YouTube Ballet Video of the Day No. 1, Cynthia Gregory's Aurora

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As a bit of self-discipline, I'm starting a new feature: YouTube Ballet Video of the Day. Why? It's pretty obvious; I want to get in the habit of churning something out every day, regardless of the siren call of Internet procrastination. So, here we go, YTBVOTD #1. 




I'd pondered for awhile what video to do first (Soloviev? Bouder?), but then I remembered my own most-popular upload, Cynthia Gregory's Rose Adagio in ABT's wonderful and, alas, lost Oliver Messell production. I'd never seen Gregory's Aurora live, although I did catch other ABT Auroras ranging from the sublime (Natalia Makarova) to the, um, not-so-sublime (Yoko Moroshita). I must have missed this Live from Lincoln Center broadcast in 1979, too. I remember the first time I saw it was years and years later, on a blurry videocassette lent me by a friend (it's how we shared videos in the days before YouTube). I had no idea of the cast (I'd been away from ballet for awhile at the time), and when Gregory erupted onstage for the Rose Adagio, I thought, "Wow, that's Cynthia Gregory." Then I thought, "Wow, she's good!" Then it was, "Holy crap, that's the best Aurora I ever saw!"
I expected her rock-solid technique and steely balances, but I was blown away by the sophistication of her portrayal. Perhaps it's my imagination, but her shoes seem much softer than what I'm used to today. I'm always conscious of her foot rolling through her arch when coming on or off pointe, a beautiful display of nuance and control. Indeed, her footwork throughout is magnificent, especially in those first little jetes from side to side with which she bursts into her birthday party. They're tiny, sweet and precise; she could've made them bigger and higher (as she could've made her developpe here higher), but she wisely forsakes amplitude for sparkle: her feet are dewdrops on her blooming rose. Indeed, her dynamic range is a revelation: she could "nail" everything (and in her sleep, most likely), but saves her technical artillery for her two stupendous balances, and, especially, that moment around 2:57 when she stretches s-l-o-w-l-y from attitude to arabesque, and then just as slowly down to fifth. I've never seen a ballerina flaunt her control so brilliantly, and yet so subtle. I screamed when I first saw it, and it's still scream-worthy today.

I could expound on other facets of this remarkable performance, like her marvelously soft arms, the decorously low position of her foot in her pirouettes and her perfectly tuned portrayal--sweet, but never cloying. I could, but I have to finish this sooner or later. I'll leave it to the commenters on YouTube to expound on Gregory's many virtues. In many ways, seeing her performance today is a real schooling: an old-fashioned modesty of deportment combined with technique that's still awe-inspiring thirty years later. Her deportment may not have seemed "old-fashioned" at the time, but from this vantage, you can see what we've lost and gained in the intervening years. Gregory reminds us that we may not have made the wisest of bargains.

I'd like to thank the YouTube commenter who pointed out that in the midst of this stellar performance, Gregory has the presence of mind to kick away a wayward flower that had fallen in the middle of the stage. She does it so calmly that I'd seen the video scores of times and never noticed it.