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MATTHEW MURPHY |
During a bout of restlessness last night I turned on my computer and started scanning the NY Times. Being the dancer that I am, I bolted right for the Arts section and saw a picture of my best friend extraordinaire, David Hallberg, gracing the screen. After years of performing in NY I am used to seeing my friends pop up in reviews here and there, but nothing could have prepared me for the shower of praise chief NY Times Dance Critic Alastair Macaulay wrote for David.
While no dancer should go around basing their worth on a critic’s opinion, it never hurts to be shown a little love. And it’s been quite a day of love for David. All of his friends have been bounding around, beyond proud of all of David’s hard work and dedication to his art form. Of course, being the constant thinker that he is, he’s not letting himself get TOO caught up in the hype…after all, there’s still another performance of “Swan Lake” to tackle tonight and on Saturday at the matinee! Go check out ABT’s Spring Season at the Met!
Here’s a taste of what the Times had to say:
“But Queen Mother and Tutor on Tuesday night were mere distractions beside the central figure of Prince Siegfried as played by David Hallberg. Has American ballet ever produced such a male paragon of classical-ballet nobility? There’s nothing affected or strained about him. In natural distinction of stance, line both astonishingly refined and blazingly forceful, easy good manners to others and rapt immersion in the story, he epitomizes everything that is already attractive about the young people around him. Thirty years ago, Anthony Dowell was along these lines (but more poetic, less virile). I’m not sure who else, anywhere in the world, in the intervening years has so well embodied the princely type so important to ballet.”
Doesn’t get much better than that! Check out the full review…and grab a ticket!
P.S. Don’t worry. I won’t let him forget that he’s still the goofball from the pictures above. Princely goofball now, I guess!
