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Roster Changes


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A quick review of the wesbsite today shows the following apparent departures: Aesha Ash, Martine Ciccone, Lauren Fadeley, Eva Natanya, Laura Paulus, Andrew Robertson.

Continued heavy turnover among the more experienced members of the women's corps de ballet. At least four (Ash, Ciccone, Natanya and Paulus) at what one would call the demi soloist level. Natanya, in particular, I shall miss.

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The Royal Ballet seems to be a very good fit for Natanya. It's a shame, she was just coming into her own. The problem is, there's always so many excellent (but inexperienced) dancers coming in from SAB. The turnover in the corps is worrisome, just as they begin the jell, 1/4 or more leave. It wasn't always like that, a few would leave, but there seems to be a real trend now that begin, I think, at about 1995 when the company, which was said to have gotten too big, trimmed its roster to under 100 dancers. Many long-standing corps dancers (ie. the ones with the higher saleries) left at that time.

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I was breezing thru the Royal Ballet site and cannot find any mention of Eva Natanya joining the company.

As Farrell Fan pointed out in another topic, those of us who go to NYCB alot get "attached" to the corps dancers. It sounds silly, but I got depressed when Eddie Liang left the company (by then he was a soloist)...losing Ash & Natanya is like having favorite cousins tell you they're moving to some remote corner of Greenland. If Pauline Golbin were to leave, I would probably need therapy.

Sometimes I wonder why NYCB absorbs me in a way ABT doesn't (aside from the obvious reason: the rep) There are lots of great dancers at ABT, no doubt about it. But somehow when I go there (which, I admit, is seldom) I feel distanced from them. I think maybe it is simply that the Met is too big for dance and that, at the State Theatre, you feel more connected to the stage. Anyone feel the same?

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Oberon, I agree that the Met tends to distance the dancers from the audience. I also think that frequent attendance strengthens our bonds with corps and soloist dancers.

NYCB has a few corps dancers I enjoy very much, but I don't feel the connection to them that I did to their elder counterparts. Probably largely because I attend so much less often than I used to; or, are we getting into chicken-or-egg issues here?

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Perhaps when NYC Opera moves out of the State Theatre, there could be a rearrangement of Ballet Theatre's schedule so that they can be in the theater in which they belong in NYC? The Met was built for opera; the State for ballet. No amount of tinkering with the acoustics of the State can make it an opera house & very few seats in the Met are ideal for ballet watching.

My only fear is that this would lead to more of those pointless comparisons of these two very different companies.

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Far be it from me to speak ill of the departed, but I didn't see any signs that Natanya was coming into her own at NYCB, rather the opposite. In her last few seasons her dancing seemed to grow weaker and less engaged, and her botching of the unsupported penchee as Prayer in Coppelia was just one example of many. I do hope the change of scenery, and styles, will do her good.

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Carbro is correct in saying the more frequently we go, the more attachment we feel to the dancers. I used to go to ABT alot more often than I do now but I ODed on BAYADERE and DON Q...ROMEO & JULIET in June had me rushing out of the theatre after Act II...not even the fact that a close buddy of mine had a leading role could keep me engaged. I just couldn't take all that mime and standing about.

But SERENADE, BRAHMS-SCHOENBERG, DIVERT #15??? I could sit through them repeatedly in a single season and I usually do...entranced.

Yes, the passing of time has brought many changes but I'm still intrigued by the City Ballet on so many levels...30 years ago I would focus on Marnee Morris...now it's Faye Arthurs, or Steven Hanna...I have my favorite seat, and when I'm there in the cozy State Theatre, I sometimes feel like they are dancing just for me.

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Manhattnik, one example I can point to in Natanya's development is the first variation in Raymonda. When she first did it about 5-6 years ago, she was out of her league. She fell off point both times I saw it with her and she had this look of terror. When she did it last, she had mastered the technical difficulties and had a nice turn in the part. Was she the best I had seen in it? No, but it was gratifying to see a dancer develop through the rep. I saw her in Coppelia and thought she was very pretty and musical. And she had a nice bit in Antique Epigraphs (if I remember correctly). When I say, "come into her own," I don't necessarily mean she was ready to be promoted and we should get Swan Lake ready for her, but that she started to show more of what she could do. I'll miss her in the corps in Concerto Barocco and in some of the smaller roles, such as one of the princesses in Swan Lake or one of the variations in the Nutcracker.

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This small exodus in itself doesn't change things, but when it is added to the trend over the past four years or five years it changes the look of the company.

It's a pleasure, I think, to see a company of grown up dancers. That is one of the things that is so nice about seeing the corps de ballet at, say, the Kirov. More and more at City Ballet, I've had the impression that I'm seeing a company of kids. Now they're very beautiful and very talented kids, but they're kids. There is a kind of artistic presence and maturity which simply isn't possible with such an instrument. One would like to see a more balanced group.

Faye Arthurs, Ellen Bar, Melissa Barak, Saskia Beskow, Amanda Hankes, Pauline Golbin, Elizabeth Walker, Amanda Edge, Dana Hanson and some few others are now the more mature generation of corps members, believe it or not (since the average age there may be about 25, it's a mixed group) and now have their work cut out for them.

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Oberon, I think there are a lot of people who feel as you do, and I think it has something to do with the stability of the repertory, as well as its quality. There have been times when the NYCB audience happily watched weeks of the Royal Ballet's Sleeping Beauties and Swan Lakes because they were solid productions with sound choreography and generally well-cast. (In the 1960s and '70s, the NYCB and RB audiences had a lot of overlap, according to the friends I have who were watching during that time period. NYCB was the home company, of course, and there were probably some RB fans who would only go see Nureyev, or City Ballet fans who only liked "Agon," but there was a lot of crossover.) And there were people who could watch the same casts in Balanchine and Robbins works over and over and over without getting bored. That's one of the differences.

We've talked before here about the difference in company loyalty -- even though there's great affection for ABT and it certainly has its fans, perhaps because it's always been more geared to stars than core rep, the fans drift in and out as dancers they like drift in and out. (????)

I wanted to comment on what Michael said about maturity of the corps -- I agree. It's what I like about Paris and the Kirov; the corps are young dancers, perhaps quite young, but they present themselves as adults; they're not trying to be kids. Some of the dancers Michael mentioned in his list of NYCB corps people (whom I also enjoy watching) seem old, at 25, 26, compared to those dancing around them.

But that said, I don't think the NYCB corps dancers are as relentlessly Young as others.

One comment on Natanya -- even 10 years ago it would have been inconceivable that a woman from NYCB would go to the Royal, or vice versa; the styles were so different.

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Yes, as Michael noted the corps at NYCB is a young corps. The turnover in the last 5-10 years seems to be at a faster pace. I wonder if these young dancers become impatient, feeling if they aren't made a soloist in a few seasons, they might as well

hang up the toe shoes. Maybe we fans forget what a grind it is, day in and day out. Lots of blood, sweat & tears...and dieting. The glamourous 2 hours onstage is what we see, not the sheer physical labor and dealing with injuries.

Even among the girls Michael mentions as being Senior corps members, Arthurs and Hankes are relative newcomers. And what a bevy of beauties, just seeing those names there made me impatient for the opening...2 weeks away!

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One comment on Natanya -- even 10 years ago it would have been inconceivable that a woman from NYCB would go to the Royal, or vice versa; the styles were so different.

It happened only once I can think of during my viewing years.

Mandy-Jane Richardson went from the Sadler's Wells company (before they moved to Birmingham) and was in the corps of NYCB for a few years in the late 80's-early 90's.

Doesn't prove anything either way - just a piece of trivia.

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I have been back to the Royal Ballet site and there is no mention of Natanya having joined that company. But her name & info are gone from the City Ballet site and she does not appear in the "where are they now?" section, as Ash does. And Samantha Allen too, to my dismay...she was one fast dancer.

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I liked Allen too. She's been getting lots of chances at Monte Carlo, though, dancing things such as one of the leads in Stravinsky Violin Concerto.

Although young dancers have always been pushed at NYCB, there has been an even more "flavor of the month" type feeling in the past five years. Dancers are coming right out of SAB and doing principal parts. It might be a little discouraging for some of the others. However, persistence is needed in any endeavor.

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Samantha Allen deserves all the leading roles she can get; I always thought during her seasons as a Soloist at NYCB that, anywhere else, she'd be a Principal.

Last season it was nice to see Peter give Amanda Edge some opportunities. She stepped into SOIREE & STEADFAST, making a lovely impression in both; I appreciated the chance to see her and was glad that Peter chose her rather than the inevitable Megan Fairchild who seems to be getting pushed a bit too fast. Abi was in the same situation a few seasons back, but I think she has buckled down; her work with Willy Buhrmann is paying off...she is stronger and far more at ease onstage...I first noticed the "new" Abi in TWILIGHT COURANTE where her duet with Benj. Millepied was a highlight. Then her VALSE-FANTASIE & SQUARE DANCE were very satsfying.

Fairchild is as cute as a bug's ear but she isn't "formed" yet. Four COPPELIAs at Saratoga?? I didn't see them but, wouldn't Edge have been nice in that, too?

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Yes, I would love to know how Natanya makes out at the Royal. I see they have different "levels" in the roster (unlike NYCB or ABT which have corps, soloist, principal)...anyone know what level she is at? Wonder why she is not on the roster list?? Could she be guesting?

The Royal is doing POLYPHONIA now, I believe...hmm, maybe it's time to move to London. I'd have to take Wendy with me, though...and a few dozen other people.

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Eva Natanya is not guesting with the RB, she is a member of the company and I believe she joined as a First Artist, comparable to senior corps at NYCB. The RB's website is notoriously behind schedule--they are still listing "joiners and leavers" as of 2002 if I am not mistaken.

This change has been in the works for Eva for quite some time. I have known about it since the summer, and from an unimpeachable source. In fact I was dying to share the information here, but felt that I had to keep a confidence.

Interesting that Manhattnik commented on the penche in "Prayer", because (and we did have this conversation briefly, over the summer--remember?) Eva's last performance as Prayer on the SPAC stage brought tears to my eyes--it was that radiant--and perhaps there was a difference between her NY and SPAC performances--that being that her future with the RB was on the way to being set in place. Truly she danced with a joy and a serenity that was palpable.

What a loss for NYCB.

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