Of course Vishneva and Gomes did "Lady of the Camellias"

Last weekend, Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes (the perfect pair, in my opinion) performed in Moscow at the "Stars of the 21st century" gala.

Here is a news clip:


And what did they choose to dance?  Well, they did a revised an expanded version of Mauro Bigonzetti's "Kazimir's Colors," which is now called "Vertigo."  And thanks to Diana's incredibly strong yet incredibly flexible body and Marcelo's superb partnering, it was simply jaw-dropping.

Watch it here:


But that was not all!  They also performed what now seems to be one of Vishneva's favorites--the Act III pas de deux from "Lady of the Camellias," choreographed by John Neumeier to Chopin's heartwrenching Ballade No. 1 in G minor.

See this pic and more on Diana Vishneva's Facebook page.

When Diana and Marcelo danced the full ballet at ABT this summer, it seemed like it truly meant something to them.  This was the first time that either of them had performed the ballet, and they did it together.

Before their final performance on June 7, Marcelo wrote on his Twitter account:

cant wait to dance armand in lady of the camellias tonight with the very inspiring diana vishneva.last chance to see the ballet at the met

And after the performance, Diana wrote on her Facebook page:

last night was last Lady of the Camellias
I am going to miss this production. it will be in ABT repertoire next year
also, it was last time performance with Marcelo Gomes in this ABT season
amazing partner! I'm truly happy to dance with him. I gave him russian t-shirt last night, I think he liked very much)

And in a recent interview (via GoogleTranslate, so please take this with a grain of salt), Diana said:

I recently danced in the New York premiere of "La Dame aux Camelias" directed by John Neumeier, and of course, John is one of my favorite choreographers, because in his own way, he reveals the romantic plot and fills it with deep emotion.  Cooking with the role is an incredible feeling, as he puts in the nuances of how he sees you in it and at the same time gives you tremendous freedom.  Such works then stay with you for life.

I certainly hope they bring back "Lady of the Camellias" next year!  But only if Diana and Marcelo get to dance it together!

***
One final comment on the gala....

I read this review (or what I could gather from it via GoogleTranslate) and was struck by the comment about Natalia Osipova, young star of the Bolshoi ballet, who made quite the splash at ABT this year.

The reviewer acknowledges her bravura dancing and her ability to do 16 double fouettes in the excerpt from Don Quixote. But then the reviewer writes:

But coarse proficiency with which a young dancer moved from one stroke motion to another, not bothering to finish small steps, turned the dance festival in the working routine.

However, viewers of these subtleties are not felt and, ignoring the lyrics, reacted mainly to strong stimuli.

That is EXACTLY what I felt when I saw her do "Don Quixote" at ABT this summer.  Amazing tricks? YES!  Mugging for the audience? YES!  Ballet?  Not in my opinion!  And so it made it even worse when everyone in the audience around me was going beserk.  Yes, she is not my type of ballerina, or at least not yet...