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ABT Corps de Ballet

bingham

By bingham
in American Ballet Theatre

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bingham

bingham

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Anne Milewski was dancing some solo roles like Amour in "Don Quixote". Karin Ellis-Wentz is also a veteran who danced Helena in "The Dream" very effectively this past season.

Anne's Amour was ,IMO, the most effective since C Spizzo and Cheryl Yeager.

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Barbara

Barbara

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In today's ABT-E News there is a daily diary by Lauren Post called "A Week in LA". In it she mentions how sad the other dancers were that Anne Milewski, Karin Ellis-Wentz, and Jackie Reyes were leaving the Company. But she added that though they will be missed, "they are on to so many great things." I'd love to know where these lovely women are going and wish them all the best in their new endeavors.

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carbro

carbro

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Anne's Amour was ,IMO, the most effective since C Spizzo and Cheryl Yeager.

I completely agree.

I'm not surprised about Reyes. She looked like she gained a significant amount of weight this season.

I thought she was always about that large, actually.

Just goes to show ... I thought she looked trimmer this past season than in years past.

To all the departing dancers, many thanks for the pleasures of their dancing throughout the years and all wishes for best of luck in their future endeavors. :flowers:

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mimsyb

mimsyb

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I also loved Anne's Amour. In fact, I was happy anytime I opened my program and saw that she was scheduled to dance a featured role. Didn't realize that she had been in the corps that long, though. I'll miss her.

I, too, will miss Anne. Didn't she just get married? That may have been a factor in her decision to leave. I thank all the departing dancers for many wonderful performances and wish them all well for the future.

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Helene

Helene

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I am enjoying these remembrances of corps members who are leaving. It's really sad when cherished corps members go onto other things, even if those things are great. I still miss PNB's Rebecca Johnston, who's in law school, and I think it will only really sink in that Jordan Pacitti, who was managing his own fragrance company when he was still dancing, has retired when he's not onstage next season.

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DeCoster

DeCoster

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I had no idea Anne Milewski had been in the corps for so long either. She was my favorite girl goat in Sleeping Beauty.

My eyes were always drawn to Reyes in the big 18th century ballets--perhaps because she is quite short and generally in the front of the corps--but I think it was something more. She lit up those "milling about the village" scenes. Her pantomime reached the dress circle, anyway.

They were, in my opinion, two of the most beautiful women in the company. I wish them the best too.

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Marga

Marga

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My eyes were always drawn to Reyes in the big 18th century ballets--perhaps because she is quite short and generally in the front of the corps--but I think it was something more. She lit up those "milling about the village" scenes. Her pantomime reached the dress circle, anyway.

Jackie Reyes has been one of my favorite dancers at ABT for the last few years. (I wouldn't call her short, btw. She's medium height.) She has a sparkle and really knows her stuff - a solid asset to the corps, technically and artistically.

I loved when she got some demi-solo parts, few and far-between though they were. She has beautifully arched feet, long legs and sharp attack. I agree with you totally about her "lighting" up so many group scenes. I am sorry that she will not be dancing with ABT next time I see them. I always looked forward to watching her, knowing she would always be there!

Anne Milewski is also a favorite corps member. Such a lovely, technically wonderful, dancer. I'll miss her, too.

totally off-topic note to self: this turned out to be my 808th post on 808 - August 8th! (also my dear daughter's birthday)

Edited by Marga
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FauxPas

FauxPas

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I wouldn't call Jackie Reyes "fat" nor exactly short either. However, she has a rounder build with broader hips and shorter torso than many of the other ballerinas in the corps. So she has to stay quite thin and in shape to look good in tutu roles - just put on a few pounds and she can look "fat". I saw her leave the building after a performance and she looked a normal weight - just healthy. However, I noticed that onstage she not only looked a bit plumpish but also seemed out of shape. The out of shape may be the reason she isn't staying on.

Jackie Reyes has one of those bodies that is not a classic ballerina physique - so she has to work harder to keep in shape and in form. The very tall, large curvy Veronika Part has the same problem but with a very different physicality. In previous decades many ballerinas didn't have classic ballerina bodies but were great dancers. Now all you see is petite, small boned, long-limbed girls with long necks, arms and legs and slim small torsos. You wonder about who is being weeded out on the school level. What they might have become had the appropriate ballerina physical "type" not become so restrictive.

I keep thinking about Elisabeth Platel who was rejected from the POB school for being too tall. She went on to dance successfully for other French regional companies and then was invited back.

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volcanohunter

volcanohunter

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I keep thinking about Elisabeth Platel who was rejected from the POB school for being too tall. She went on to dance successfully for other French regional companies and then was invited back.

I believe that after studying at the Conservatoire Platel did her final year at the POB school and went straight into the POB corps at age of 17. Top Conservatoire grads Isabelle Guérin, Clairemarie Osta and Isabelle Ciaravola had similar stories.

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