Famous Ballerina

Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said that beauty will save the world. Times are tough and sometimes it feels like beauty can’t do much for us, people of the 21 century. Here is a video clip that will, hopefully, put a smile on your face and erase this unhappy frown for a while. Young American ballerinas from Anaheim ballet try to cheer you up by dancing everywhere in the city. This is a fun ballet!

A significant part of ballet terminology is in the French language, because Ballet became formalized in France, thus, a a major part of of ballet terminology is in French. Pirouette is translated into English as a “whirl”. It is an important part of the ballet training when ballerina makes a controlled turn on one leg, starting with one or both legs and rising on pointe.

On this video the art of pirouette is demonstrated during ballet training by Finis Jhung – one of the legendary American ballet instructors. He began teaching ballet lessons since the beginning of the seventies and trained many dancers of New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, aspiring professional ballerinas and amateur adult beginners.

Pirouettes can be executed with a single or multiple rotations. Ballet instructor Jhung shows in normal and slow motion how the non-supporting leg can be held in retiré position, or in attitude, arabesque level or second position. Then the pirouette returns to the starting position or finishes in arabesque or attitude positions.

Famous Ballerina Sonia Arova

 
Famous Bulgarian ballerina Sonia Arova was born in 1927. She started early ballet training at the Opera Ballet in Sofia and then continued the it in Paris under guidance of brilliant ballet teachers and dancers Olga Preobrajenska and Serge Lifar. At the beginning of the World War 2 she managed to escape Nazis and arrived in England where she joined the International Ballet in 1942.

As her amazing dancing skills got noticed her international fame rose. Sonia traveled all over the world performing as a principal dancer in the the Original Ballets Russes, the London Festival Ballet, the Royal Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre. Ballet genius Rudolph Nureyev danced with Sonia at their American ballet debut.

In 1961 she headed the National Ballet of Norway as the artistic director and was so successful that later, in a ceremony at the United Nations, she was made a Lady by the Norwegian king Olaf V. Sonia co-directed the San Diego ballet and before retirement was an artistic director of the Alabama ballet while teaching at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. She died in 2001 of pancreatic cancer.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1975 Paloma Herrera soon became a famous prodigy ballerina in the South America. She began studying ballet when she was 7 years old and won many prestigious ballet competitions on the continent. She continued her ballet training in Belarus and its completion returned back to ballet dancing in Buenos Aires.

As her talent became known worldwide, Paloma was invited to study at the English National Ballet in London. Later she moved to America and was accepted to the corps de ballet of American Ballet Theatre in 1991. When Paloma Herrera was only 18 years old she was promoted there to soloist and in 1995 she became a principal dancer.

Nina Ananiashvili in the ballet Gisele.

Famous Georgian ballerina Nina Ananiashvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1963. The beginning of her career was quite unusual, as at first little Nian was dreaming to become a figure skating star. And she even became a champion in the junior division in her native Republic of Georgia. However, at the age of 13 she entered the Moscow Choreographic Institute, successfully graduate from it and got invited into corps de ballet of entered the Bolshoi Ballet in 1981.

She quickly rose through ranks and became a prima ballerina in Bolshoi. With her dancing partner Andris Liepa she was the first Soviet dancer to appeared as a guest performer at the New York City Ballet in 1988 (they were first Soviet dancers invited to show their mastership there). Soon Nina became a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre, and in 1999 she joined the Houston Ballet with that same rank.

After her native Georgia became independent Nina Ananiashvili headed the National Ballet Ensemble of Georgia as an artistic director. Since 2006, she has been appointed as an United Nations National Goodwill Ambassador.
 

Born in 1926 Diana Adams was the favorite of George Balanchine and ruled the stage of the New York City Ballet from 1950 to 1963. She was the leading dancer for NYCB. When Diana retired from the stage, she switched to successful teaching and training young ballerinas and eventually became a dean at the School of American Ballet. She died on January 10, 1993.