How Should ABT Renew Itself?

[sandik]

I don't think you can compare Wendy Whelan and Misty Copeland. Whelan was not dancing major full length classics.

Actually, I think it's not a bad comparison -- Whelan was not performing the 19th century rep, true, but she was performing works from a major repertory in a way that was considered, at the beginning, to be far afield from the received style at that time.

[vagansmom]

But, Copeland seems to spend an awful lot of time promoting her books, her story, etc. She is at a point in her career where she needs to really "work" (be in the studio, getting coached, etc.)

Is there a way to prove this? Or could it be this is the way Copeland chooses to spend her time off whereas other dancers might spend it with family? She has an agent or publicist or whatever she calls that person who's paid to do all the promoting work, so she would just need to show up.

I'm not arguing that Copeland deserves to become a principal dancer; I haven't even seen her in performance except for a few youtube videos, so I can't say. I just notice that people are more vitriolic, of her than of any other dancer except for poor Hee Seo, whose worst "fault", IMO, is that she's chosen constantly to replace others.

[nanushka]

...poor Hee Seo, whose worst "fault", IMO, is that she's chosen constantly to replace others.

Well, there's also her dancing.

Yes, it's often good and sometimes even very good. But I don't think we can say it's without "fault." Certainly it's part of what she's often criticized for. The criticisms aren't always so shallow or baseless.

[alexL]

My main issue with Seo is that she performed poorly in almost every performance she substituted. Keep it in mind that the audience was expecting to see a dancer of Murphy and Cjocaru's caliber.

Two years ago I saw Reyes instead of Osipova in Sylvia. It was a last minute replacement but nevertheless I enjoyed the performance very much. I already miss Xiomara dearly.

Some rise into the occasion and some don't. When Murphy, Reyes, and Gomes were substituting for other stars, I don't have to worry about their possible fall during the performance. If the company had trained and prepared her better, I might had been less disappointed.

I think AD should find a solution to train these underdeveloped principals before giving them certain roles. From what I'm seeing, Seo and boylston are not ready to dance O/O.

If they are going to promote Copeland (duh), they better prep her well before next season begins. Same thing for Gorak- although I adore him, he still needs to work on his partnering skills.

[Plisskin]

Definitely! Add to that a 21st century website and an app that works!

That poor website is so sad and dreary. Looking at it I find it hard to believe that they were the front runners online at one point.

[fondoffouettes]

Does anyone know just how old the website design is? It has essentially looked the same since I first started following the company in 2003 -- which is eons ago in the digital world. What was it like before that?

It's truly remarkable that ABT's website has remained such an absolute relic of primitive website design -- and I can think of no equivalent in the arts world, even among small regional companies. I almost don't want it to change; it's like a well-worn, slightly uncomfortable beige couch that's too much trouble to drag to the curb.

[Amy Reusch]

I don't mind the design, but the performance data could be added to the calendar!

[choriamb]

Does anyone know just how old the website design is? It has essentially looked the same since I first started following the company in 2003 -- which is eons ago in the digital world. What was it like before that?

It's truly remarkable that ABT's website has remained such an absolute relic of primitive website design -- and I can think of no equivalent in the arts world, even among small regional companies. I almost don't want it to change; it's like a well-worn, slightly uncomfortable beige couch that's too much trouble to drag to the curb.

2003. See https://archive.org/web/ .

(And there's a balletomane with digital design skills here...just sayin'.)

[Amour]

Hmmm ... I think I must respectfully disagree here. It seems to me that Martins rarely, if ever, commissions new work from choreographers who haven't already established themselves as a brand, with the obvious exceptions of company members such as Christopher Wheeldon, Justin Peck, and Melissa Barak. (Note that Troy Schumacher had been working on his own for a few years before Martins began commissioning work from him.) Martins is to be lauded for his insistence on new work and for fostering The New York Choreographic Institute, but I'd consider him pretty cautious when it comes to awarding commissions -- he's not the kind of AD who's going to color outside the lines, so to speak. PNB's Peter Boal is bolder in this regard, and it will be interesting to see what Lourdes Lopez does in Miami post-Morphoses.

Martins had Liam Scarlett choreograph 2 works: Acheron and Funerailles. I don't think Scarlett can be called a "brand" yet.

[sandik]

Martins had Liam Scarlett choreograph 2 works: Acheron and Funerailles. I don't think Scarlett can be called a "brand" yet.

Actually, he's become quite prominent since he started making work about 10 years ago.

[Amour]

I don't think you can compare Wendy Whelan and Misty Copeland.

I don't know if you should but I will. First, Wendy has long, sinewy muscles, the kind every dancer strives for. The reason they stand out on her is because, quite frankly, she often looks emaciated. She's all muscle, no body fat whatsoever. OTOH, Misty has that bulky, pumped up musculature that dancers (except some men) try to avoid at all costs. Having bulky muscles like that hampers your ability to have good extensions and really do all steps except jumping, because the muscles are not lengthened enough.

Also, Wendy has always been 200% committed to her art form. She developed a very unique way of dancing but she has always been an artist. As Dancerboy90210 is saying, Misty is committed to her PR: her book, her story, blah, blah blah. I don't see any work ethic or commitment to trying to improve as a dancer. If those fouettés travel or, worse, she can't do them, she should be practicing them day and night so that doesn't happen again. And, I agree, I want to see a character onstage, not Misty being Misty. In last Tuesday night's R&J I did see her make an attempt at a characterization but it was terrible. As I said on the R&J thread, hers was the most unmoving R&J I have ever seen (Hee Seo's was a close 2nd). To my eyes she is in no way principal material. And as she and, IMO, other undeveloped and undeserving dancers get promoted, ABT is just going down the tubes.

[Dancerboy90210]

Well put! I think Misty's promotional track can be used as a lens to understand the decline of ABT!

[Kathleen O'Connell]

Martins had Liam Scarlett choreograph 2 works: Acheron and Funerailles. I don't think Scarlett can be called a "brand" yet.

Oh, most definitely a brand. He's still in his 20s and has already created work for (in alphabetical order) ABT, Ballet Black, The Ballet Boyz, English National Ballet, K-Ballet, Miami City Ballet, New York City Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and, of course The Royal Ballet, where he is the company's Artist in Residence (and the first to be named to that post).

Everyone wants a Scarlett of their very own, the same way they wanted a Wheeldon and an Elo.

[miliosr]

My own feeling is that ABT management needs to review its roster w/ a clinical eye and assess what its needs are. With the departures of Julie Kent, Paloma Herrera and Xiomara Reyes, the female principal ranks are sorely in need of new blood:

Diana Vishneva: Much-loved ballerina who is one-half of ABT's one true gold standard pairing (w/ Marcelo Gomes) at the moment. However, she will be 39 this year, and limits her repertory for the Met season. She also dictates to the company who she will and will not dance with during the Met season, and doesn't dance at all during the Fall season. The company should maintain their relationship with her until she's ready to go but also start planning now for her inevitable departure. (-1 in medium term)

Veronika Part: Will be 37 this year and occupies an uncertain place during the Met season. Hasn't been able to forge a lasting partnership although that may change now that Julie Kent's retirement has freed up Roberto Bolle and Part has shown decent-enough rapport with Denys Nedak. Part's great value to the company may be in its Fall season where she excels in highly dramatic pieces like Jardin aux Lilas and The Moor's Pavane. Like Vishneva, ABT should start planning now for her departure. (-1 in medium term)

Gillian Murphy: A backbone of the company and the female counterpart to Marcelo Gomes. She is 36 and her technique remains rock solid. She should provide much-needed stability for years to come unless she takes time off to have children w/ Ethan. (+1 in long term)

Polina Semionova: Youngish (31 this year) ballerina who, curiously, is a member of the company without seeming like one. Ideally, the company could rely on her for a decade or more. Who knows, though, if she longs to return to the world she once knew, which is the German ballet world? (+1 in long-term but ABT should keep a backup plan in its back pocket.)

Hee Seo: Lyrical ballerina who proved she is a workhorse and team player in the tradition of Eleanor D'Antuono. Management may be deploying her in ways that could work against her own self-confidence. Youngish w/ potential but needs to be used carefully lest she go the way of Michele Wiles. (+1 in long term)

Isabella Boylston: Beloved by Alastair MacCaulay as the greatest thing since Anna Pavlova. Cooler heads recognize her as a developing ballerina who still has room for improvement but can provide some much needed stability at the top. Needs to find a ballerino with whom she can forge a lasting partnership. (+1 in long term)

More to come . . .

[CTballetfan]

Miliosr, what about Kochetkova? She apparently spilled the beans that she is now a principal at ABT.

[abatt]

I feel that Kochetkova is generally a bland but efficient and reliable dancer. She is young and her size makes her a suitable partner for Cornejo and the grossly underutilized Simkin. Since McKenzie has refused to develop Sara Lane as a potential partner for principal roles, it wouldn't come as a surprise at all if Kochetkova became a more permanent fixture during the ABT spring season (which, by the way, does not conflict with her career at SFB).

[miliosr]

Continued from prior post . . .

We know that ABT has five reliable year-round ballerinas and 1 reliable ballerina for her very specific Met repertory. We also know that the company has three principal spots to fill with the departures of Kent, Herrera and Reyes, and, arguably, a "utility ballerina" position to fill. (This would be the position that Irina Dvorovenko held and no one has filled.) What we're left with is a deficit of 4-6 principals.

Setting aside the matter of Maria Kotchekova for a moment, let us turn our attention to the three most immediate contenders who form the 'The Trinity' -- Stella Abrera, Misty Copeland and Sarah Lane.

Stella Abrera: One of the biggest cause celebres (if not the biggest) in American ballet today and possessing a fan base that would follow her to the gates of Hell (or the gates of the Met, which may be the same thing), fortune smiled on her this Met season by delivering a performance as Giselle to her. Rapturously received, this performance may vault her into the principal position that her despairing fans feel she has been cheated out of for years. The biggest strike against her is that she is now in her late-30s and only has so many years left in her. Still, as a stopgap, hers would be a reasonable promotion. (Recommendation: Promote w/ the knowledge that you may have to replace her at the same time that Vishneva and Part are transitioning out.)

Misty Copeland: Probably the other biggest cause celebre in American ballet. Her supporters see her as a talented go-getter who triumphed over adversity and who will diversify the art form for the 21st century. Her detractors see her as a mediocre (if that) press hound who will kill off the art form for the 21st century. She is neither. What she is is a reasonably talented American ballerina who puts rear ends in seats. For ABT, which, as Arlene Croce pointed out in the 90s, values selling tickets over elevating the art form, she is a God send. (Recommendation: Promote. She is one of the few dancers they have in the pipeline who can actually draw an audience based on name alone.)

Sarah Lane: Like Abrera and Copeland, Lane has a fervent coterie of admirers. But she also has detractors who, while admiring her pristine technique, find her musically stolid and theatrically dull. Lane is petite and that has limited her potential partners. A partnership with Simkin seemed like a no-brainer but, because of his many deficiencies, that has not come to fruition. She and Herman Cornejo have a decent enough working relationship but they haven't displayed the kind of 'for-the-ages' chemistry that Lane needs to vault into the principal ranks. Her one hope may lie with Joey Gorak and whatever his trajectory toward principal status will be. (Recommendation: No promotion until ABT sorts out who's going to be partnered with Cornejo and Gorak. If Kotchekova and Copeland become their de facto partners, Lane may remain as a "utility soloist" filling Dvorovenko's "ultility ballerina" spot. A cruel fate for Lane . . . but it's a cruel business.)

To be continued in another post . . .

[sandik]

Everyone wants a Scarlett of their very own, the same way they wanted a Wheeldon and an Elo.

This reminds me of a headline on one of Deborah Jowitt's reviews, back when Choo San Goh was having his moment -- "Gotta Get A Goh"

[vagansmom]

1. Lousy antiquated website

2. Not enough coaching

Sure sounds like a huge money problem. The website should've updated long before now. Coaching is vital. Only a company that is faltering financially would let those two important aspects of business lag.

ABT's patchwork solution for the lack of coaching: Hire stars! And that just continues the cycle of not enough money: too much going to the stars to afford website and necessary coaching for ABT's homegrown?

What mismanagement!

[stuben]

That poor website is so sad and dreary. Looking at it I find it hard to believe that they were the front runners online at one point.

I am in total agreement with this comment, I may be exaggerating but I believe this website has been around as long as Kent and now that she has retired maybe it is time to retire the site as well I love what NYCB has and I do believe it is a matter of finances too.

[stuben]

1. Lousy antiquated website

2. Not enough coaching

Sure sounds like a huge money problem. The website should've updated long before now. Coaching is vital. Only a company that is faltering financially would let those two important aspects of business lag.

ABT's patchwork solution for the lack of coaching: Hire stars! And that just continues the cycle of not enough money: too much going to the stars to afford website and necessary coaching for ABT's homegrown?

What mismanagement!

I thought I was alone on this but glad to see that I am not crazy to feel this way. I say much coaching is needed for their own dancers vs the patchwork of guests, but alas it is again financial issues that hopefully new management will fix.

[abatt]

I think they would need a significant amount of money for the type of investment in coaching and teaching and manpower needed to fix the company. Everyone can see that except for the Met season, they are operating with a skeleton staff of principals on a shoestring budget. This setup seems to work for most of their tours and other engagements until the Met season. If they need to hire an outside visitor or two to supplement the roster (i.e., Nedak and Vishneva for the CA SB premiere) they splurge for it. MOst of the time, it's not even an issue, especially since they don't tour much anymore. I suspect there is no way they could afford to pay more principals for full term contracts , benefits and insurance on an annual basis. That's why KM had to clear the roster with some retirements before anyone could be promoted. During a lot of their non-Met engagements, they emphasize ensemble works where the corps and soloists can do the rep work and still make it look good, so the absence of an adequate roster of principals is not so apparent (i.e., Company B, The Green Table, and so on.)

Frankly, I think part of the reason that the Nutcracker at BAM failed financially is because pretty much the same few principal dancers and soloists performed the lead roles, and after the regulars had seen them there was not much incentive to return for repeat viewings. Part of the fun of seeing the NYCB Nutcracker each year is that new company members get chances to dance the leads as a sort of rite of passage, so the regulars enjoy returning to see new faces. .(Yes, I know, the NYCB version is THE iconic version. 'The Ratmansky version clearly is not iconic.)

In some ways ABT is kind of like Walmart. There are a relatively small number of regular full time employees, and the rest are independent contractors and part-timers as a cost savings measure to ABT. When people reach high salaries based on seniority pay and pension, time to go (i.e., Reyes).

[nanushka]

I'm not sure I understand your system of "ratings," miliosr. What do "+1" and "-1" mean? And why, for instance, is Veronika Part "-1 in medium term" while Gillian Murphy is "+1 in long term" when they are separated by only a year in age? I certainly did not see in Veronika's recent Nikiya a dancer who is moving toward retirement at a noticeably faster pace than Gillian.

[miliosr]

nanushka - all a '-1 in the medium term' is meant to convey is that in the medium term (say, 3-5 years) I see a greater likelihood for that person to leave or retire. In Part's case, my ranking is based on my observation that she occupies an uncertain position next to her fellow ballerinas. Under Kevin McKenzie, she often seems like the last among equals. I think there is a greater likelihood for her to get fed up and leave than there is for Murphy, even though they are only a year apart in age.

[ABT Fan]

So, here's a question:

How is it that some of ABT's dancers have websites of their own that are FAR superior (more sophisticated, visual, etc.) than ABT's website? Whether or not these dancers funded the creation/management of the sites themselves or someone volunteered to do it, if they can find the means then why can't ABT do the same?

http://www.marcelogomes.co/

http://www.isabellaboylston.com/

http://www.jameswhiteside.org/

http://www.mistycopeland.com/home.html

Maybe their Head of Marketing or their Online Media Manager should get one of these dancers to hook them up with whoever did their website. Copeland's was done by http://www.starvingartistwebdesign.com/ which is a do-it-yourself'er. Their elite plan only costs $12.99/month for crying out loud.

ABT, renew yourself by gettin' with the program.