Famous Dancers and Asteroid Terpsichore

Anna Pavlova, courtesy of www.daykeeperjournal.com

Being an astrology buff, some time ago I found an intriguing article about the asteroid Terpsichore – which I’d never heard of – having prominent placement in the charts of more than several famous dancers. The article, from www.daykeeperjournal.com, is titled “Celestial Musings – Asteroid Terpsichore in the Natal Charts of Famous Dancers”. The author Alex Miller, writes about the charts of the legendary Nijinsky and Pavlova to Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and into more modern times – mentions Michael Jackson.

Alex describes that Terpsichore “in the birth chart, …can show where we give delight a physical expression, as well as indicating a love of dance and movement if strongly aspected. Graceful, fluid motion can be a hallmark of individuals with Terpsichore prominent, whether channeled into formal dance education or not.”

Here are more highlights from the article:

Terpsichore was one of the Nine Muses, bringers of inspiration in classical Greek mythology. According to Hesiod, the Muses are the offspring of Zeus and Mnemosyne, his Titaness aunt, whose name literally means “memory.” Mnemosyne was one of Zeus’ earliest conquests, predating his marriage to Hera, while he was still sowing his wild oats (though, in truth, Zeus was a lifelong sower!).

After overthrowing her 11 brothers and sisters and setting himself up as head deity of the Olympians, Zeus sought a way to preserve the memory of his accomplishments, keeping them ever green. So he sought out Mnemosyne, whom he wooed in the guise of a shepherd; the couple slept together on nine consecutive nights, and nine months later, the Muses were born, one each on nine consecutive days (divine conception and gestation varying somewhat from that of mortals).

In classic times the Greeks sorted out various areas of special influence among the originally undifferentiated nine sisters. Terpsichore (whose name means “delight in dance”) became the muse of dance and dramatic choral works. She is usually depicted as seated, with a lyre for accompaniment.

Given Muse Terpsichore’s rulership of dance, it’s not surprising to find that her asteroid namesake has an affinity with the astrological charts of famous dancers, from Isadora Duncan to Michael Jackson. Terpsichore in this capacity is often astrologically linked to the Sun, expressing the life force and creative core of the native, how they self-identify; to Venus, ancient ruler of dancers as well as the arts in general and all things of aesthetic sensibility or beauty; to Saturn, the career path and the ability to master skills; or to Neptune, modern ruler of dance, music and theatrical presentation.

Isadora Duncan, Scorpio Terpsichore trine Saturn: Isadora Duncan was considered by many to be the creator of modern dance. Although an American citizen, Duncan received little acclaim in her native country, but was famed throughout fin de siècle Europe, bursting on the Paris scene in 1900 to universal adulation. Duncan rejected the stiff formality of traditional ballet, deriding it as “ugly and against nature,” and developed an improvisational style that created a revolution in dance.

Born 27 May 1877, Isadora Duncan’s natal Terpsichore at 27 Scorpio is astrologically trine natal Saturn at 19 Pisces, identifying dance as pivotal in her career, as well as revealing her role as an educator.

Anna Pavlova, Terpsichore in Libra, trine Sun: Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky were two early 20th century dancers who helped to establish Russian ballet as the finest in the world. Pavlova was widely regarded as the best classical ballerina of her day, a protégé of dance mogul Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballet Russe, and star performer of the Imperial Russian Ballet. She later created her own dance company and was the first ballerina to tour the globe. Her most famous performance was the creation of the lead role in “The Dying Swan” in 1905, a ballet based on the music  of Camille Saint-Saens.

Vaslav Nijinsky, Terpsichore in Aries conjunct Venus: Nijinsky was another protege of Diaghilev’s. He is often cited as the greatest male dancer of the 20th century. He frequently performed en pointe, that is, on tip-toe, a rare skill in male dancers, and was noted for his apparently gravity-defying leaps and the intensity of his performances, which may have had something to do with an erratic temperament that was later diagnosed as schizophrenia.

Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, Terpsichore in opposing signs:  Born 10 May 1899, Fred Astaire’s natal Terpsichore at 27 Gemini conjoins Neptune at 23 Gemini, opposing Saturn at 22 Sagittarius. Ginger Rogers’ (born 16 July 1911) natal Terpsichore at 5 Sagittarius is sesquiquadrate to a Sun/Neptune conjunction at 23 and 21 Cancer, and squared Venus at 8 Virgo. Although not opposed by astrological degree, Astaire and Rogers’ Terpsichores in opposing signs made them the perfect dance partners, complementing each other’s strengths and compensating for their weaknesses.

Gene Kelly, Terpsichore in Pisces opposed Sun and Venus:  Gene Kelly shares the spotlight with Fred Astaire as one of America’s most prominent male dancers on film. Star of such popular hits as “Anchors Aweigh” (1945), “An American in Paris” (1951) and “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952), Kelly was noted for his athletic, energetic dance style and aggressive good looks.”

The article continues with dancers such as Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Ann Miller, Twyla Tharpe and more. For you astrology buffs or anyone interested in dance and dance history, I encourage you to read the full article – a most interesting read.

Brainy Quotes, Brainy Dancers

Recently I came across Brainy Quote, a website devoted to famous people and their “brainy” quotes. Looking up famous dancers, here are some of my favorites…

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.
Martha Graham

Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.
Martha Graham

Even though I am a professional, and I know what the steps are, I don’t quite know how I’m going to do them, because I haven’t lived that moment yet. I always feel very insecure and I get very excited.
Suzanne Farrell

I got started dancing because I knew it was one way to meet girls.
Gene Kelly

I danced with passion to spite the music.
Gelsey Kirkland

We were all novices. We really were. We didn’t know a goddamn thing about doing a show.
Jerome Robbins

To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking.
Agnes de Mille

The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music. Bodies never lie.
Agnes de Mille

The universe lies before you on the floor, in the air, in the mysterious bodies of your dancers, in your mind. From this voyage no one returns poor or weary.
Agnes de Mille

God gives talent. Work transforms talent into genius.
Anna Pavlova

The ballet is a purely female thing; it is a woman, a garden of beautiful flowers, and man is the gardener.
George Balanchine

One is born to be a great dancer.
George Balanchine

Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art. Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike.
Margot Fonteyn

My dance classes were open to anybody, my only stipulation was that they had to come to the class every day.
Merce Cunningham

I really reject that kind of comparison that says, Oh, he is the best. This is the second best. There is no such thing.
Mikhail Baryshnikov

The creative process is not controlled by a switch you can simply turn on or off; it’s with you all the time.
Alvin Ailey

The dancer’s body is simply the luminous manifestation of the soul.
Isadora Duncan

A pas de deux is a dialogue of love. How can there be conversation if one partner is dumb?
Rudolf Nureyev

My feet are dogs.
Rudolf Nureyev

Dance every performance as if it were your last.
Erik Bruhn

Giselle — then and now

50 years ago in February of 1962, in their first performance of Giselle, the partnership of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev was born and ballet became a household name. Inspired by a beautiful tribute to that legendary partnership from The Sheila Variations, titled “We only lived when we danced”, here is a collection of famous partnerings taken from the Act II pas de deux of Giselle from the past to the present day.

“I’ve found the perfect partner.” — Margot Fonteyn

“We become one body. One soul. We moved in one way. It was very complementary, every arm movement, every head movement. There were no more cultural gaps; age difference; we’ve been absorbed in characterization. We became the part. And public was enthralled.” — Rudolf Nureyev

Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, Giselle February 1962

 

Carla Fracci and Erik Bruhn, Giselle 1969

 

Alessandra Ferri and Mikhail Baryshnikov, Giselle 1986

 

Polina Semionova and Vladimir Shklyarov, Giselle 2008

 

…and a video collection of still photographs from Giselle

 

What makes Ballet look effortless?

Ballet, to me, is the telling of a story, the emotions of it through line of the body, the movements, the gestures set to music. The controlled and contained movements give it that effortless, ethereal quality that captivates. Ballet dancers study for years to master and attain the physical abilities necessary to achieve this look and feel.

Thinking back of who some of the great Ballet stars were at the time I was growing up:  names come to mind like Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Natalia Makarova, Mikhail Baryshnikov to name just a few. What was it about their dancing that lead them to fame – what were the qualities of the way they moved that gave them that effortless grace, that spontaneity of movement that also captured the emotion of the dance  – what were the physics of it in play that made it seem so effortless?

In her new book, “Apollo’s Angels:  A History of Ballet”, author Jennifer Homans describes ballet this way:  “At the origins of ballet lay two ideas:  the formal mathematical precision of the human body and the universality of human gesture”.

Perhaps one way this formal, mathematical precision of the body can be described – is that it’s the push pull movement between one end of a limb (or one end of the entire body) pushing or pulling in the opposite direction of the other end – so that the extension of this other end lengthens it into the illusion of infinity – the lengthening of that line into what’s called “extension”. And, all the while, the body is trained so that it’s strong enough to be held in place while the limbs accomplish these movements or are held still.

I asked one of my teachers, Sally Miramon, of The Alonzo King Lines Dance Center in San Francisco, to comment on this. Here’s what Sally had to say about this:

“There are many reasons for ballet dances to appear effortless and graceful. As a teacher, or choreographer, the dancer must have at least the following 5 elements:

1) Musicality – The ability to fit a dance to the music being played, by relating the dance to the music’s rhythm, melody, and mood.

2) Technical control/ training to execute movement with the proper timing and required spatial range

3) Core strength to hold the body in place from which the limbs move or are held

4) A sense of personal body lines that look best for your body type

5) Coordination within ones body and working with others.

All of the 5 comes from daily training and the ability to change and try something new. The body is constantly changing as a result of the type of training and rehearsals undertaken. Knowledge of how ones body reacts to fatigue, illness and etc., is important as it will determine what one needs to do to execute dance steps under different situations. This can only come with training and practice.”

This, I think, is a good, all-round explanation of why Ballet looks seemingly effortless. And, for those of us who’ve taken Ballet for any length of time all know — it takes time, focus, determination and dedication to achieve that look.