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2018 Met Season


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Does anyone know if any publicly available information (e.g. planned or canceled public appearances, social media postings, etc.) makes it clear whether Hallberg was planning all along to travel to Australia between his Royal Ballet appearances in Giselle and Manon? It seems unlikely, but possible, that he was, and if he wasn't, that could suggest the possibility that he made the trip specifically to get further rehab — which would seem to belie the idea that his injury was a minor one.

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Since Hallberg has canceled Manon a month out due to injury, it can't be minor. What a shame. I feel terrible for him. I'm guessing it's doubtful he'll show up at the Met. Even if he recovers say late next month, he'll have missed rehearsals which are especially critical for the new Harlequinade. Expect to see a lot of cast changes, and possible debuts. Perhaps Royal will replace him in Harlequinade. I wouldn't be surprised if Hammoudi gets his R&J's (two w/ Boylston) since he's not cast this year. Giselle? I'm afraid to find out.

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14 hours ago, Marta said:

Almmost every  possibility gets crossed off my  list because one or both of the lead dancers are duds.  I may skip the whole Met season.

Not me.  Like everyone else on here, just about all of the dancers I care to see are scheduled to dance with an inferior partner for some or all of their performances.  I would rather see my favorite dancers perform with a dud, than not see them at all.  Dancer’s careers are short, and ballet is too important to me to just skip an entire MET season.  So I have resigned myself to seeing some pretty unbalanced casts this season.  It’s not the first time I’ve had to settle.  So I’ll just try to enjoy as much of the season as possible, and hope that next year is more balanced. 

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1 hour ago, ABT Fan said:

Since Hallberg has canceled Manon a month out due to injury, it can't be minor. What a shame. I feel terrible for him. I'm guessing it's doubtful he'll show up at the Met. Even if he recovers say late next month, he'll have missed rehearsals which are especially critical for the new Harlequinade. Expect to see a lot of cast changes, and possible debuts. Perhaps Royal will replace him in Harlequinade. I wouldn't be surprised if Hammoudi gets his R&J's (two w/ Boylston) since he's not cast this year. Giselle? I'm afraid to find out.

I can't help but agree with your concerns.  I hope Kevin is working on bringing in a decent guest or two.  And if Lendorf remains injured, we're really sunk.   Does anyone know how he's doing?

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15 minutes ago, NinaFan said:

Not me.  Like everyone else on here, just about all of the dancers I care to see are scheduled to dance with an inferior partner for some or all of their performances.  I would rather see my favorite dancers perform with a dud, than not see them at all.  Dancer’s careers are short, and ballet is too important to me to just skip an entire MET season.  So I have resigned myself to seeing some pretty unbalanced casts this season.  It’s not the first time I’ve had to settle.  So I’ll just try to enjoy as much of the season as possible, and hope that next year is more balanced. 

That's also my view of the situation.  Cornejo is one of the best dancers, but he is now regularly cast with my least favorite dancer.  I'll go to see him, even if it means tolerating a lackluster and mediocre performance from his partner.

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18 hours ago, Marta said:

Boylston & Copeland are also on my least desirable list.  I would love to see Lane in either Bayadere or DQ but these  dates will be difficult for me to attend. I saw Lane & Simkin last year in Giselle and loved them.  Almmost every  possibility gets crossed off my  list because one or both of the lead dancers are duds.  I may skip the whole Met season.

Au contraire mes * ....  I found Bella to be most desirable.  She’s so dynamic on stage and her power seems to be endless.  In addition, off-stage I find her to be the most relatable with strong social media presence, other cool projects and edgy fashun forward lewks henny.....  

 

on the the other hand, Lane portrays a more old-fashion air, traveling around with her dogs and complaining about accommodations.  That’s all I’m gonna say about her, otherwise the Lane dan club gonna attack me this Sunday at the box office....heheheh

 

anywho, I still find Copeland important for grabbing new audiences and the fight for equality.   Boylston is so so very relevant to the masses... especially for me and my fellow millennials, the ones who will bring ballet forward to the 23rd century.

 

 

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Yeah, I thought the "*" in your other post wasn't a typo. If you think a dancer is lame for traveling with her dogs and complaining about a badly kept hotel, then you just described a lot, and I mean a lot, of ballet dancers. Not everyone has a publicist managing or monitoring their social media posts, you know.

Anyway, back to the real topic and enough with people bashing dancers' personal life, I can't see Osipova dancing with any other current ABT guy, to be honest. If Kevin doesn't bring someone she approves of, then expect a last minute withdrawal announcement. That's how ABT rolls. Of course, maybe Hallberg will be healthy by then. Who knows?

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14 minutes ago, LadyBubbles said:

I can't see Osipova dancing with any other current ABT guy, to be honest. If Kevin doesn't bring someone she approves of, then expect a last minute withdrawal announcement. That's how ABT rolls. Of course, maybe Hallberg will be healthy by then. Who knows?

I agree.  I can't see Osipova dancing with any other current ABT dancer either.  But as you say, maybe Hallberg will be healed by then.

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9 hours ago, naomikage said:

Social media presence has nothing to do with the value of a ballet dancer.

Appearing on media is not as important as the ballet itself. 

Unfortunately, at ABT media exposure  seems to be very important in evaluating the value of a dancer, insofar as media exposure leads to ticket sales.

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59 minutes ago, Helene said:

And the great thing about social media is that it's equally accessible and under the control of the dancers, unlike mainstream media coverage.

I'd be interested in the venn diagram of people who follow any given ABT ballerina on instagram, the people who seek out Alistair Macaulay's New York Times reviews, and the people who buy tickets. 

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26 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

I'd be interested in the venn diagram of people who follow any given ABT ballerina on instagram, the people who seek out Alistair Macaulay's New York Times reviews, and the people who buy tickets. 

 

26 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

I'd be interested in the venn diagram of people who follow any given ABT ballerina on instagram, the people who seek out Alistair Macaulay's New York Times reviews, and the people who buy tickets. 

Such an interesting idea. I'd love to see that too. Maybe companies are doing market research to find out.

I follow a number of dancers on instagram and particularly enjoy pictures and videos taken in rehearsal. I end up visiting certain dancer's social media more frequently than others, because of the frequency of their postings.  These are not necessarily the dancers I buy tickets to see. Sterling Hyltin is an example. Not a big instagram poster but one of my favorite dancers. 

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1 hour ago, vipa said:

Such an interesting idea. I'd love to see that too. Maybe companies are doing market research to find out.

I follow a number of dancers on instagram and particularly enjoy pictures and videos taken in rehearsal. I end up visiting certain dancer's social media more frequently than others, because of the frequency of their postings.  These are not necessarily the dancers I buy tickets to see. Sterling Hyltin is an example. Not a big instagram poster but one of my favorite dancers. 

It's interesting -- I've never seen a sponsored post from a dance company on Instagram -- so I don't know if they'd have any way to track conversions from Instagram to ticket purchases. As far as I'm aware, you can only put clickable links in sponsored posts. (I'm guessing advertising on Instagram must be way more expensive than Facebook.)

I'm impressed by how ABT uses their own dancers to run their instagram account. The content always feels very organic and engaging, whereas I find NYCB's Instagram account an overly curated affair. It's clear NYCB has significantly greater resources for social media and digital marketing (as evidenced in their superb videos), but I prefer ABT's more homespun approach to their Instagram posts.

I mean, NYCB does all those multi-part posts for the sole purpose, it seems, of creating a perfect mosaic of images on its main Instagram page. It's certainly pretty, but I always scroll right past the posts because the content is repetitive and usually too glossy (I'm interested in personal, behind-the-scenes content, not photos I could see in a season brochure). 

NYCB_Instagram.jpg

This is probably the only time I'll ever say I prefer ABT to NYCB when it comes to something in the arena of digital media or marketing 

Edited by fondoffouettes
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12 hours ago, abatt said:

Unfortunately, at ABT media exposure  seems to be very important in evaluating the value of a dancer, insofar as media exposure leads to ticket sales.

I myself am a frequent user of social media, but these days I am getting a little sick of seeing those. Of course there are many good things, feeling the dance world closer, and sometimes for good causes, like campaigns socially important, and delivering important messages. But if there is much vanity in the postings, too much selfies and party pictures, that is disappointing. 

I am a  professional journalist in my country, and the other day I interviewed Isabelle Guerin. As most of you are aware, she is also a frequent Instagram poster and posts some very lovely photos. However, in the interview she said that these days dancers are too obsessed with social media and are even thinking what to post on Instagram while they are dancing. That deprives the magic of dance she said and I agree with her. 

 

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12 minutes ago, naomikage said:

I am a  professional journalist in my country, and the other day I interviewed Isabelle Guerin. As most of you are aware, she is also a frequent Instagram poster and posts some very lovely photos. However, in the interview she said that these days dancers are too obsessed with social media and are even thinking what to post on Instagram while they are dancing. That deprives the magic of dance she said and I agree with her. 

 

That IMO is a problem in general in our times. It's as if showing the world what you are doing is more important that actually experiencing it.

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On 3/15/2018 at 3:30 PM, hyacinthhippo said:

. especially for me and my fellow millennials, the ones who will bring ballet forward to the 23rd century.

 

 

I mostly enjoy Boylston and Lane and certainly will not avoid either’s  performances. 

 

i do think social media is (unfortunately) super important for today’s dancer to get noticed by the public, at least in the US.  I  think using it in the right way gives that dancer an edge over an equally talented dancer who does not use it.  It seems like most companies are about the money, which is understandable, because they need to stay afloat and try to prosper

Edited by Kaysta
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8 hours ago, Kaysta said:

I mostly enjoy Boylston and Lane and certainly will not avoid either’s  performances.  I’m not quite a millennial (I think I just make it into X) but if it’s a millennial thing to purposely misspell words, count me glad to not be a millennial.

I am always delighted to see Boylston and Lane, however there are several dancers who I avoid whenever possible.  But these days it is getting more and more difficult.

8 hours ago, Kaysta said:

I do think social media is (unfortunately) super important for today’s dancer to get noticed by the public, at least in the US.  I  think using it in the right way gives that dancer an edge over an equally talented dancer who does not use it.  It seems like most companies are about the money, which is understandable, because they need to stay afloat and try to prosper

 

How both true and sad since popularity on social media does not necessarily equate to having talent.  One can have celebrity status, but still only perform at a mediocre level.   It’s no longer all about technical and artistic ability.   But as you say, for a ballet company, it’s really all about the bottom line if they want to stay afloat.  Unfortunately it seems to have taken a toll on the art form.

 

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11 hours ago, Kaysta said:

I mostly enjoy Boylston and Lane and certainly will not avoid either’s  performances.  I’m not quite a millennial (I think I just make it into X) but if it’s a millennial thing to purposely misspell words, count me glad to not be a millennial.

 

i do think social media is (unfortunately) super important for today’s dancer to get noticed by the public, at least in the US.  I  think using it in the right way gives that dancer an edge over an equally talented dancer who does not use it.  It seems like most companies are about the money, which is understandable, because they need to stay afloat and try to prosper

IMO, ABT has done a poor job in cultivating young patrons.  Other companies such as Paris Opera Ballet and NYCB have done such a great job with their young patron programs and keeping them engage and interested.  On the other hand, ABT Junior Council program has continuously disintegrate in the past four years especially, not offering any value with young patrons.  In addition for non JC members, ABT has removed their 18-29 programs which is their discounted tickets for young people.  This is a really backward move from ABT's part, how else are they going to motivate new young audiences to be invested in their future.  If ABT continue to rely on their old patron, this company will dissolve sooner sadly.  Therefore, I see much value in individual dancers being proactive in reaching out to new and younger audience through social media, social engagements and other means.   Personally, I have been a long time member for JC and considering canceling my membership this year.  I feel less and less invested in ABT as a company and more invested in seeing my favorite dancers such as Abrera, Cornejo, Lendorf, Boylston, Cirio, Murphy, Teuscher, and Whiteside.

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8 hours ago, hyacinthhippo said:

ABT has done a poor job in cultivating young patrons.

I would expand the point and suggest that ABT has done a poor job in cultivating patrons, period.

Their marketing — as many on here have noted in many contexts — is generally pathetic. Even just hiring a few really good, forward-thinking marketing professionals and investing in a less embarrassingly out-of-date website could make a huge difference. Or just look across the plaza and steal a few ideas!

It makes me so sad and frustrated, thinking of what this company could be with stronger vision and leadership.

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7 minutes ago, cobweb said:

The website I believe is just a year or so old, but it is a confusing, jumbled mess. 

Only the main page was redone then. The inner pages are all the same as before. Clicking on "Visit the Full Site" in the upper right-hand menu takes you back to the old website exactly as it was.

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5 minutes ago, Emma said:

The Met Opera has a student discount program where you can buy individual tickets to ABT instead of 3 packs. It may not reach as many young adults as NYCB's 30 under 30, but it certainly helps.

 

This is true, but like you said, it's a Met Opera program, not one that was conceived or developed at ABT. Instead, they quietly got rid of their 18-29 program this year. 

 

8 minutes ago, cobweb said:

The website I believe is just a year or so old, but it is a confusing, jumbled mess. 

The fresher-looking landing page for the website is a year or two old, but when you click through, it's the same old, dated calendar and webpages that look straight from 1999. They just put a wrapping paper on it.

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