Скачать или смотреть Ballet Legends Sylvie Guillem & Diana Vishneva are they Classical Ballerinas or Contemporary Icons?

Did you know some of the best classical ballerinas of all time, names like Sylvie guillem and Diana Vishneva, have left behind their classical roots (sometimes entirely) and swung ALL the way to the other side of the a spectrum, into the far edges of contemporary dance? Let’s take a look.

Starting with Vishneva, as you may know she’s a darling of the international ballet world, a Mariinsky prima, a dramatic glamour queen whose performances leave one transcended long after the curtain has closed. But more and more she began to work in different styles and even started her own contemporary dance festival in St Petersburg Russia, the Mecca of classical ballet. Known for her emotional and technical range she is a favorite in classics such as Giselle and Swan Lake, but her masterful beauty translates as adeptly to pieces and styles less knowable, even once they are known.

Then we have the queen of the rebels, the original rogue ballerina, the pivot point, the GOAT Sylvie guillem. Hand picked by Nureyev and made an etoile (the highest rank) at Paris Opera at just 19 years old, she seemed set to reign over the worlds oldest largest company for a generation, when she shocked and rocked the Paris culture scene by “defecting” as they saw it to join the Royal Ballet. Who had offered her a contract that would allow her to work with different choreographers and companies, a contract built for freedom. And work with them she did, in fact it was her influence that lifted many of today’s most revered contemporary choreographers to a star level such as Mats Ek, Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant, and not only the choreographers, but the dance style itself. Which had previously in many circles, been considered a strange outsider, a child of, but belonging neither to ballet or modern dance (contemporary and modern, while sometimes having overlapping movements, are not the same thing, more on that in another video).

Want to know more about the differences and evolution of contemporary dance? Let me know in the comments:)