#ballet on YouTube

[tikitania]

Speaking of debuts, I’m very excited about Ines Macintosh’s upcoming debut in Sleeping Beauty. I recently came across this video and I was captivate by her description of this role. I’d never heard Aurora described this way, and it’s so refreshing to hear someone describe how movement creates character rather than the same drivel about “she’s a princess…blah, blah.”

More of this, please. 🌸

[tikitania]

I have really enjoyed Ramanbek Beishenaliev’s vlogs on YouTube. Using the auto-generated CC translation, you get about 90% of what’s going on. It’s a fun behind-the-scenes peak at The Mariinsky.

Today's watch:

[lauralot89]

why didn't I know there was a Dracula ballet and ESPECIALLY why didn't I know it has this dance with Dracula and Jonathan

[inumbrapugnabimus-maybe]

some Zelda designs :)

[david-derr]

The finished painting of Dancer Resting in the Sunlight. Oil on Canvas. 2025.

YouTube link on the step-by-step making of the painting. Check it out.

[vintageplume]

Ballerina Adeline Genée, 1897.

[disast3rtransp0rt]

WAKE UP BABE THE GAY VAMPIRE TANGO DRACULA BALLET DROPPED IN FULL ON YOUTUBE WITH THE ORIGINAL CAST AND I'M LOSING MY FUCKING MINDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!

(I have been going insane over this production and tracking its touring dates for close to a year, never thinking they would put the entire thing on YouTube for free. I am so incredibly happy I am actually crying real human tears right now.)

[cookiesandcantarella-art]

Ballet Print Series: Giselle

Yippee you can see the process on my YouTube channel. I have like 10 subs atm so any views or comments helps. I wanna be an art youtuber baby!

Prints are $25 USD plus $5 shipping, though I'm only shipping within the US for the moment. Check out my shop here!

[ID: digital painting of the titular Giselle from the ballet as a Wili. She is a black ballerina dancing against a dark, moonlit sky. Her white dress almost glows with multicolor highlights. End ID]

[omegaversereloaded]

Ballet Clandestino is a modern, not-very-well-known post punk band from São Paulo BR! If you like them, please support them on Bandcamp! Their albums are name your price :)

If this one's not for you, don't stop now – a lot of sounds fall under the goth umbrella and I'm trying to post different stuff every day. No repeats allowed~

If you like this song, I recommend these other songs by them:

[ballet-symphonie]

The Cuban Cupid Mystery

Since I started seeing videos of this variation everywhere on the YAGP circut, I became curious about its history.

The variation is said to be from Don Quixote, the text on the screen attributes the choreography to Gorsky and the description along with most other competition videos attributes the choreography to Petipa.

Gorsky's production from 1902 is the basis for all modern Don Quixote productions. The Mariinsky production is thought to resemble the original the most, but all productions have been subjected to a century's worth of revisions. The notations are said to be lost, so there's likely no possibility of Ratmansky or someone doing a reconstruction.

The music to 'Cuban Cupid' is not from Don Quixote, that score has been archived very clearly. It's from Paquita, the coda from the pas de trois. Unlike many of the other variations in Paquita, the pas de trois is one of the few parts of the ballet that was actually written for Paquita and not pulled from a less popular Petipa ballet.

Going back as close to the source as possible, the Bolshoi and Mariinsky dance the traditional version of Cupid to music from Don Quixote. We know this, this is not news. Cuban Cupid is not in the Nureyev edition danced by La Scala or Paris Opera, which are again, based on the Gorsky original.

I obviously then went to consult videos of the Cubans, considering it's called "Cuban Cupid, it should obviously be in their produciotn right? WRONG!

In this 2019 production Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Kitri/Dulcinea doesn't even dance a variation in the dream scene. Instead, the dancer playing Cupid dances the Dulcinea variation. No Paquita music to be found and the typical Cupid variation is absent as well. This 2016 production and 2007 productions have the same staging. Here is a current dancer who posted just an excerpt of her 'Cupid Variation', it's Dulcinea again. So for everyone saying "oh the Cuban's do it".... it doesn't look like they've done it in basically the past 20 years.

So where did it come from? If the Russians, with the oldest productions, aren't doing it, and the Cubans aren't doing it, which choreographer is actually responsible for the creation of this? Has it ever been performed on stage in a professional production, outside the context of a stand-alone variation?

I then wondered if it was just an American comp school invention...but I found videos online that far predate the YAGP craze of the last few years. Just by searching "Cupido Cubano" I found several older videos (9-12 years old) of the variation, mostly done by students from Mexico, Brazil or Portugal.

However, I did find this video which is interesting because it was filmed at the Cuban National Ballet School. So they at least did teach it to their students at one point...yet the company doesn't perform it????

This is the oldest video I've found, from 2008. Otherwise, I keep scrolling around and eventually, all I'm seeing are videos of the Cupid Shuffle...which is not helpful either.

If anyone has more information, please share, the mystery and origin of this, as well as the miscrediting is a fascinating mystery.

[mamabearcatfanart]

Ballet and Breakdance

I am alive! First sketch I've finished in ages that I'm happy with. I love the whole ballerina vs b-boy aesthetic. Inspired by this amazing dance couple I stumbled across on YouTube.

[tikitania]

Who is your personal favourite Odette/Odile? Lopatkina is probably the most renowned Russian swan but I also think Núñez is pretty solid. Some people also prefer Zakharova.

All of the above are wonderful. Oksana Skorik & Victoria Tereshkina are currently quite extraordinary. I also love Kondaurova as O/O but I do not think she will dance it anymore. She's been too beset with injuries in the past couple of years. No one at the Bolshoi really draws me in, although I would love to see Olga Smirnova at DNB. See Eun Park's performance with the POB was also very good, which I recently saw on IMAX. Stateside, I've been impressed by what I saw of Chloe Misseldine. I also love seeing Nicoletta Manni in Ratmansky's Swan Lake at La Scala, where the choreography is closer to the Petipa-Ivanov original. But these are all based on videos and not the magic of the theater, so this is all far from definitive. The full-length of Ratmansky's is here if you are interested:

[cyclist-of-guilt]

Dracula from Polish National Opera is for free now yt

This tango is from it

[mrnightingale]

Edwin and Niko. It's them.

I was scrolling and I really thought it was them for the first few seconds. (I follow this account, they're all so funny and really beautiful and strong and graceful I love them sm, y'all should take a look✨✨✨)

But yeah. Just. I think at this point we all agree that Ballet AU Edwin and Niko always dance theirs pas de deux together and I'm here for it.

[chrispalmermusic]

Chris Palmer - The Ballet Dancer - Solo Piano Waltz

[teishiteishi]

¿QUIÉN TE MANDA? video out now <3

This is my first video in a long time (since the 'even if it hurts' video in 2019!) and it's my first as a newly fully independent artist. It was a true passion project - in the best and most pure sense of that term - between myself and an amazing team. I worked with my close friend and long time collaborator Jonatán López, and collaborated with choreographer Teresa 'Toogie' Barcelo. The way this video came together was crazy, because we prepped it for months and shot it, but there was a huge mishap on behalf of someone which resulted in none of the footage being usable. I was on tour for two months after that and the entire project died. I, along with the rest of the team, was completely heartbroken. Eventually though, we managed to re-shoot the whole video, two months after the original shoot !! The whole crew donated their time and we brought the video to a whole new level. I want to thank everyone who helped bring this together and revive the video that almost never was <3 hope you love it.