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A discussion about Alastair Macaulay's views on Rubies in the Spring Gala is here:

I think it's always difficult for a dancer who is known for their technical prowess and daring when those aspects of their dancing diminish. It's a more graceful transition for dancers who are known for elegance and interpretation, because it doesn't really matter if they did five or six beautifully placed and finished pirouettes back in the day, and now they do three-four-beautifully place and finished pirouettes to finish an elegant, stylish combination. It's also rare, at least in North America, where fewer and fewer companies have character dancers on the roster, for a virtuoso to become an expert at character roles. In Seattle, Jonathan Porretta did just that, and i think his John Adams-like gentleman farmer Grandfather in The Nutcracker, Gamache in Ratmansky's Don Quichotte, and Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty were among his greatest performances. Has Bouder ever done Carabosse? I think she'd be wicked in the role. I do not think for a minute that Bouder's weight, whatever it is now, is a matter of lack of discipline. Bodies change, especially as people get older, and they don't always respond to the same punishment time after time after time. In fact, they often resist. Although Makarova was the first ballerina I'd seen with a major company -- and fell in love with her partner's, Ivan Nagy's, dancing in the process -- it was Cynthia Gregory and Martine van Hamel that were my ideal ballerinas growing up, and they were muscular, strong dancers. Everyone has their own starting point from which they might or might not move in either direction. I'm an outlier from what I can read, but I know the qualities of ballet dancing I prefer, and that more often done with a wider range of bodies than those that are usually represented in ballet companies.

I don't always agree with Macaulay but I share his feelings about Nadon in this particular role. For me, Kikta is the reigning Tall Girl, with her aura of mystery - and she just gives off the feeling that no one else on stage stands a chance against her! I wish she were given the Gala opportunity. Nadon has an extraordinary Emeralds (and a Diamonds debut is inevitable) so I look forward to them letting someone else have a try at it in upcoming seasons.

I too look forward to reports on the gala. Alastair Macaulay had an interesting comment on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6go9P2AB_w/?img_index=1.

Adding my welcome @SaraBW. I look forward to reading your future posts. This is a great forum with a lot of very thoughtful people.

That is a great idea. Are there no reports on last night's gala?

Welcome @SaraBW, and I greatly appreciate your thoughtful initial post on the NYCB forum! I look forward to your thoughts on Isabella Boylston, R&J, and anything else you happen to see.

Thank you @SaraBW. Clear and concise articulation of the issue at hand. I agree with your comment about her IG post, it is heartbreaking.

Hear, hear.

I think that the deadline for NYCB to notify the dancers regarding contract renewal was in February. If Bouder was not renewed we would have heard about it directly from her on her social media. I was at one of the DAAG shows where Bouder did Green, and I can confirm that there was no announcement or slip of paper telling the audience not to applaud her. It seems like they are doing their best to put her in roles that she is still capable of doing, but that is a pretty small list. If she were smart she would ask to learn the final movement of Vienna Waltzes and dance that role next spring as a farewell. Long dress, no lifts, no difficult choreography.

Bravo on your first post Sara. It is a really tricky line to navigate because it is a fraught and emotional subject that is also a very sensitive one. There is a few extra pounds and/or a deteriorated technique but the two don't always go together. There are thin dancers who are "out of shape" technically and there are dancers who may be perceived as overweight but are dancing well with good technique. Of course dancing well with good technique regularly is cardio and promotes thinness in a dancer, being overweight can impede stamina and flexibility impeding technical ability (but not always). Tyler Angle is thinner but still a little over the weight he was before the pandemic but he is dancing well with good technique. Preston Chamblee was heavier and dancing with effort and diminished flexibility - this season he has come back strongly and is looking lean and mean and ready for bigger things. I think that Jonathan Stafford, Wendy Whelan and the rest of the administrative and coaching staff are aware that dancers were coming off of a two-year enforced break. So certain dancers were allowed to find their way back slowly. Many dancers have been injured especially when going back to dancing full time after a long break. (Ashley has been injured including a big one in her first Fall season in 2021 right after the pandemic and then another severe one early last year) So I think everyone has been a little more forgiving. Also many of these senior dancers, like Bouder, were colleagues of Jonathan and Wendy and they are not going to kick them out unceremoniously. (However, Abi Stafford was something of a special case...) Jared Angle clearly was past his best and most useful years as a principal and was not cast in anything but smaller roles with just partnering, no solos. But he was allowed to stay on for a few years until he found a position abroad as a dance master. There seems to be a policy of not enforcing retirements or kicking people out until they are ready/willing to go. Is that always a good policy? In the case of Bouder she seems to have little self-awareness of how badly her technique and physical conditioning have declined. She can make accusations of weight discrimination and age discrimination but the bottom line is - Can you dance? How well can you dance? Are you able to handle the repertory? If you can't dance well and do justice to the choreography, don't stay on the stage. She also doesn't seem to be a team player. Bouder when she was pregnant with her first child kept dancing past the point where she was showing and in difficult classical roles. I remember a Sugar Plum Fairy in "Nutcracker" where Andie Veyette had to change the partnering and adjust the lifts to accommodate the baby bump. Bouder was taking company classes late into her third trimester doing pirouettes on pointe, etc. After she had the child and had gained weight, Ashley hired a trainer and worked hard in the studio and classes to get back into shape, lose the weight and reclaim her old, demanding classical repertoire. She did that (but I felt with some loss of fluidity and grace). Management may have assumed that after the pandemic enforced hiatus and the various injuries, Ashley would have the same determined work ethic. Well it's over two and a half years later and she still hasn't recovered her technique... That Ashley is not today's Ashley. Maybe her body can't bounce back any more. She is retreating into victimhood and accusations. Under Peter Martins there were times when principal dancers were let go without a retirement performance (especially if it was felt they couldn't perform well in such a program). Nilas Martins, his own son, was one of those dancers who was retired with no celebration or announcement. If Bouder continues to make problems on social media and run to the press and appear on TV belittling management then I would not blame them if she wasn't rehired for next year and simply dropped with no parting celebration. I wouldn't want to be the one to have the "conversation" with her about a quiet, graceful, timely retirement. The board member or whoever who told her privately a year or more ago that it was time to look at a life after dance may have thought they were being kind and helpful. Their intervention led to a tearful Instagram rant that lasted several minutes. I also wonder how this top leadership person supposedly told the audience not to clap for Ashley? Did they address the audience from the stage? Was there an announcement over the loudspeaker? Did they put a flyer in the program "Don't applaud Ashley, it will only encourage her"? I mean maybe the company leader told their companions in their row to not applaud her? Were company members attending the performance told not to clap before the show started? Okay but is that the public slight that Ashley was suggesting? It seems a private internal matter. I wonder if contracts for next season have been signed already.

Judging from Wednesday's performance of DAAG it looks like Tyler Angle might be adding a goatee to his current look, which is just fine by me. His shaved head looked better than fine in DAAG, although I'll admit to finding it a bit jarring when paired with a jeweled tunic. I'd love to see NYCB's men drop the shellacked pompadour altogether, and I don't think some facial hair would be out-of-place in more than a few ballets either. A few of the younger corps men have appeared onstage sporting absolutely glorious untamed mops, and I'm here for it.

Longtime lurker, first time poster: I do appreciate the willingness to evaluate our prejudices about various aesthetics as ballet evolves. I remember when Sara Mearns first came on the scene. I really disliked her "look." Her broad, high shoulders/short neck, in particular, bothered me a lot. As I watched her perform, I fell in love with her style and musicality and now I'm a onboard to see anything she does. I was so used to the "typical" Balanchine look that I almost didn't give her a chance. And I don't mind seeing dancers who are bigger than what has been the super-skinny (often unhealthy) norm for so long. I just want to see beautiful technique and artistry. If that isn't there, then the dancer's body becomes a distraction. It's such a fine line to walk, especially for dancers whose bodies don't fit the "ideal," and I absolutely appreciate that. With Ashley Border, it just seems so clear that it's time for retirement, that her body just isn't going to be capable anymore of what it once was, and that's rough to watch. Her Instagram post last night made my heart hurt - it definitely won't endear her to her colleagues and reinforces the impression that she's not ready to exit the stage with grace. I can't imagine how hard it is for a dancer who's had so much success to transition to the next phase. I feel for her.

Honestly, when Bouder first came on stage in DAAG the first thing I thought about was how heavy and thick her arms looked. This distracted me from her dancing initially. It was a small role, and I thought she performed it well. It does not appear that she has made much progress over the past two years in getting back into shape. There are not many roles which are as simplistic and less demanding than Green in DAAG. So the question is what exactly are they going to do with her going forward. On a separate note, I have to commend Tyler Angle, who seems to have lost some of the excess weight and has danced well this season.

Thanks for this report, Jacqueline! I also love the corps in the third movement. That is my favorite section of the whole ballet.

Would love to hear a report on Saturday's performances.

To the inquiry above, I think there is a big difference between being not-stick-thin and being "out of shape." There are at least a few dancers at NYCB who wouldn't make it in Russia because of their body types, and might not even have been favored at NYCB in a different era. But they are still "in shape." Out of shape means the dancer has put on excess weight that is inhibiting their movement and partnering abilities and, to put it bluntly, looks bad on a ballet stage.

Tastes change over time and I wonder if any posters have noticed their own changing tastes? I wonder if there are things you never thought you'd enjoy on a ballet stage that you have now become accustomed to, or outright enjoy? Flexed feet? Bald men? Bare legs? Dancers of color? Different body types? Atonal music? I'm sure there are many, many other things... When I first saw ballet it seemed, to me, old fashioned, prissy, static...bending towards the figurine on top of a music box. NYCB was never like that. It was energetic, athletic, forward pushing, avant garde, at times. I love this company! I'm not currently one who likes watching overweight ballet dancers (in modern dance there's a different, more diverse standard which I do enjoy), but I wonder if that is something that will change in me over time. I've become more used to pictures of overweight clothing and fitness models. Lululemon is one of many brands using a wide variety of body types for their models, and as someone with a larger frame, it's nice to see. Ballet has frequently gone through revolutions in what is considered "appropriate." Tschaikovsky's orchestral music was originally deemed unfit for ballet: Swan Lake = inappropriate! Unballetic! Revolutionary!!! Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps created a scandalous sensation at its premiere. Looking at pictures of 1900's ballerinas, none were as thin as what we became accustomed to under Balanchine. In fact Balanchine's dancers were called stick figures in the early days. Many audiences and critics didn't like the thinness. I'm just wondering what other posters think of themselves in this arena. I often feel a well of concern watching super thin, super young, flexible Russian dancers and ice skaters and wonder if they are being mistreated or exploited. The stories of what young gymnasts endured (Olga Korbut, Nadia Comaneci) are also very troubling in this regard. I suppose my reflections, my questions are partly prompted by seeing Ashley Bouder in DAAG last weekend. This rep is a sensible, rational choice for her. She can still perform it well, no lifts, no big pointe work displays. So many things have opened up in ballet. Is this different somehow? Is this the last bastion of (my own) prejudice?

Have you seen Indiana Woodward as Pink this season? I thought she was sublime, different but equal to Tiler Peck.

A bunch of speculation has been removed.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA omg, this is so messy and unhinged

It's sad IMO. This query to the "dance community" is designed to stir up trouble, and push people to take sides. Airing grievances on social media is rarely a path to solving problems. On another note, when I saw her dance recently she was far from at the level of a NYCB principal. She seems to not realize that.

Yes those are 100% the only options outside of airing perceived injustices on IG in order to get your echo chamber riled up.

Her outbursts on social media based on hearsay really need to stop. Once a paragon of strength, she has turned into a weepy and pathetic victim. Interested in any reports on tonight's show.

And what should ballet dancer post right now? Shoes? Tutus? 2024 Election, shooting of puppies, protests?