nanushka

Ah, thanks for the clarification! Not a regular GMA watcher here. I agree with almost everything you write...but as for "the downfall of contemporary society" — well really, many of these issues are as old as modern culture, if not older. If contemporary society is falling down, I don't think it's because of incidents like this one.

Even there, though, while Wall is quoted as calling her out, the author himself, in the piece's lede, inserts a completely unnecessary phrase that gives Spencer the benefit of the doubt (or even exonerates her): "Seemingly innocent"? From what perspective?

Many dancers (from their official public accounts) are continuing to post comments on her preceding (unrelated) post anyway, so that gambit didn’t really work.

No, indeed. As for this: I think we can count on it.

I did note that she actually wrote, "my sincere apologies" and directly acknowledged that the remark was "insensitive." Better than what's all too common, the "I sincerely apologize if anyone was offended..." etc. There was a bit of an explanation implied in the 2nd and 3rd sentences. I am indeed perhaps being overly generous, I admit. I read it with very low expectations. And yes, the self-dig at "pop news" was 🙄.

It's a decent comment (or, at least, better than I expected), and I can imagine an argument for keeping it short, but I really wish — for the sake of her many followers, not just those she's apologizing to — that she had said more about what she may have learned about why the original remarks were "insensitive" and how, specifically, they caused harm. Many of her followers may just write this off as a necessary gesture to the pc police, without really understanding what was at stake.

Yes, in fact their final performances were back-to-back Coppélias on a Saturday; he danced Franz in one and she danced Swanilda in the other.

Generally agree with much of what's been said, but just one minor point to KMcK's credit: he did cast Waski as Myrta, I believe, a few years ago, but then she got injured.

Sorry, I meant there was news as early as May (see above) that she'd be performing this. In other words, it wasn't a last-minute engagement. The Lacotte is indeed completely different from the Bournonville, but I don't see why she would have had only four days to learn the part. Even if that's the only time she had remaining once she arrived on site and was able to start working with the coaches there, she could have arrived having pretty much learned the role on her own. I remember an interview with Joseph Gorak — who really was engaged at the last minute to dance Cinderella for the first time, following another dancer's injury — in which he said he learned the role in his living room watching a video. Obviously, there'd still be much to master after that, but I'd think a dancer could do quite a lot on their own.

Why did she have only four days to learn the role? Even here on BA, there was a report that she'd be dancing this as early as May 28 (above).

Michael Cooper has a piece in the Times on the opera world's mixed responses to the Domingo allegations. A few excerpts:

His casting has been more irregular in the past few years, I think, than in the few years before that. I’m not particularly surprised he doesn’t show up in the limited casting that’s listed on the calendar. The work with the longest list, The Seasons, is one that I don’t think he danced at the Met this spring. I wouldn’t read anything more into his absence from the lists than that his opportunities for advancement have indeed largely passed.

I really hope she posts the Act I solo!

I find the timing of Brandt's posts, corresponding with the announcement of casting for D.C. and the remaining TBA, to be very interesting. Does she know she's being considered for that slot? Is she publicly demonstrating her capacity for the role with the hopes of being cast? Or is it just a coincidence that she's working on the role with her coaches at this particular time? I don't mean to imply any sort of criticism here — if she's putting in a bid for the role, she's doing so on her (considerable) merits, which is to be lauded IMO.

The whole point of workplace sexual harassment law is that, in relations with coworkers, superiors, etc., that "option" is not really a matter a free choice without consequences. In the context of an abuse of power, a sexual relationship can no longer be truly "consensual."