Alastair Macauley on Diana Vishneva: luscious and lustrous

Reading through a recent review of "Giselle" at American Ballet Theater by the N.Y. Times' head dance critic Alastair Macauley, I was struck by the fact that he seems to use very similar words to characterize Diana Vishneva's performances, no matter what she is dancing.

About her recent Giselle, he writes:

Ms. Vishneva, who also brings to the role great personal beauty, has a fullness to her dance tone and a luscious sheen that set her apart from almost every other ballerina today.

(My emphasis added.)

That reminded me of his characterization of her dancing last year in Ashton's Thais pas de deux:

But “Thaïs,” despite a couple of blips amid the most complicated lifts, still looked ravishing, with Diana Vishneva lusciousness incarnate and Jared Matthews both handsome and devout.

In comparison with NYCB's Ashley Bouder, he wrote:

My mind flies to two: Diana Vishneva (seen with American Ballet Theater, with the Kirov and in her own program, “Beauty in Motion”) and Ashley Bouder (at New York City Ballet). They’re diametrically dissimilar: the doe-eyed Ms. Vishneva is luscious and lustrous while the narrow-eyed Ms. Bouder is sharp-edged, scintillating, sometimes scorching.

Finally, opining on her 2009 appearance as Kitri, he writes:

The sheer luster of her presence is often startling; I know of no dancer today who so gloriously seems a source of light.

I can't say I disagree!