Carreño says goodbye – and with Twitter we were all there: here are the comments and photos

While all balletomanes wanted to be at the American Ballet Theatre's Swan Lake last night to see Jose Manuel Carreño farewell, there was an extraordinary good ‘next best things' in Twitter. From both sides of the curtain Twitterers were letting everyone share in the emotion of saying goodbye to a great artist.

And the photographers are… from left, ABT's Daniil Simkin(@daniil), ABT's Hee Seo (@HEESEOABT), Marina Harss (@MarinaHarss), Rachel March (@rachelmarch)

@BondtiniNYC
So blessed to have seen Jose Carreno in his farewell role in Swan Lake @ABTBallet Thank u for so many years of the gift of your talent!

@rachelmarch
I was having a really hard time in Act III not crying! I loved how the corps on stage was watching him so intently!

@wperrondancemag
Carreño happy to get audience's love, but was tearful after women partners came onstage. He spent time in bows, all of us soaking him up.

@dtnmatt
jose Carreno's final performance at American Ballet was wonderful. 15 min ovation. I feel lucky to have seen it.

@wordwhacker
@ABTBallet Please tell Jose Manuel Carreno “thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you” for all the pleasure and joy you have given. Heart.

Now that's moving – thanks Twitterers.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.