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Dancer brilliante: NYCB's Bouder leaps into the spotlight.

Article Excerpt
As Ashley Bouder runs onto the stage and into a crisp, high pas de chat, arms held overhead in delight, there is no doubt that she is queen of that pearly underworld that is George Balanchine's Ballo della Regina. And when, after the flirtations little polka on pointe that opens her first solo, she suddenly launches herself into a jete, back foot almost kicking her head. we know indisputably that here is a dancer who can take on anything and make it her own.

At just 21, Bouder has a cast-iron technique; an extraordinary, plush jump; and an instinctive, acute musicality. Her rendering of Ballo, a bravura allegro work that Balanchine made for virtuoso Merrill Ashley, turns its fiendish difficulties into joyous play. The speedy batterie; the sharp, fast releves and jumps on pointe that punctuate the ballerina's solos, and the quick transitions between steps, are not simply technically impeccable. Bouder is so at ease with the choreography that she also phrases the sequences in an entirely personal manner, lingering in a momentary balance or speeding up the movement at will.

Her exceptional technique is always at the service of the ballet she is performing, rather than displayed for its own sake, and her sheer joy in movement is always visible.

"The great thing about Ashley."...

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