PALOMA ON POINTE

Ovations are showering down on American Ballet Theatre's young nonpareil, Paloma Herrera

LAURA JACOBS

Dance

Her first name sounds like Pavlova—and at least one smitten critic has made the comparison—but Hyperbole might be her middle name. And not just because of the ovations that punctuate a Paloma Herrera performance. American Ballet Theatre's young star from South America has the physique every ballet girl dreams of: curve upon curve, as if drawn with Hirschfeld's quill pen; perfect pointes; a pique attitude—Mercury's pose—pitched so high, held so floatingly long, she might be nosing the ozone. Classical line this lush often means academic weakness, yet Herrera's technique is textbook. Even during her baby-fat days, those first demure solos two years ago, she was appallingly strong,

dancing with a dewy, digital shimmer (Euclid, meet Microsoft). Is anything difficult for Paloma? "I think everything and nothing," she answers, a tad existentially. "I work on everything." And, in return, Everything's coming up roses. This month when A.B.T. begins its U.S. tour, Chicago audiences are scheduled to see Herrera in her first big, blooming, dramatic, romantic, erotic role: Juliet in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's full-blown take on Shakespeare. Other dares in Herrera's repertory? The chastening troubador poetry of Balanchine's Theme and Variations, as well as his treacherously paced Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. "People are saying, 'Oh, you must have a lot of pressure.' But I don't worry what people think. I'm 19, and I have to take the chances now."