Dear Readers,
Every year, during the month of March, the internet goes mad for bracketology (if you’re unfamiliar with this meme, the so-called March Madness originated from the US Basketball Division I Championships).
We have been meaning to introduce a ballet-inspired bracket for a while, just for the fun of it. So here we go, before we officially reach the end of the month. We ask you to please join in this trial run, so that we can develop bigger and more complex balletic brackets in the future!
Before we play, we would like to stress that:
1) This list is non-exhaustive (so feel free to leave additional suggestions of dancers in the comments, and we will add them to further brackets)
2) All of the dancers featured here have proven themselves in each of these roles, they have also proven to be major influences for future ballerina generations, and we love them all.
3) The aim of this bracket is to find out which dancers you, dear readers, find particularly compelling in 2017 in each of these iconic ballet roles.
How to play:
We’re currently taking votes for Round 1
- In each bracket – Aurora, Kitri, Odette, Odile – you will find two sections with four ballerinas each (click on image above to zoom in)
- Which one is your favorite from each of these eight sections? Let us know in the comments below, or via any of our social media channels.
- Do share this post with your friends, ask them to vote too.
- The Auroras, Kitris, Odettes and Odiles with the most votes get through to the next round.
We will keep updating this post as we progress to the next rounds.
Step
Lopatkin/Rojo, Nunez/Gilbert, Murphy/Stepanova, Cojucaru/Vishneva
May
Odette: Lopatkina, Odile: Alexandrova, Aurora: Obraztsova, Kitri: Osipova. I would have preferred Tan and Salenko to have been in the opposite brackets as these ladies. The rest are too close for me to single one out.
Kimberly Bigler
Svetlana Zakharova Odette
Marianela Nunez Kitri
Diana Vishneva Aurora
Gillian Murphy Odile
Linda
My picks:
Aurora: Cojocaru
Kitri: Osipova
Odette: Lopatkina
Odile: Murphy
Katya
Odette: Ulyana Lopatkina
Kitri: Marianela Nunez
Aurora: Lauren Cuthbertson
Odile: Ekaterina Kondaurova
yjtsui
Odette: Lupatkina and Rojo
Kitri: Osipova and Tereshkina
Aurora: Cojocaru and Boylston
Odile: Murphy and Alexandrova
Mary
Odette : Lopatkina & Zakharova
Kitri : Nunez & Tereshkina
Aurora : Cojocaru & Obraztsova
Odile : Kondaurova & Stepanova
amanda
I’m either missing a secret place where snippets of some these dancers exist in these roles, or everyone travels a lot more than me for ballet.
Aurora: Cuthbertson/Vishneva
Kitri: Osipova/Gilbert
Odette: Mearns/Rojo
Odile: Murphy/Ueno (probably would flip Mearns and Ueno here in all honesty)
Marguerite
Odette: Smirnova and Somova
Kitri: Krysanova and Tereshkina
Aurora: Cojocaru and Obraztsova (but where’s Novikova?)
Odile: Murphy and Alexandrova
Barbara Zorzato
For the Odette bracket: Yuan Yuan Tan and Tamara Rojo.
For the Kitri bracket: Marianela Nunez (most glorious Kitri ever) and Maria Kochetkova.
For the Aurora bracket: Lauren Cuthbertson and Evgenia Obraztsova.
For the Odile bracket: Gillian Murphy and Sofiane Sylvie.
Leena Hassan
What fun!
Odette: Lopatkina and Smirnova.
Kitri: Osipova and Tereshkina.
Aurora: Cojocaru and Obraztsova.
Odile: Murphy and Alexandrova.
Alyssa
For the Odette Bracket: Olga Smirnova and Helene Bouchet. For the Aurora Bracket: Lauren Cuthbertson and Evgenia Obraztsova. For the Odile Bracket: Gillian Murphy and Maria Alexandrova. For the Kitri Bracket: Natalia Osipova and Anna Tsygankova.
Amélie
I really resent some of these brackets, but here goes :
Odette : Lopatkina, Bouchet
Kitri : Nunez, Tereshkina
Aurora : Ould-Braham, Obraztsova
Odile : Kondaurova, Stepanova
Matthew Wellborn
My picks would definitely be… Odette: Ulyana Lopatkina, Aurora: Evgenia Obraztsova, Kitri: Natalia Osipova, Odile: Maria Alexandrova
Romain
Odette: Olga Smirnova and Tamara Rojo
Kitri: Ekaterina Krysanova and Dorothée Gilbert
Aurore: Alina Cojocaru and Evgenia Obraztsova
Odile: Gilian Murphy and Maria Alexandrova
Nina ballerina
My picks: Lopatkina/Rojo, Osipova/Dorothee, Alina/Diana V, Gillian/Maria Alexandrova for black swans!
Ellie
Difficult!! OK, Odette: Ulyana Lopatkina, Aurora: Alina Cojocaru, Kitri: Marianela Nunez, Odile: Gillian Murphy
Lauren Darina
A ballet bracket
! My favourite Odettes are Olga S and Zakharova, fave Kitris are Marianela Nunez and Dorothee, fave Auroras are Alina and Obraztsova, plus the 2 “big red” Odiles (Koundaurova and Stepanova)