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Full Version: Alicia Alonso's 1958 Giselle clips
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cubanmiamiboy
Thanks to the amazing link posted by Leonid-( British Pathe thanks.GIF thanks.GIF thanks.GIF )-, I was able to watch a couple of clips from Mme. Alonso's performance at the Bolshoi Theatre on January 30, 1958, while being a Principal with Ballet Theatre. The performance is Giselle, and the clips are her Act I Entrance and Spessivtseva's Solo. Her Loys is Russian Vladilen Semyonov.
According to some accounts, this was the first time a western ballerina was invited to dance with the Bolshoi, although from other sources, it was the British Beryl Grey who took the honors. In any case, this is a wonderful opportunity to see a glimpse a younger Alonso's Giselle, while still at her best-(she was 38 at the time).
Enjoy.

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=60389
rg
the pathe credits are a bit muddled.
there was no dancer, to the best of my knowledge, in Soviet Russia named Vladimir Seyonov; Alonso's partner in this footage is almost certainly Vladilen Semenov (sometimes spelled Semyonov).
here's what the NYPL says for a '58 appearance of Alonso in Russia, tho' this report details her appearances in Leningrad, which may have followed some in Moscow.
as follows:
Alonso's Giselle is hailed in Leningrad Kirov Theatre.
Dance news. New York. Mar 1958, p 1. illus
Names: Alonso, Alicia, 1921- ; Semenov, Vladilen.
cubanmiamiboy
Thanks rg for the clarification. I too Googled the name and nothing came out, so I edited it on the original post.
atm711
How I wished we could have seen some of the 2nd Act--I loved the small flowered ringlets she wore in her hair in this Act.
cubanmiamiboy
QUOTE (atm711 @ Aug 17 2009, 04:48 AM) *
How I wished we could have seen some of the 2nd Act--I loved the small flowered ringlets she wore in her hair in this Act.


Actually atm711, you are probably the only person on this board who can account for having seen her do many acts II LIVE, while still at her peak.

re: the ringlets. She always wore them..everytime she performed Giselle...way until her old age. They are still used by today's Cuban ballerinas...costume designs of the classics keep being reproduced as those used by her during the 40's and 50's...

http://www.lajiribilla.co.cu/2004/n149_03/...y/octavio02.jpg
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