Gomes and ABT

[dirac]

17 hours ago, California said:

Very glad to see this. And no indication (yet) of a cancellation of the film showing in January:

https://www.facebook.com/MarceloGomesAnatomyOfAMaleBalletDancer/

I hope he'll be able to finish his career with dignity in Europe and Russia. And I wouldn't be surprised if his retirement  performance is at the Mariinsky, hosted by Vishneva.

I trust they are acting in full knowledge of events. I wonder what kind of explaining Gomes is having to do, if any. Or they may simply be assuming that the foolish Americans have gone overboard again.

I wonder if some sort of postscript will have to be added to the documentary (?)

[balletforme]

One would assume that Gomes has "paid the price" for transgressions and Europe and Russia would not ask. 

I don't know that Russian ballet companies would be casting stones over "foolishness," if that is what we shall call this. There is certainly scads of drama and "foolishness" within Russian companies. 

 

[dirac]

For a prospective employer not to inquire would be less than responsible, potentially opening the employer to future legal action. This would be particularly true if they were bringing him on in a full-time position. It may well be true that European and Russian companies aren’t worried about that.

In the case of Ryan Lizza, who was canned by The New Yorker and has vociferously protested his dismissal, he’s been suspended by CNN while that organization undertakes its own inquiry. Ballet companies don’t necessarily have those resources, but at the very least I should think they have to ask.

[naomikage]

Gomes has performed in Roberto Bolle and Friends.

 

[FauxPas]

Marshall Whiteley posted these videos on Instagram of his Nutcracker guesting gig at Richter Academy of Classical Dance.  What think you?  Is he ready for prime time?  Kevin has a tendency to wait a long time before even trying out a corps dancer in a soloist role.  A lot of those newly minted principals are in their late twenties and thirties - Stella was at least 35 when she was made principal.  But maybe we have a Solor and Siegfried here?  Definitely an Espada?  Take a look:

 

[ABT Fan]

They've started to recast a few of Gomes' roles.

For the Kennedy Center run starting Jan 30, Hammoudi replaces him in Serenade After Plato's Symposium on the 30th, and Ahn replaces Hammoudi on the 31st. I believe that'll be a debut for Ahn. And, Forster replaces Gomes in Whipped Cream on Feb 3, opposite Teuscher. That'll be a role debut for Forster. Hmmmmm....maybe we'll see Forster paired w/ Teuscher in some other upcoming roles? SL??

http://www.abt.org/calendar.aspx?startdate=1/1/2018

Edited January 5, 2018 by ABT Fan

[fondoffouettes]

On 12/29/2017 at 8:33 PM, FauxPas said:

Marshall Whiteley posted these videos on Instagram of his Nutcracker guesting gig at Richter Academy of Classical Dance.  What think you?  Is he ready for prime time?  Kevin has a tendency to wait a long time before even trying out a corps dancer in a soloist role.  A lot of those newly minted principals are in their late twenties and thirties - Stella was at least 35 when she was made principal.  But maybe we have a Solor and Siegfried here?  Definitely an Espada?  Take a look:

 

I've been very impressed with the clips he has posted on Instagram. Definitely plenty of room for refinement, but the raw talent seems to be there. I'm generally more impressed by his upper body and port de bras than his lower body. There's sort of a heavy quality about his legs (I don't mean weight-wise), which I guess could just be a matter of line. It certainly would be nice if ABT could find a new prince. Whiteside and Stearns have been mostly disappointing from a dramatic standpoint, and Hammoudi seems to have become a lost cause, despite being cast quite a bit. 

Edited January 5, 2018 by fondoffouettes

[FauxPas]

On 1/5/2018 at 5:43 PM, fondoffouettes said:

I've been very impressed with the clips he has posted on Instagram. Definitely plenty of room for refinement, but the raw talent seems to be there. I'm generally more impressed by his upper body and port de bras than his lower body. There's sort of a heavy quality about his legs (I don't mean weight-wise), which I guess could just be a matter of line. It certainly would be nice if ABT could find a new prince. Whiteside and Stearns have been mostly disappointing from a dramatic standpoint, and Hammoudi seems to have become a lost cause, despite being cast quite a bit. 

I think one thing about Marshall Whiteley is that he is very tall and long limbed which gives him more weight and length to move around when turning and jumping.   He is more the danseur noble type than the high jumping, quick turning demi-caractère like Herman Cornejo.  However, the refinement won't happen until he is given the roles and the coaching and training that go with them.  Also, he has mentioned on his social media that he has acting training which means that story ballets are something that he should gravitate towards artistically and he is quite handsome which never hurts when dancing the Prince or cavalier.   He is young but not too young to be cast and they can start him learning Siegfried, Albrecht, Solor, Espada and Nutcracker Prince NOW.  

Edited January 8, 2018 by FauxPas
rewrite for clarity

[AB'sMom]

When he played the Mouse King in Nutcracker he sometimes didn’t run across the backs of the other rats because the two men/rats responsible for kind of lifting him to do that couldn’t manage it. He’s a big, strong guy. 

[its the mom]

19 hours ago, FauxPas said:

I think one thing about Marshall Whiteley is that he is very tall and long limbed which gives him more weight and length to move around when turning and jumping.   He is more the danseur noble type than the high jumping, quick turning demi-caractère like Herman Cornejo.  However, the refinement won't happen until he is given the roles and the coaching and training that go with them.  Also, he has mentioned on his social media that he has acting training which means that story ballets are something that he should gravitate towards artistically and he is quite handsome which never hurts when dancing the Prince or cavalier.   He is young but not too young to be cast and they can start him learning Siegfried, Albrecht, Solor, Espada and Nutcracker Prince NOW.  

Why would they do that when they don't even use all of their principals and soloists in these roles?  

[cubanmiamiboy]

Sexual harassment witch hunt can quickly turn from a valuable asset in the fight for equality to a terrifying blacklist designed either to end flirty interaction between men and women-(or men and men)- or to easily profit from it.

[sandik]

I appreciate the difficulties in balancing behavior at work, but we really don't know what Gomes was accused of, only that whatever it was, he decided to leave the company without waiting for the investigation. 

[Drew]

48 minutes ago, cubanmiamiboy said:

Sexual harassment witch hunt can quickly turn from a valuable asset in the fight for equality to a terrifying blacklist designed either to end flirty interaction between men and women-(or men and men) [...]

A concern many are raising. On the Peter Martins thread people have quoted laws on sexual harrassment at some length to address it. These legal definitions have greater precision and speak to more serious behaviors than flirting or one time making a pass at someone etc. 

 

 

[Parsifal]

3 hours ago, Drew said:

A concern many are raising. On the Peter Martins thread people have quoted laws on sexual harrassment at some length to address it. These legal definitions have greater precision and speak to more serious behaviors than flirting or one time making a pass at someone etc. 

 

 

We do not know what the accusation against Marcelo was and if it constituted criminal behavior. Nowadays, the message on media and Twitter is that anything that leaves a woman uncomfortable is harassment, and conduct can have far reaching consequences even if it breaks no laws. A few weeks ago, a minister in the UK resigned because he was accused of putting his hand on a female journalist's knee in the early 2000s, or something like that, even though that is not, I think, criminal behavior in Britain. The definition of harassment has become subjective, sometimes arbitrary and biased, which is probably where Apolinnaire and Wendy were coming from in their comments.

[California]

2 hours ago, Parsifal said:

We also know this: that a bunch of people who seem to know what the allegations are, have publicly sided with Marcelo.

I follow a lot of them on social media. After the initial flurry of on-line support, it's been eerily quiet. We don't know why. He is still scheduled to premiere a new work in March at Washington Ballet, so perhaps we'll see some Instagram, etc., assuming he will be in DC for the premiere.

https://www.washingtonballet.org/performance/2017-2018-season/three-world-premieres

[nanushka]

2 hours ago, Parsifal said:

We also know this: that a bunch of people who seem to know what the allegations are, have publicly sided with Marcelo.

Unfortunately, though, we don't know what or how much those people know, or what the source of their information is. They could very well know only Marcelo's side of the story. Personally, I'd love to think that Marcelo is completely innocent, but there's just not enough publicly available information to make me think one way or another. We have no idea who the alleged victim(s) is, nor what Marcelo is accused of.

[Drew]

4 hours ago, Parsifal said:

... A few weeks ago, a minister in the UK resigned because he was accused of putting his hand on a female journalist's knee in the early 2000s, or something like that, even though that is not, I think, criminal behavior in Britain. 

If only politicians who openly boasted of grabbing genitals and slipping into teenage beauty contestants’ dressing rooms unannounced would also resign  ... 

Politicians do seem to be vulnerable or invulnerable based on largely political considerations and not legal definitions...I am sure the results are not optimal.

On the other side, I am also concerned — rather more so — about many workers —eg  factory workers, agricultural workers, domestic workers etc. — who may not be in any position to reap benefits from this supposedly wide-reaching ‘cultural’ momentto, as they can be largely without resources to seek redress when sexually exploited. (Especially the undocumented, who can be deported if they go to police). Though...for that very reason some have been leaders on this issue well before the current media interest. Of course, it wasn’t a topic of discussion on BalletAlert then....

[Helene]

2 hours ago, nanushka said:

Unfortunately, though, we don't know what or how much those people know, or what the source of their information is.

And, to extend this, the only official news is that, if they are ballet professionals, that they have expressed support.   Until a ballet professional or ballet company makes an official statement, we don't know anything except, so far, what ABT has stated.

 

[dirac]

7 hours ago, Parsifal said:

We do not know what the accusation against Marcelo was and if it constituted criminal behavior. Nowadays, the message on media and Twitter is that anything that leaves a woman uncomfortable is harassment, and conduct can have far reaching consequences even if it breaks no laws. A few weeks ago, a minister in the UK resigned because he was accused of putting his hand on a female journalist's knee in the early 2000s, or something like that, even though that is not, I think, criminal behavior in Britain. The definition of harassment has become subjective, sometimes arbitrary and biased, which is probably where Apolinnaire and Wendy were coming from in their comments.

 I gather you are referring to Michael Fallon, who admitted to multiple instances of “inappropriate” behavior.

Quote

The revelation was the tipping point for No 10, which the Observer understands had been compiling a list of alleged incidents involving Fallon since claims against him were first made.

We don’t know where Scherr and Perron were coming from, although I rather hope it was not the location you describe. They seemed to be confident that Gomes was the victim of an injustice, but it’s impossible to tell on what grounds. As said previously upthread, as journalists they should be able to look into the matter and write about it. If they can’t share in public the basis for their comments, they should not comment.

 

[abatt]

20 minutes ago, dirac said:

 I gather you are referring to Michael Fallon, who admitted to multiple instances of “inappropriate” behavior.

We don’t know where Scherr and Perron were coming from, although I rather hope it was not the location you describe. They seemed to be confident that Gomes was the victim of an injustice, but it’s impossible to tell on what grounds. As said previously upthread, as journalists they should be able to look into the matter and write about it. If they can’t share in public the basis for their comments, they should not comment.

 

I would be careful to separate out people who are trained  journalists and those who are editors or operators of trade publications regarding dance.  It's become clear to me that simply being editor or writer of a trade publication does not mean that the person has any actual background in journalism, or the standards applicable to formal journalism.

Edited January 11, 2018 by abatt

[chicagoballetomane]

On 1/8/2018 at 7:36 PM, AB'sMom said:

When he played the Mouse King in Nutcracker he sometimes didn’t run across the backs of the other rats because the two men/rats responsible for kind of lifting him to do that couldn’t manage it. He’s a big, strong guy. 

Whitley is impressive in those clips, but I would love to see ABT give Aran Bell a shot at a prince role: 

 

[Helene]

Bell had such beautiful training through Denis Ganio.  I'd love to see him in a Prince role, too.

He's obviously grown since the "First Position" documentary.  Does anyone know how tall he is?  Would he be suitable for Bluebird?

 

[ABT Fan]

I don't think Bell is too tall as he's seen in clips partnering Lane and Brandt (who are both very short) and he's a good fit for both (not hovering over them when they're on pointe, but just enough of a height difference). I'd say he's no more than 5'9 ish. He'd be great as Bluebird and I'd like to see him to take on a peasant pas or the equivalent. He's not ready for a princely role yet (his first "big" role is coming up in Thirteen Diversions in D.C.).

Same for Whiteley: he's talented but he's yet to even take on a demi-soloist role, so in no way would they give him a leading role yet. His upper body is gorgeous but his feet are frequently sloppy. He has a lot of potential. But, he needs to tackle a demi- or soloist role before diving into Siegfried, etc.

[Pique Arabesque]

18 hours ago, cubanmiamiboy said:

Sexual harassment witch hunt can quickly turn from a valuable asset in the fight for equality to a terrifying blacklist designed either to end flirty interaction between men and women-(or men and men)- or to easily profit from it.

Who is being blacklisted? Marcelo is still dancing, and his projects outside of ABT are still going forward as planned (as the many Instagram clips in this thread reveal).

14 hours ago, Parsifal said:

We do not know what the accusation against Marcelo was and if it constituted criminal behavior. Nowadays, the message on media and Twitter is that anything that leaves a woman uncomfortable is harassment, and conduct can have far reaching consequences even if it breaks no laws.

It might be more useful to interrogate why one feels the need to cause discomfort in the workplace. Also, there are men in the entertainment industry who have come forward with allegations (they are not danseurs, but the actors Terry Crews and Anthony Rapp come to mind).

[abatt]

7 minutes ago, Pique Arabesque said:

Who is being blacklisted? Marcelo is still dancing, and his projects outside of ABT are still going forward as planned (as the many Instagram clips in this thread reveal).

It might be more useful to interrogate why one feels the need to cause discomfort in the workplace. Also, there are men in the entertainment industry who have come forward with allegations (they are not danseurs, but the actors Terry Crews and Anthony Rapp come to mind).

He may still be getting jobs here and there, but the main source of his employment  and income are gone, and his reputation has been permanently and  damaged.