Diana Vishneva to Give Final Performance with ABT
Vishneva with Ethan Stiefel. Photo by Gene Schiavone.
Even as the dance world becomes more global, with stars hopping from company to company, sometimes producing their own shows and commissioning their own choreographers, Diana Vishneva stands out as one of ballet’s busiest globetrotters. Now, the 40-year-old Russian is paring down her schedule in a big way: American Ballet Theatre announced yesterday that she will be leaving her position as principal dancer next June.
Vishneva will continue dancing at the Mariinsky Ballet, where she is also a principal, and performing in her own productions through CONTEXT, the Moscow-based festival she founded in 2013. Next up on the CONTEXT calendar: Ohad Naharin will choreograph a work on Vishneva and Paris Opéra Ballet director Aurélie Dupont to be performed this fall.
New York will miss Vishneva for her pristine technique and expansive dramatic characterizations. Will we have to go to Russia if we ever want to see her again? We doubt it. She told the New York Times that she’d consider guesting with ABT in the future, and odds are the gala circuit will bring her stateside often.
Catch her final ABT performances on June 19 and 23, where she’ll be dancing Tatiana in John Cranko’s Onegin opposite Marcelo Gomes.
