Jewels Emeralds - Balanchine - 1st variation - Verdy, Pujol, Ayupova, Stashkevich, Dronina, Murphy

[@judithwalker9694]

The post-Verdy dancers seem self-involved, as if they're saying, What beautiful arms I have, and oh my adorable feet! They lay on the charm way too thick because they don't seem comfortable with that extended armography. But Verdy is simply dancing with her arms. She has a windswept quality throughout the piece as if she's led by another force - she's not showing off and she's certainly not self-conscious about the choreography. Thanks for posting that wonderful video.

[@kabardinka1]

Made me remember just how brilliant a dancer Verdy was. How clean, unfussy and modern her movement was.

[@trishkoran3293]

Verdy reigns supreme in this; purity of line, clean, lovely no fuss beauty. Like watching rippling water. The others - all overdone, convulsive, over extended, lurching upper bodies; some look more like can can dancers as compared to the simplistic beauty and light effervescence of Verdy. Balanchine’s choreography suffers in the translation. How lost his art becomes when it is tampered with and becomes too mannered. He predicted this. “They’ll be my ballets, but they will look different.” He was so right.

[@animalhaus4800]

verdy is by far the finest ♡

[@bigbrowntabby118]

Nobody beats Violette Verdy in this.

[@avesraggiana]

I wonder who granted Jurgita Dronina the artistic license to slow down the music during the last part of her variation. May not have been truly Balanchine, but I loved it. Very effective dramatically.

[@philzmusic8098]

Dronina is the only one who approaches Verdy in musicality. The others seem to be saying "Oh, this music lets me show off my hands and arms!" Dronina rather seems to be stirring the air to create the music.

[@carolinalopezcardona5486]

Pujol and Stashkevich I think are my favorites. But they all did it so beautiful and different it is really hard to choose. The only one I definitely didnt like was Ayupova. Pujol is so spontaneous and her arms are so expressive and musical. Stashkevich's arms are amazingly beautiful and effortless. Verdy transmits so much emotions in every movement.

[@avesraggiana]

Zhanna Ayupova was one of my favourite Kirov ballerinas of her generation. I much preferred her over Makhalina, who was the generation after hers and who, along with French bad girl Sylvie Guillem, originated this now seemingly irreversible trend of cartoonishly high, rhythmic gymnastics extensions . But I digress. Anyway, I was very much looking forward to seeing what Ayupova would do with the Very version, and was so surprised and disappointed to see her video performance fall flat. I didn’t like her in it at all.

[@avesraggiana]

I wish Elizabeth Murphy’s full performance was available. Notwithstanding her inexpressive upper body, a trademark of many western-trained ballerinas, the first part of her variation looked very promising.

[@unsatura]

ayupova was good, if you try to do too much, you look like you have fleas on your body, and she understands that, all the overstretching and overarching of most non balachine dancers is really a pain to watch

[@delphinec9307]

As french ballerina, Clairemarie Osta would have been probably a best version, even if it was a great role of Pujol.

[@delphinec9307]

No, I just wanted to say that, between french ballerinas, Osta's variation seems better at leat in her "spirit" than Pujol. Verdy is of course in another category :-)

[@delphinec9307]

Yes I know, I suppose the first one is not online...

[@chaimfreiberg1092]

Dronina.

[@kikcta]

ayupova is the best.she is a goddess

[@murraymccormack886]

Elizabeth Murphy and Jurgita Dronina were the best!!

[@simaraft7373]

I hate to sound grumpy but some of these ladies are very hard to watch!