"Why is a superstar ballerina hanging up her toe shoes . . . ?"

I just heard a promo for this story, to be broadcast on National Public Radio's All Things Considered today at 5 pm EST. They'll put the segment online at 7.

I'm bumping this up to note that there are photos here on NPR of Ansanelli in Balanchine's Coppelia with Benjamin Millepied, with the Royal in Ondine and A Month in the Country, and with the Royal as the Lilac Fairy and the Sugar Plum Fairy.

A very gentle, touching interview. Thanks kfw. I didn't know that she had scoliosis and wore (wears?) a brace when she is not dancing. (It's interesting that she doesn't make much of this and that it was the interviewer who brought it up.) I love her reticence. There's nothing about the hardships and pains. It just boils down to: "I feel it's my time."

I respect the way she admits that her dancing was tentative when she first transferred to the Royal. And I love that she seems pleased and even rather proud about what she was able to achieve after she let go and and began dancing as she knew she could.

Thank you so much for the link, a short but interesting interview.

Yes, thank you........ her voice sounds so.... I dunno. Different than when I've heard her before.

This 2004 article from the NYT on her is still one of my favourites, and the label 'self-effacing diva' sometimes seems to fit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/14/arts/dan...acing-diva.html

The more recent NYT article, where she speaks of dance as failure, saddens me greatly:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/arts/dance/06ansa.html

All the reports I've had from friends still in London are that her recent performances, particularly in Rubies, have been fantastic.....