Top 10 Male ballet dances

March 10, 2024 5:11 AM

I'm far from being a balletomane. But these are extraordinary. I know nothing of the ballet world. I may have seen 2 in my entire life.

And one of them was the Nutcracker because of a school trip around the holidays. The administration thought it would make us more well rounded. But I digress. But I saw this on Youtube and was taken aback. The athleticism and grace. Simply astounding.

posted by Czjewel (17 comments total)

I'm not really a ballet fan but oh my that Cesar Corrales. I don't know enough to compare him to the others technically, but what a charismatic dancer he is!
posted by Rhedyn at 5:48 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Lots of nice huge Revoltade's but needed some Brisés Volés, and some big Entrechat Six.
posted by sammyo at 5:53 AM on March 10

What wonderful artistry and athleticism. I was lucky enough to see Nureyev dance towards the end of his career. He was utterly charismatic and mesmerising.
posted by essexjan at 7:28 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Traditionally ballerinos don’t perform on point (toes): power (jumps, lifts, etc) characterized the role of the ballerino in ballet; grace characterized the role of the ballerina.

Les Trockadero has been performing gender-skewering comic ballet, parodying the conventions of romantic and classical ballet since the 1970s. Conventions do change, even within a binary.
posted by rubatan at 8:08 AM on March 10 [8 favorites]

I thought, "why no Carlos Acosta?" and then I was reminded it's been 8 whole years since he retired. He's currently Artistic Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, and long may he reign.

Here he is in one of his signature roles, handsome village lad Colas in Ashton's La Fille Mal Gardée.
posted by Pallas Athena at 8:17 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Ballet is awesome. Dance is awesome.
posted by Goofyy at 9:30 AM on March 10

I'm far from being a balletomane.

I have never heard that word before, which I realize is just my ignorance and provincialism.

But, in my ignorance and provincialism, I assumed it was a reference to Le Pétomane.

Recognizing that, yes, all French words rhyme with all other French words, I still now wonder if Le Pétomane's stage name was an intentional bit of wordplay on balletomane
posted by gurple at 10:40 AM on March 10

In French, the suffix -mane essentially means maniac, like fan/fanatic. See also stan, if you're under thirty.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:18 PM on March 10 [3 favorites]

I met such a well fit ballet dancer at a conference in the 20thC. One part had required him to back off the stage holding the prima ballerina aloft with one hand. He failed to anticipate a 10cm step down just off stage and the jolt crushed two intervertebral discs - that was The End of his dancing career. He presented a paper about hybrids between Felis/Leopardus geoffroyi and domestic cats, so there was that.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:10 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]

I think the dancers are great, but many of the ballet productions in this collection are cold and dead old relics. Cavernous stages with staging and sets from a hundred years ago.
posted by feste at 1:29 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]

The only ballet I ever saw was in 1987 at the Shrine Auditorium next to campus my freshman year of university. It was a big spend, but it was IIRC The Nutcracker and OMG it was Baryshnikov. Something that should not be missed.
posted by zengargoyle at 9:08 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]

It's modern dance rather than ballet, but I have to drop a link to my favorite recent dance video -- the Dutch company CDK choreographed to "Somebody That I Used To Know".
posted by tavella at 9:15 PM on March 10 [7 favorites]

OMG Tavella, this deserves a FPP!
posted by storybored at 10:45 PM on March 10

Whoops, I see hippybear has posted one already :)
posted by storybored at 10:47 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Oh, I missed that link in the Hippybear post! It just was suggested to me by Youtube, and for once the algorithm got it right.
posted by tavella at 11:32 PM on March 10

Is this my moment to post - The Nutcracker Bear?! A friend sent me this clip without realizing how beautifully it would intersect with my small immediate family's love of all things that look like animatronic pizza place band members/Five Night's At Freddy's characters.
Also I really admire anyone's ability to dance like that while wearing a large costume head! The costume itself is ingeniously made of "sports mesh" and tulle, it looks amazing.
posted by 41swans at 7:46 AM on March 11 [3 favorites]

This is my current favourite (although a couple of years old). A most exquisite sequence from Carousel.
posted by essexjan at 11:56 AM on March 11 [1 favorite]