What is the hardest ballet roles for men?

Question

is von rothbart a hard role to portray as well?

Answer 1

Von Rothbart is a strong character ballet role and while technically it does not involve difficult dance steps, it needs a strong body and acting ability. Defining what is hard in ballet depends on what is hard for one person might be easier for another. If you are not good at character dance, then von Rothbart will be hard.

Spartacus ( Grigorovitch version) may be one of the hardest ballet for a male dancer do to all those one handed lifts and jumps. Or perhaps James in Lacotte's reimagined Sylphide. It is an hour and a half long and has at least 45 minutes of beats jumps and lifts.

Spartacus is big, athletic, obviously requiring great stamina. James in Sylphide demands speed, lightness, and strength of a rather different sort.

Of course there is also Basil in Don Q. and Giselle has some difficult partnering too.



* Thanks for asking such an interesting question. I am getting so tired of reading "when can I go en pointe" or "am I too old to start dance lessons"

Answer 2

I would say challenging dramatic roles would include Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Albrecht is Giselle, and Sigfried in Swan Lake. Also Onegin in Onegin.

Classical roles would be Prince Desire in Sleeping Beauty and Solar in La Bayadere.

Amongst others these are considered some of the hardest and most challenging both technically and dramatically!



Depending on the company and version Von Rothbart can be an incredibly tough role to play. In some versions he has a variation in act 2 and there is an immense amount of acting!