Check out my latest YouTube video, which explores Mikhail Baryshnikov’s great dancing in The Turning Point from 1977. The Turning Point featured dance segments from big name ballet stars of the 1970s including Baryshnikov, Suzanne Farrell, Peter Martins, Fernando Bujones. This video provides commentary on two Baryshnikov solos: Ali from Le Corsaire and Basilio Act III from Don Quixote. Baryshnikov’s solos in The Turning Point are stunning, showing him in his prime at his best. His solos reveal unique steps done with rare athleticism and command that have stood the test of time. His endless turns with creative variants and high leaps are astonishing. Few if any dancers 40 years later can match his technical abilities and dynamic stage presence. For more detail on Baryshnikov’s dancing, check out my previous video which analyzes his Don Quixote “Cups” solo and his Albrecht solo from Giselle.
Thanks for another of your fascinating analyses of ballet video performances. In 1976, while I was an apprentice corps de ballet dancer at Los Angeles Ballet, I heard one day that filming for “The Turning Point” was taking place at the Shrine Auditorium. After class, I drove to the Shrine, walked in the front entrance, and sat down in the empty orchestra section. A bridge had been constructed across the empty orchestra pit for a camera on a dolly to roll across. As I entered, Leslie Browne was finishing rehearsing Kitri’s solo from the Don Quixote pas de deux. I just caught the end of that, and after a short break, they began setting up cameras and lights for Baryshnikov’s solo from the Sleeping Beauty pas de deux. Baryshnikov was there, but while the setting-up was being done, ABT soloist George de la Pena stood in for him, repeating sections of the solo variation over and over. Finally Baryshnikov came out on stage, in costume and wig, and began running through the solo to a live piano accompaniment. The thing that amazed me was that in the series of double tours en l’air, he kept stumbling out of the landings and became quite exasperated with himself. I think this supports your belief that the complete dances in the movie were edited together from multiple takes. After working on it for about twenty minutes, they all took a break. I had a rehearsal back at the L.A.B. studio in west L.A., so I had to leave before they came back from their break and resumed. When I saw the finished movie, about a year later, I was disappointed that the Sleeping Beauty solo didn’t make it into the final cut. There was only a quick bit of the adagio included in the gala montage. In 1976 I also did some supernumerary work with ABT, and got to be on stage, just a few yards away, while Baryshnikov danced Giselle. Back stage he was quite calm and quiet, compared to Rudolf Nureyev, who was there doing Raymonda on other nights. Nureyev, in contrast, could become very shouty and abusive when he got worked up. At a rehearsal he slapped me on top of the head and yelled “screaming cunt!” at me for botching a step. Afterward I found myself alone in the elevator with him and he apologized and told me I was a “good boy”. As a historical piece of trivia, we supers got $9.00 cash in an envelope at the end of each performance we were in. The best part was that we could walk in the stage door any day, even if we weren’t involved, and watch all the performances from the wings. The guard just saw lean young people with ballet bags over their shoulders and assumed we were authorized. A nice perk for poor starving ballet students!
Thanks so much for your commentary and background information! Gives additional flavor to the movie. Interesting comments about Nureyev.