Hey, Dance News BC fans, I know it's been a long time, but today I decided to write a post about my favourite top 10 ballerinas! In the next few months, I'll be trying to do more reviews of events and posts overall, as I'll have lots of time with the upcoming summer months! I hope that you enjoy this quick overview of some of my favourite ballerinas, and these are all my personal opinions by the way, so don't take it too seriously, as an end all be all :) Also feel free to comment down below who your favourite ballerinas are, and this list is specifically for women ballet dancers not including male dancers by the way, although I will be working on one very soon! Also this list is in no particular order. Obviously, this list isn't complete and majority of the ballerinas featured are ones that I personally love to watch and some of the newer ballerinas may not be featured, as I may have not heard of some of them yet, but I do love learning about up and coming ballerinas, so feel free to let me know! Anyways, I hope that you all enjoy this post and have a great day! :)
1. Anna Pavlova
To start us off, one of my favourite ballerinas of all time is Anna Pavlova. I know I know it sounds so cliche but how can you not love her Dying Swan variation, I mean come on! In my personal opinion, I think this is the best version of the variation out there to this day! I remember when I first watched it and my jaw literally dropped, she's that good! It's remarkable how she was able to personify a dying swan so well, and I'm so happy that they still have footage of her performance because it's amazing. Another reason why she's one of my favourite ballerinas is because I just love how dedicated she is to the craft and how much more she worked to be able to dance due to her extremely weak ankles is amazing to me. Even though, she was known for using a stiffer shoe because of her extremely rigid feet, I still love watching her dance because of her emotion. Fun fact: The dessert pavlova is named in honour of her for her fluffy tutu. In fact, on my other blog bakingwithlauren.com I posted a review of a super easy pavlova recipe that you can bake in honour of Anna Pavlova. Overall, her Dying Swan is one of my favourite variations of all time and be sure to check it out down below and let me know what you think :)
2.Svetlana Zakharova
Okay, so now for another ballerina that is one of my favourites of all time, which should come as no surprise, Svetlana Zakharova. For Svetlana, I found it extremely difficult to pick which video to show you but I settled for Kitri's variation, as I absolutely love this variation and she does such a good job in expressing Kitri's fiery energy, so I picked this one. Overall, Svetlana is an outstanding ballerina with incredible technique, feet, extensions, emotion, and precision that how could I not include her? Another variation that I love that she does is the Black Swan variation, so if you get a chance make sure to check it out on Youtube or in person. But seriously if you see her in person I will be soo jealous because she's amazing, also if you do please let me know haha. As for a bit of background on her she attended the Vaganova Ballet Academy (I know! Why are we even surprised, she's amazing!!), she also danced with the Mariinsky Ballet from 1996-2003 and is currently dancing with the Bolshoi Ballet as a principal dancer (again amazing!!). But seriously, check out the video below and I'm sure you'll love her version of this variation, as much as I do (and if not, i don't know haha).
3. Evgenia Obraztsova
Another ballerina that is one of my favourites is Evgenia Obraztsova. If you don't know her, you should definitely check out her videos on Youtube. She is currently a Prima Ballerina with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the Mariinsky Ballet. She has also been trained at the Vaganova Ballet School in Russia. She was also featured in the film 'Russian Dolls' as an actress as a young ballerina at the Mariinsky Theatre called Natasha that was released in 2005. As well as being profiled in the 2006 documentary 'Ballerina' along with many other talented artists such as Svetlana Zakharova and Ulyana Lopatkina. Below I've provided a video of her version of the Cupid Variation, which I think she performs the best.
4. Natalia Osipova
Natalia Osipova is currently a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London and has previously danced with the Bolshoi Ballet and the Mikhaylovsky Theatre Ballet in St. Petersburg. She began to formally train in ballet at the Mikhail Lavrosky Ballet School, as well as the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Below I have provided one of my favourite videos of Natalia Osipova performing the Esmeralda variation at age 17 with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy (it was so hard to choose which one I wanted to show you guys but I really like her personality in this one, although make sure to check out her version of Don Quixote Act 1 variation as well!). I hope that you enjoy it!
5. Sylvie Guillem
Sylvie Guillem is a French ballet dancer who recently retired after a most successful career in 2015 and performed with he Paris Opera Ballet form 1984-1989 and then went on to perform as a principal guest artist at the Royal Ballet in London, as well as performing contemporary dance as an Associate Artist at London's Sadler's Wells Theatre. As a teen she also won the gold medal at the renowned Varna International Ballet Competition, and was the youngest-ever etoile. She also won the Nijinsky Prize award for the world's best ballerina in 2001. Below I've provided you with Sylvie Guile's Swan Lake Act III pas de trots with Manuel Legris and Cyril Atanasoff from 1988.
6. Nina Kaptsova
Nina Kaptsova is currently a Russian prima ballerina at the Bolshoi Ballet and studied at the Moscow Choreographic College. Below I've provided my favourite video of Nina Kaptsova dancing the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in 2010 at the Bolshoi Ballet. This is still my absolute favourite version of the Sugar Plum Fairy dance and I watch it practically all year round haha, it's that good! Anyways, I hope you enjoy watching it!
7. Alina Somova
Alina Somova is currently a Russian ballet dancer and principal dancer with the Mariinsky Ballet of Saint Petersburg. She was also trained at the Vaganova Academy of Ballet and had an unusual honour of dancing Odette/Odile in Swan Lake in her first year of dancing with the Mariinsky Ballet. She quickly advanced to a soloist in her second year of dancing, and in her seventh year became a principal dancer. She is also featured in the documentary 'Ballerina' released in 2006. Here is a video of Alina Somova performing the Queen of the Dryads Variation from Don Quixote with the Mariinsky Ballet.
8. Alina Cojocaru
Alina Cojocaru is a Romanian ballet dancer and a principal dancer with the English National Ballet. She initially started off with gymnastics and eventually went on to study ballet at the Bucharest ballet school (a feeder school for the Romanian State Ballet school) and eventually progressing to the Kiev Ballet at age 9. She also competed at the Prix de Lausanne at age 15 and won a six-month scholarship to train at the Royal Ballet school in London. After only six months of training she was invited to join the corps de ballet, as well as a contract as a Principal with the Kiev Ballet, and initially went to the Kiev Ballet for one season. She was also the first ballerina to receive the Prix Benoit de la Danse twice, and she eventually did join the Royal Ballet but later on left to join the English National Ballet. The video I have provided below is Alina's version of the Giselle variation, enjoy!
9. Margot Fonteyn
Margot Fonteyn was an English Ballerina who danced with the Royal Ballet and was even appointed the honour of the title 'Prima Ballerina Assoluta' of the company by Queen Elizabeth II. Fonteyn was also one of five "Women of Achievement" selected for a set of British stamps issued in August 1996, as well as becoming a chancellor of the University of Durham form 1981-1990 (Wikipedia), there's also a Fonteyn ballroom at the Student Union Building in her honour. One of her most famous partnerships was also with Rudolf Nureyev and they also collaborated in film specials such as 'Swan Lake' in 1967 and 'Romeo and Juliet' in 1966. She also has a documentary made about her that was released in 2005 called 'Margot'. Below I have provided one of my favourite videos of Margot Fonteyn dancing a Pas de Deux from Act Two of Giselle with Rudolf Nureyev. Enjoy :)
10. Misty Copeland
Misty Copeland is one of the most talked of ballerinas currently and for good reason as she is a spectacular ballerina. She currently dances with the American Ballet Theatre as a principal dancer and has documented her journey in her autobiography called "Life in Motion" (a must-read for dancers). She is also the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT's 75-yera history. Copland is considered a prodigy as she didn't start ballet until age 13 and went on to joining the ABT corps de ballet in 2001. She also narrated a documentary called 'A Ballerina's Tale', and is considered one father 100 most influential people in the world' by Time magazine. She's also made appearances on 'So You Think You Can Dance' and on tour with Prince, as well as on Broadway in 'On the Town'. She also won the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts in 2008, named to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition in 2014, and receive an honour doctorate form the University of Hartford. She was also Glamour's Women of the Year in 2015 and one of ESPN's 2015 Impact 25 athletes and influencers, as well as winning a Shorty Award for Best in Dance in Social Media in 2016. Below I've provided a video of a compilation of Misty Copeland's performances ranging from Romeo and Juliet and more.
I hope that you all enjoyed this fun blog post and feel free to let me know in the comment section about some of your favourite ballerinas. Have a great day and I hope that you all had a fantastic International Dance Day on April 29th! :)