Martine Lamy

[Leigh Witchel]

Thanks to Ari for catching this article on Martine Lamy by Paula Citron in the Globe and Mail.

There's a lot of food for thought here. Lamy wants to go gracefully, but it's obvious from the article it's an ambivalent departure. I found it very interesting that Kudelka decided this would be her last season three years ago.

What do people think? As a question, does NBoC ever let principals stay on per-performance rather than season contract basis? That can be a graceful attrition; but it can also lead to the one-performance-a-season principals that NYCB had when I first began watching then two decades ago.

Also, the article is worth reading for the profile of Lamy. She's a very interesting woman, and it's been a journey for her.

[mom2]

I had similar thoughts when I read the article, glad to know I'm not the only one!

From what I've read, Rex Harrington had similar feelings of ambivalence in his last season, and left the company entirely when he learned he wasn't to be dancing at ALL (I don't think this is what he wanted!). Recently he performed with a new group call Pro Arte Danza - I didn't make the performance :angry: and never found a print review, so I don't know more...

Back to Ms. Lamy, the Globe article does seem to give a good picture of the artist as a person with those interviewed describing both her positive AND not so great qualities. Ms. Lamy herself was pretty daring with what she said, although she made it very clear that she respects the decisions of the Artistic Director.

The principal character artists, or whatever their title is now, have been in the company for a very long time indeed so it's curious to me that there' such a rush to show the 40 year olds the door.......perhaps in the end it does all boil down to a paycheque as Ms Lamy suggests; if memory serves the NBOC principals are pretty well paid.