62 replies to this topic

[sunday]

I agree with Sunday that ABT should hire an escort for Osipova. Hopefully this will not make her think twice about returning to NY.

Let's hope the same thing doesn't happen to Cojacaru.

Heck, no! Let her be afraid enough to go to work to the peaceful Segovian countryside!

[Mme. Hermine]

I agree with Sunday that ABT should hire an escort for Osipova. Hopefully this will not make her think twice about returning to NY.

Let's hope the same thing doesn't happen to Cojacaru.

Heck, no! Let her be afraid enough to go to work to the peaceful Segovian countryside!

What?

[sunday]

I agree with Sunday that ABT should hire an escort for Osipova. Hopefully this will not make her think twice about returning to NY.

Let's hope the same thing doesn't happen to Cojacaru.

Heck, no! Let her be afraid enough to go to work to the peaceful Segovian countryside!

What?

Did you see the smiley in the header of the post?

Corella Ballet is based in La Granja, a little town in Segovia province, Spain.

So, that was intended as a (perhaps lame) joke

[Mme. Hermine]

Apologies, except that the reference was a bit obscure in general!

[Mme. Hermine]

From a Russian website:

http://rt.com/Top_Ne...-ballerina.html

NY thugs rob Russian prima of her ballet shoes

International ballet star, Russian Natalia Osipova, was mugged in New York on Tuesday as she left the American Ballet Theater.

Muggers hit her in the face and stole her bag with her pointe shoes, NY Times reports.
Her valuable personal effects, such as money, passport and laptop, were not with her at the time.

[bingham]

From a Russian website:

http://rt.com/Top_Ne...-ballerina.html

NY thugs rob Russian prima of her ballet shoes

International ballet star, Russian Natalia Osipova, was mugged in New York on Tuesday as she left the American Ballet Theater.

Muggers hit her in the face and stole her bag with her pointe shoes, NY Times reports.
Her valuable personal effects, such as money, passport and laptop, were not with her at the time.

There is nothing funny about this incident but i would loved to have seen the faces of the muggers when they openned her bag.

[Goldfish17]

I am ashamed on behalf of my city. Thank God Natalia is ok.

[Barbara]

But....and I am in NO WAY suggesting the incident was her fault....she is no country bumpkin, she's from Moscow for heaven's sake. Seems she should know walking by yourself late at night in any big city is not a good idea. And even more unbelievable to me is that no one (whoever she was with before beginning her solo walk) didn't offer to walk her home.

[Helene]

Seems she should know walking by yourself late at night in any big city is not a good idea. And even more unbelievable to me is that no one (whoever she was with before beginning her solo walk) didn't offer to walk her home.

I've lived in four big cities in a row, and I travel extensively on my own. If I thought walking alone late at night in a city was a bad idea without question or regard to specific circumstances, I'd never get to the ballet or opera.

[papeetepatrick]

According to InfoPlease.com, NYC's crime index places it way, way, way at the bottom of US cities with populations of 100,000+. Also keep in mind that most crime is not in neighborhoods such as Lincoln Center where large numbers of tourists visit. I live in the police precinct that includes Lincoln Center, and when I once called for police help with a noise complaint, the responding cop said, "If you need us again, just call 911." I responded that I thought 911 was reserved for genuine emergencies, and he said, "Well, in this precinct ..." and shrugged, as if he was happy to have any call to break up the peaceful tedium of his shift.

The Village Voice had a great investigative piece a few weeks ago. Don't rely on NYC crime statistics, most crime reports are downgraded to be listed as petty offenses by the Powers That Be. They WANT the crime stats to look lower, so the politicians can get re elected by sayng "crime went down under my watch".

There are even recordings of precinct meetings where the lieutenants tell the beat cops to "pay the rent" (write more tickets). And yes, they do have quotas.

would not surprise me if this is true in most cities.

That's about the best the Village Voice can do is such articles, although interesting to see they're still doing the overblown crap now that they barely even exist as a credible journal. To wit, crime statistics are WAY WAY DOWN, and it is in general NOT dangerous to walk at night, not even normally for Osipova. I have lived here for 42 years, and it is nothing like what it used to be in terms of sinister--you have to go and look for it in rough neighborhoods usually. So I consider this an anomaly. Osipova had no reason to fear this might happen, and it's very unlikely in the Lincoln Center area.

It's a horrible thing, but she wasn't doing a thing I wouldn't have done, and there is no 'country bumpkin' about what she did. Stray crimes happen all the time, but if you want a much greater likelihood of them happening, Los Angeles still has a lot of the noir feeling, and will often deliver on this sinister sensation. New York is very policed (Europeans always point this out), nearly every street corner. This is purely a freak event, and it is especially unfortunate that it would happen to this obvious genius ballerina, esp,. since this has been the moment of HUGE celebration for her performances in just the last weeks at ABT. But I think it has little to do with New York.

It's true that even Lincoln Center is not quite as safe as walking down Park Avenue, but that's beside the point. Nothing is, and Lincoln Center is basically safe. I've been nearly mugged a couple of times back in the 70s, but outran the perps, and also have an ex-gf. who wouldn't accommodate the muggers with her purse either. While I understand those who say that Osipova was smart to not resist her criminals, I equally admire my perfectly catlike ex for refusing to give them any money even at gunpoint! She'll do anything to be disagreeable, and got away with it too. In L.A., even as a visitor, I've been threatened MUCH MORE.

[Lidewij]

The fact that she decided not to take any important documents with her does seem to say she's aware of these kind of things happening - whether it's a habit from home in Moscow or because she thinks NY is dangerous..

[aurora]

Seems she should know walking by yourself late at night in any big city is not a good idea. And even more unbelievable to me is that no one (whoever she was with before beginning her solo walk) didn't offer to walk her home.

I've lived in four big cities in a row, and I travel extensively on my own. If I thought walking alone late at night in a city was a bad idea without question or regard to specific circumstances, I'd never get to the ballet or opera.

Comments in the artsbeat blog on the times are now revolving around this issue...

[papeetepatrick]

At this point, after what happened, Osipova would be escorted back to anywhere at night, but most youngish people don't do that anymore, and it was written about extensively not too long ago that Hollywood starlets, who are much more famous as well as less gifted than Osipova, don't want an entourage--and, as we well know, they in particular need one (at least ONE sober person) to drive them home somtimes so they don't have to do any more time in L.A. County Jail. I think that's basically good, though, and Osipova had been here a few weeks, was only walking a few blocks, and I doubt she wanted to be escorted. I hardly think anyone at all was derelict (outside the delinquents), since this is pretty much the mode by now. I think escorts are mainly for the 'old legend types' in whatever field, but I bet Rosemary Harris walked home from the theater whenever she was in the mood.

[carbro]

...Hollywood starlets, who are much more famous as well as less gifted than Osipova, don't want an entourage--and, as we well know, they in particular need one (at least ONE sober person) to drive them home somtimes so they don't have to do any more time in L.A. County Jail.

Perhaps. As we all know, it's a long trek from the front door to the car the valet or chauffeur has just pulled up. Who, in LA, walks???

I think there are some details to note here. First, that she was assaulted "early Tuesday morning," meaning after midnight. The Met locks its front (Plaza-facing) doors as the last patrons exit a performance, making it necessary for anyone who might have been in the building (staff, dancers, guests) to exit through the rear. I don't know in which hotel Osipova is staying, but I can't think of a likely one that would have her on Amsterdam Avenue, a residential stretch with no nightlife and, at the moment, a large construction site (badly lit and with lots of shadowy hiding places) -- in other words, a bit desolate, at least in comparison with other central Manhattan areas. It might be a better idea for the Met to keep a security guard on call in the front lobby to allow people to leave the theater more safely at any hour. That way, someone can go out through the Plaza (which is well lit and patrolled, in the easterly direction, directly toward the restaurants, traffic and hotels convenient to Lincoln Center.

[papeetepatrick]

...Hollywood starlets, who are much more famous as well as less gifted than Osipova, don't want an entourage--and, as we well know, they in particular need one (at least ONE sober person) to drive them home somtimes so they don't have to do any more time in L.A. County Jail.

Perhaps. As we all know, it's a long trek from the front door to the car the valet or chauffeur has just pulled up. Who, in LA, walks???

We're not talking about where the starlets walk, but rather that they tend to want to drive by themselves, without entourages (they need these to drive them in their cars, not to escort them to their cars--because they've been drinking at the clubs, even if just to slight excess.) It was a parallel to walking here unescorted (though leading to arrest instead of mugging), but there is a lot more walking in LA than the stereotype lets us know (it's acc. to the neighborhood, there's lots of walking in Hollywood and Downtown (where all the high culture institutions are, and which are all close to extremely dangerous neighborhoods, including that vast Skid Row), Chinatown, and lots of walking in the commercial sections of Beverly Hills/Rodeo. It's not nearly all gated. The subway is expanding rapidly, and people walk home from from there (in notorious sections like Compton and other sections served by the Blue Line), the bus system is enormous, albeit mostly those who can't afford cars (or myself, who likes to walk and does so there as well).

So that, whether driving unescorted or walking unescorted, many of the younger generations have decided it's more fun to do it 'as if they were purely private persons', and sometimes go to the supermarket alone, and expect fans to leave them alone (fine, but they won't sometimes). In the case of the Hollywood bimbos, they're noticed wherever they do go, in the case of Osipova, the thugs wouldn't have the slightest idea (I wouldn't know her on the street either, and probably not many of the ballerinas I'm more familiar with.)

So the problem is that they want to drive their own cars, that they won't use valets or chauffeurs, which led to DUI arrests of Nicole Ritchie, Paris Hilton, lunatic car chases by Lindsay Lohan, and hit and runs by Britney Spears. They're not old-school, and I imagine that ballerinas in New York, at least, would not expect to be or want to be escorted around. That's 'old people' stuff.