Marga Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 This thread is aptly named. The critics are just as divided..... This is the first time I noticed that Veronika's last name, in English, also means "to divide". Ms. Part got her name from her Estonian father. In Estonian "part" means "duck" (as in the farm animal, not "look out......."). Link to comment
aurora Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 "Uninteresting" or "dull" are potent pronouncements and muscular writing, but dangerous critical terms. I had a discussion with another critic about an NYCB ballerina. He said she was uninteresting. I found her very interesting. There isn't much place for the conversation to go after that, is there? Bravo There is nothing really I can add to this, except to say I agree completely and wish all critics would take such things into consideration when writing their reviews. At least, if one is going to use those terms, they should explain in what way or for what causes, they see the performer as dull or uninteresting. I also think it a mistake, in a critics first review of a performer (at least in their current job) to proclaim a dancer boring or uninteresting, as it gives them very little room to grow in their appreciation of that dancer. Every review afterwards is going to be read knowing "oh X dislikes dancer Y". Though I have to admit, it is certainly intellectually honest! Link to comment
carbro Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 I also think it a mistake, in a critics first review of a performer (at least in their current job) to proclaim a dancer boring or uninteresting, as it gives them very little room to grow in their appreciation of that dancer. Every review afterwards is going to be read knowing "oh X dislikes dancer Y". Though I have to admit, it is certainly intellectually honest!When a dancer fails to make a good first impression on a critic, but later grows on her/him, it is always the dancer who changes, never the critic. Same seems to hold for ballets. But seriously, critics deserve the right to change their minds, same as the rest of us. I'd rather see one admit fallibility than perpetuate a like or dislike s/he no longer holds in the name of consistency. Link to comment
bart Posted June 25, 2007 Author Share Posted June 25, 2007 "Uninteresting" or "dull" are potent pronouncements and muscular writing, but dangerous critical terms. I had a discussion with another critic about an NYCB ballerina. He said she was uninteresting. I found her very interesting. There isn't much place for the conversation to go after that, is there?Thanks for that, Leigh. It's a great reason to continue to demand that critics "Describe more; generalize less."I find the labelling of certain dancers "musical" (or not) especially frustrating in this regard. Rare is the critic who can convey exactly what this means -- that is, how it looks on stage, and the feelings it produces for the viewer. Link to comment
Dale Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 Veronika's page on Gaynor Minden's website has been updated with a profile: http://www.dancer.com/artistDetail.php?id=23 Link to comment
Haglund's Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 About 13 paragraphs down in that bio is a blurb about her being engaged to Alex Tressor. Whoda thunk? Link to comment
drb Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 ... engaged to Alex Tressor. Whoda thunk? Yes, Leningrad and Moscow!!! Link to comment
Old Fashioned Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 I wonder if they are already married? That update was actually awhile ago. In any case, best wishes to the engaged/newly weds! Link to comment
drb Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 If you check her website, you'll find that he designed it. Has anyone seen the film "Part Time" that he made (is making) about her? http://web.mac.com/tressorgroup/iWeb/Tress...p/Projects.html Link to comment
bart Posted October 4, 2007 Author Share Posted October 4, 2007 Thanks for that link to the Tressor website, drb. I was afraid to ask who he was, but II didn't have a clue, and Google was not particularly helpful. Now I know. What an eclectic career! Link to comment
Natalia Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 Do any ABT insiders know if Part will at all be dancing in the upcoming City Center-ABT season? I realize that the ABT website has a casting list but some ballets still indicate "company" for the soloist-casting. She seemed to be making amazing progress last spring, at the Met, so I'm a little baffled that her name isn't shown on the current casting list. Link to comment
Mme. Hermine Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 unless i am grossly mistaken, tressor is andrei kramarevsky's son, n'est-ce pas? Link to comment
Haglund's Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 If you are near Toronto, — From the Toronto Star Canadian Ballet Theatre Russian ballerina Svetlana Lunkina is Giselle, Bolshoi soloist Ruslan Skvortsov is Prince Albrecht and American Ballet Theatre soloist Veronica Part is Queen Myrtha in Nadia Veselova Tencer's staging of the classical ballet Giselle. At 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge St. For tickets, from $55 to $87, go to ticketmaster.ca or call 416-872-5555. Link to comment
nysusan Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I love Part, and even though she barely danced with ABT at City Center, a trip from NY to Toronto to catch her Myrtha seemed extreme. But I’ve wanted to see Lunkina’s Giselle since the first time I saw her dance, so I went. The company brought in 2 other high profile guests, Ruslan Skvortsov of the Bolshoi and Fabrice Calmels of the Joffrey. All 4 of them were excellent, but for me it was Part who stole the show. Her Myrtha variations were closer to the Kirov’s than the ABT version that I’m used to, and her combination of magisterial authority and deep regret is my favorite interpretation. Truthfully, the first time I saw this approach was from Victoria Tereshkina and it instantly became my benchmark for Myrtha. Part’s amplitude, her gorgeous line & long, beautiful feet brought it to a new level for me. It’s uncanny how plush and generous her open chest and port de bras can be, yet those arms unfurl with iciness and implacability. A beautiful performance, well worth the trip. Link to comment
nysusan Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Veronika Part guested in Makarova's staging of Swan Lake with the Tchaikovsky Perm Ballet. From Clement Crisp's review: "I am a hardened and, I sometimes feel, a numbed observer of ballerinas in Swan Lake , hopes fading as yet another nice young woman collides with the role and goes to her (and the ballet's) doom. On Sunday afternoon (lightning strikes at a matinee!) Part took the stage in that simple leap, then assumed the Swan Queen's initial pose. And everything was right. And more than right. What followed was a display of Kirov style at its most noble as a discipline to shape a magnificent interpretation, both physical and emotional." Link to the full review (also in today's links): http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c6350570-be9c-11...?nclick_check=1 Link to comment
drb Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Thank you, Nysusan... and as he goes on it gets even better! And so we wait, till 2 PM, Saturday, May 31. Every Part O/O (in NYC) has been a revelation, and each revelation a different one. The month after, two Part/Gomes Bayaderes. Thank you, Gene Schiavone, for my favorite recent ballet photo: http://www.geneschiavone.com/gallery/album08/0000536_G Link to comment
atm711 Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Thanks nysusan and drb--my day is off to an exhilarating start Link to comment
Dale Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 London's Ballet Magazine is reporting Veronika Part will leave ABT at the end of the Met season. The link is here. Link to comment
Mashinka Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 As a Londoner I very much hope she does not join the Royal Ballet. Link to comment
Rosa Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 What a great, sad article. Lovely photos. Link to comment
Natalia Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 As a Londoner I very much hope she does not join the Royal Ballet. Why not, Mashinka? The Royal Ballet seems to be the troupe that Part would like to join, if one 'reads into' the article to which Dale provided a link. Anything less than a national-level troupe with a classics-heavy repertoire would be a step down, after a Kirov or an ABT, IMO. On second thought... Mashinka & others - Do you think that Part's talents could perhaps be better served in a smaller, chamber-sized company, i.e., be the undisputed 'prima' of a smaller company, rather than fighting through the ranks of yet another mega-troupe? Link to comment
Mashinka Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 I’ve watched the Royal Ballet go from a homogenous company with a recognizable style to a kind of International All Stars in the past twenty years or so and I’m desperate to see the company develop artists that have come through the school. The thought of yet another stylistically different personality to absorb doesn’t exactly fill me with joy I’m afraid. Link to comment
Natalia Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Got it, Mashinka. It seems that every-other Int'l Ballet Competition winner ends up with either ABT or the Royal! That fact also bodes poorly for Part's ascendancy through the RB ranks, as she -- a beautful adagio stylist but spotty technician in allegro -- would be up against some of the most accomplished female 'technicans' (competition medalists) on the planet, e.g., Nunez, Cojocaru, Marquez, Cuthbertson, Rojo, Lamb and on and on...Ansanelli, Morera, etc. Not to forget the importance of fleet-footedness in the Ashton rep (and in much of the Balanchines, too). I'm afraid that there would be a future of Queen Mothers and Lady Capulets for Part, if she joins the RB. So perhaps the Chamber Ballet route would be a more felicitous one for her? Link to comment
drb Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 ...So perhaps the Chamber Ballet route would be a more felicitous one for her? Perhaps someone could alert Mr. McKenzie of her availability and he could entice her to ABT with an offer to be Principal. After all, she is that company's best Odette/Odile, Nikiya, Raymonda, Lilac, Myrtha, "Mozartiana",... Another choice would be the Mariinsky. Perhaps their next A.D. might wish to return to the Mariinsky style: what more perfect choice? Link to comment
Recommended Posts