Costumes of Giselle help Smirnova, as in Aurora: the sleeves help hide her broad shoulders, she looks more delicate. She should use them as often as possible.
She may have made some errors (I cannot see them, I don't have enough knowledge), but on the whole I love her legs!
But her upper body... I don't put much worth on the "right" looks, the whole is far more important for me. If a dancer is too tall or too short, or too thin or too chubby, can easily be compensated by other qualities - if in the end the whole pleases me, I don't even notice they could have a more beautiful face or whatever else is "imperfect".
On the other hand, sometimes these little flaws in looks are NOT compensated. Unfortunately, Smirnova's arm and hand movements don't make me overlook her upper body build, on the contrary - even if in Giselle she was more graceful than in other performances I saw (she really was). If her movements could be altered to fit my taste, I would ask her to not show her neck as much*; never, never stretch her arms completely, make them look as soft and smooth as possible, no broken wrists, no pointed elbows; avoid all exaggeration in port-de-bras and back bends and head positions... As it is, watching her feels very uncomfortable to me. But that's ME. Fortunately for her, many people like her exactly as she is and moves - so I'm afraid I will never be one in the audience to see her.
Eye witnesses say her acting was very good, that she is very expressive now. In the Giselle video is hard to see (too far) but I will give her credit. Chudin certainly has been improving in this aspect, and you can see it even at that distance (I mean in a free video available in YouTube). Their partnership is indeed very good, seamless, confident.
Smirnova's biggest asset is, she has a very strong stage presence, great charisma. She commands our focus, and fills the stage. Regal, yes, almost too much - I used to think she didn't seem willing to share the stage, but... in Giselle she looks more committed than usual, both to her partner and to the role's needs. Nice!
I think this is why Maziev places so heavy bets on her - charisma is a sine-qua-non requisite to be a star. Maybe he also hopes her idiossincrasies will wear out with training and stage experience.
* A small head is one element of current beauty standard in ballet. As a consequence, necks seem really thick in comparison. Doesn't this bother you? Because I don't like.
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(Edited to take some of the harshness of my text - when I read it again, it sounded bitchy and more disapproving than I feel.)
Отредактировано MaggiM (22-02-2017 03:33:12)