The performances Ferri gave in Woolf Works were astonishing: her dancing had not lost any of its musicality and line, but had acquired a new measured intensity, an aura of haunting, physical frailty that brought nuance and even truthfulness to the performances of the younger dancers around her. Ferri, rightly, believes that it was important for those juniors to watch her at work.
The overboard reception has noted not just the astonishing individual dancing — especially by the new soloists Natalia Osipova, 21, and Ivan Vasiliev, 18 — but also the overall look, speed and spirit of this revitalized company under Alexei Ratmansky, now in his third year as artistic director.
Throughout the piece Mr. Keigwin achieves astonishing feats of dancing, moving through space as if he were a boneless, muscleless guided missile, a parcel of pure explosive energy mediated by impressive technical skills.
The holdup is not due to traffic or construction or an accident, but rather to this astonishing sight: A dancing, leaping, lip-synching transsexual in a peekaboo dress and cha-cha heels is performing precision spot-turns in the middle of the street.
The dancing is astonishing in its artistry, but this duet is about the story of the individuals themselves.
The girl you kissed at the school gates, the spring sun blessing her freckled skin with an astonishing luminescence, her eyes dancing with laughter and possibility?
In the most astonishing moments — the slow dancing, the tickling, the horsey rides — one marvels at the men's willingness to transgress deep-seated taboos against male touching.
But the sense of purpose, confidence and detail in the dancing and the astonishing quality of the dancers suggest a company in full flower.
In a Bolshoi engagement this spring at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Ms. Alexandrova was praised for the regal grandeur of her dancing and for her astonishing jumps.
I could have done without the dancing furniture, but not the astonishing moments when blood is mopped from the stage in a ritual that feels both like absolution and a terrible punishment.
