"if only"... i had time to get some discussion going, on this interesting article about the image of the british ballerina (in particular), titled "Fall from Grace" (!)...<BR> <A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000148269364269&rtmo=VPVZVxjx&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/99/11/20/btball20.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000148269364269&rtmo=VPVZ<BR>Vxjx&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/99/11/20/btball20.html</A> <P>maybe someone else will...(intuviel?) <P>i'm sure if i reprint THIS bit, it'll get some action - but maybe not the right kind...<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>It would never have happened in Margot Fonteyn's day: stars of the English ballet stripping off their tutus for a men's magazine. Is this loss of mystique the reason behind the decline of the British ballerina?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>excuse me? WHAT 'decline'? i should think darcey bussell is the answer to any intimation of 'decline'...(of course, she IS half-australian! )<P><p>[This message has been edited by grace (edited June 02, 2000).]

I was also dismayed by the article when it was published: <P>-It is confused about what constitutes a British ballerina, which is not a particularly helpful concept in any case, in my book.<P>-The ENB photos (rather chaste black swimwear style stuff) were ill-judged , but a non-event. Sylvie's outfit for 'Herrmann Schmerman' was about 100x more erotically charged. <P>- The only sense in the article comes from the Royal Ballet School students who point out that ballet is an international undertaking these days. In any case, equal-opps means that the best have to be chosen for the School and the UK Companies. I'm delighted that we enjoy the likes of Guillem, Rojo, Klimentova and Yoshida in this country.

It's not just happening in the UK~~it's all over the world. In Fonteyn's day, there were standards. Standards for dress, manners, dancing...but those are pretty much gone now. The girl who gets the lead role is the one who can kick her legs the highest (I don't think it's a coincidence that Durante, Bussell and Guillem can all dévéloppé to their ears). <P>I think there is a decline. The dancers that really have style are few and far between~~most of them are faux Balanchine/Vaganova hybrid creations. Bussell is no Fonteyn, whether she's currently the favourite British ballerina or not. The current NYCB principals are certainly nowhere near the level of Suzanne Farrell or Merrill Ashley. Even the Kirov is slowly losing its distinctive style. <P>And what's wrong with mystique? Even "Days with Ulanova" doesn't rid that great ballerina of her mystique by showing what she does every day. It made her even more mysterious to me. The ballerinas these days tend to look more like smiley, All~American toothpaste commercials to me. Very generic, very pleasant, and very boring. <P>------------------<BR>~Intuviel~<BR><A HREF="http://www.freetown.com/Uptown/HaightAshbury/1055/ballet.html" TARGET=_blank>Balletica</A><BR>

Grace, did you actually see Fonteyn perform in London? When and in what ballets? It must be in the late 1970s.