Plisskin

People criticize dancers like Misty, Isabella, and Hee not quite matching up to international (mainly Russian) dancers. But is it really a surprise that they are deficient when they get little to nil coaching and preparation like the latter do? No. They basically have to rely on themselves or other dancers to help with their variations with a one-on-one here and there from Irina. Terrible for a supposed top rated company. Same with Simkin, Hammoudi, heck everybody on the roster down to the corp who have issues. All those dancers have the goods to be brilliant, but it's not being realized because the company isn't invested in creating their own quality dancers.

Tragic.

I'm wondering what coaching Part and Copeland are getting . Back in my day it was the responsibility of the staff to help you with your weaknesses in technique while rehearsing a soloist role. If -after weeks of working on it and still there was no improvement- the role would be taken away from you. It seems that there are many other factors that contribute to less than adequate performances- lack of rehearsals, nerves,lighting,slight injuries,etc. Dancers are rarely given positive feedback. Give them a break.

ABT doesn't really coach their dancers. Their pretty notorious for it actually. Only 5 ballet masters on staff... Terrible. One, Keith Roberts, has only been with the company for 2 years. And they heavily rely on Irina Kolpakova for the females. The other 3 ballet masters I'm confused on why they are ballet masters when, in my opinion, there have been more qualified people whom have danced with ABT to coach. From social media I've seen Stiefel helping dancers like Calvin Royal and Stearns.

I used to read the most negative YT comments about Keenan Kampa (who spent about 1 year with the Mariinsky). They were the same people who loved Stepanova and hate Skorik. I'm not sure Russians like American dancers, and they are very knowledgable and choosy. At least, epaulement at the Kremlin is probably not as big a deal as at the Mariinsky.

Russian's prefer their dancers stick thin with Vaganova port de bras. Joy isn't any of those and she doesn't dance like a Russian either. Which is interesting because Precious Adams does and if I recall correctly, she spent even less time at the Bolshoi school than Joy did. I'm quite sure she has her detractors from small comments she's made from her Youtube video's. I do know that pre-Bolshoi controversy, I remember reading some nasty Russian comments from her graduation performance.

I love Veronica Part, but if I judged her by her performance of the Lilac fairy this last spring in SoCal, I'd miss out on her always stunning Nikiya in Bayadere and write her off as horrible.

I'm not saying Copeland deserves a pass for her miscues, but the criticism of her is definitely over the top. Same with the criticism of Boylston.

For me personally, if one writes twenty negative things about a dancer and doesn't see one positive thing, I'm not going to take your opinion very seriously. Not that you care, as I'm of no importance. But I refuse to believe any dancer should be categorized as either the second coming or as scum on my shoe.

Very much agree.

Strictly speaking, she is a "leading soloist" rather than a "ballerina" or principal of the Kremlin Ballet.

It's plastered all over news articles that she is a "principal" (she even says she is a principal) but she's actually a leading soloist? Wow. Thanks for the info.

She was also recently on CNN last month for being payed 8 USD a day ($240 a month) because the Russian ruble is terrible right now. She still loves and is very much a Russiaphile.

Article here: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/17/europe/kremlin-ballet-american/

I saw some video's of her dancing from her channel and I wasn't terribly impressed... I find her interesting though. She self promotes a lot.

The first American (but not really) to graduate at the Bolshoi is now a principal dancer at the Kremlin after controversy at the Bolshoi. She is also now selling energy/ diet bars for dancers called "The Prima Bar" and has a Youtube channel where she uploads video's of her dancing and bts of dancing with the Kremlin.

The fact that ABT was able to get the title America's National Ballet Company, or whatever the exact words are, I'm sure has everything to do with their relationship with Caroline Kennedy and her influence in Washington. Really, do you think ABT has sold even one additional ticket because it had that silly designation?

No, and my comment didn't elude to anything of the sort. It was said in jest. That title is eyeroll worthy at best, especially considering that there is nothing American about ABT. I even think they should just revert the name back to Ballet Theatre. That makes much more sense for this company whose AD and staff value international stars dancers.

Congress needs to rescind that "National Ballet Company' title ABT lobbied and/ or payed for and give that to NYCB.

People know Vishneva, Cojocaru and Osipova from reading reviews over the course of years in the papers that are or were ecstatic. I think most people who attend ballet regularly are like sports fans who follow teams and players. It's relatively easy to access information and reviews from all over the globe now. I knew of Osipova because I had read her incredible reviews from the Bolshoi's tour of London many years ago, when she and Vasiliev created a sensation in Don Q. When Osipova came to the US I made it my business to try and see her. Ditto Cojocaru. I knew from reading articles that she was a star at the RB based on her performance reviews. So it's not media attention per se that draws in a balletomane audience. It is positive reviews. As noted above, I read the reviews of Misty's SL and made a decision that I did not want to see her in SL. However, I don't think most of the audience for Misty's performances is made up of balletomanes.

I don't think just reviews is why these dancers are well known and global. Especially in this day and age. I think the availability of video's, live streamed performances, and performances you can see in theatres is why. Especially for people in my age group (I'm 26).

I think it's ironic that ABT, who seemed so forward thinking when they first developed their web presence (remember how astonished we all were with their video dictionary) has let this part get so stale.

Indeed. ABT marketing is like its stuck in the 90's, and relies heavily on commercials in the tivo/ playback era where people fast forward through them. If no one wants to see ABT dancers it's their fault not the dancers. And it's not because guest artists are superior either. Who wants to see Sarah Lane, Stella Abrera, or Isabella Boylston when, other than diehard ABT fans, no one knows who they are? People know who Vishneva, Cojocaru, and Osipova are mainly because of DVD/ Bluray and live broadcasts of their dancing. People also know the companies they dance for because of this reason as well. You can barely and sometimes not at all, find any video's of ABT dancers other than people like Gomes and Hallberg. And that's only because they performed at the Bolshoi, where they actually market and record performances. I think it is a crime that all of the wonderful performances of one of the partnerships at ABT in decades, Gomes/ Vishneva, has not been recorded and put on DVD/ bluray to this day.

This is also the reason why Copeland can sell tickets and someone like Sarah Lane can't. Not that nonsense that ABT staffer was saying.

So many problems with this company it's sad.

I don't dismiss what you say here, but it's all too vague to be convincing yet either. People who worked with Balanchine directly should be considered authorities on his work, obviously - where exactly do you charge that they have used that authority to work against the training and hiring of black woman dancers? Here we have Peter Martins indicating he wants to encourage and develop black dancers, and a black dancer says, in effect, "Hire me or I don't believe you"?

Martins, and anyone else, should get the benefit of the doubt unless they demonstrate they don't deserve it. I've never accused Copeland of trying to "steal" roles.

You haven't but a lot of her detractors in here and elsewhere have. Look back a few pages.

Compare ABT's reticence on this point to NYCB's recent (or at least new to me) tactic of making video footage of recent performances available to The New York Times for placement adjacent to reviews. (Go here for footage of Ashley Bouder and Taylor Stanley in Square Dance. And here for footage of Theresa Reichlen and Sara Mearns in Concerto Barocco.) I rather get the impression that NYCB is so interested in making sure that you see what all the fuss is about that they've decided to save you the trouble of going to their own website or searching on YouTube.

I haven't checked to see if NYCB has found a way of getting its video content inserted into folks' Facebook news feeds, but if it has, so much the better.

ABT needs to figure out how to make a fuss over its dancers! (Rather than relying on the "Star Strategy" -- their characterization, not mine -- articulated by CFO William Taylor in the now deleted Babson College video. I'm not an AD, but that strategy sounds like an artistic dead end to me.)

ABT would have their own stars if their marketing wasn't so stuck in the pre-Internet age. I was surprised when they started a YouTube channel, albeit with less than exciting video and hardly updated anymore. Even San Francisco Ballet, with half of the budget of ABT participated in World Ballet Day with other top companies.

More opinions stated as fact. I, unlike some people in this thread, have also seen Copeland live. Not a YouTube clip or music video. But LIVE. And thought she had a nice body and good port de bras and was graceful. Technically not strong though. Not my favorite dancer but she's hardly any worse than principal dancers like Boylston or Seo. The former who is completely ungraceful and has terrible port de bras with scraggly fingers, and the latter who more often than not is technically deficient and seems to have stamina issues at times. They have their failings, yet don't get criticized as much as Misty.

A) Never mention race/color as being an additional hurdle for women of color in ballet, particularly the darkest women. It makes people feel uncomfortable and everyone knows that race is no longer a factor in ballet because all the people who run it and support it monetarily are political liberals like the Koch brothers. :sarcasm:

B) Never appear to be anything less than completely humble about your talent or grateful for your opportunities. Anything less means you think that you and you alone are worthy of attention and professional advancement.

C) Don't take advantage of opportunities afforded to you by the AD because you can advance only if you prevent others from doing so.

D) Have the good sense to know that just around the corner is Black Balllerina Supergirl who should be promoted to the senior ranks of a major company before other black ballerinas get a chance. It's only fair because all white women in the senior ranks of ballet companies are gifted and universally admired as being beyond brilliant.

You forgot that if you do mention racism, you have to somehow provide proof, otherwise your a liar. I'm not sure how De Prince, for instance, could provide proof that 1 of her ballet teachers told her she could no longer dance the lead because the audience wasn't ready for a black Aurora.

Hallberg got his publicity/ journalist wanting to interview him for, like all of the tag lines have said, being the first principal dancer American with a top Russian company. Not his dancing. When it initially happened it was very evident that it was more about him switching to a Russian company (a country who has been at odds with the U.S. for decades) when for so long it was the other way around (Nuryev, Baryshnikov, Makarova). I remember Colbert even jokingly called him a turn coat and Benedict Arnold. If he joined the Royal, ENB or some smaller Russian company in Novosibirsk he'd hardly be invited on talk shows and sit down interviews with The Washington Post and New York Times (eg. Joseph Phillips). There are many star dancers in the ballet world. But they are not known outside of that and granted a plethora of interviews and engagements due to not having a, for lack of a better word, "gimmick" or commercially interesting story to sell them to the masses and make them interesting.

Edit: Besides being signed to a management company he has a publicist too? Well then, I think that puts to rest that all of those offers presumably fell in his lap with no effort on his part.

I will object to Copeland making the claim if she was unaware that it was not true and continued to make the claim. I do not object to her making mistakes, any more than I object to Hallberg making his mistake.

Copeland, her team, or both(?) have corrected their mistake in crowning her the first black female soloist at ABT. Now they are touting her as the first black female soloist in two decades, which is correct. I'm not sure when they made this correction. Maybe in the past 1-2 years? Not sure.

kfw, I do object to Copeland if she is lying. However, I am unaware what she is lying about. All I've seen are speculations that her story in her autobiography is a lie by anonymous internet users on forums and blogs whom dislike her for her "self promotion" and "stealing roles" from Stella and Sarah. I do also object to the double standards exhibited with Misty. If some are going to get mad about her being promoted as "The First Black Soloist" or "The First Black Soloist in Two Decades" or what have you, then that needs to be across the board for all dancers. Which it is not. Another dancer that comes to mind is Joy Womack. "First American to Graduate from the Bolshoi Acadamy" was constantly used in her interviews. However she is not, and their was hardly this level of vitriol aimed at Joy, Hallberg, and other dancers for this mistake like there is for Misty.

Hallberg didn't publish a self-glorifying book. Nor are he and his "media team" - if in fact he has one - selling anything. No one objects to Copeland being on Prince's tour. Do you object to her not telling the truth?

Per his website:

management:

festspiel@aol.com

Peter Diggins Assoc.

133 West 71st Street

Suite 8-B

New York City, NY 10023 USA

+1 (212) 874.4534

Of course Hallberg is selling something. Himself. He's not doing interviews and television appearances talking about himself "just cuz". Like Misty not being the first black female soloist at ABT, Hallberg is not the first American at the Bolshoi. Yet it's been tagged ad nauseum in the press, and not corrected by Hallberg when said to his face. Do you object to Hallberg not telling the truth?

Which he wasn't either.

Yet people hardly ever call him or his media team out on it, as much as they do with Misty. I wonder why...

Nureyev didn't have to promote himself; he was asked because he was already a huge star. Copeland did have to promote herself, if she wanted attention outside of the ballet world at that stage in her career, and she did it in part by making a claim - first black ABT soloist - she either knew or had every reason to know wasn't true. But she gets a pass because . . . ?

So? David Hallberg was afforded many interviews like the Colbert Report not on his dancing, but based on being "The First American At the Bolshoi". And Misty hardly begged, for instance, Prince to be on his tour. He reached out to her first and asked. It wasn't due other " self promotion". Why everybody else gets a pass for these things and not Misty is because...?

I know. I think they all are doing it to advance their careers. I think more ballet people should sell out.

I don't think they should "sell out" per se, but I do think they should be more visible than what they are now. It would make ballet less unknown and seen as elitist. I mean, Nuryev was on The Muppets twice in the 70's doing skits with Miss Piggy at the height of his career! I imagine so-called balletomanes would be outraged by this nowadays and consider it lowly and self-promotion.

I have the same impression. I hear all about her tribulations but barely anything about her actual dancing skills. And the clips of her dancing that are allowed to stay on Youtube have been extremely unimpressive. It is also highly interesting that no record of her recent Swan Lakes are on the web unless her marketing team have released edited versions or staged rehearsal clips.

There's barely a record for any ABT dancer unless your Marcelo Gomes or Hallberg dancing at the Bolshoi. Or you can watch a DVD of Stella or Gillian...from a decade ago. This is hardly something unique to Misty.

Just what is she stealing from Stella and Sarah?

Nothing. Her detractors whom cry the mythical race card only want her dancing, at best, corp roles as a soloist or be relegated to modern works like Calvin Royal.

People go see Misty and Osipova because they know who they are. Nobody knows who Hee Seo or Isabella Boylston is. ABT should invest more in DVD/Bluray releases and live telecasts like all the other companies are doing now to create their own star dancers instead of importing them.

ABT doesn't have pension liabilities or health insurance costs for guest artists. It's not so far fetched to believe that, in the long run, paying a guest artist for two or three performances at the Met is a lot cheaper than promoting someone to a principal contract within the company. I couldn't believe how much Kent and Herrera were making at ABT. I saw a publication with the figures a few years ago. I'm not saying that they don't deserve their compensation. They certainly do. But the amounts were extremely high. The fixed costs of permanent employees adds up in a big way over time.

Whatever McKenzie is spending for a one or two performance gig from a superstar like Cojocaru or Osipova is largely offset by ticket sales. The truth of this fact can be discerned by the fact that the Mik did not believe it could even break even on a US tour without Osipova and Vasiliev, and cancelled its tour when Osipova was prohibitied by ABT from appearing with the Mik. Superstars sell lots of tickets.

Additionally, I suspect that "sponsors" are lining up to fund appearances by certain dancers. For example, Bolle is spohnsored at ABT by some major Italian companies. In the end, who gets cast at ABT, and who gets promoted, is sometimes as much about money as artistic intergrity, in my opinion.

Despite declining donations and tickets sales, in 2011 McKenzie took a 30K bonus and the ED's salary, Rachel Moore, increased by 60K. I see your point about in the long run guests might be cheaper, and I do agree with your last paragraph, but I still believe that the company is not that strapped financially if McKenzie, the directors, and the board seem to have enough money for bonuses and 60K pay increases, yet can't seem to have a full-fledged principal roster.