182 replies to this topic

[Marga]

Dale, on Jun 4 2007, 12:35 PM, said:

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.......").

[aurora]

Leigh Witchel, on Jun 24 2007, 12:28 PM, said:

"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!

[carbro]

aurora, on Jun 24 2007, 01:39 PM, said:

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.

[bart]

Leigh Witchel, on Jun 24 2007, 12:28 PM, said:

"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.

[Dale]

Veronika's page on Gaynor Minden's website has been updated with a profile:

http://www.dancer.co...etail.php?id=23

[Haglund's]

About 13 paragraphs down in that bio is a blurb about her being engaged to Alex Tressor.       Whoda thunk?

[drb]

Haglund, on Oct 3 2007, 06:46 PM, said:

... engaged to Alex Tressor.       Whoda thunk?

Yes, Leningrad and Moscow!!!

[Old Fashioned]

I wonder if they are already married?

That update was actually awhile ago.  In any case, best wishes to the engaged/newly weds!

[drb]

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/t...p/Projects.html

[bart]

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!  

[Natalia]

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.

[Mme. Hermine]

unless i am grossly mistaken, tressor is andrei kramarevsky's son, n'est-ce pas?

[pj]

Yes, he is.  

[Haglund's]

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.

[nysusan]

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.