She is sweet, playful, and carefree. Her personality suits aurora perfectly! I may have been fooled but it seems that this is but a fortunate coincidence. By nature, she embodies Aurora.
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2. Evgenia Obraztsova
In my (perhaps controversial) opinion, she is the greatest dancer of her generation. The most absolute classical lines with such great charisma and personality. She has the sweet charm of youth, and the maturity to show the growth and change in responsibility by act three. An absolute fairytale princess.
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1. Alla Sizova
The Aurora. yes, she has incomparable leaps, extraordinary technique, and is all around absolutely darling. But it's more than all that. Her seemingly effortless interpretation is unlike anyone else. I'm not sure it can be captured in words, at least, not by me. If you are yet unfamiliar, please enjoy the most perfect production of The Sleeping Beauty
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honourable mentions
olesya novikova, stunning in the role but she has made such an impression in other roles that i don't automatically think aurora for her
altynai alsmurtnova, again just beautiful in what i have seen, but there is such little video and none of very good quality that it’s hard to place her as a favourite
Even narrowing myself to this one company, I could go on adding so many incredible dancers. So, I will stop myself here. Please let me know your favourites!
do you think it’s true that vishneva is being combed to eventually take over as AD at mariinsky?
There have long been rumours of this. I think she's absolutely ambitious enough to want it but she also has a lot going on with everything she's built associated with CONTEXT, which would have to take a back seat as MT AD. But Fayteev is unlikely to just go away, he's not that that old, and Vishenva has her own political web to get through. I can't see it happening anytime soon, especially now that Vishenva has announced her solidarity for Ukraine.
'The next generation always dances better in technical terms, which is totally normal. But, although I continuously adjust to the changing requirements, to me, technique is not about the amount of pirouettes or the height at which you can lift your leg, but rather about transitional movements, or the way Galina Ulanova could run across the stage, or Margot Fonteyn's unique poses. Luckily, my teachers have explained to me at an early age that it was not a pirouette that mattered, but the way you performed it and the emotional content you filled it with'
My favorites at the Mariinsky overall are Novikova, Osmolkina, Skorik, and Shakirova. Also, Vishneva is obviously a legend, just not dancing much anymore. Finally, Ilyushkina and Khoreva are my favorite up-and-comers.