perky Posted October 22, 2004 Share Posted October 22, 2004 I see Ms. Nichols joined the company in 1974. Dancing thirty years with the same company is an awe inspiring achievement. Did NYCB mention anything about it this year? An announcement, a program insert, anything? I realize NYCB is not a star dancer driven company but it seems something is called for in this situation. Link to comment
oberon Posted October 22, 2004 Share Posted October 22, 2004 Yes, it's an incredible career...I believe only Merrill Ashley, who danced at NYCB for 31 years, surpasses Kyra among the women who have danced there. I'm not sure that NYCB celebrates anniversaries, only farewells. In the coming Winter season, few of the ballets that Kyra dances are in the repertoire. Unless, of course, she is taking on some new roles. I believe the most recent additions to her repertoire were Carabosse and the Mother in CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS. (Did she appear in DOUBLE FEATURE? I never saw it...) To me she is the paragon of balletic lyricism. Link to comment
Leigh Witchel Posted October 22, 2004 Share Posted October 22, 2004 She had a leading role in The Blue Necklace (the first of the "double features") as the wicked stepmother, and she was quite good in it. Link to comment
tempusfugit Posted October 22, 2004 Share Posted October 22, 2004 An even more inspiring achievement to dance thirty years with a great company in one of the most difficult and brilliant repertoires, and to dance not only for many years as a peerless, scintillating virtuoso but later, as Oberon says, as a paragon of lyricism. I often felt that an evening at NYCB without Nichols in a great role was une soiree manque. Her beautiful forthright candor in allegro, where she never cheated, never omitted, and never simplified, was virtue as art. Link to comment
oberon Posted October 22, 2004 Share Posted October 22, 2004 She is also a wonderful actress in her own right...her performance in IN MEMORY OF...a couple seasons ago shook me to the depths of my soul. And who, having seen it, will ever forget the expression of bereft bewilderment with which she brings DAVIDSBUNDLERTANZE to a close? Last season, at an especially fine MOZARTIANA, where the audience took to her immediately and she was showered with applause, I realized she has transcended the steps and the music and that her face and body simply radiate with the very essence of beauty. She is not as flexible as she once was, nor as daring...after 30 years onstage, how could she be? But the poetic quality, the luminous expression...these things cannot be taught. Link to comment
Helene Posted October 22, 2004 Share Posted October 22, 2004 Was there not a 30-year celebration for Merrill Ashley right before Nutcracker? Or was that a farewell performance? Link to comment
tempusfugit Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Helene, I think that was Ashley's farewell. she danced some Ballos and may have done it at the farewell; she definitely danced "The Man I Love" there. it was November 1997, I believe... Link to comment
Dale Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 I remember she also did Barber Violin concerto. Link to comment
oberon Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Ashley's farewell was that single repertory night before NUTCRACKER begins. The very last thing Ashley danced at her farewell was BARBER VIOLIN CONCERTO with Jock. Since her retirement, she has come back as Carabosse in SLEEPING BEAUTY. It might be fun to see her (or Karin) as the Queen in SWAN LAKE...Peter casts tall corps girls in this role but some companies use beloved ballerinas from the recent past. Link to comment
carbro Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Or. as was the case with Lucia Chase, of the not-so-recent past. Link to comment
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