ViewersThursday, May 9th 2013
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Thursday, August 9th 2012
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Saturday, August 4th 2012
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Friday, August 3rd 2012
Maya Plisetskaya as The Dying Swan
I love Plisetskaya’s interpretation of The Dying Swan. Even though I don’t think anyone connects to the piece’s tragic beauty the way Pavlova does, Maya’s performance is so fluid & transcendent. My favourite performance is of Maya performing The Dying Swan at age 61 in 1986.
Wednesday, September 21st 2011
“Play the last measure very softly.”
- Anna Pavlova’s final words
Anna Pavlova died of pleurisy when she was 49. She was told that she would die unless she had an operation, but that the operation would leave her incapable of dancing. She said, “If I can’t dance then I’d rather be dead.” She died in bed while holding her Dying Swan costume in her arms.
Tuesday, September 20th 2011
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Anna Pavlova dances The Dying Swan
I made 25 animations tonight from this performance. I’m going to share them in sets over the next couple of days. The Dying Swan is a piece of art that moves me every time I watch it & Anna’s original interpretation is the most wrenching. Her movements are fluttering & brave, she’s simultaneously graceful & broken - a gossamer ghost. We just discovered yesterday that our cat enjoys laying with his head near a speaker while this song plays. He closes his eyes, purrs, kneads the air contentedly & his ears twitch when the music swells. It fills my heart.
