Just Add Jalapeños

Alina Cojocaru
has no tendons—I am convinced of it! Legs aren’t supposed to float up that high quite that easily. It’s kind of absurd. Just like her supernatural sense of balance. Seriously, I’m pretty sure she could drink an entire cup of coffee while hanging out on pointe in arabesque.

The Royal Ballet principal was in New York last night to guest with American Ballet Theatre in Don Quixote. Although Alina wasn’t quite as spicy as I usually like my Kitris, I have to admit that I couldn’t stop smiling at her performance opposite Jose Manuel Carreño’s Basilio. I remember last year when she was in town to dance with him in Sleeping Beauty she told me how excited she was to partner with the legendary Cuban. And now that it’s his last season before retiring, you could just see how much fun the two of them were having onstage together. 

The best part of the night though was the curtain call: When Alina was handed a bouquet after her bows, instead of picking out the customary single rose to hand to her male partner, she laid the whole damn thing at Carreño’s feet.