Thalictum

Teachout is a complete dilettante about dance. Sorry to be harsh, but that's why he is attractive to generalist publiations.

Too bad Anna Pavlova and Olga Spessivtzeva are not here to be told that at the Mariinsky their legs were not expressive since Balanchine had not yet begun to choreograph.

Why isn't Maria Bystrova dancing anything?

Another glorious Don Q tonight with Herrera and Bocca, Molina and Meunier. Recovered from her Raymonda, Wiles was superb as the Dryad Queen -- she had obviously been watching Part, but took what she needed from her and made it her own.

I was very disappointed. There were partnering problems with both Hallberg and Molina, and Wiles just did not seem to have any handle on the role until she reached the Czardas solo, which was so much more strongly defined than anything else she did that I would imagine she was drawing upon her experience with it last fall at City Center. The difference between her solo and the rest of the performance made me suspect she had gotten minimal coaching for this debut. I do not think the artistic staff gave her the support she needed for this, her second performance in a full length role (Swan Lake in Chicago in March was her first, I presume.) At least in his solo work, Hallberg was somewhat more in command of himself than she, soaring in some beautiful jumps. I hope everyone will roll up their sleeves and make sure that their Swan Lake next week is a triumph.

My thoughts exactly, Hans!

She was quite thinner Monday night than she'd been four nights earlier.

Michael I enjoyed your review, but personally I think there is room for more than one body type in ballet and everyone should stop taking Meunier to task about her weight and instead urge many of the skinny but boring dancers around to develop an artistic sensibility.

Meunier was just as fabulous as earlier in the week. She has been a tad cautious in the pas de trois since the first night fall, but nevertheless superb. In the third movement she dances with glorious abandon, apparent pleasure and devastating precision. Murphy was wonderful but she is quite a bit younger and not quite as honed.

Liceica was thrilling; rather than performing like a lovely soloist she danced like a ballerina. She was entirely different from, but just as notable as Monique Meunier, who danced magnificently all week long and was a paradigm of Balanchine style in the pas de trois.

In the Byzantium of Russian ballet, if Selutsky gave his flowers to Terekova, it had nothing to due with Mezentseva's performance but was rather due to some personal contretemps that was occuring behind the scenes.

Leigh I'm not talking about writing from the perspective of performers, but rather realizing that some performers DO read reviews, and some pay close attention and respond on stage. That doesn't mean we take the role of ballet coach, of course.

But aren't performers potential readers as well?

Of course he has a grudge against Peter Martins; as Gottlieb himself described in his Vanity Fair piece Martins asked him to resign from the NYCB board.

This sort of thing reeks of favoritism. It looks terrible and it's demoralizing to the rest of the company. Let's not kid ourselves.

I'm talking about the supported adagio in Diamonds; Part had trouble even dancing with Viktor Baranov, who is not a virtuoso but a great partner. But perhaps I quibble. She wasn't quite as on in this afternoon's Pas D'action as she was Monday night, where she was electrifying. But in general I don't see a lax back leg in her jetes. Stiefel's leg was very lax toward the end of his manege Friday night, but this afternoon he danced brilliantly.

About back arching: remember that in the 1950s and '60s, the SAB teachers were primarily Russian. Muriel Stuart was English but her ideal was Pavlova, with whom she'd danced.

I think that's true of the Kirov aesthetic more or less across the board. They are exciting because each performance is an episode in their own lives, not simply an obligation to fulfill. But as you say some Kirov dancers do not have the same trust in spontaneity or don't have as many colors in their palette as Part Part actually has enormous technical strength-- in London four years ago she whipped off the 32 Swan Lake fouettes without a problem (but is that really the test it's made out to be?) But she has very soft feet, and that makes it difficult for her to do off-balance things sometimes, as she showed in Diamonds.

Of course Veronika Part arches her back -- you do not graduate from Vaganova if you can't! But she has an especially expressive and pliant back and arabesque. Part was ravishing and her acting made me long to see her Nikiya. I think she did it in St. Petersburg or on tour around 2000. She was also supposed to do it in London that year but cancelled due to injury. I've seen Zakharova dance Nikiya on several different continents over the past several years and I thought this was overall probably the best portrayal I've witnessed from her. She was "in" the production, not commenting upon it, and that was gratifying. Any show of restraint from her is welcome. First act duet was superbly danced by both Carreno and her, and splendidly partnered. I do not think ABT believes in an arched back -- they are too afraid of seeming to defer to a Russian hegemon in ballet. American dancers are not trained this way, and by the time you're in your '20s it's certainly difficult to acquire that facility.

Alexandra, I'm sure you don't want political speculation posted, but let's all simply agree that ballet like any other human activitiy is dependent on inter-personal relationships and factors having nothing to do with artistry, body type, technique that may influence a dancer's progress or lack thereof. That doesn't mean this is the case with Thibault per se, but I have seen at first hand dancers' careers stalled for supra-artistic reasons.

No, the Le Clercq-Adams performance can be seen in its entirety at the Library. Needless to say it's a knockout.

I just heard from a reliable source that yes, that TBA ABT Swan Lake in New York is going to be VERONICA PART'S!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't see Part's Swan Lake; I just know she did it.

Her father was a classics professor and he named her after the Etruscan queen.

Part did perform Swan Lake with Gomes in Chicago.