If you want to know what’s so great about John Cranko’s choreography, look at the opening phrase of the final duet in Onegin (1965). The male dancer encircles the ballerina in an embrace that is not reciprocated, and then falls at her feet; she lunges forward to walk away from him, but her motion is counteracted by the downward and backward pull he performs while crouching on the stage behind her. It is sheer simplicity and sheer genius. The basic game of opposition and the use of gravity — at odds with ballet’s traditional aerial nature — encompass a unique range of emotions. She tries to escape her unhappy memories while fighting the alluring echoes of the passion for the one who rejected her, and now wants her — whether out of love, remorse or desperation.
If that were not convincing enough, check out Lenski’s danced monologue before the fatal duel, arguably one of the most beautiful and demanding male solos in ballet history.
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