ABT's Russian Beauty queens

I'm still swooning today after last night's Sleeping Beauty with Veronika Part. Her Vision Scene variation took my breath away with its plushness and musicality - I was simply in awe, one of those moments in the theatre that remind you why you go in the first place. Those two minutes in Act 2 sealed the deal for me, add me to the Veronika Part fan club, please!

OK, so stepping back a bit - I have to concede that she wasn't the greatest Aurora. She isn't natural for the part, being taller than most everyone on stage, including her the Queen and, when she rises on pointe, her Prince, Marcelo Gomes. Furthermore, she carries herself with such a womanly glamour that it's hard to believe her as a young girl (I can imagine that her Nikiya in La Bayadere is fabulous, as would her Lilac Fairy in Beauty - she's actually doing Lilac on Saturday afternoon and I can't wait to see it). The performance itself also contained inconsistencies - strong one moment, but raw and unfinished the next. She seemed to loose steam during the Act 1 variation, where Aurora hops onto one point, and brings her leg up behind her in arabesque - it started off okay but then she evidently got tired and gradually to weak, low flick of her leg.

But she's a great classicist, with a gorgeous, expressive back and legs that naturally slide into high positions, plus a beautiful face that reads to the back of the auditorium. Her Aurora characterization and dancing were just fine, though again, she's a bit too tall and womanly. She was great in the Grand Pas de Deux, where Aurora is supposed to come off as a bit more mature and grown up. Those Rose Adagio balances that were the cause of much chatter in New York came off very well tonight, without wobbles, but she did have panicky arms that quickly and nervously switched between supporting princes. . One should note that she's still a soloist rank dancer, which means management still sees that she has room to grow. My god, though - just those 2 minutes in the vision scene - I was in love for the rest of the performance.

Marcelo Gomes was her prince, and what a prince (Swan Lake Samba Girl has a huge stage crush on him, and so do I - just look at the photo above!) Every time I see him, he's got a magnetic stage presence that never feels forced, and the dancing is phenomenal - elegant and graceful, yet simultaneously strong and authoritative. The Prince role in Sleeping Beauty can be hard to make a mark in, since there is precious little to do except cart Aurora around and look longingly at her, but with Marcelo in the role, there was a strong focus. His yearning for Aurora was sharp and defined, and his sheer presence made you want to watch him dance.

On Wednesday night, Irina Dvorovenko was a very pretty Aurora - secure technically and a very nice performance (it's too bad I didn't write up her performance before yesterday, because I'm still gushing about Part's vision scene right now...) Dvorovenko is a total glamour girl - wide eyes, big smile, sparkly jewels - and does many of her roles with a hard sell enthusiasm. While this can be inappropriate for, say, Giselle, it actually works very well for Aurora. When she comes on stage in Act 1, she's the princess coming to her birthday party, and in the Act 3 pas de duex, Dvorovenko is very capable of turning on the mature grace. Technique wise, there's never much to worry about with Dvorovenko in the classics - she's marvelous at classical poses, and really shines in Petipa roles (Balachine and more modern stuff can get iffy, but she's great here). Her real life husband Maxim Beloserkovsky was Prince Desire, and he was as always the noble, handsome prince, partnering her securely and lovingly.

So why is this post titled "Russian Beauty queens"? Well, these last two Aurora's were distinctly different from the Gillian Murphy's opening night Aurora because of their Russian training. Part is directly Russian - she was plucked from the Kirov Ballet, where she rose from the school into the corps - and Dvorovenko is Russian-trained if not actually Russian (she's from Kiev, Ukraine, a Soviet block country, so that's fairly close...). And both of their performances looked distinctly different from Tuesday nights much more American performance from Gillian Murphy. The Russian women more naturally fit into the calm classical poses of the choreography, while Murphy emphasized the turns and executed footwork with blazing rapidity. They were both just as secure technically - just looked different is all.

I've spent an inordinate amount of time discussing the Auroras... this ballet has plenty more meaty roles for the women, but I'll write up comparisons of them a bit later, when I get the chance.

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If you've been keeping track, yes - I've been to every Sleeping Beauty performance since Tuesday and it looks like I'll be to all of the remaining performances through Sunday. I know I'm completely nuts, but the casting is too tempting, and having a full-length production of The Sleeping Beauty (however cheesy and corny) is bringing out the best in ABT's principal women. There are seven cast changes at seven performances, and it's a rare opportunity to see the depth of the company's ranks in such a way, from Aurora to the Lilac Fairy to Princess Florine & The Bluebird. Here's another part of it: big ballet doesn't come around all that often, so I don't have the luxury of spacing out my viewings to see different casts. This marathon will have to do. Paloma Herrera is Aurora tonight - she got the best reviews in New York, so I'm looking forward to it!