it is her trademark.... I also enjoyed her production of La Bayadere. I used to own a video of ABT's rehearsals. In it Makarova coaches a principal dancer on Gamzatti. I was in awe....
Well of course it is my opinion. One of the beauties of free speech. I only apologized because most of the recent posts express awe or worship regarding Makarova. It's kinda weird to have to defend a comment I made nearly a year ago. And for the record video is just as good as watching a performance live. I am familiar with all the great ballet dancers and I absolutely love Makarova's athleticism. She is known for that.
I'm sorry, but I do not get chills watching Makarova dance as Juliet in thw same way i do watching Dame Margot Fonteyn, Alessia Feri, or Gesley Kirkland.
@zdiversable That of course is your prerogative. One of the joys of Youtube is that we can see all these fine artists and only an auctioneer is under obligation to admire all schools of art. I agree with you about Fonteyn and Kirkland, both of whom I saw dance Juliet in London.
I agree with you 200% about Makarova's performance. Her scream filled the theater to the top of the Family Circle. She had me in tears.
The camera moved in so close on her during that moment that it makes it look melodramatic on tape. (And you don't get the perspective of the vastness of the family crypt, either.) But the live performance was quite another thing, as you have described so eloquently.
@nancydow Part One: Two more touchstones from that live performance I witnessed that didn’t make it on TV or were not well telegraphed: Juliet’s first entrance into the nursery. From stage left to right, Makarova ran trippingly and fleetly behind the nurse and then unfurled the most beautiful, space devouring, quicksilver grand jeté that immediately established her character as the child-Juliet; then, Juliet circling her room before darting out with her shawl fluttering and billowing
Respond to this video…Part Two: behind her. The speed with which she ran and the way her shawl flew right behind her literally took the audience’s breath away. I could hear the the gasps! So you too were able to witness a great artist at the height of her dramatic powers? How lucky we both are to have seen such a truly bewitching ballerina. Makarova was already close to retiring when I saw her in R&J and yet I could readily believe from start to finish that she really was only 14.
Respond to this video…You’re absolutely right of course, sweatpants did not ruin Kevin McKenzie’s life. At worst it probably caused him a great deal of chagrin and some professional goodwill but even then everyone concerned seems to have gotten over it, Makarova still coaches at ABT. The bigger shame is the decision not to release this performance on DVD, so that younger aspiring Juliets can see what an artist like Makarova can make of the role.
Respond to this video… Part Three: In regards to Makarova’s opening grand jeté: I saw Makarova in the summer of 1986. This televised performance was 1988. Could it be that in those two short years, Makarova’s physical powers were already declining to a point where she was husbanding her energy and omitting or simplifying some of the choreography, so as to be able to dance the whole evening? Not a knock on Makarova but more a rueful reminder that ballet dancing is really for the young.
@avesraggiana I respectfully disagree. Give me a ballerina in her "autumn" any day over some little post-Soviet spitfire. I'll take husbanded resources that can produce the very essence of a role over a perfect technique that is blank from the neck up. I see people rave over Svetlana Zakharova, whose little face rides above her performance like a postage stamp. I'd rather witness the end of Makarova's aesthetic journey because she has thought about and worked on her interpretation.
@Buondelmonte123 I’m presuming you’re disagreeing with "Part Three” . I sense no disagreement at all between us with regards Makarova. I too very much prefer a Makarova in “physical decline” than a younger, technically stronger ballerina. In subsequent years I saw the likes of ABT’s Susan Jaffe, Julie Kent, Paloma Herrera essay the role of Juliet. While very capable and even touching, they didn’t burn up the stage and leave behind a Haley’s Comet of transcendent dancing that Makarova did.
@avesraggiana Thank you, yes it was part three. "and leave behind a Haley’s Comet of transcendent dancing" is the perfect description of Yvette Chauvire's last Covent Garden Giselle with Nureyev in 1962. Susan Jaffe's career is an enigma to me. I have seen her on two different documentaries being coached by Irina Kolpakova and Suzanne Farrell and it's like, "Why are you bothering me? I have to think what I colour I am I going to paint the guest room." Now, I believe she is coaching.
@Buondelmonte123 Part Two: What I do remember is that when I saw Makarova live, she was more physically daring, willing to take more technical risks than she was in the live broadcast that I watched on PBS a few years later, which I believe is from where this youtube is taken. While the camera might capture some of her technical limitations, it can in no way capture her larger-than-life stage presence, her unique luminosity. That’s an artistic compromise that I’m more than happy to live with.
@avesraggiana I agree with you absolutely 100%. I think one of the real problems, dangers even, of watching Youtube is that viewers see almost too much, and that in an opera house, where distance lends enchantment, the camera's trespass can be too intrusive and younger viewers seem not to understand this at all. It leads to unrealistic expectations.
I'm not sure of the year, but I was watching it live on TV from down the street. Kevin was interviewed on this Live from Lincoln Center broadcast, during the intermission immediately preceding this final act. I thought this might have led to a memory lapse and this incredible faux pas... I was so embarrassed I could barely look at my TV screen! It's good to know that Natasha did not slay Kevin over this... Still a magnificent ballet!
@nancydow To tell you the truth, the first couple of times I watched this on tape many years ago, I didn’t even notice Kevin McKenzie’s sweatpants. Somehow I must have deceived myself into believing they were part of his costume. It’s generally believed that this performance could never be produced on DVD but frankly, I don’t see why not. This was a televised “live” performance and as we all know, anything and everything can happen during a live performance.
@avesraggiana Did your tape include the interview during the intermission right before this scene? It's then that I noticed the sweatpants the day of the live broadcast. So they were on my mind when the act started, I guess. When I have perfectionist ballet students, who crumble when they make mistakes in class, I take in my video to show them that everyone makes mistakes, here with ABT on national TV! Kevin survived and went on to direct the company; sweatpants did not ruin his life!
@nancydow It did. I remember Kevin McKenzie’s interview and Georgina Parkinson’s. I had the whole performance on VHS tape for many years, only to have parts of it erased by a family member. The same thing happened to the 1993 Balanchine Celebration that I also taped on VHS. I used to have dozens of blank VHS cassettes lying around but the only ones that seemed to get tampered with were the ones with my favourite ballet performances. I think they were unwanted lessons in nonattachment.
I believe this was 1987, not 1988. I also have a VCR tape of it. I was watching it live from down the street. We couldn't believe that Kevin forgot to take off his sweatpants. What was his dresser doing? Live at Lincoln Center on PBS. Oy!
@zdiversable: Makarova has no history of eating disorders. She has a tiny frame and has always been slender. She may look overdramatic for a computer screen, but don't forget, she was dancing for a live audience of about 3,500, with many sitting about a city block away from her. She (and all the dancers) had to project BIG.
I've heard great things about Makarova, but I feel she is too dramatic. And she looks emaciated in this production. Anybody know if Natalia had a history of eating disorders?
@zdiversable Part One: Even excusing the fact that I’m a die-hard Makarova fan, I must come roaring to her defense and say that she could never be too dramatic given the size of house she was playing to. I liken ballet acting to silent movie acting. To our more modern eyes, it can seem over-the-top. However when it is performed with absolute conviction and directness, it can really move one. I remember how much Makarova moved me when I watched her live as Juliet..
Part Two: That “silent scream” that marks her sheer horror at discovering Romeo’s death, and which comes across as very contrived on video, made for a vastly different experience in the theatre. On the night I saw Makarova, when she lifted her face and opened her mouth to scream, I felt all the hair on my arms and back rise up. The swelling music, her open-mouthed horror, everything, made it feel as though the roof of the theatre was going to come down, so overwhelming was Juliet’s despair.
@talleyho12 A lot of film composers imitate or steal from Prokofiev. The famous "Imperial March" in Williams' score for The Empire Strikes Back was taken from Prokofiev's opera "The Love for Three Oranges."
juliet is really good. it must be hard to keep your bottom half stiff and the upper half limp! bravo! romeo and juliet in any form is always beautiful
I remember that they shot the last act over several days later without an audience presence because of Kevin's leg warmer mishap and because Makarova was totally pissed off about the prospect of her performance not being distributed on video. Whatever happened to this repackaged video? Was it ever commercially distributed?
I was in this production, Kevin Mckenzie left his sweat pants on by accident. We were all just shocked ! Natalia was the consummate pro by appearing dead while she tried to keep his pants up. Misha had a fit though.
@fairclaire wow! What role were you? I am mother of ballerina in training and this afternoon this came on radio and I bawled my eyes out - can't imagine what I will be like if/when my DD is in this! x
This was a Live from the Met broadcast. He had them on during intermission and forgot to take them off when he came out. I think that is why this was never released on DVD. I was there the night this happened and once we realized the bigger concern was that he didn't drop her during the lifts we were hoping the sweats would stay up.
Sweatpants aside, this is one of the best double suicide scenes I've yet seen. I had the pleasure of seeing this pair live many years ago. I was in the nose bleed seats and even from up there, you could hear Juliet's "silent scream"as she realizes that her Romeo was dead. It's genius indeed when the then late 40's Makarova could break your heart by playing a young, impetuous and reckless 16.
it is her trademark.... I also enjoyed her production of La Bayadere. I used to own a video of ABT's rehearsals. In it Makarova coaches a principal dancer on Gamzatti. I was in awe....
zdiversable 2 months ago
Well of course it is my opinion. One of the beauties of free speech. I only apologized because most of the recent posts express awe or worship regarding Makarova. It's kinda weird to have to defend a comment I made nearly a year ago. And for the record video is just as good as watching a performance live. I am familiar with all the great ballet dancers and I absolutely love Makarova's athleticism. She is known for that.
zdiversable 2 months ago
I'm sorry, but I do not get chills watching Makarova dance as Juliet in thw same way i do watching Dame Margot Fonteyn, Alessia Feri, or Gesley Kirkland.
zdiversable 2 months ago
@zdiversable That of course is your prerogative. One of the joys of Youtube is that we can see all these fine artists and only an auctioneer is under obligation to admire all schools of art. I agree with you about Fonteyn and Kirkland, both of whom I saw dance Juliet in London.
Buondelmonte123 2 months ago
I agree with you 200% about Makarova's performance. Her scream filled the theater to the top of the Family Circle. She had me in tears.
The camera moved in so close on her during that moment that it makes it look melodramatic on tape. (And you don't get the perspective of the vastness of the family crypt, either.) But the live performance was quite another thing, as you have described so eloquently.
nancydow 2 months ago
@nancydow Part One: Two more touchstones from that live performance I witnessed that didn’t make it on TV or were not well telegraphed: Juliet’s first entrance into the nursery. From stage left to right, Makarova ran trippingly and fleetly behind the nurse and then unfurled the most beautiful, space devouring, quicksilver grand jeté that immediately established her character as the child-Juliet; then, Juliet circling her room before darting out with her shawl fluttering and billowing
avesraggiana 2 months ago
Respond to this video…Part Two: behind her. The speed with which she ran and the way her shawl flew right behind her literally took the audience’s breath away. I could hear the the gasps! So you too were able to witness a great artist at the height of her dramatic powers? How lucky we both are to have seen such a truly bewitching ballerina. Makarova was already close to retiring when I saw her in R&J and yet I could readily believe from start to finish that she really was only 14.
avesraggiana 2 months ago
Respond to this video…You’re absolutely right of course, sweatpants did not ruin Kevin McKenzie’s life. At worst it probably caused him a great deal of chagrin and some professional goodwill but even then everyone concerned seems to have gotten over it, Makarova still coaches at ABT. The bigger shame is the decision not to release this performance on DVD, so that younger aspiring Juliets can see what an artist like Makarova can make of the role.
avesraggiana 2 months ago
Respond to this video… Part Three: In regards to Makarova’s opening grand jeté: I saw Makarova in the summer of 1986. This televised performance was 1988. Could it be that in those two short years, Makarova’s physical powers were already declining to a point where she was husbanding her energy and omitting or simplifying some of the choreography, so as to be able to dance the whole evening? Not a knock on Makarova but more a rueful reminder that ballet dancing is really for the young.
avesraggiana 2 months ago
@avesraggiana I respectfully disagree. Give me a ballerina in her "autumn" any day over some little post-Soviet spitfire. I'll take husbanded resources that can produce the very essence of a role over a perfect technique that is blank from the neck up. I see people rave over Svetlana Zakharova, whose little face rides above her performance like a postage stamp. I'd rather witness the end of Makarova's aesthetic journey because she has thought about and worked on her interpretation.
Buondelmonte123 2 months ago
@Buondelmonte123 I’m presuming you’re disagreeing with "Part Three” . I sense no disagreement at all between us with regards Makarova. I too very much prefer a Makarova in “physical decline” than a younger, technically stronger ballerina. In subsequent years I saw the likes of ABT’s Susan Jaffe, Julie Kent, Paloma Herrera essay the role of Juliet. While very capable and even touching, they didn’t burn up the stage and leave behind a Haley’s Comet of transcendent dancing that Makarova did.
avesraggiana 2 months ago
@avesraggiana Thank you, yes it was part three. "and leave behind a Haley’s Comet of transcendent dancing" is the perfect description of Yvette Chauvire's last Covent Garden Giselle with Nureyev in 1962. Susan Jaffe's career is an enigma to me. I have seen her on two different documentaries being coached by Irina Kolpakova and Suzanne Farrell and it's like, "Why are you bothering me? I have to think what I colour I am I going to paint the guest room." Now, I believe she is coaching.
Buondelmonte123 2 months ago
@Buondelmonte123 Part Two: What I do remember is that when I saw Makarova live, she was more physically daring, willing to take more technical risks than she was in the live broadcast that I watched on PBS a few years later, which I believe is from where this youtube is taken. While the camera might capture some of her technical limitations, it can in no way capture her larger-than-life stage presence, her unique luminosity. That’s an artistic compromise that I’m more than happy to live with.
avesraggiana 2 months ago
@avesraggiana I agree with you absolutely 100%. I think one of the real problems, dangers even, of watching Youtube is that viewers see almost too much, and that in an opera house, where distance lends enchantment, the camera's trespass can be too intrusive and younger viewers seem not to understand this at all. It leads to unrealistic expectations.
Buondelmonte123 2 months ago
goosebumps <3
thenatalietate 4 months ago
I'm not sure of the year, but I was watching it live on TV from down the street. Kevin was interviewed on this Live from Lincoln Center broadcast, during the intermission immediately preceding this final act. I thought this might have led to a memory lapse and this incredible faux pas... I was so embarrassed I could barely look at my TV screen! It's good to know that Natasha did not slay Kevin over this... Still a magnificent ballet!
nancydow 4 months ago
@nancydow To tell you the truth, the first couple of times I watched this on tape many years ago, I didn’t even notice Kevin McKenzie’s sweatpants. Somehow I must have deceived myself into believing they were part of his costume. It’s generally believed that this performance could never be produced on DVD but frankly, I don’t see why not. This was a televised “live” performance and as we all know, anything and everything can happen during a live performance.
avesraggiana 2 months ago
@avesraggiana Did your tape include the interview during the intermission right before this scene? It's then that I noticed the sweatpants the day of the live broadcast. So they were on my mind when the act started, I guess. When I have perfectionist ballet students, who crumble when they make mistakes in class, I take in my video to show them that everyone makes mistakes, here with ABT on national TV! Kevin survived and went on to direct the company; sweatpants did not ruin his life!
nancydow 2 months ago
@nancydow It did. I remember Kevin McKenzie’s interview and Georgina Parkinson’s. I had the whole performance on VHS tape for many years, only to have parts of it erased by a family member. The same thing happened to the 1993 Balanchine Celebration that I also taped on VHS. I used to have dozens of blank VHS cassettes lying around but the only ones that seemed to get tampered with were the ones with my favourite ballet performances. I think they were unwanted lessons in nonattachment.
avesraggiana 2 months ago
I believe this was 1987, not 1988. I also have a VCR tape of it. I was watching it live from down the street. We couldn't believe that Kevin forgot to take off his sweatpants. What was his dresser doing? Live at Lincoln Center on PBS. Oy!
KarenskaJazz 4 months ago
Shes good at acting dead
MsKittyCat9 9 months ago
omg what he's doing with her..... ; <
xxxxxxxemiliaxxxxxxx 10 months ago
This is gonna make me cry!
MissxLemonPie 10 months ago
This is so sad, yet so beautiful and realistic.
4everhogwarts 11 months ago
Fantastic ! Simply Great!!!
philosteuropa 1 year ago
@zdiversable: Makarova has no history of eating disorders. She has a tiny frame and has always been slender. She may look overdramatic for a computer screen, but don't forget, she was dancing for a live audience of about 3,500, with many sitting about a city block away from her. She (and all the dancers) had to project BIG.
TubeUself 1 year ago
I've heard great things about Makarova, but I feel she is too dramatic. And she looks emaciated in this production. Anybody know if Natalia had a history of eating disorders?
zdiversable 1 year ago
@zdiversable Part One: Even excusing the fact that I’m a die-hard Makarova fan, I must come roaring to her defense and say that she could never be too dramatic given the size of house she was playing to. I liken ballet acting to silent movie acting. To our more modern eyes, it can seem over-the-top. However when it is performed with absolute conviction and directness, it can really move one. I remember how much Makarova moved me when I watched her live as Juliet..
avesraggiana 2 months ago
Part Two: That “silent scream” that marks her sheer horror at discovering Romeo’s death, and which comes across as very contrived on video, made for a vastly different experience in the theatre. On the night I saw Makarova, when she lifted her face and opened her mouth to scream, I felt all the hair on my arms and back rise up. The swelling music, her open-mouthed horror, everything, made it feel as though the roof of the theatre was going to come down, so overwhelming was Juliet’s despair.
avesraggiana 2 months ago
1:38 james horner totally stole that for star trek 3!!!
talleyho12 1 year ago
@talleyho12 A lot of film composers imitate or steal from Prokofiev. The famous "Imperial March" in Williams' score for The Empire Strikes Back was taken from Prokofiev's opera "The Love for Three Oranges."
RWT683 11 months ago
You know you're a real dancer when you can stay on point even when you're dead.
hamrick4900 1 year ago 7
juliet is really good. it must be hard to keep your bottom half stiff and the upper half limp! bravo! romeo and juliet in any form is always beautiful
DArguera 1 year ago
NO ENTIENDES ROMEO?! JULIETA ESTA MUERTA, NO VOLVERA A LA VIDA!!!
argus2k 1 year ago
Why don't they broadcast stuff like this anymore?! :(
Roccarocks 1 year ago
The final theme - that, i don't know, redemptive music, it is incredible. I am a composer and I marvel at this.
jaimebyrne777 1 year ago
Bloody hell this is a harrowing scene - shouln't be watching stuff like this.
A spellbounding performance though - particularly the rag-doll effect.
NavigatorToHeaven 1 year ago
Is there anyone James Horner WON'T steal from? (From 1:46 to 2:02)
Roskomaximus 1 year ago
Brilliant and sensative choreography.
mrmolinodelahoz 2 years ago
haaa que Julietita...
esta si me salio mas fregona!!!
primero se hace la dormida jajaja
y despues de que se matan los dos tipos
despierta!!!! que peladita esta ..
la verdad la historia es hermosa
y me gusta mucho..
y que bonito video
cuidate
walterink2 2 years ago
I remember that they shot the last act over several days later without an audience presence because of Kevin's leg warmer mishap and because Makarova was totally pissed off about the prospect of her performance not being distributed on video. Whatever happened to this repackaged video? Was it ever commercially distributed?
lobbiesforme 2 years ago
AMAZING ITALIAN LOVE STORY!!!!!!
zerochris 2 years ago 4
I'm sitting here in front of my computer crying. This is probably my very favorite ballet music of all time.
colodude3 2 years ago 18
@colodude3 Mine too...everytime I cry, without fail.
eleanorrosemattley 4 months ago
His ballet will live forever it is that great.His music was wonderful...
babyycat 2 years ago 3
I was in this production, Kevin Mckenzie left his sweat pants on by accident. We were all just shocked ! Natalia was the consummate pro by appearing dead while she tried to keep his pants up. Misha had a fit though.
fairclaire 2 years ago 31
@fairclaire Haha..I knew something was wrong with his costume!
zdiversable 1 year ago
@fairclaire wow! What role were you? I am mother of ballerina in training and this afternoon this came on radio and I bawled my eyes out - can't imagine what I will be like if/when my DD is in this! x
frangipani100 3 months ago
Hang on - why is he wearing those trousers that are falling off??!!
SonyaNatalia 3 years ago
I am NO fan of MacMillan's tomb scene - Romeo drags the body of his beloved all over the ground, and then they die apart.
However, I am BIG fan of these two dancers - hence the high rating I gave it.
SonyaNatalia 3 years ago 5
@SonyaNatalia Agreed, and a very astute observation! I
AuthenticNavyPeaCoat 1 year ago
I think the romeo was really good but the juliet was too fake for me. she wasn't a good actress.
ilovekyle12345 3 years ago
This was a Live from the Met broadcast. He had them on during intermission and forgot to take them off when he came out. I think that is why this was never released on DVD. I was there the night this happened and once we realized the bigger concern was that he didn't drop her during the lifts we were hoping the sweats would stay up.
Huss417 3 years ago 2
Sweatpants aside, this is one of the best double suicide scenes I've yet seen. I had the pleasure of seeing this pair live many years ago. I was in the nose bleed seats and even from up there, you could hear Juliet's "silent scream"as she realizes that her Romeo was dead. It's genius indeed when the then late 40's Makarova could break your heart by playing a young, impetuous and reckless 16.
avesraggiana 3 years ago 6
amazing how she keeps her upper body loose while controling her lower body!
Cherrylimanade 3 years ago 4
seriously, did he forget to take his pants off? he took them off for curtain call.
tygerlilly329 3 years ago
sweet comment
Fundudehh7 3 years ago
haha...Is this a rehersal, or did he forget to take his track-suite of in the wings?
jsv89 3 years ago 2
pretty good!!! the juliet is better than the romeo by far!!
Fundudehh7 3 years ago