bcash

44 minutes ago, On Pointe said:

 

While this story is being widely-reported,  based on comments or lack of them,  it isn't  gaining much traction with the general public. Sad to say,  these days even middle-schoolers have been discovered sending nude photos back and forth.  Ballet fans may be the only people shocked by this.

Or it may sadly speak to ballet's overall marginal presence in America's cultural landscape. 

On 9/8/2018 at 12:55 PM, manhattangal said:

Q Related to both the AD search and the Alexandra Waterford claims:

 

If in fact Ms Waterford's claim of NYCB knowing about the "trashing" of the Washington, DC, hotel room, the inclusion of "underaged girls" in the donor & Finlay's event/party, and later imposing the $150,000 fine (?) on those involved, how could any of the four current members of the Interim Team still be considered in the running for the permanent A.D. position? All four were the leaders of NYCB at the time of this and other happenings alleged by Waterbury. Wouldn't they all be disqualified? [Up to now, I've admired them as individuals, so I hope that none is disqualified. Just being devil's advocate.]

Was it specified which DC tour? If there's no time frame I don't see how this should count against the interim team.

12 hours ago, rkoretzky said:

I was at the Saturday matinee at SPAC when Chase made his debut performance in Apollo. He was promoted on the spot. 

It was a stunner. He captured the arc with great clarity. I will never forget it. 

Unfortunately injuries intervened and I never saw him rise to that level again. 

I wish I had been able to witness those early years of his rising stardom. The last performance I saw him in was the DAAG this past Spring where his uneven partnering of Mearns was discussed on this board. Still his upper body carriage was distinctive and superior to most of the other men on stage.

The one before that, if I remember correctly, was Duo Concertante with Bouder.  Even in this "lighter" piece, his stage presence and moments of wit were much more befitting of a principal than the bland, and tentative performance Russell Janzen gave later in the season. 

I'm inclined to separate the art from the artist, or the artist from the social person, though I don't hold it as some fundamental principle. Still, given what I know now, if there would be performances scheduled tomorrow and a choice between Finlay and say, Janzen, I would still buy tickets to the Finlay one. 

Catazaro has yet to impress as a principal dancer, nor an excellent partner. He's good friends with Finlay and they are of similar height, with conventionally appealing physiques. But if you put them side by side, the difference is evident as daylight. 

Ramasar is justly well-liked by audiences, bringing much to many pieces in the NYCB repertoire, and I hope the Broadway stint will invigorate and deepen his dancing even more, when/if he returns next year.

3 hours ago, Balletwannabe said:

She is admitting she believes the men are guilty ("this behavior was carried out...allowed to fester").  She is supporting Waterbury ("my heart goes out to the women...")- the woman who is suing the company she works for!  She referred to a "leaderless state", as someone mentioned, throwing the interim team under the bus.  I think there's plenty there to create controversy.  If it stays up with zero likes or comments from her colleagues; that says something.  I'm not saying she has no support, but I highly doubt this was vetted by anyone.  

That one succinct comment from Devin Alberda though..

1 hour ago, KayDenmark said:

I must have missed that somewhere in the thread. 

Interesting that Finlay is also related to the pioneering ballerina Ruth Page, who is his dad's great-aunt. Maybe that made it more acceptable for him to choose dance as a career. His family appears to include a lot of architects and designers.

Oh wow I didn't know that. The NYPL Performing Arts branch is having a small exhibition about her I think.

36 minutes ago, Rick said:

I think we're both splitting hairs. It seems obvious to me that "parties", in the context of the paragraph mentioning the donor, implied New York City Ballet sponsored events. But we can disagree.

I read that as indicating private parties. 

On 9/5/2018 at 4:58 PM, FPF said:

He was great in this at Saratoga!

I saw him on Lincoln Center grounds a few weeks ago, presumably taking a noon-time break from rehearsals. Hesitated going up to say hello and good work. With 4T and Symphony in C, he finally seems to be getting tested and groomed for bigger roles.  His brother, btw, is a Martha Graham dancer.

Though, Woodward would seem too big a partner, physically speaking, for S. V-V.

2 minutes ago, yukionna4869 said:

By the time she started dating Finlay, I believe she was not working for NYCB nor was she a student at SAB. I don’t think NYCB has any kind of responsibility for her at that point. 

I think the unnamed NYCB dancers who have had their photos shared would have a stronger case. I hope they find the courage to come forward. I don’t think Waterbury can sue on their behalf. 

Of course. I wonder if they knew anything about this prior to this complaint becoming public. If not, I can only imagine the suspicion hanging in everyone's mind being very distracting in their day-to-day professional activities, at least for the short-term. 

20 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

From what I saw online, Waterbury seems to be involved with the Barnard dance department. I don't know a lot about their dance department beyond the fact that Allegra Kent teaches there. 

Barnard's Dance Department has a long tradition of absorbing members of NYC's professional dance community, as teachers, students, resident artists or some other capacity. 

15 minutes ago, JuliaJ said:

She's part of the student-run Columbia Ballet Collaborative: http://www.columbiaballetcollaborative.com/dancers.html

It's commonplace for people with prior dance experience and continuing interest in dance to join CBC once they become affiliated with any of Columbia's schools. With so many professional dance groups active in NYC, I've never been to their year-end performances, despite being a dance lover and living close by.

3 minutes ago, atm711 said:

SO WHAT!! if she wasn't a member of the Company-----she was a STUDENT which makes the accusations far worse....

Was she a student when she started dating Finlay?

20 minutes ago, cubanmiamiboy said:

What's probably in everyone's minds is who knew what, how much and since when. 

I think of Megan LeCrone's IG post earlier about pulling together as a community etc. De Luz's post about how it's always the artists, audience and the art that suffer the consequences. These relatively vague posts appeared right after the news about resignation and suspension. I wonder how much they knew then, because it would have painted different pictures of the dancers' judgement and grievances and exposure to information, depending on the answer.

10 minutes ago, cobweb said:

Be that as it may, I still don't know why we can't assume the company may have acted reasonably, considering that they did an investigation and therefore, have a lot more information than we have. 

People might be inclined to assume otherwise because of the conclusion of the Martins investigation. 

Anyway, I'm annoyed that most media outlets other than the NYT use "ballerina" or "dancer" in their headline to describe Waterbury. She's a model and student, a former ballet student, but not a dancer and certainly not a "ballerina". The use of these descriptors plants the impression that this is coming from someone who's an established member of the company, when in reality she's not.

23 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

Yeah, his story was from two hours before the initial story was posted on here, so I'm guessing it hadn't broken yet. I think Mearns (presumably coincidentally) posted hers right around the time the story broke. I can't find a single post from a NYCB dancer after that time, though some have posted stories of rehearsals.

And Catazaro's account seems to have turned private after that post.

5 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

It seems like it's been radio silence from NYCB dancers today on Instagram. I wonder if they are either in shock or have been asked to stay off social media for a while. There was an image (a behind-the-scenes shot from a photo shoot) posted by Sara Mearns five hours ago, and nothing since then from any of the dancers as far as I can see. And these are people who are usually constantly posting...

Didn't Catazaro post something related to his modeling gigs today? It might have been before the story broke though.

Wow. Very worried how/if the dancers, especially female dancers will carry through a Fall Season that has many wonderful and demanding programs, under the circumstances. 

Excited that Villarini-Velez is getting the third Movement of Symphony in C!

So this lawsuit is not brought by whoever made the complaint last week? It certainly suggests a systematic problem that seems much graver than the Martins allegations and what seemed to be an "isolated outburst" last week.

On 8/30/2018 at 7:58 PM, vipa said:

One thing that may exacerbate the overall feeling of a dysfunctional company is the use of social media by many dancers, with the intention of building a fan base and showing that "dancers are people too." I'm not saying this is wrong to do, just that it carries risks. The most extreme example is the T. Peck/R. Fairchild engagement and marriage. This was not a simple announcement or something known only by diehard fans, it was all over the place. So when the marriage ended it was a big deal. Lauren Lovette's engagement to Finley was on social media. Bouder's pregnancy and now motherhood are a constant feed. Lexie Maxwell is very public on social media about her relationship with Ramasar. I'm talking public facing accounts. It's all "feel good" when things are going well, but if things take a turn for the worse with divorces, break-ups, etc. there can be problems. 

Oh even the NYTimes did a short feature on Peck/Fairchild's marriage. And there's an AOL produced youtube series on NYCB, over the two seasons of which all of Peck/Fairchild, Fairchild/Veyette and Finlay/Lovette's relationship were showcased.

22 hours ago, Helene said:

The succession plans are up to the Boards.  Long tenure is a factor that can allow an individual to entrench his or her power by forming a board where the scales tip to support the individual over the institution or by allowing the Board to fall asleep at the wheel.  If a board does not have a succession plan for a leader -- or Plan A, Plan B, Plan C-- that is/are reviewed and updated as conditions change -- in business, this is simply one item on the risk management matrix, usually at the top -- then that Board is negligent, and even more so if it's because of loyalty, particularly when the actuarial tables are not in the individual's favor.  Whether a board works as a committee, in which case the result can be greater or less than the sum of its parts, or is led by the AD or a Kirstein or is a rubber stamp for a big kahuna board member, depends on the Board and the time.

Lissner told Millepied over the phone (in a documentary) that, of course, he had a replacement lined up for Millipied.  That's his job as the head of the entire Paris Opera; in  US ballet companies, that's the responsibility of the Boards. 

Whether SFB's and ABT's Boards have those plans in place has not been made public.  

 

Oh I saw that documentary on the workings of the Paris Opera too. I wished it had given the Ballet more screen time.

On 9/1/2018 at 1:04 PM, California said:

We're at a point in history where  Balanchine's legacy transmitted by people who worked with him will come mainly from coaches, SAB faculty, and board members, but not from the artistic director. That was inevitable.

There isn't a current board member who has worked with Balanchine, at least artistically, if I'm not mistaken?

1 hour ago, FPF said:

Macaulay has now posted about this on his Instagram. There's a suggestion in the comments that NYCB should hire Whiteside and McGee Maddox seems to be perhaps suggesting himself. But I agree with Kathleen--there are several tall dancers in the lower ranks who could get new opportunities.

 

Whiteside himself said that he sent his tapes to NYCB when he was trying to come to NY (aiming for ABT of course), and they kinda just said flat-out no.

15 minutes ago, Rock said:

Boy you said it Kathleen. Harrison Ball, Harrison Cole, Joe Gordon, Roman Mejia - and others as well. 

 

And Sebastian Villarini-Velez.

As far as the impact on casting goes, yes this is bad news. Male principal rank was already strained before this. 

Second reaction is will CF continue dancing? It doesn't sound like his resignation was forced. I wonder if he had thought it through or was he already experiencing some burn-out re. dancing.

26 minutes ago, rkoretzky said:

Much unfortunate timing here. 

Tomasson, Villela, Farrell, McBride—too late. 

Woetzel—too late for a different reason. 

Ulbricht—too early. 

Boal—I wish it were possible. 

Lopez—practically perfect in every way. 

Why isn't Boal possible?