Sadly, the UIEX was right last January. Veronika Part is leaving ABT.
But why the stark difference in Kevin McKenzie’s treatment of the departures of two admired and loved ballerinas who had nearly identical lengths of service and pedigrees - Vishneva, a perennial guest artist for more than a dozen years; Part, a major contributor to the company for 15 years. Vishneva gets weeks and weeks of build-up and PR while Veronika gets the cold shoulder and "don’t let the door hit you in the fanny on the way out” treatment.
If McKenzie wasn’t already the most despised director in all of ballet for the past 20 years – most despised only behind Benjamin Millepied, that is – this will certainly raise him to the level of revile needed for that dishonor. On Saturday, is he really going to waltz out onto the stage with a big bouquet of flowers and bogus, insincere thanks along with many of Veronika’s principal partners who ultimately begged their sorry sissy ways out of dancing with her because she was tall and there were other easier ballerinas for the pickin'? Would she be leaving if McKenzie hadn’t let the whimpering sissy boys out of their grown-up partnering duties? Who are the real divas here?
McKenzie will be lucky if he doesn't get shoes thrown at him.
We wish Veronika the best wherever she is going. We hope it’s only a few hours away and not twenty-five hours, because if she is given a worthy partner to dance with, it would be wonderful to see her again on any stage - by worthy partner, we mean not an emotionally crippled narcissist asshole who disrespectfully mocks her.