The Ultimate Swan Song: Gillian Murphy's Thrilling Last Dance

New York Times

21-07-2025

Ballerinas fight for perfection, but real dancers find freedom in imperfection and are more perfect for it. Gillian Murphy, even with her extraordinary technique, is one of those dancers.
George Balanchine could have been talking about Murphy when he said: 'Good American dancers can express clean emotion in a manner that might almost be termed angelic. By angelic I mean the quality supposedly enjoyed by the angels, who, when they relate a tragic situation, do not themselves suffer.'
Murphy has related many tragic situations in her 29-year career with American Ballet Theater — those of Giselle, Juliet, Odette, the list goes on. But she has always avoided tumbling down a mountain of melodrama. Her choice of 'Swan Lake' as her farewell performance was brave and, it turns out, binding. Murphy left nothing on the stage but a vivid afterimage of spontaneous, spiraling dance beauty.
Her last trip around the stage had the force of finality, yet without desperation or sadness. This was a celebration; every moment mattered. Her dancing was ravishing in its fullness as her body stretched without tension in a way that gave her line an aura of infinity.
There were moments when she slowed down just enough to emphasize details, like her hands flowing down her face, mimicking tears. It was simple and human, which not only gave Murphy's interpretation depth but underscored a problem with so many other Odettes: Dancers play her too much like a creature, a bird, but she is a princess and knowing that is the difference between acting and artistry.
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