Dear Mr. Kevin McKenzie and Kara Medoff Barnett.

We are people who are passionate fans of the American Ballet Theatre and love the company the way you love it. We want only the best for our favorite company, which we continue to support in any conditions. We would like to let you know that we want Veronika Part to continue dancing with ABT. Veronika Part is one of the most outstanding ballerinas in ABT. She is a major contributor to the company for the last 15 years. She is the one, nowadays, who is able to present the best of the Russian and American ballet dancing schools together (of course, Mr. McKenzie, you played a crucial role in it). Many of us, your audience, come to see and do not miss her performances every season. Many of us travel from all around the world just to enjoy this outstanding ballerina. Veronika Parts is and absolutely riveting in every role she plays, always giving her 150% to her partners and her audience in every performance.

We collected some impressions of ABT’s fans around the world, and now our goal is to collect as many signatures as possible in order to support your company and our gorgeous Veronika Part. Please, reconsider your decision and renew Veronika’s contract for another year.

“Veronika Part is a beautiful ballerina who has great stage presence and beautiful technique in all the roles she is given. She would certainly expand her repertoire given the opportunity and I'm confident she would excel as she does in her current roles. Having been with the company for 15 years it's a great loss and a lack of respect to the art of a ballerina to push her out before she is ready to retire. As a longtime supporter of ABT I'm so very sad and disappointed in ABT's management of this situation.”

Yolanda Ronda, New York

“Veronika Part is an unusually expressive dancer, who commands the stage with her strong presence and emotion. When she is onstage it's hard to look at any other dancer, she projects emotion throughout the large Metropolitan Opera Theatre. It's rare to find a dancer like her and it will be very sad not to see her with ABT.”

Julie Weisbach, New York

“Veronika is absolutely beautiful ballerina. She has her unique gracious style as many of Russian school ballerinas. What should we expect next season? Who will dance? Nobody in the house anymore?”

Eleonora Stefantsova, New York

“Veronika Part is ABT's greatest treasure, blending the best of the Russian and American styles of ballet. She has so much more beauty to impart, not just as an active classical ballerina but, later, in the majestic character roles. ABT must not let go of its treasure for the future.”

Jeannette Nabatov, Arlington, Virginia

“Veronika Part is a ravishing dancer and a soulful actress with a wonderfully womanly stage presence and a voluptuous movement quality. I have especially vivid memories of her performance in La Bayadère two years ago with Denys Nedak and Gillian Mirphy. Honestly, I had no idea the ballet could be so dramatic, riveting and crackling with chemistry. It was eye-opening and absolutely sensational. I found myself thinking it was a performance worthy of Golden Age Hollywood. And then I thought, No! Hollywood was never this good!

Lada Hornjatkevyc, Canada

“I can't believe this. Veronika is wonderful. One of ABT's best. Well, if Veronika leaves I won't be going to see ABT often as there is no one I would want to see”.

Maria Protopopov, New York

“Veronika has always been so regal and sure in her dancing, and I feel like there would be a huge missing for the company!”

Beverly Wexler, Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania

“I've been following Veronika Part's career ever since she's arrived at ABT. For me, she's always stood out as one of the very best ballerinas of the company, epitomizing the very best that it had to offer. Her impeccable lines, her musicality, her artistry, and the lyricism of her dancing made every performance in which she participated a very special and unforgettable event. Even after she had already established herself as an internationally recognized star, she didn't mind gracing the stage in such relatively minor roles as Lady Capulet (a part she's truly made her own by the way), and I remember thinking 'What a great trouper she is! What a dedication to the company!' Of course, the major parts that she has danced - Odette/Odile, Nikia, Myrtha and many others are now firmly preserved in my memory as some of the most magical ballet performances I have seen ever.

Veronika Part's departure is a major blow. For me, the ABT will never be the same without her - even though there are many wonderful and talented ballerinas there, Part is absolutely unique and absolutely irreplaceable. This is a huge loss for the whole troupe as well as the audience, a loss with repercussions that cannot even be fully assessed at this time.”

Leonid Zernov, New York

“I've just learned that my Favorite ballerina Veronika Part will not be dancing in ABT anymore. I couldn't believe my ears, because she is a genius, and ABT is losing its prestige without her. I know that, with Part gone, I will not be attending ABT performances as much as I did in the past.”

Tatiana Mikhaylova, New York

“I live in LA and I love the fact that ABT comes here every year. I am not a ballet nut, but I always make sure to see Veronika Part whenever she's dancing. Me and my children have enjoyed tons of performances with her - even the beaten to death 'Nutcracker' was fun to watch when she was on stage. If she really leaves the company, I'm not sure our family will be returning to the ABT anymore.”

Alex Watts, Los Angeles

“Why Veronika Part is one of my favorite ballerinas?

She possesses almost all the qualities what I would like to see on stage- superb schooling, her exquisite technique seems light and flawless, her command and regal presence in Giselle as Myrtha is almost superhuman, and the range of her acting ability is such that you trust her instantly in every role. To say nothing about her superb lines, inner and outer beauty. Within all these years when she was on stage we all knew - we are in a presence of a genuine Artist.”

J.Thulin, New York

Sincerely ABT lovers.

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