aurora

I clicked on the links, and I'm in love, and I haven't even seen her dance. But Part is my kind of dancer, with wide shoulders and long, muscular legs, what I'd call "juicy."; there aren't that many very thin dancers that I've liked, although there have been exceptions.

The topic is "divided opinions," and in a number of discussions of Part on this board, physique is one of the things on which opinions on Part are divided.

It was her artistry in SL, more than her physique (though on the whole, I'd probably agree with you), that I found so compelling about her.

My feeling about body type is that, within reason, it's besides the point.

I've loved dancers of many different body types--and I still remember uncomfortably the criticism Tina LeBlanc (of Joffrey in the 90s) got for having *gasp* breasts.

Totally Off topic--but I see you are from Seattle--do you happen to know a tiny company based out of edmonds? Olympic Ballet Theater?

I'm sorry but I saw Part in a small roll in ABT's Silvia in Orange County. I had never seen her before and was quite surprised that she is quite big for a soloist and found myself distracted by that while watching her dance.

Do you mean she's fat by dancer standards?

I hardly think so. I would say she's probably smaller that Gillian Murphy, but if not she's not considerably larger.

She is tall and she moves large--when I saw her as Myrtha it was noticable the way she devoured the stage with her leaps.

If this:

http://www.abt.org/images/db_images/news/slpart1ro.jpg

or

http://www.for-ballet-lovers-only.com/Afb/Part4.jpg

or

http://www.ballet.co.uk/links/img/veronika_part.jpg

Is your idea of too large, then clearly you value different things in your dancers than I do.

Now if you said you were distracted by her 40s movie star beauty, well then you might have a point! ;)

I think she's fantastic and wish they used her more.

I saw her for the first time last year in Swan Lake--

I don't think I've ever been moved to tears in the first white swan PdD before, but she was just incredible.

There was less flash in her black swan than in Annaniashvili (who has been my favorite Odette/Odile for many years now), but she was just magnificent.

I also saw the Vishneva Giselle which was categorized as one of those performances that blow you away.

I have to say, it didn't for me, but Part's Swan Lake really did.

She's doing one Swan Lake again, a matinee on weds. I'd recommend going and seeing for yourself

I think the Russians indeed do a great job with port de bras, but they're not the only ones. I'm afraid I don't have enough experience with the Bolshoi to be able to comment on them.

I think there is a continued emphasis on port de bras in Russian training that we just do not see in the states.

Feet, legs, movement are emphasized, arms are largely ignored. In my view this is especially true in the Balanchine tradition, but that is based purely on personal experience and might not be true in the greater scheme of things.

Arms that look like they are draped over yokes, or stretched on clothes hangers are just not attractive.