"Character dance Character dance is a specific subdivision of classical dance. It is the stylized representation of a traditional folk or national dance, mostly from European countries, and uses movements and music which have been adapted for the theater. Character dance is integral to much of the classical ballet repertoire. A good example of character dance within ballet is the series of national dances which take place at the beginning of Act III of Swan Lake. The ballet Don Quixote as well as La sylphide also features many character variations based on traditional Spanish dances. Popular character dance adaptations for"
"for the ballerina Pelageya Karpakova (also known as Polina Karpakova), who performed the role of Odette, with ""première danseur"" Victor Gillert as Prince Siegfried. Karpakova may also have danced the part Odile, although it is believed the ballet originally called for two different dancers. It is now common practice for the same ballerina to dance both Odette and Odile. The Russian ballerina Anna Sobeshchanskaya was originally cast as Odette, but was replaced when a governing official in Moscow complained about her, claiming she had accepted jewelry from him, only to then marry a fellow danseur and sell the pieces for"
"Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. Her mother was of Mexican ancestry. Cynthia Harvey Cynthia Harvey (born May 17, 1957) is an American dance teacher and former ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre. Harvey was born in California, and joined American Ballet Theatre in 1974. Her roles included Odette/Odile in ""Swan Lake"". While Mikhail Baryshnikov was the artistic director at ABT, he personally selected her to perform as the prima ballerina in Baryshnikov's filmed production of ""Don Quixote"". She was a principal of the Royal Ballet, and made guest appearances with other companies before"
"Cynthia Harvey Cynthia Harvey (born May 17, 1957) is an American dance teacher and former ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre. Harvey was born in California, and joined American Ballet Theatre in 1974. Her roles included Odette/Odile in ""Swan Lake"". While Mikhail Baryshnikov was the artistic director at ABT, he personally selected her to perform as the prima ballerina in Baryshnikov's filmed production of ""Don Quixote"". She was a principal of the Royal Ballet, and made guest appearances with other companies before retiring from dancing in 1995. Now Ms. Harvey is Artistic Director, American"
"Ondine, ou La naïade Ondine, ou La naïade is a ballet in three acts and six scenes with choreography by Jules Perrot, music by Cesare Pugni, and a libretto inspired by the novel ""Undine"" by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. Pugni dedicated his score to Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, a long-time balletomane and patron of the arts in London. Whilst the original London production used the title ""Ondine, ou La naïade"", Perrot staged a revival of the ballet under the title, ""La naïade et le pêcheur"", a title which was used for all subsequent productions of the ballet. The ballet"
"Ivanov and does him great honor. Mr. Ivanov revealed a great deal of the finest, most elegant taste. To all the dances the Balletmaster imparted a noble stamp and consistent style."" The ballerina who danced Odette was the Italian virtuosa Pierina Legnani, considered by the critics, public, and her fellow dancers alike to be among the greatest, if not the greatest ballerina to ever grace the Imperial stage. She had made her début with the Imperial Ballet in ""Cinderella"" (choreographed by Petipa, Ivanov, and Enrico Cecchetti to the music of Baron Boris Fitinhof-Schell) in December 1893, and when she took"
"the lead male role. He is of age to take a wife and he finds Odette. Because he falls in love with her, Odile is sent by the evil sorcerer von Rothbart to seduce him so that he will be unfaithful to Odette. Odile is known as the ""Black Swan"" and only appears in the third act. Once she seduces the prince, Odette's bonds can never be broken and Odette can never become human again. Von Rothbart is the main antagonist, an evil sorcerer. He is mostly shown as an evil bird throughout the ballet and rarely in human form."
"silver medal at the Japanese International and Modern Dance Competition in 2005. In the same year, she was nominated for Best Female Dancer in Britain's National Dance Awards, after a single performance of ""Swan Lake"" at the Royal Albert Hall. Irina Kolesnikova Irina Kolesnikova (born 1980) is a Russian ballet dancer. She graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in 1998, class of Elvira Korkorina, and after being rejected by the Kirov and Mikhailovsky Theatre, she joined the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre of Konstantin Tachkin. With this corps, she has toured internationally, playing the title role in ""Giselle"", and Odette/Odile in"
"Irina Kolesnikova Irina Kolesnikova (born 1980) is a Russian ballet dancer. She graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in 1998, class of Elvira Korkorina, and after being rejected by the Kirov and Mikhailovsky Theatre, she joined the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre of Konstantin Tachkin. With this corps, she has toured internationally, playing the title role in ""Giselle"", and Odette/Odile in ""Swan Lake"". Other roles in her repertoire include Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, Masha in The Nutcracker, lead dancer in Legend of Love. In September 2007 she danced Sheherezade for the first time at the Gala des Etoiles in Paris,"
"1851. Sir Frederick Ashton paid tribute to Perrot in his own choreography for Hans Werner Henze's music for ""Ondine"" by incorporating his own version of the ""Shadow Dance"" into the first act. Ondine, ou La naïade Ondine, ou La naïade is a ballet in three acts and six scenes with choreography by Jules Perrot, music by Cesare Pugni, and a libretto inspired by the novel ""Undine"" by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. Pugni dedicated his score to Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, a long-time balletomane and patron of the arts in London. Whilst the original London production used the title ""Ondine,"
"April 1999. It had been previewed three years prior to it opening at the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen. Martins used the style of neo-classic choreography and it was more of a dark fairytale than whimsical. The only traditional component of this dance was the original Tchaikovsky music score. The roles portrayed in the ballet were more provocative and mysterious than in the 19th century original. As in most productions of the ballet, the ballerina that originally plays Odette also plays Odile, and for this role she is dressed in black and red tulle rather than white feathers. Prince Siegfried"
"the ballet's villain changing from Odette's stepmother to the magician von Rothbart, and the ballet's finale: instead of the lovers simply drowning at the hand of Odette's stepmother as in the original 1877 scenario, Odette commits suicide by drowning herself, with Prince Siegfried choosing to die as well, rather than live without her, and soon the lovers' spirits are reunited in an ""apotheosis"". Aside from the revision of the libretto the ballet was changed from four acts to three—with Act II becoming Act I-Scene 2. All was ready by the beginning of 1895 and the ballet had its première on"
"to the evolution of ballet technique. In 1940, San Francisco Ballet became the first American company to stage a complete production of ""Swan Lake"". The enormously successful production starred Lew Christensen as Prince Siegfried, Jacqueline Martin as Odette, and Janet Reed as Odile. Willam Christensen based his choreography on the Petipa-Ivanov production, turning to San Francisco's large population of Russian émigrés, headed by Princess and Prince Vasili Alexandrovich of Russia, to help him ensure that the production succeeded in its goal of preserving Russian culture in San Francisco. Several notable productions have diverged from the original and its 1895 revival:"
"Marguerite Porter Marguerite Porter MBE (born 1948) is an English former principal ballet dancer, turned actress and choreographer. Born in Doncaster, Porter trained in Yorkshire and at the Royal Ballet School in London, where she was taught by Dame Ninette De Valois. After two years training she joined The Royal Ballet, where she is now a Governor, becoming Senior Principal Ballerina in 1978. In a 20-year association, she danced all the major roles, including Princess Aurora in ""The Sleeping Beauty,"" Odette/Odile in ""Swan Lake"" alongside Rudolf Nureyev, Juliet in ""Romeo and Juliet,"" Ophelia in ""Hamlet,"" and the title role in"
"staging survived for six years with a total of 41 performances – many more than several other ballets from the repertoire of this theatre. On 26 April 1877, Anna Sobeshchanskaya made her début as Odette/Odile in ""Swan Lake"", and from the start she was completely dissatisfied with the ballet. Sobeshchanskaya asked Marius Petipa—""Premier Maître de Ballet"" of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres— to choreograph a ""pas de deux"" to replace the ""pas de six"" in the third act (for a ballerina to request a supplemental ""pas"" or variation was standard practice in 19th century ballet, and often these ""custom-made"" dances"
"Elsa Sylvestersson Elsa Maria Sylvestersson (11 August 1924 Turku, Finland – 9 November 1996 Helsinki, Finland) was a Finnish ballet dancer and choreographer. Sylvestersson danced as soloist in ballet at the age of 14. As a dancer, her most famous roles included Odette-Odile in ""Swan Lake"", and the Firebird in ""The Firebird"". She was technically talented and thus well suited for the roles in character dance. As a choreographer she was very productive and had a long career (from 1954 to 1984). Her style was eclectic, and she had no trouble in combining moves from classical ballet and modern dance."
"of 1895 and the ballet had its premiere on 15 January. Pierina Legnani danced Odette/Odile, with Pavel Gerdt as Prince Siegfried, Alexei Bulgakov as Von Rothbart, and Alexander Oblakov as Benno. The 1895 Petipa/Ivanov/Drigo edition of ""Swan Lake"" was notated in the method of Stepanov Choreographic Notation in or around 1901, and completed between April 1906 and April 1907, documenting a performance of the work with the Ballerina Vera Trefilova as Odette/Odile. This choreographic notation is today housed in the Harvard University Library Theatre Collection and is part of a whole cache of notation known as the Sergeyev Collection, which"
"August 2012 she was offered a second short-term contract with the company. Succeeding in the external audition in July 2013, Hannah O'Neill was offered a life-time contract. Now a regular member of the Paris Opera Ballet, Hannah O'Neill moved up through the ranks, being promoted in each Paris Opera Ballet internal promotion contest from 2013 to 2015. On 3 November 2015, Hannah O'Neill was ranked first in the Paris Opera Ballet internal promotion contest. Consequently, since 1 January 2016 she dances as a first soloist. In spring 2015 Hannah O'Neill took over the role of Odile and Odette in Swan"
"serene colors like white and silver, Kirkeby used colors like blue-grays, brown, and very odd color mixtures like orange and emerald and later on royal blue and scarlet. The costumes were quite bizarre as well: ""courtiers dressed as seventeenth-century Velasquez figures are contrasted in orthodox outfits, of tights, leotards, and ballet skirts"" (Barnes). Odette is the lead ballerina role and she has been transformed into a swan by Von Rothbart, the evil sorcerer. Odile, Von Rothbart's daughter, is played by the same ballerina as Odette. She is sent to seduce the prince, who ends up breaking Odette's heart. Siegfried is"
"Vanessa Harwood Vanessa Clare Harwood, (born 14 June 1947) is a Canadian ballet dancer, choreographer, artistic director, teacher, and actor. Born in Cheltenham, England, Harwood was one of the first pupils at The National Ballet School of Canada in Toronto when it opened in 1959. She joined the National Ballet of Canada in 1965, became a soloist in 1967, and was a principal dancer from 1970 to 1987. Harwood was celebrated for her portrayal of Odette-Odile in ""Swan Lake"", and came to be known as Superswan because of her mastery of the demanding dual role. As an actor, Harwood had"
"Jenny Nilson Jenny Nilson (born 4 February 1973) is a Swedish ballet dancer and actress. She dances with the Royal Swedish Ballet where she became a soloist in 1999 and a principal dancer in 2001. Nilson attended the Swedish Ballet School, where she graduated in 1991. She also studied drama at the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Leading parts with the Royal Swedish Ballet have included Odette/Odile in ""Swan Lake"", the title role in Kenneth MacMillan's ""Manon"", Tatania in John Cranko's ""Onegin"" and Helena in John Neumeier's ""A Midsummer Night's"
"Gaîté Parisienne Gaîté Parisienne (literally, ""Parisian Gaiety"") is a ballet choreographed by Léonide Massine to music by Jacques Offenbach orchestrated by Manuel Rosenthal in collaboration with Jacques Brindejonc-Offenbach, the composer's nephew. With a libretto and décor by Comte Étienne de Beaumont and costumes executed by Barbara Karinska, it was first presented by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at the Théâtre de Monte Carlo on 5 April 1938. Performed in one act, the ballet does not have a conventional narrative. Instead, it depicts the amorous flirtations, convivial dancing, and high spirits of a diverse group of people who patronize a"
"Theatre Ballet in works such as Frédéric Chopin's ""Les Sylphides"", Adolphe Adam's ""Giselle"", Léo Delibes' ""Coppelia"", and as Odette in Peter Tchaikovsky's ""Swan Lake"". Her 1967 performance in ""Giselle"" was notable also for her collaboration with Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev. Fontenla performed in Paris in 1968 and in Santiago, Chile in 1969, where she opened the Municipal Theater's ballet season that year. She organized a tour of opera houses in the Argentine hinterland in 1970, and was invited to direct the ballet company in Milan's renowned La Scala. Her previous collaboration with Nureyev earned the Colón Theatre his choosing"
"Susana Agüero Susana Agüero (1944– March 26, 2012) was an Argentine ballet dancer who also danced in musicals and shows. She took a number of leading roles and worked for six years in France. Agüero was born in Buenos Aires. She trained at the ""Instituto Superior de Arte"" at the Teatro Colón (Columbus Theatre) which is the capital's main opera house. Her teachers included Gema Castillo, Michel Borowsky, María Ruanova, Adolfo Andrade and Serge Golovine. She soon became a soloist. Among her most important roles were Odette in ""Swan Lake"" and the Lilac Fairy in ""The Sleeping Beauty"". She also"
"Kristina Kretova Kristina Kretova () is a Russian soloist of the Bolshoi Ballet. Kretova was born in a city of Russia called Oryol. She was a graduate of the Moscow State Choreographic Academy in 2002 and after it joined the Kremlin Ballet Theater where she plays such roles as ""Odette-Odile"" in ""Swan Lake"", ""Kitri"" in Don Quixote, ""Marie"" in ""the Nutcracker"", and ""Emmy Lawrence"" in ""Tom Sawyer"". She also played a double role of both Princesses ""Florina"" and ""Aurora"" in Sleeping Beauty and also played roles of main characters such as ""Giselle"" in the play of the same name and"
"Bozgul Isoeva Bozgul Mamedova Isoeva (November 3, 1937 – 2008) was a Tajikistani ballet dancer of the Soviet era. Isoeva was born in Dushanbe, and grew up in an orphanage in Shahri Nov. She studied at the Leninabad Institute of Choreography from 1949 until 1958, in the latter year becoming a soloist at the Ayni State Theater for Opera and Ballet; she was among the school's first graduates, and while there studied with M. V. Boyarchikov and N. A. Zheleznov. Among the roles which she had in her repertoire there were the title role in ""Giselle"" by Adolphe Adam; Odette"
"Alla Osipenko Alla Yevgenyevna Osipenko (Russian:Алла Евгеньевна Осипенко , born 16 June 1932 in Leningrad) is a retired Soviet ballerina. She studied at the Leningrad Choreographic School (now Vaganova Academy) in the class of Agrippina Vaganova. Upon graduation she joined the Kirov Ballet (now the Mariinsky Ballet) in 1950, and was promoted to prima ballerina in 1954. Her repertoire included: Lilac Fairy in ""The Sleeping Beauty"", Odette-Odile in ""Swan Lake"", Gamzatti in ""La Bayadère"", Waltz and Mazurka in ""Chopiniana"", Masha in ""The Nutcracker"", Frigia in ""Spartak"", the Mistress of the Copper Mountain in ""The Stone Flower"" (1957), and Mekhmene-Banu in"
"for her thesis on French Impressionism. During her time at Princeton, she continued her ballet training exclusively with Wilhelm Burmann, who remained her private ballet coach for the rest of her dancing career. Also during her college years, she performed as a guest artist in Japan, Canada and with several local companies in the New York area such as the Eglevsky Ballet, Connecticut Ballet and New Jersey Ballet. She performed the title role of ""Cinderella"", Odette in ""Swan Lake"" (Act II) and the lead role in Balanchine's Allegro Brillante for the Eglevsky Ballet, the role of Swanilda in Brett Raphael's"
"from the ballet school, she became an apprentice at the Royal Danish Ballet in 1998, a member of the corps in 2000, a soloist in 2005 and in 2010 she was promoted to principal dancer after debuting as Odette/Odile in ""Swan Lake"". Other leading roles include Aurora in ""The Sleeping Beauty"", Marguerite in Neumeier's ""Lady of the Camellias"" and Juliet in ""Romeo and Juliet"". She has also starred in August Bournonville's ballets, as Sylphide in ""La Sylphide"", Teresina in ""Napoli"", Hilda in ""A Folk Tale"" and Eleonora in ""The Kermesse in Bruges"". Other highlights have included the title role in"
"2002; it was her first principal role Tereshkina has performed in Mariinsky's extensive repertoire of classical and modern ballet. Particularly notable are her Gamzatti and Nikya in ""La Bayadère"", Kitri in ""Don Quixote"", Odette/Odile in ""Swan Lake"", Queen Mekhemene Banu in ""A Legend of Love"", and Terpsichore in ""Apollo"". Writing in ""The Daily Telegraph"", Sarah Crompton referred to her as a ""rising talent"", describing her as a ""filigree beauty"" with ""fiendish fouettés"". She created the role of Parasha in Yuri Smekalov's production of ""The Bronze Horseman"" (2016), Paquita in Smekalov's revival of the ballet of the same name (2017), and"
"Until 2003 she played lead roles in N. Maghalashvili's stagings of ""Carmen"", ""Porgy and Bess"", ""Giselle"", ""Le Corasaire"" (Medora), ""One thousand and one nights"", and ""Romeo and Juliette"". She has been a prima ballerina at the Z. Paliashvili State Theatre since 2003, and was company manager between 2011 and 2013. In 2008 she toured with the Royal Swedish Ballet in China, where her performance as Odette-Odile from Swan Lake reportedly included 32 double fouettés. Lali Kandelaki Lali Kandelaki (Georgian: ლალი კანდელაკი) (born September 9, 1972) is a Georgian ballerina with the State Ballet of Georgia. Kandelaki was born in Tbilisi,"
"Mireille Hassenboehler Mireille Hassenboehler (born 1973) is an American former professional ballet dancer who performed as a principal dancer with the Houston Ballet until 2013. Hassenboehler was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. She trained with Harvey Hysell until the age of seventeen. After studying at the San Francisco Ballet School and Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy, she joined Houston Ballet in 1992 and was promoted to principal in 2000. Hassenboehler's classical repertoire includes: the Sugar Plum Fairy in ""The Nutcracker"", Aurora and Lilac Fairy in ""The Sleeping Beauty"", Odette/Odile in ""Swan Lake"", Giselle and Myrtha in ""Giselle"", Kitri in ""Don"
"Alexandra Balashova Alexandra Balashova (May 3, 1887 — January 5, 1979; in Cyrillic, Александра Балашова), also seen as Aleksandra Balashova or Alexandra Balachova, was a Russian ballet dancer, and later a dance teacher and choreographer. Alexandra Mikhailovna Balashova was born in Moscow. She was educated at the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet School. Balashova was a principal dancer at the Bolshoi Theatre starting in 1905. She often danced with Mikhail Mordkin, and was known for such roles as Aurora in ""The Sleeping Beauty"" and Odette/Odille in ""Swan Lake"". She performed in London in 1911, replacing Yekaterina Geltzer; for publicity, London bootmakers were"