Don Quixote Act 1 pas de trois, from 9 performances spanning half a century. Only Kirov/Mariinsky productions or derivatives. The dancer is/was a Kirov/Mariinsky dancer (not necessarily Vaganova trained).
Don Quixote compilations • Don Quixote 'Now & The...
Other than the pas d'action, the tempo of the pas de trois did NOT change over the time (there is a little variance but nothing out of the ordinary). It takes about 36-38s to do it. The faster tempo is a bit too fast for the dancers to do clean footwork.
The changes in the choreography affect only the begin, the end, and the rond de jambe section. I guess the tempo was too fast to attempt anything else, though one dancer managed to jump a little during the renverses section and Nureyev put double pirouettes in the following section.
The rond de jambe changed from two singles with the working leg extended to second position (1960s), to a double with the working leg extended to second position before and after and the circle clearly recognizable (1973), to a single followed by a double with the working leg extended to second position after each (1983). After that the extensions mania took over, they rose the thigh above 90 degrees and made the banal discovery that there's no time for 90 degrees in an allegro. Still, they wanted it badly, so something else had to be traded for it. The first thing to go was the straightening of the working leg after the single, sometimes after the double, sometimes after both. The next one was to reduce the amplitude of the swinging motion. Sometimes they cut the last turn (the fourth) of the previous section.
Last but not least, if there's no time for tricks during the allegro, there's always the begin and the end :-) For half a century MT dancers did either a pirouette or a tour at the end. After that they did two, then three. It almost looks like the dancers are taking shortcuts in order to arrive as quickly as possible at the jumping part. After all, tricks and thrilling visuals are seemingly the only incentives for attending ballet performances nowadays... If they continue in the same vein they could as well borrow the Bolshoi's. The Big Brother managed to get rid of everything that isn't a jump or a turn long time ago ;-)
For the montage I used footage available on YT. Many thanks to the uploaders.
1960s Budarin • Vadim Budarin and Kale...
1973 Nureyev
1983 Baryshnikov • O DON QUIXOTE MIKHAI...
1988 Ruzimatov • Don Quixote 1
1990s Batalov • Video
2006 Sarafanov • Video
2008 Shklyarov • Don Quixote - Shklyarov
2013 Ermakov • "Don Quixote" Evseeva-...
2014 Kim • Ki Min Kim Вариация Ба...