Last of the Balanchine Ballerinas

Darci Kistler and Robert LaFosse photographed by Annie Leibovitz. There's a lovely article about Darci in the Wall Street Journal. Her farewell performance at New York City Ballet is set for Sunday June 27th, 2010.

Comments

[Laura]

I bought a ticket for her farewell performance! Can't even imagine what it will be like...

[Mira]

perfectly gorgeous. Darci is sublime. thanks for posting!

[Bob]

I had the good fortune to see Darci perform in her first year in the company, in 1980. At the tender age of 16, she was such a prodigy that she was the subject of a full page article in TIME magazine. I think that the very first performance I saw her give was as the lead ballerina in the second movement of Symphony in C and it was so glorious that I can still recall it almost as if it were yesterday. I also vividly remember her first Sugar Plum Fairy performance in NUTCRACKER (opposite Peter Martins, as fate would have it). Darci was one of the main reasons I fell in love with ballet, a love that has only grown and deepened over the last 30 years. What an incredibly emotional experience it will be to attend her final performance on June 27. We will miss her so much on stage but how fortunate we are that she will continue to teach new generations of ballerinas for many years to come at SAB.

[Cassandra]

Darci, what a career you have had! I remember reading about you in 1979when you were 14 (I believe the author called you "as thin and supple as a sapling", or something similar to that), and I was in my first year of college. I can't imagine how you (along with many other famous ballerinas) have managed to stay so thin, so strong, and so professional as to keep on dancing through pain and fatigue, even as the hands of time--which stand still for no one--have caught up to you as well. I will never forget that first review I read about you (I may have been in NYC at the time, and it was in a newspaper's Arts section. . .), and I was AMAZED to read on the Internet that in June of 2010, you are STILL performing (although not for much longer)!!! I'm so glad you too the time to have a baby with Peter, and I hope he will teach her Danish (I finished out my college years at the Univ. of Copenhagen and became a licensed architect). Brava, Darci, and how lucky we are to have you on film as the Sugar Plum Fairy forever and ever! THANK YOU for all your hard work--it was appreciated. You, too, Peter! Tusind tak!

[Cassandra]

A few corrections from my previous post. Wow, with all the stuff my brain has to remember, I am amazed that I got so much of my previous post correct! Darci was 16, not 14, in the article, I was indeed in my first year of university, the magazine the article was in was "New York Magazine" (I had a subscription to it at the time), and the quote about the sapling mentioned her "sapling-thin arms". I found the article on the Internet, and sure enough, there was the photo I remembered, along with the article! I still have a tremendous respect for Ms. Kistler (even if I got a few technicalities of my first "introduction" to her). If I remembered so many details from a time when I was practically a child and not living anywhere near New York, nor involved in the dance scene, her emerging talent certainly left an impression on me (along with a bit of jealousy, but we can't all be Balanchine muses). I still want to thank her for all the effort she put into her wonderful career. I have such a difficult time explaining how arts like dance, horseback riding (a performance by Lipizzan stallions is ART, as is quarter horse reining), theater, and many other forms of them must be seen live to appreciate them--all the photography in the world can't capture certain arts, and while I'll take what I can get in some instances, I'd usually prefer a live performance or nothing. Darci Kistler is a perfect example of the thrill of a live performance; videos are nice, but my eyes want to take in what *I* want them to focus on, not what a director wants to focus on for his/her film. Once again, tusind tak (Peter will translate) for all your hard work and dedication over the years. Your talent was APPRECIATED!