Lucille Ball does The Dying Swan

Not enough people have been charmed by this surreptitiously recorded performance snip of Osipova in The Dying Swan that's on YouTube.  So, let's get it out there for all to see. 

Haglund's favorite example of good taste in this clip is around the 42 sec. mark when Miss O bounces off the floor during an emotional, very emotional descent and even more emotional reverberation.  But there are so many other fine points to cherish as well.  There is something very "Lariska Dumbchenko" about the interpretation -- or maybe it's more like Lucy Ricardo working on another crazy act that she wants Ricky to include in his show. 

ABT's Saturday matinee of Swan Lake at the Met this spring is currently a TBA; it doesn't have Osipova's name on it yet, but it's hers for the taking.  McKenzie is praying that his castmaster, Alastair Macaulay, will weigh in with some overblown gas about her debut as Odette/Odile at the Royal Ballet last night opposite Carlos Acosta as quickly as possible -- hopefully before the first printing of the spring brochure -- which he can pocket to validate casting her for ABT's spring season.  Maybe we'll even get Acosta who used to be superb but is closing in on his 40th birthday and is now well past his prime.  But don't think it impossible – uglier has happened in this here town.

Yes, McKenzie is right. An Odette/Odile has to have a special shape of leg which supposedly is what has kept so many extraordinarily talented ABT dancers from being given the opportunity to dance this most important role.  And he is, after all, the keeper of Swan Lake integrity.  This year he's giving it to a technically-impaired guest artist who wears beer-can shaped shoes, and, most likely, to the bulldog Odette who bulldozes over everyone to get what she wants.  This year, ABT's Swan Lake may lose Julie Kent but it could gain Lucy and Ricky Ricardo.  Fair trade, eh?

 

Comments

[K]

Sad to see Julie giving up roles. She's not my favorite in everything, but she still has some steam left in her and is always tasteful, measured, and classical.

And...I still have no words over this video.

[Haglund]

I saw Julie's Swan Lake last year and it was damn fine. She nailed both roles. No age related problems were evident that I could see.

I'd much rather see her continue with Swan Lake than Romeo and Juliet. Much rather.

K, you knew I'd get around to highlighting the video when you threw it my way. It's like a car wreck that you can't look away from.

[Angelica Smith]

Her arms at 1.17 going forward look more like zumba than ballet.

[Haglund]

Angelica, it hurts to watch classical ballet being murdered like this.

[sillypants]

Hi Haglund, this comment is unrelated to the Osipova video but related to the ABT '13 season - casting for July 3 matinee = Sarah Lane (and Simkin) for Sleeping Beauty woooooooo

[Olivera]

Osipova looks better (more feminime) in the Swan tutu then I was imagining. The interpretation is a bit too much at the end, I agree, but I've seen worse - much worse.

[Haglund]

Hi Olivera. I've seen worse, but it's been from ice skaters.

[Genna]

The only thing dying when watching this video is good taste. When watching a good performance of DS, I just want the swan to hang on little longer so as to marvel at understated beauty of interpretation and lyrical arms. But this swan couldn't die fast enough for me.

[K]

In what was an otherwise fairly positive review, Judith Flanders said this about Osipova's O/O at the Royal: "Occasionally the interpretation tipped over from as yet undeveloped to excessively broad – the moment that, as Odile, she parodied a droopy Odette was an unattractive invention that one hopes will never reappear."

http://www.theartsdesk.com/dance/swan-lake-royal-ballet-0

...I think we can see what she means.

[Haglund]

I think it's possible that Judith Flanders was being more polite than positive. But, yes, we know what she meant about the "droopy Odette."