148 replies to this topic

[miliosr]

Ratings for Week 5 are low:

http://tvbythenumber...ratings/139947/

I doubt we'll see a Season 2.

[Natalia]

Tonight is the final episode. Too bad about the number. It was nice for us, while it lasted.

[Edited to remove/move comment related to Bunheads.]

[miliosr]

DRAMA!!!!!

I laughed out loud when Adam said, "Allison is so professional."

I also had to laugh when Adam said, "Beckanne is the future of Ballet West."  If you can keep her Adam . . .

I hope Katie and Ronald can make a go of their relationship.  They are very sweet together.

Christiana was lovely tonight.

Loved how Ronnie had his shirt off at the party.

I don't even know where to begin with Rex.

All in all, I enjoyed the series.  It was entertaining for what it was.

[Neryssa]

Drew, on 30 June 2012 - 10:23 AM, said:

Neryssa, on 22 June 2012 - 07:37 AM, said:

Doesn't Allison seem a tad disrespectful to the conductor? Does she have histrionic personality disorder or what?

I had no idea and was really, really, really, delighted to learn that "histrionic personality disorder" is an actual medical condition. I even googled it after reading this post and it's in the DSM!  However, I am somewhat hesitant to tell my (not at all histrionic, indeed rather stoic) partner.  

lol, Drew. I have a couple of psychologists in my family...although it wasn't fair to use the term describing Allison.
Why is Adam Sklute going to New York when there is a prominent ballet department at the University of Utah? I guess that's a stupid question but how do directors recruit dancers? Does it depend upon the director? I can understand why dancers want to go to New York but where was he in New York specifically? I guess one doesn't want to do their PhD where they did their MA, one needs variety, cross pollination/talent and diversity, etc.?

[Andre Yew]

I wouldn't be so quick to judge the characters of the dancers based on the show.  I have a feeling that the editing is pretty unfair to them, in the name of making TV drama.

Dancers are generally recruited by word of mouth, which then gets them a serious audition, as opposed to a cattle-call.  Some people get dancers from competitions:  there's some amount of scouting that goes on there.  In general, colleges don't produce many ballet dancers that can get a job in a good professional ballet company.  The good ones skip college and pretty much devote their lives to their art and craft to reach that level, and they enter companies at or sometimes younger than college age.  Beckanne is a great example of that, and you'll find dancers like her in all of the major companies.

[stinger784]

I wouldn't say that. I've known many good dancers come out of college programs. Colleges are starting to give a lot better training than they used to in just the last 10 years. A friend of mine was a soloist level dancer from a college program in a prominent southwest company. Several dancers in a midwestern company that are being picked as soloists and principals are from several college programs. I think that is an unfair general comment and may have been true 10 years ago. Word of mouth? Not sure where you got that information either. You still have to audition and I've been a professional for over 10 years and still get picked at the open auditions. Just recently I was asked to join 3 companies from open auditions.

[Andre Yew]

I know a few classical dancers who graduated from college before working, and their technique was pretty much in place before college.  For girls, this is almost a given, and guys can on rare occasion start that late and make it.  We're talking classical ballet here.  Much (not all) contemporary/modern stuff is a bit easier for late starters.

That's really great news about your auditions --- it's pretty hard to find jobs through that process.  We'll just have agree to disagree on the word of mouth thing.  The most common situation is that an AD knows he/she will have an open spot next season, and either puts the word out to their professional network (teachers, other ADs, dancers, etc.), or just calls up someone they've seen or worked with before. Open auditions can be useful here when the artistic staff has seen you several times, and an opening comes up.  Different companies do different things, YMMV, etc.

Even with the word of mouth thing, unless you're some kind of superstar, dancers still have to take class with the company or in some kind of audition to be considered.

[Helene]

Just a quick internet search shows open auditions for Cincinnati Ballet (Cincinnati, Boston, NY, SF), Oklahoma City Ballet (SF, Chicago, OKC), Pennsylvania Ballet (NYC), Dayton Ballet (Dayton), Ballet Met (NYC, Columbus), ABT Studio Company (Long Beach, CA and NYC) and because it's so late in the season, I found references to now-closed open auditions at Kansas City Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and Ballet Arizona.  In 2010 San Francisco Ballet held open auditions for a specific position.  Open auditions are expensive in time and money, although there are entry fees to offset some of the expense.  I doubt artistic staff would waste its time and money to hold them, for most companies in several cities, if they didn't hire from them.

Unlike Ballet West, where Sklute did open auditions at the end of his season, most of the open auditions that I found were held around contract time in the spring, which might mean a dancer could do several of them in one trip.  stinger784 might have more insight.

[lovemydancers]

Helene, on 06 July 2012 - 08:26 AM, said:

Just a quick internet search shows open auditions for Cincinnati Ballet (Cincinnati, Boston, NY, SF), Oklahoma City Ballet (SF, Chicago, OKC), Pennsylvania Ballet (NYC), Dayton Ballet (Dayton), Ballet Met (NYC, Columbus), ABT Studio Company (Long Beach, CA and NYC) and because it's so late in the season, I found references to now-closed open auditions at Kansas City Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and Ballet Arizona.  In 2010 San Francisco Ballet held open auditions for a specific position.  Open auditions are expensive in time and money, although there are entry fees to offset some of the expense.  I doubt artistic staff would waste its time and money to hold them, for most companies in several cities, if they didn't hire from them.

You are right, Helene, they do hire from them - one of my daughter's contracts was from an open audition with one of the companies you listed above.  But also remember that some AGMA companies are required to hold an open audition by agreement, even if they are not hiring.

[dirac]

miliosr, on 05 July 2012 - 05:06 PM, said:

Loved how Ronnie had his shirt off at the party.

All in all, I enjoyed the series.  It was entertaining for what it was.

I had the impression that Ronnie requires little encouragement in that regard.

I can't say the show was really my cup of tea in most respects but I did follow it. If this is indeed the end of the road I'm glad Sklute and Ballet West took the plunge and I hope they benefit from it.

[Natalia]

We were graced with one last 'Porny Ronnie' moment. Next stop for him: Chippendales.

So what on earth was up with Rex opening his door to Allison, at the very end? Geez. I thought that he had given her the boot for sure.

I wonder how many of these dancers will still be around for the upcoming Kennedy Center season of Nutcrackers? I'll definitely buy tix for Cristiana, Beckanne, Rex and his brother, Ronald.

[Helene]

Natalia, on 06 July 2012 - 11:44 AM, said:

So what on earth was up with Rex opening his door to Allison, at the very end? Geez. I thought that he had given her the boot for sure.

Even if it wasn't a set-up, he didn't go to see her, and I just don't see him refusing to answer the door, even if his expression looked angry to me.

lovemydancers, on 06 July 2012 - 10:04 AM, said:

You are right, Helene, they do hire from them - one of my daughter's contracts was from an open audition with one of the companies you listed above.  But also remember that some AGMA companies are required to hold an open audition by agreement, even if they are not hiring.

Would those companies hold multiple auditions, or would they just hold them in their own city (at 2am in a deserted warehouse [j/k])?

[lovemydancers]

  I could tell ya, but I'd have to kill ya.

[miliosr]

dirac, on 06 July 2012 - 11:17 AM, said:

If this is indeed the end of the road I'm glad Sklute and Ballet West took the plunge and I hope they benefit from it.

We shall see who benefits the most from this.  Only time will tell if Adam gets the bump in ticket sales he was looking for when he agreed to have the company do the show.  My suspicion is that Beckanne will benefit the most from the show followed by the Idaho Ballet (Katie's new home), which now has a face with which to promote the company.

[stinger784]

Andre Yew, on 06 July 2012 - 07:54 AM, said:

I know a few classical dancers who graduated from college before working, and their technique was pretty much in place before college.  For girls, this is almost a given, and guys can on rare occasion start that late and make it.  We're talking classical ballet here.  Much (not all) contemporary/modern stuff is a bit easier for late starters.

That's really great news about your auditions --- it's pretty hard to find jobs through that process.  We'll just have agree to disagree on the word of mouth thing.  The most common situation is that an AD knows he/she will have an open spot next season, and either puts the word out to their professional network (teachers, other ADs, dancers, etc.), or just calls up someone they've seen or worked with before. Open auditions can be useful here when the artistic staff has seen you several times, and an opening comes up.  Different companies do different things, YMMV, etc.

Even with the word of mouth thing, unless you're some kind of superstar, dancers still have to take class with the company or in some kind of audition to be considered.

I am not sure where you are getting your information from, but much of it appears to happen extremely rarely or not at all. I can only recall one time when I was dancing and a fellow dancer got injured and "word of mouth" was used to replace that dancer for a one shot deal, not a company contract. I still have to send out my resume, make calls and take class. In my 10+ years dancing and over 22 years in the dance world, I have never heard someone getting a job by word of mouth.

I also am perturbed by your generalization of the college dance system. I have cited several examples and I will reiterate that the college system is not what it once was 10 years ago. To say that someones technique is what it is before entering into a college program is offensive to several of my friends. Had it not been for college programs, several of my friends would not have jobs.

And I am a classical ballet dancer that dances contemporary and modern dance.
Thank you HELENE for backing me up on this.