Who Are the Outstanding Ballet Power Couple Duos of Modern Times?

Now, there’s a question and although many will agree on some included on the list that Christina of Facethe Barre has compiled, it may be down to your own particular tastes when you draw up your own!  Christina used to dance for the Estonian National Ballet, so she certainly knows her dancers (and she pronounces their names beautifully and authentically) – she will have studied their moves since she was a child.  So, I think her list is excellent (although she includes just four ballet power couples!).  I would probably included Giorgi Potskhishvili, with his most high-profile stage partnership at the Dutch National Ballet being Anna Tsygankova, but I am a bit of a Giorgi fan.

The four couples that Christina focuses on are Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev, Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev, Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov.  I particularly like the way that she describes the partnerships, really showing her in-depth understanding and knowledge of why these partnerships are obsessed over by so  many.  Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova are my favorite choice of hers (we featured Ivan on Kuriositas back in 2011).  Once engaged in real life, their on-stage chemistry was always palpable, especially in their supreme performances in Romeo and Juliet.  Their infamous decision to leave the Bolshoi is also something which Christina covers here.

As for the other couples – so many of these names are well-known outside of ballet circles and if you were asked on the street to name some amazing partnerships in the ballet world, I would expect you to come up with one or two of these!    Take a look at her video below – I must say that I haven’t seen many ballet videos on YouTube that are presented by someone with such an extensive knowledge of the form as Christina.