nanushka

I got a very nice surprise in the mail today, six back issues (Fall 2017 – Spring 2020) of Dance Index with a note:

Quote

With the compliments of Ballet Society — Eakins Press Foundation, publisher of Dance Index and the Dance Research Foundation, publisher of Ballet Review

I'm guessing this may be because my subscription to Ballet Review was paid beyond their end of publication.

Perfectly said, @vipa.

1 hour ago, Quiggin said:

The problem is how long can you just maintain a purist Balanchine repertory and not much else, all dessert and no spinach, all past and no present?

That would be a problem — but I don't think it is, in fact, because I don't think anyone's advocating that.

15 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:

I couldn't think of Balanchine as "all dessert."

Same!

5 hours ago, Drew said:

Absolutely--if there is anything I would love to see when I return to live ballet performances it is classical ballet repertory I can sink my teeth into --with Balanchine at top of the list at NYCB and by some measure...

I completely agree. Although I'm sure some would disagree, after more than a year away from the theater I think it would make the most sense to give people a lot of what they know they've been missing (maybe a Balanchine festival, even?) before gradually mixing in more of what they may not know they've been missing.

10 hours ago, Rock said:

It's a bit confusing to me that the company would announce the addition of Chun Wai Chan at a point when they're not going to perform for another year. Does he keep his job in Houston in the meantime? Seems a bit of limbo.

I assume these are just the sorts of personal employment details that the individuals involved are privy to but may not be relevant for the general public to be told. Future events may make the details more clear, but also maybe not.

Also, we don’t know there will be no performing opportunities for another year. We just know that the winter and spring seasons, as originally scheduled, have been canceled.
 

18 minutes ago, vipa said:

The next season is almost a year from now. There may be dancers who decide not to come back, and even with an extended rehearsal period to allow time to get into shape and build stamina, some dancers will return more ready than others. We might see some shifts in casting and career trajectories.

Yes, this is why I don’t fault NYCB at all for not promoting at this time. It was exciting (and a surprise) when ABT did, but it’s a risk that I don’t at all blame a company for not taking.

29 minutes ago, bluejean said:

...it feels like a strange time to hire someone with all the NYCB dancers laid off until summer.

Do we know that NYCB dancers are indeed laid off (i.e. without pay) until summer?

Love her dancing. So upset by her abrupt departure. But “Principal Dancer”? Seriously? Principal of what?

Not a good look.

5 minutes ago, maps said:

Are there any longer videos of Abrera in White Swan at Kaatsban? 

There's this on YouTube:

There's also (or at least has been at times in the past) a 1956 one (Diana Adams, Herbert Bliss; Melissa Hayden, Nicholas Magallanes; Allegra Kent, Robert Barnett; Tanaquil Le Clerq, Jacques d’Amboise), a 1965 one (Patricia Neary, Roland Vazquez; Suki Schorer, Richard Rapp; Gloria Govrin, Frank Ohman), and a 1985 one (Lourdes Lopez, Jock Soto; Susan Gluck, David McNaughton; Florence Fitzgerald, Christopher Fleming; Jerri Kumery, Carlo Merlo).

I wouldn't include Emeralds, just personally. I feel like that piece didn't reach its truest state until Balanchine added the final movement. Before that (speaking as one who, admittedly, wasn't around then), I think it was incomplete.

I think of it very differently, for instance, than of Theme and Variations and Suite No. 3.

p.s. I personally can't stand the Duo ending.

p.p.s. (seeing the post below) I also wouldn't include Serenade. That, too, seems to have exactly the necessary ending, even from the perspective of the very first bars of the piece.

6 minutes ago, abatt said:

In the legal profession, when a preposterous claim is asserted, the lawyer phrase is that the claim does not pass the giggle test.  In other words, sometimes a claim is so lacking in legal or logical support that it cannot seriously be asserted with a straight face.  The claims asserted by Waterbury and her attorney against NYCB and SAB flunked the giggle test.  They were NEVER going to succeed.  Any halfway decent lawyer knew that from the outset.  The claims against NYCB and SAB  were asserted simply for purposes of blackmailing a deep pocketed institution. 

As I recall, there was quite a good deal of commentary on this very forum exploring at some length the arguments for and against Waterbury's decision to bring claims against NYCB. Reasonable points were, I thought, made on both sides — I presume in good faith.

If Waterbury's claims were to flunk the giggle test, I wouldn't have thought such arguments could even be made.

33 minutes ago, BalanchineFan said:

I really liked the Scherzo as well. I wasn't aware it was an excerpt.

It wasn't billed as one, and the work is only 4 minutes long according to the NYCB repertory page.

I've quite enjoyed some of the videos in which Morgan offers commentary on the experience of dancing a particular role as voiceover to a video of her performance.

22 minutes ago, Novice123 said:

Why do promotions of dancers of color have to be laced with "good for the company from a diversity perspective"?   A good principal "for a person of color" sotto voce 

Personally I don't see the two statements as being related, much less one implying the other.

10 minutes ago, Helene said:

Unfortunately, no.  There was a recording made in Montreal, with all of the original cast except McBride in Hayden's role -- Mein, Geliebter -- and excerpts from it were shown in the PBS two-part Balanchine bio doc.  We were all hoping that when they started to release DVD's of those Montreal years, they would finally get to Liebeslieder, but, alas they stopped doing releases.

I have the first and third thirds of that, which were (or are) on YouTube at one point. (I’m missing the middle portion.)

6 hours ago, cobweb said:

This was terrific. What a terrific series. I went to the City Ballet website afterwards to see the video of Tiler talking about the Pink Girl, but the video is not on the new website, bummer. But, highly recommend these coaching sessions. 

It's still on their YouTube page (which may be the best place to look now that they've taken some things off the website):

32 minutes ago, BalanchineFan said:

Mostly, though, the excerpts function as an extended teaser for a full night of live performance. Come back and see the whole thing. Sometime next year...

As one who’s not a fan of the excerpts, I’d just explain that feeling by saying they’re frustrating. Six months in, and who knows how many months out from the end, I’m not really looking for teasers. I know others may feel differently.

1 hour ago, BalanchineFan said:

So glad you enjoyed it, but Diamonds itself IS an excerpt. It's part of the full-length Jewels, so one might say it makes the opposite point.

In formal, structural terms I'd argue it is a work complete in itself — in a way that, say, the second movement of Concerto Barocco (an excerpt included in the previous digital season) is not — if, indeed, a part of the full-length Jewels as well. (It is far more commonly referred to as "a ballet" than as "an excerpt.")

6 minutes ago, miliosr said:

Unfortunately, the four promotions from the men's soloist ranks and the retirements of two other male soloists leave the soloist ranks in a highly depleted state. The upside is that this presents a lot of opportunity for some of the guys in the corps. 

Yeah I wouldn’t think a depleted soloist roster would be nearly the problem that a depleted principal roster or a depleted/weak corps would be for just that reason. This could be the start of an exciting (if at times bumpy) period for the company and its fans.

5 minutes ago, Lena C. said:

A break with a long time partner and apparent close friend is one thing. But a break with your mentor and the artist in residence is quite another...

Maybe I’m suffering from COVID brain and have forgotten, but what is the evidence that the latter has occurred?

The Times reports some additional details:

The dancers will receive raises with their promotions but, like the rest of the company, are not being paid the same as they would be in a normal season.

Like all performing arts organizations, American Ballet Theater has seen its ticket revenue flatline since mid-March. The company estimates that it will lose $20 million as a result of canceling its spring and fall seasons as well as six planned tours.

“Despite the financial challenges we are facing, it is important that we recognize the artistry and leadership of the dancers who are now being promoted,” Kelly Ryan, a company spokeswoman, said in an email.

There have been salary reductions across the company, Ms. Ryan said, and dancers are being paid six salaried weeks, compared with 10 weeks last year. The dancers are also receiving expanded supplementary unemployment benefits.

To help ease its financial pain, the company has received money from the federal Paycheck Protection Program and established a crisis relief fund to help its dancers, pianists, production crew and other staff.

And this:

The company is unable to rehearse or train in its New York rehearsal space, but it has figured out an alternative way to create commissions that can be viewed online. This month, its dancers will form several “ballet bubbles” by traveling outside New York City to rehearse and train while in isolation with some of their fellow company members.

I love Lane’s dancing and will be very disappointed if indeed she’s left or did not have her contract renewed (and very upset if it’s the latter). But with a principal roster including Forster, Shevchenko, Trenary, Brandt, Cornejo, Murphy et al, ABT will still be a draw for me, whatever my complaints (and they are many) about management.

I too am disappointed by the excerpts. Those programs of excerpts were the low points of an otherwise really satisfying spring digital season.

3 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

She may well have left on her own after the abysmal casting she got for this past Met season and last fall.

If she did, I'm surprised her Instagram profile still says "Principal Dancer with @abtofficial." I'd assume that if this were a planned choice she'd have at least discreetly removed that, since she's fairly active on there. But of course it could have been just an oversight.