Famous Ballerinas of Modern Ballet

Born in 1926 Diana Adams was the favorite of George Balanchine and ruled the stage of the New York City Ballet from 1950 to 1963. She was the leading dancer for NYCB. When Diana retired from the stage, she switched to successful teaching and training young ballerinas and eventually became a dean at the School of American Ballet. She died on January 10, 1993.

Anneli Elisabeth Alhanko Skoglund is one of a few chosen ballerinas in the world with the title Prima Ballerina Assoluta. Alhanko was a dance student at Operabaletten, The Opera Ballet in Stockholm, Sweden. For many years she was the leading ballerina in the Opera Ballet in Stockholm. After retirement from the stage Anneli taught and then became a founder of the elite dance school Base 23 in Stockholm which opened its doors to young ballerinas on January 2010.

Eleonora Abbagnato was born in Palermo, Italy in 1978. When she was only 11 she debuted on Italian live TV program. At age 12 she moved to Monte Carlo, where she studied in the ballet school of Marika Bresobrasova. She went on with ballet training in Cannes and then entered famous ‘Ecole danse in Parisian Opera in 1992. She made an amazing career as she entered corps de ballet of Parisian Opera in 1996, and became a coryphee in 1999 , sujet in 2000 and premiere danseuse in 2001 .

Russian ballerina Svetlana Adyrkhayeva

The leading Russian ballerina Svetlana Adyrkhayeva was born in 1938 in a small Northern Ossetian city of Khumalg. Svetlana Adyrkhayeva successfully finished Leningrad Choreographic School which later got renamed as the Russian Ballet Academy, in 1955. Her way to Bolshoi Ballet was not easy, she danced for several years on stages of Chelyabinsk and Odessa before she was invited to Bolshoi Theater in 1960.

This is when Svetlana got her chance to shine. She was soloist and leading ballerina until 1988. Adyrkhayeva got very complex dramatic roles and made them her own. But Adyrkhayeva not only danced, she also became a russian balletmaster in 1980. She taught classical dance at Choreographic Academy until she returned back to Bolshoi Theater where she currently works as a Balletmaster-Repetiteur.

First in history

For example: in an entrechat-quatre starting from fifth position, right foot front, the dancer will jump crossing legs and beating first the right heel on the back of the left heel, then at the front of the left heel, landing in the same starting position.

Young ballerina who performed first in history of ballet entrechat quatre was magnificent dancer Marie Camargo. She performed it during her debut at the Paris Opera with the ballet Les Caracteres de la Danse in 1726. It brought Marie Camargo fame and fortune. And, no doubt she deserved it: after all at those times the standard women’s ballet shoes looked differently. These were not ballet slippers or pointe shoes as we know them. Ballerinas danced in the conventional shoes that had heels!

There are two classes of entrechats

It is impossible to imagine modern or classical ballet dance without entrechat. So what is entrechat in ballet moves, anyways? Basically, it is a step of beating in which a ballet dancer jumps into the air and rapidly crosses the legs before and behind each other. The dancer usually jumps from the fifth position and lands back in the fifth position. We count entrechats moves from two to ten according to the number of crossings required and counting each crossing as two movements, one by each leg. For example, in an entrechat quatre each leg makes two distinct movements.

There are two classes of entrechats in ballet dancing: even-numbered and odd-numbered. The even-numbered entrechats, or those which land on two feet: deux, quatre, six, huit and dix (2,4,6,8,10). The odd-numbered entrechats, or those which land on one foot: trois, cinq, sept and neuf (3,5,7,9).

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In any ballet studio

In any ballet studio we observer horizontal bars, approximately waist height, and wooden bars mounted along the walls. They are very important for ballet exercises and for developing dance techniques. In fact, every ballet training class for young and mature ballerinas start with basic barre ballet positions. These warm up exercises are very important for dancers as they relax ballerinas muscles. And this is just one of the benefits that barre work brings.

Typically, barre exercises make up a significant portion of the beginning ballerinas class. Young dancers who have just joined ballet studio may find barre exercises boring at first because they are slow and repetitive. Yet, soon enough, they learn to depend upon them.

Overall, barre exercises are extremely important in all levels of ballet training. They gradually build strength while teaching the body correct placement. Beginning pointe dancers will find them extremely useful too, as their ankles may not be strong enough to support them in the center. Barre work also prepares ballerinas for partnering, with the barre providing support that a partner would offer later, during actual partnering.

Famous ballet clothing

Romantic Tutu is probably the most famous of all ballet clothing. Specialists say that Marie Taglioni, famous ballet dancer of Romantic ballet era invented it and popularized it among European ballet dancers. This bell shaped tulle skirt is free flowing and emphasizes lightness and ethereal quality of the romantic ballets. The length varies between the knee and the ankle.

The last type of a tutu has an interesting origin. Father of American ballet and famous ballet master George Balanchine often choreographed ballets with a large assembly of dancers on stage. This led to an unusual problem with the traditional pancake tutus - ballerinas skirts often brushed against each other.

In 1950 famous designer Karinska that costumed Ballanchine’s ballets solved this problem. She invented so-called powder puff tutu that had looser appearance than a stiff pancake tutu. Her newly designed tutu was self supporting and did not require the wired hoop anymore.

4 major types of tutus

One can not confuse a ballet tutu with any other female skirt. Designers use various materials to create tutus, the most traditional among them are tulle, voile, muslin and nylon.

It’s been a couple of centuries since female ballet dancers started using tutus during ballet performance. To an untrained eye they all look the same, but balletomanes know that it is not true. In the modern ballet there are 4 major types of tutus worn for ballet dancing. Two of them are classical with the difference in shape (bell or pancake). And the other too are romantic tutu and Balanchine-Karinska tutu.

Classical tutus of both types extend outwards from the hips. They are made with layers of netting and have fitted bodice. The main difference between them is that the tutu shaped as a bell does not use a wired hoop while the pancake tutu uses one that keeps the layers flat and stiff.

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A simple idea

It seemed such a simple idea to create special shoes for ballet dancing that would be lightweight and give the appearance of dancing barefoot. However, it took centuries to implement the whole concept before ballet slippers (or ballet shoes) began to look the way we know it now.

Ballet slippers usually come in four colors: pink, black, gray or white and made from satin, canvas or leather with flexible thin soles. People who just start to learn about the ballet dancing usually confuse them with pointe shoes, which have their own place in the history of ballet as we know it.

Male ballet dancers almost always wear ballet shoes, which is understandable, because they practically don’t dance en pointe. Young ballerinas always start with ballet slippers as their young bones and muscles are not strong enough for more for more sophisticated type of footware. It takes them not less than five years and lot of training before they can wear both types.

32 fouettes en tournant

The highest rank that ever existed in ballet is Prima Ballerina Assoluta. It is rarely bestowed on the best of the best ballerinas for their exceptional talents and mastership. The rank itself was invented by famous French balletmaster Marius Petipa who headed for many years Russian Imperial Ballet. The idea came to Petipa when he studied the history of the early Romantic Ballet. So, he became the official father of this title when he awarded it to the famous Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani whom he considered a supreme danseuse of all Europe.

Legnani went through extensive training at famous La Scala where she developed her technical expertise. At the time when Petita awarded her with the title, Pierina was also performing on the stage of St Petersburg Imperial Ballet. She was the first Ballerina in the world to perform outstanding 32 fouettés en tournant during the performance of the ballet Cinderella.

Although Legnani danced only for 8 years at the Imperial Ballet, she left deep impression on the contemporaries who witnessed her strength, stamina, and technique. Even today 32 fouettes en tournant is still considered a very difficult step to do.

Legendary ballet moves

Olga was also lucky that she managed to emigrate from Bolshevik Russia in 1921 and bring her talents of a ballet dancer and teacher to the West. For the next two years she taught in Milan, London, Buenos Aires and Berlin and, finally moved to France. In Paris Preobrajenska opened her famous ballet school that was thought to be one of the best in the world. It existed practically till the death of its owner and closed its doors in 1960.

During the life of the ballet school practically any major ballet dancer of the times visited Preobrajenska to learn her legendary ballet moves. Among her students were Fonteyn, Baranova, Toumanova and others. Olga did not live long after her retirement in 1960. She passed away in 1960 when she was 91 years old.