MINKUS - "DON QUIXOTE" - BALLET ~ MISTY COPELAND - 15 - 1997 - VOB

LUDWIG MINKUS - a.k.a. Léon Fyodorovich Minkus (1826--1917) was an Austrian composer of ballet music, a violin virtuoso and teacher.

Minkus is most noted for the music he composed while serving as Ballet Composer of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres in Russia, where he wrote for the original works and revivals of the renowned Ballet Masters Arthur Saint-Léon and Marius Petipa. Among the composer's most celebrated compositions for these Ballet Masters were La Source (1866; composed jointly with Léo Delibes), Don Quixote (1869); and La Bayadère (1877). During his career Minkus wrote a substantial amount of supplemental material for insertion into already existing ballets. Among these pieces, Minkus is most noted for the Grand Pas classique, Pas de trois and Mazurka des enfants written for Marius Petipa's 1881 revival of the ballet Paquita.

Today, Minkus's ballet music is some of the most popular and performed in all of ballet, and is a most integral part of the traditional classical ballet repertory.

MISTY COPELAND - BALLET DANCER - AT A DANCE COMPETITION 1997 --- HERE SHE IS DANCING AT AGE 15 AFTER STUDYING FOR ONLY 2 YEARS - BORN 1982....

THIS IS BEFORE SHE JOINED THE AMERICAN BALLET THEATER - (ABT)....

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UPDATE 12-12-12 -

NATALIA MARAKOVA - 72 - WAS ON A NATIONAL TALK SHOW LAST NIGHT AND SAID THAT SHE STARTED AT 13, (LIKE MISTY) - SO IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO START AT THAT AGE - NATALIA WENT ON TO PROVE IT BY BECOMING THE BIGGEST NAME, AND THE MOST LEGENDARY BALLERINA IN THE LAST 40 YEARS. SHE IS FROM RUSSIA, BUT NOW TEACHES IN SAN FRANCISCO - I GOT TO SEE HER DO TCHAIKOVSKY'S "SWAN LAKE" AT THE KENNEDY CENTER IN THE 80's - YEAH !!!

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TO ALL THE JEALOUS DANCE "EXPERTS" OUT THERE THAT WOULD FIND SO MUCH TO CRITICIZE ABOUT SOMEONE DANCING THIS WELL AFTER ONLY 2 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, GO FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO, NO NEGATIVE COMMENTS ARE ALLOWED ABOUT ANY OF THE ARTISTS IN ANY OF MY VIDEOS !!! AND THAT INCLUDES TRYING TO CRITICIZE IN RUSSIAN, SINCE I HAVE ACCESS TO "GOOGLE TRANSLATE" !!!