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New facets on a gem: Paloma Herrera's quest for excellence has led the ABT ballerina to new heights.

Article Excerpt
Fifteen years ago Paloma Herrera was an 18-year-old American Ballet Theatre soloist who had audiences at her feet and critics showering praise. Her exhilaratingly polished debut as the ballerina in Balanchine's challenging Theme and Variations led The New York Times' Anna Kisselgoff to proclaim the young Argentine the "spirit of rebirth" at ABT.

Her career took off at warp speed. At 19, Herrera became the youngest female principal in ABT's history. She earned her star status in the 1990s as a whiz kid of the tutu-and-tiara classics, such as Odette/ Odile in Swan Lake, the fiery Kitri in Don Quixote, the doomed Nikiya or the evil Gamzatti in La Bayadere--roles that demand stamina, virtuosity, and a body that flows and arches in poetic beauty. The question was, would this poised prodigy succumb to the too-much-too-soon syndrome? For the most part, the answer is a resounding no.

Herrera considers herself a work in progress. She insists she has been evolving since she was 7 and credits her first teacher, Olga Ferri, for her strong technique. A year later she enrolled--one of 15 out of 500 applicants--at the official ballet school of the Teatro Colon. She continued to study with Ferri, who, Herrera says, "made us go on pointe with no pointe shoes to strengthen our legs and feet." At 10 she...