Finale

The Dance of the Final Bow

Four of the world's best ballerinas a retiring at the end of this season. I used to idolize these women when I was a kid, and it's sort of sad (though I suppose a natural fact of a dancer's life) that they're retiring. I've seen one of them dance in person (I'm pretty sure Alessandra Ferri came to the MCA on tour sometime in the early '90s) and one on video (Kyra Nichols as the Dew Drop Fairy in the unfortunately horrendous movie version of The Nutcracker, with Macauley Culkin as the Nutcracker, barf). It's disappointing that they're done performing. I hope they find successful and fulfilling careers post-dance.

Which reminds me of another interesting dance world happening--word is, Damien Woetzel is set to retire from NYCB sometime in the near future as well, but in between seasons he's getting his Master's degree in Public Policy at Harvard and guesting at the Boston Ballet. Double props to this guy for getting and education past high school (rare in ballet dancers) and for dancing in my city.