SHORT TAKES : Ballerina Going Strong at 64
Soviet ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, still dancing at 64, says she’ll leave the stage forever only when audiences stop responding.
“If I feel I can’t give people anything, then I will quit without regret,” she said.
Plisetskaya, whose performances in “Swan Lake,” “Carmen” and “Don Quixote” were benchmarks, recently appeared in Buenos Aires in a ballet by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla.
She began dancing at age 4 and entered the Bolshoi’s ballet school at 8. At her peak in the 1960s and ‘70s, her technique was considered flawless, but it was her dramatic interpretations that helped her dominate the stage.
Plisetskaya, among a small group of ballerinas who have performed until late in life, says age is not as critical in dance as it is in sports.
“In sports if you can’t beat the record, that’s it,” she said.
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