Flowers, Flowers and More Flowers: How a Star Ballerina Says Goodbye
A ballerina’s farewell — especially at American Ballet Theater — is a time-honored drama. Rose petals fall like rain from the rafters, fellow dancers parade out to deliver bouquets, and audience members crowd the aisles, roaring as if at a rock concert.
Diana Vishneva’s final performance with Ballet Theater on Friday was no exception. To be clear, the 40-year-old Russian dancer, a principal with the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg, is not retiring. But, to lighten her busy and peripatetic schedule, she is saying goodbye to Ballet Theater, where she has performed as a guest artist or principal since 2003.
“At some point, you understand that this might be the time where you have to start a new page of your life,” Ms. Vishneva told The New York Times in a recent interview. “I love it here, but it’s time-consuming and energy drawing.”
Her appearances with Ballet Theater regularly sold out the 3,800-seat Metropolitan Opera House. She is the type of dancer ballet fans plan their calendars around. The theater was full on Friday for John Cranko’s “Onegin,” based on Pushkin’s novel in verse; sprinkled among the audience were dance world celebrities including Tiler Peck, of New York City Ballet, and the choreographer Alexei Ratmansky.
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Ms. Vishneva performed alongside her longtime dance partner, Marcelo Gomes. After the final scene — a melodramatic, bittersweet duet based on Pushkin’s famous line “Happiness was ours … so nearly!” — Ms. Vishneva returned to the stage with a teary-eyed Mr. Gomes for a 15-minute curtain call that likely surprised few people in the theater, but satisfied the tradition of a star ballerina’s flower-filled farewell.
Audience members filled the aisles of the theater within seconds of the ballet’s ending. Camera flashes came from every corner of the house, and hundreds of little Diana Vishnevas could be seen as people held up their phones to take pictures.
Ms. Vishneva’s first round of bows was the most visibly emotional, in part because she was still reeling from the electrically passionate final scene of “Onegin.” Her tone later changed into gratitude and, finally, bashfulness as the curtain call went on.
A typical farewell includes a parade of flowers by fellow dancers in the company. Among the Ballet Theater principals to make an appearance was Misty Copeland. Before the parade, Ms. Vishneva had been pelted with flowers by the cast of “Onegin,” as well as by people in the audience and orchestra pit.
Irina Kolpakova, in the red pants, jumped into Ms. Vishneva’s arms while holding a handful of sunflowers. Now a teacher at Ballet Theater, Ms. Kolpakova was a Soviet-era star of the Kirov Ballet (now the Mariinsky, Ms. Vishneva’s other company).
Mr. Gomes repeatedly joined Ms. Vishneva during the bows. Their moments together were the most theatrical: At one point she happily leapt into his arms, and he swung her around while rose petals fell around them. In an echo of “Onegin,” she also presented him with a single rose while sliding onto her knees for a long, reverent bow.
Ms. Vishneva repeatedly walked to the back of the stage to join the rest of the company. But Mr. Gomes would playfully push her forward to take her bows alone.
There were moments when the curtain would come down, offering a brief opportunity for Ms. Vishneva to gather herself before the next round of bows.
After the curtain came down for the last time, the dancers began to say their farewells backstage. Ms. Vishneva shared a moment with Kevin McKenzie, Ballet Theater’s artistic director, who first offered her a contract to join the company in 2003.
