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Veronika Part


bart

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It is so hard to speculate on these things when all you have is press reports. However, it appears that she is a dancer who had an expectation of "advancement" and wanted to dance principal roles and be challenged to improve.

Obviously her move to NYC was very stressful for her as far as adapting to the language and culture and it appears that this too may have contributed to her being less than thrilled about being with ABT. I don't know that the ABT cares about smoothing the way for foreigners who they enlist to dance with respect to culture and language and so forth, but ignoring these things (if they do/did) is certainly not going to make a better dancer. You obviously need a well adjusted person to be free enough to optimize their professional career. I am guessing that this has played a part in her decision to leave NYC and the ABT. But why would London be any different? Perhaps with the language less a barrier and some "street smarts" she is better equipped now to press on with her career.

But dancers need to be both given opportunity and to create them as far as advancement goes. And there is only so much room at the top. And being shy does not help. If no one is advocating for you and you can't or will not do it, then you rely oj circumstances or others to provide the opportunity. America doesn't work that way. We are firm believes of "self promotion", public relations, networking and "marketing" to "get ahead." None of these sound like things Ms Part is comfortable with based on the press accounts.

She is talented and if she doesn't change her own approach to advancement in her career, it will be in the hands of others in the management of some company who will decide to "invest" in her. When you examine people such as Anna Pavlova, you can see how their ego and confidence propelled her career to the point where she created her own dance world and they came! Diana Vishneva is taking a similar tack.

In the end there is only so much room at the top and the people up there are not likely to make room for me. Are they?

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it doesn't seem to be working for her to view herself as a sad victim who isn't receiving all the the help and attention which she deserves or the victim when others receive casting opportunities that she would like to have.

The interviewer, Graham Watts, describes her as (understandably) sad, but nowhere does she make herself out to be a victim, and quite the contrary when she says she realized she needed to lighten her demeanor and "pull myself together, be stronger and work in their style." A woman who leaves her home country for one whose language she doesn't know, persists for six years in a system that doesn't suit her, gives many beautiful performances nonetheless, and now dares to leave what she has for what she might not find . . . I admire her courage, and I hope she won't be a stranger to D.C.

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I wonder about the possibilities of Veronika dancing with Roberto Bolle, either guesting at the RB or La Scala or with Bolle's travelling group. It might be beneficial to both of them.

Oh that's brilliant. I think they would look great together.

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I wonder about the possibilities of Veronika dancing with Roberto Bolle, either guesting at the RB or La Scala or with Bolle's travelling group. It might be beneficial to both of them.

Oh that's brilliant. I think they would look great together.

mmm..so what are we doing with Zakharova and her up to ears extensions...? (She's been his favorite for a while now) Pas de Trois...?

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.......I hope she won't be a stranger to D.C.

Kfw, what do you mean by "D.C."? Washington, DC? Now I'm wondering if the offer from another U.S. company came from the Washington Ballet...or Farrell Ballet, perhaps?

Or does "D.C." stand for something else that I may be missing?

Regardless of the location of the offer, Part is dreaming of returning to Europe, according to that interview.

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I haven't read every post in this thread, but I want to point something out on which I haven't noticed anyone else commenting. There's very little interview in Graham Watts' "interview". He has virtually no quotes. What he's doing is using Veronika as a convenient starting point (and any dancer would have sufficed, but Veronika's expressed intention to move to Europe and - perhaps - the Royal, makes her convenient to his purpose) to attack ABT and to promote the Royal.

He has comments such as "When I ask her this question directly, she talks about her time in New York as a positive life experience, making her a much stronger person. Notably, she doesn’t attempt to discuss what it has meant for her professionally. Although she is circumspect about recent experiences, her palpable aura of unhappiness clearly stems from the fact that this turning point has ended in a career cul-de-sac. "

Now, that doesn't mean that his conclusions aren't partially correct. Certainly, her leaving ABT means she wasn't entirely happy - or, at least, feels she will be happier elsewhere. But Veronika actually said very little about ABT or her problems.

But that suits Watts just fine. He says, essentially, "Oh, the poor dear. And she has such class. She wouldn't say anything bad about anyone. But I know what the look in her eye meant. That wistful look means, "Kevin McKenzie, you duplicitous liar, you ruined my career. But I shall rise from the ashes by joining the world's premier ballet company, THE ROYAL BALLET." And the way the corners of her mouth turned up means "London is SO much nicer than New York."

It doesn't matter what Veronika said. Watts can tell what she was thinking.

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I've just re-read that interview and you are absolutely right, can’t imagine how I didn’t spot this first time around, in reality she appears to have said less than fifty words that appear in quotes. In fact the entire interview could, on that basis, be a piece of fiction.

I shall rise from the ashes by joining the world's premier ballet company, THE ROYAL BALLET

Actually there are great similarities between the RB and ABT as both are pretty much an ad hoc group of stars these days with far fewer indigenous dancers than is healthy for a national company. Back in the mists of time I remember when the Royal Ballet was the premiere ballet company, but it sure as hell isn't now.

Can I add that much that is currently written in the UK is nothing more than insular tosh and in fact writers of Watt's ilk do the RB a huge disservice by refusing to face the fact that without the services of a handful of imported stars and with the continuing lack of an in-house classical chorographer the company has little going for it. Sniping at other companies won't change that.

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is this structure because the dancers want more freedom to perform with other companies and the companies can't foster a collection of principal and soloist dancers who only work with one company?

Opera singers free lance and I have no real sense than the power of the Met is to organize and mount elaborate productions from lots of "free lance" talent.

Is ballet following this path?

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I just read a portion of the thread for the first time. I also agree with Adam. The article could be a romantic piece of prose or a work of fiction about a sad ballerina suffering and misunderstood for her art. I think it is a big plug for her to join the Royal although it is disguised as one it does not really take the form of an "interview" at all.

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I've deleted two posts that referred to a discussion on another message board. A reminder that it is our policy not to post links to other discussions boards. When and if there is news of Veronika Part in a newspaper or other news source we'll be glad to discuss it.

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Just a point here about "news sources".. what constitutes a news source? Are blogs, such as Huffington Post a news source? Is James Wolcott's blog a new source?

I am not disputing your policy of not linking to other discussions boards, but can you explain the wisdom of that policy?

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No, Sander O, we don't explain the wisdom of our policies. They're our policies and you agree to follow them when you sign up. This forum has been around for a long time, and we're not here to debate forum policies and what went into making them, but to discuss ballet. I posted about blogs associated with printed sources in my post.

Editing to add that my post stating that 2 posts had been deleted wasn't meant as a chiding, but as an explanation so that someone wouldn't think that something had gone wrong with the board, or his/her post had disappeared and needed to be reposted.

Please return to the discussion on Part!

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Here's a direct quote from ABT to Ballet Talk:

"Veronika Part will be dancing with ABT next season."

"Dancing with." I love the lack of specificity. Presumably they omitted the phrase "Details to follow". Or "Our people are talking with her people." Still, it's an encouragement to hope. Thanks, Dale.
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Bart, I think it's more concrete than "Our people are talking with her people." They've stopped talking and she is a member of ABT. I hope now that this is out of the way, she'll be able to get on with her career and that it shows that ABT will be happier to use her more often.

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I know they read this site because I discuss it with some managment there! In fact I told them I learn information about cast changes here before I read it elsewhere. BT is where it's at!

I hope that Ms Part is promoted to Principal. Now that would be interesting!

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"the fact that I even noticed her eyes was an astonishment--you almost never notice dancers' eyes, they're so doll-like and disciplined."

Talking about eyes... Have you seen the DVD of Swan Lake danced by Nina Ananiashvili with the State Ballet of Perm when she was 29 years old? Her eyes are as expressive as her arms and legs. And on the DVD they show her face up close so you really see her eyes.

In her recent performance of Don Q Nina's eyes were alive as can be. My impression is that in Vaganova technique, emphasis is placed on using the eyes, along with epaulement, the head, arms and upper body. I haven't noticed that very much in American-trained dancers, who, in my experience, tend to focus on footwork and extensions. Angelica

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