--and, by the by thought Soloviev looked terrific in the 1975 video--in some ways more refined than in the earlier ones. I do wander over to youtube on my own from time to time, but had had not seen these--thanks for posting the link.

He is just as wonderful as I remember. This was such a treat! I haven't seen him dance since I was a teenager! What I really notice now, as well as his amazing ballon and batterie, are his elegant, fluid port de bras and hands...

I recognize and share the feeling, Drew.

The silhouette effect in the 1974 video is remarkable. On one hand, it tends to erase most of those qualities that make Soloviev and Komleva individuals inhabiting a real world. You can hardly make out the details of their faces, eyes, hair, costumes. What is left is the IDEA (or the IDEAL) of two beautifully matched and classical ballet dancers They move through space in almost perfect harmony and often, indeed, in parallel.

Soloviev's many double tours en l'air are stunning. But the most poignant for me is one in which he lands on one knee with one arm curving upward. His pose is parallel and identical to one Komleva has already achieved. It is as if she had been waiting for him to join her.

I've never seen an image (or mirror-image) which reminded me so powerfully of the sense of two-as-one in the greatest pas de deux is all about. I don't think I'll ever forget it.

More clips of Soloviev have been uploaded on youtube:

Spectre a la Rose:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npd9Yi2yD4s

But maybe the best is his legendary Bluebird:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb7m-vCS1Lg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov7F_G2GmtM

Is there a biography on him?

Thank you so much for introducing me to such a dancer. (And to Ilyaballet)

There is a Soviet Doc. It probably was done soon after he committed suicide in 1977. Rudi was the one who got me
into ballet. He is my"first love" in ballet. Owwwww..........BUT.........SOLOVIEV!!!!!!!!!
I went to see "The Turning Point" with Misha. A woman came by and said to me, "You should have seen Soloviev!" I did not know anything about him. But I heard from people in the know that he was a better technical dancer. But, until I saw him in the Russian Doc.- I could not get over the sheer power mixed wth superb phrasing and musicality! The beauty of his dancing!!!! It takes my breath away. I have only seen him om film. My mine can only begin to imagine what it must have been like to see him in person!!!!!!

There is a biography in Gennady Smakov's book on Russian dancers.
Online, there's one here: Soloviev

He's exquisite.


I couldn't have expressed it any better. There's a generosity to his dancing and to his partnering, and a complete lack of self-consciousness of his placement and technique. No matter how technically demanding the steps or bravura the role, there's not a hint of "ta-da", like when he continues from the landing of the tour jetes in one direction right into steps in another, phrasing without pause, in the "Spectre de la Rose" clip, where the transition from solo to partnering is seamless. I particularly love how in the final arabesque, it's not about his leg or his foot: it is an expression of his whole body as she sleeps and his perfume envelops her.

Another thing I notice about his dancing is that I can see why he was called the "next Nijinsky," and not only because of their remarkable similarity in physique (short, with extremely muscular thighs), and their elevation, but because of this androgynous quality to their dancing. This is not to be confused with being effeminate. But his movements have a soft, almost ethereal style. If you watch him dance it's as if his feet never really touch the ground. When he jumps there's no sense of take-off and landing -- it's as if he's Marie Taglioni, literally floating across the stage.

It seems that the choeography was created for him........even eminates from him!!!!!!!!!!!