I am afraid I cannot explain that to you, because she is one of my favourite dancers - not only because she is truly remarkable technically, but because she is an artist as well. I particularly love her use of the upper body. In fact, she is my favourite Odette - Odile. Maybe people who hate her do not like her extensions, but I believe that they look beautiful in her.
Thanks for your reply. Since my question, I have now seen her as Odile and in Paquita on tape. She strikes me as almost supernaturally secure technically, especially in her turns. The fouettes in Paquita are mind-boggling. I like the extensions, too.
But it's not just the pyrotechnics that impress me. I think she's an incredibly "dancy" dancer, if you know what I mean. She engages her entire body -- arms, torso, head -- in ways that are often neglected by other dancers.
And her body is as ideal as can be, and her face is heartbreakingly lovely. She seems bigger than life somehow. I'm becoming a real fan.
These 3 are the only 3 videos I have seen of her. I also saw her TWICE in the street at that tiem, and I was stricken by her beauty: long very black hair, and a tight black skirt with high heels that showed her extraordinary legs in black panty hose.
Phaedra, I don't think that when "repulsive" was used in the Bolshoi-Kirov exchange tour thread, it was in any way meant to apply to Yulia Makhalina as a dancer in general, but simply to the way she may have looked in that particular performance.
But you are right, Makhalina has always divided opinions among balletomanes and critics for various reasons: physique, challenging performance style, early rise to stardom, the "prima ballerina" hype created around her in the early nineties etc. It all tends to obscure a fair assessment of Makhalina and, in fact, she was only the first of the now generally cherished and acclaimed type of Petersburg ballerinas - even though in my opinion she is still miles ahead of most of the new ones in sheer artistry.
Also about her performance style. In particular,do they refer to her high extensions, or to something else? I'll second that motion, Marc. What in the world could be wrong with her physique? And what is meant by "challenging performance style"? Thanks in advance for your help. I haven't seen much of her--only a few times when the Kirov visited the US. The first was a number of years ago, when she was very very young, and danced the opening night Corsaire.
I thought she was lovely, beautiful dancing, and a beautiful face. She was also wonderful as Lilac that year. Then the next time the Kirov came back, she was featured in everything, and she seemed completely different--utterly self absorbed, still beautiful but not at all interesting. Then she just disappeared from the company's US schedule. I would love to see how she has developed, because when I first saw her I thought her dancing was so elegant.
Good point, Mary. Makhalina was a different dancer when we first saw her in the late eighties, also physically as the "Don Quixote", "Sleeping Beauty" videos witness.
By working a lot on her physique she created a taller, a more spindly physical image, allegedly in imitation of the then revered Sylvie Guillem model.
Makhalina never had a more nasty and often rude press than in London, even still in the mid-nineties. Her physical identity was described more than once as a caricature skinny arms, puffed ribs etc , her silhouette as extravagant Her performances were frequently turned down as cold, unmusical, empty technical displays, high on bravura but short on dramatic expression, marked by exaggerated extensions and sinuous lines pushing the limits in the classics.
So yes, Silvy, the high extensions were mentioned all the time. Concerning flexibility, I find that Yulia Makhalina exhibits hers far less than say Svetlana Zakharova. In the beginning of the variation where she does a jete ferme and releves to a develope a la seconde, her extension was not foot to ear.
I haven't seen Makhalina in any roles that require real artistic interpretation, so my comments are limited to how she uses her facility. It seems that many reviews have decided that the recent generation of Russian ballerinas use their facility in unclassical and even vulgar ways.
I'm quite sure that these ladies would never dare to use these extensions in Giselle; their coaches would shun such an idea immediately. However, if a ballet is designed to be virtuoso, why not be as virtuoso as possible as long as it's not out of character. I would expect to see such feats of virtuosity. I think a high extension would be fitting in the Rose Adagio of Sleeping Beauty as well, because although Aurora is a bit unsure of herself, she is young and exuberant.
Obviously, such extension would be inappropriate in Giselle or for Nikiya. Who wants to see a peasant girl or a Wili with their foot in their ear.
I don't mind huge extensions unless they are clearly unfitting of the character or are unharmonious in the choreography. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that only the Russian dancers are criticized for their extension. I know that many, especially English critics, role their eyes at Sylvie Guillem's extension. But has anybody bothered looking at Darcy Bussel or Lucia Laccara degree extensions.
I've even seen Laccara do one of those in Giselle. It seems strange to me that what every dancer strives so hard for is actually unwelcomed onstage in the classics. I'm quite sure that most dancers try their hardest to get their legs as high as possible, say in the Rose Adagio, but the Russians who can do what everyone else strives for are getting the sour grapes.
I think the high extensions do occur in Giselle and Bayadere as well, Rachel -- and the argument for them is what you wrote: if the dancer can do it, why not do it? But I'd argue that high extensions are quite out of place in the Rose Adagio. Zakharova actually touches her face with her leg.
And so of course, then they want to do it. And it takes attention away from other aspects of classical technique. I've seen some dancers with such a natural high extension that, as one teacher I talked to about it said after we'd both seen the same performance, "it's not an issue. But when you have a dancer swatting the side of her face with her leg over and over and over again, OI think it's an issue.
I think there has been criticism of both Bussell and Lacarra for this some saying that they, and this whole SkyKicker movement, is in imitation of Guillem. Personally, I don't find Bussell's extensions extreme or unclassical -- or incorrectly used.
But others do. I also predict that the high extension movement is about over and a new paradigm is emerging. I'm predicting the next ballerina model will be inspired by the Dance Magazine cover photo of Michele Wiles in an absolutely gorgeous, perfectly classical, arabesque. In the past two years, I've seen several Big Blonde classical dancers coming up, and I'm predicting that's the next paradigm.
Check back in five years and see if I'm right. Rachel, most of the recent generation of Mariinsky dancers dare to use crutch-splitting extensions in any ballet: "Giselle", "Sleeping Beauty", "Symphony in C", or "Jeune homme et la mort".
Whether it is out of character or not, whether it is vulgar or not, it doesn't matter, they do it all the time. It has become their trademark and that's why they are famous for and their coaches really don't mind. Makhalina does it as well when she dances "Giselle". The "Don Quixote" film you are referring to is from the early days; like I said, quite a different dancer then.
Alexandra, I'm less optimistic than you. When you see the current Russian ballet competitions, you'll realize the skykickers still have a lot in store for us.
There is an interesting scene in the film about Violette Verdy where she is coaching Lacarra and Pierre in "Liebeslieder Walzer". Verdy shows surprise when she sees Lacarra's extensions, but all she does is encouraging her in that direction. Oh, the skykickers won't go down without a fight, but I'm convinced we're at the very, very beginning of a neoclassical revival anyway -- I'm a believer in the pendulum swing theory of history, and we've swung very far in two directions: one, extreme technique; and two, "turning classicism on its ear.
But I agree, most coaches encourage the exterme technique -- but not always. Verdy may have thought that the extension was appropriate. I remember hearing stories about Balanchine letting some dancers i. Does it depend entirely on the role? You said that you found Darcy Bussel's extensions to be be classical. Is this because she uses them sparingly and only in the right context?
For example would you consider her huge extensions as Gamzatti in the Royal's Bayadere to be classical, because they fit the part? As I young dancer, I am envious of such extensions and do find them beautiful. I do, however, understand how they at times aren't true to the art and reduce ballet to a bag of tricks.
I guess this applies to many other aspects of ballet technique as well. I'm getting from this discussion that such fireworks should only be used at the appropriate times and sparingly. For example, if Sofianne Sylvie turned every simple double pirouette into 5, it would get old fast and would turn her into a dancer with nothing but a bag of tricks.
It seems strange that the coaches don't mind the extensions but many seasoned ballerinas do. I've read an interview of Assylmuratova where she condemns the younger generations use of such vulgar extensions. But aren't those seasoned ballerinas the coaches of the newer generation? Maybe the coaches who encourage such extensions were over-the-top dancers themselves. Maybe it's just taste. Good points. She has 'plastique' but lacks pulse and impulse; each step is labored, exact to a fault.
Makhalina danced the leading role of Medora in Le Corsaire during her first season with the company. Ghe was approached by Gennady Schreiber to learn the lead role in Swan Lake during her first year with the company, which was an unusual offer for an inexperienced dancer. Olga Moiseyeva, who was renowned for her interpretation of the white swan Odette coached Makhalina for the part. She was often partnered in this ballet by Andris Liepa. After a performance as Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis in the ballet blanc scene of the Romantic ballet Giselle, a review published in New York Magazine described her as having "extraordinarily long limbs" and a "calm, majestic command" over her body while performing slower movements, but noted that her phrasing became "disconnected" while performing big leaps or petit allegro combinations that require fast footwork.
That same year The Washington Post published a review praising her "voluptuous melanchony" in the White Swan Adagio excerpt from the second act of Swan Lake. Nina Alovert, a well known ballet photographer and writer, wrote that she first took note of Makhalina in during a performance of Paquita writing that Makhalina "immediately stood out among several young dancers with her degree extension", noting also her "soft landing" during jumps.
Like other reviewers, she also noted Makhalina's "physical beauty". Exotic roles have included Zobeide in Scheherazade and Death in The Youth and Death, while supporting roles have included the evil stepmother in Cinderella. With a repertoire of 40 roles, Makhalina also has outside interests in areas such as architecture and nature.
Born in Leningrad, she trained under Marina A. Vasilieva at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, graduating in Her father, Viktor Makhalin, is an engineer and her mother Anna is an accountant. Makhalina's teachers at the academy reportedly told her she would be only a corps de ballet dancer and after graduation she had signed on with a company in Lvov, but she was accepted into the Kirov after attracting the notice of then artistic director Oleg Vinogradov.
Along with Ulyana Lopatkina , Makhalina is a member of 'the basketball team', a group of Kirov dancers who are characterized for being especially tall and slender. Yulia Makhalina. Yulia Makhalina fans also viewed:.
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