kylara7

The NBoC website's Board of Directors page now has links to the BoD code of conduct and ethics and conflict of interest policy. Probably a very wise move given the critique they received last year and the current events in various workplaces. There is another code of code of conduct and ethics for the company at large linked on the bottom of the main page. Having them is a good first step. I suppose time will tell as to the quality of implementation, how they are used, and whether they are integrated into a healthy company culture and effective leadership.

That NYT article that BalanchineFan posted is on point and accurately describes what I have observed in a variety of private/public workplaces. Many workplaces have a written policy on sexual harassment and some have training on that policy, but most of time it's a "CYA" checkbox for the employer. Other workplaces have a culture that does not tolerate sexual harassment, and that usually comes down from the top leadership and is upheld by a critical mass of people at all levels. A body of literature in organizational behaviour (mostly from the sports and corporate worlds) shows that organizations tend to take on the style/personality of their leadership/leadership teams and that the implicit standards of behaviour tend to permeate to a greater extent than written standards. I don't envy whoever is the next AD of NYCB because they will have a lot on their plate. I worked in a place that had a detailed anti-sexual harassment policy and a reporting process that looked so good on paper, but a) the person(s) doing the harassment was Senior Manager X and b) the reporting process mandated that sexual harassment should be reported either directly Senior Manager X or to the HR person who was Senior Manager X's best buddy and enabler. So no one ever reported. And many good people eventually left that workplace because it was truly toxic (including me, although I personally was not harassed in that particular job). The problem is that not everyone has the ability to just leave and find another job, which is probably also a problem in a ballet company. And zooming out from NYCB to the broader cultural context, bystander intervention is simply the putting a name to the duty by all of us to uphold the social contract, which means doing uncomfortable work like checking bad actors as well as nice things like saying hello to the neighbours and helping old ladies across the street. The legal system is one piece of a larger ecosystem of checks and balances on a community, large or small, but the legal system only handles situations that rise to a certain level. On the lower levels, we all use social pressure and enforce social values. If I invite someone to my dinner party and find out that they took my favourite sweater, I don't call the police, but don't invite them over anymore and I probably tell my friends and social circle what they did. Social sanction and shunning are not always negative; positive peer pressure is also a force. So we're all in this together, one way or another, and what we tolerate becomes the norm. I'm glad more people are speaking up and pushing back. Silence and neutrality only help the bad actors.

I listened to this over the weekend and was very impressed. Tracey sounds like a caring and thoughtful educator who is on the hunt for ways to blend traditional ballet instruction with contemporary innovations in pedagogy and has a nurturing leadership style :)

I don't know if it's a positive or negative observation, but there are so many different sexual harassment/harassment scandals going on right now in a variety of workplaces, organizations, and interest areas that many people are focused on the one that is most closely related to them/their background/their interests. In my circle of friends and colleagues right now, people are talking (including unending social media conversations) about current events in universities/academic departments, the health/fitness/nutrition field, various media orgs, non-profits, and yes, the arts (ballet, theatre, opera, etc.). I guess I'm glad that these issues cannot be covered up as easily in the past and that the shaming, isolating, and discrediting of victims is much harder to pull off in the age of social media, but the revelations certainly are painful. I think we can forgive everyone for not being able to keep up with every single example (and as others have mentioned, I personally find that I can only absorb so much and then have to step away to maintain an even keel).

I've just been catching up and...ugh. I'm shocked but not surprised, given how similar issues have arisen in various other areas of work/study (e.g., the Arizona fraternity case, the "Marines United" scandal, which is now repeating itself) and in the public (e.g., the hacking/sharing of Jennifer Lawrence's photos), but sad that it has cast a shadow over New York City Ballet. The laws in this arena are just starting to catch up with the available technology ('revenge porn' laws and laws explicitly criminalizing the unconsenting sharing of intimate image), which will probably always be the case, but the bad behaviour, lack of respect for others (whether current/former romantic partners, friends, co-workers, or simply fellow human beings) and disregard for consent is infuriating. I hope that whatever investigation goes forward can nail down some answers, but I'm not hopeful that either the legal system or internal investigations can completely address the many questions that we all seem to have I appreciate the statements by sappho and others who have expressed concern for the woman targeted and the people affected and have pushed back against victim blaming. Having watched several of these sorts of revelations about bad behaviour by beloved figures/institutions play out in the media/social media and in real life, I understand the initial reaction to not wanting to believe that our personal favourites can be problematic, but I'm trying to see it as a grieving process like any other where we collectively move through (and cycle through) the stages of processing.

Thank you for posting this! I missed the announcement and didn't get it to see it in real time but was happy to watch nonetheless :) I'm so glad we have this technology and can see other companies around the world. The Finnish National Ballet did a live broadcast of Giselle a year of two ago that I watched online "with" two friends overseas via Skype.

The Green Table was created in 1932, but thank goodness it was kept alive as the subject matter is evergreen. :( I'm sure that the argument about whether art is/should be political is equally ubiquitous and is likely influenced by the variety of opinions among the population at a given time and the ebbs and flows of social upheaval and action around social issues. Some people prefer their art as to be an escape from the outside world and its burdens and conflicts. Others prefer to be challenged and unsettled by art and want art to engage with the topics of the times. As these are opinions and not facts, there is no right or wrong, although the reliance on a melange of funding sources and to what extent that includes state and corporate support does seem to shift the balance depending on the region/culture and the general class makeup of the audiences.

I've also been reading the press coverage...the pattern of sexual abuse by Arnault via his Academy connections seems to go back as far as the 1990s and the current list of women who have come forward is up to 18. As with other powerful institutions that have been in the news for similar issues, there seems to have been a pattern of ignoring or burying the attempts at reporting sexual misconduct/assault (different countries have different legal terms/distinctions and I am not familiar with Sweden's). It's disheartening to see all of the dirty laundry coming out in so many esteemed institutions, but hopefully this wave of accountability will bring needed change. Institutions, like families, tend to be "as sick as they are secret" when it comes to these things. And I find the patting of the Crown Princess on the bum to be VERY telling of Mr. Arnault's attitudes. It seems to say that he respects women so little that even a royal title and the status it carries is negated by his view of women as sexual objects for his own ends.

That sounds fascinating...if you see it, please report back! I was at a presentation recently that mentioned choreographer Choo San Goh, uncle of Chan-hon Goh, and his work prior to his untimely death and it got me thinking about how our arts ecosystem might look different and more dynamic had we not had those losses. It feels to me like an older era is grimly hanging on long after the next cohort should have taken on some of the workload and helped to build a transition to new audiences and a new body of work to add to the rich tradition.

Amen! I feel that art is most powerful when it questions the status quo and makes demands of polite society. Sometimes art challenges culture/societal evolution and sometimes culture/societal/evolution challenges art (re: old works that don't fit modern norms or aesthetics), but it's an ongoing process. Ballet and other "high arts" seem to be at a crossroads...will they continue along the old paths and cater to an aging audience that demands comfort or will they adapt and evolve with the demands of more current sensibilities? I think that we're at a transition point. And something I wonder about is how much the losses of the 1980s generation of artists and creators to AIDS and economic/cultural shifts in state support/valuation of the arts have left a gap that is being felt at present.

Ballet West did The Green Table last season (2016-2017) to much acclaim. Considering AD Adam Sklute's Joffrey roots and the political turmoil of the past year in the U.S. (and worldwide), it seemed like a powerful choice. A friend and former colleague who lives in Salt Lake City saw it and was very moved....a testament to the power and reach of the arts. I so wish I could see one of these productions! I'm glad to hear that other companies are also presenting The Green Table. It is timely. http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=5170843&itype=CMSID

Stories of family businesses and Four Yorkshiremen aside, I personally expect a higher level of policy and behaviour from a public institution that is state supported and that represents, explictly or implicitly, the national arts. With so many similar stories from ballet and other companies emerging from all over the world, it's clear to me that we are confronting a longstanding systemic problem. Cultural shifts are difficult and slow, but the arc of social changes bends in a positive direction over time, as the wise person once observed. What seems to be "new" is that individuals within systems have more options to communicate with each other, share stories, and get information out into the public sphere through new channels. Tabloids are part of the media ecosystem and serve a purpose. The Louis C.K. story (and others) started as a blind item in the tabloids, which sent up a flare to other people who were affected and enabled the gathering and vetting of information that finally came to light over a period of years. I expect that eventually someone is going to retire/resign/leave the ballet world and won't fear blacklisting or retaliation and will be willing to go on record. This podcast episode and the linked "On Rumors" piece gives a good rundown of how these sorts of news stories pass from rumor to tabloid to news. http://www.canadalandshow.com/podcast/ahead-of-the-times/

Inadvertent double post...my apologies (my internet has been spotty since the ice storm this past weekend) :/

On a positive note, Scottish Ballet AD Christopher Hampson published an excellent and personal statement on the company website. This is the face of leadership that I hope will spread and become a new norm. "Have I ever been abusive to a dancer? Never intentionally, but here lies the grit of the issue; when you are in a position of power and influence, it isn’t simply a question of whether you did or you didn’t, you do or you don’t. The questions should be: how do others perceive you and how does your leadership affect them? Do you inspire working practices that bring out the best in others? Through leadership, do you demonstrate fallibility and how to learn from mistakes, accepting that success is the sum of the work of many, not just one individual? To these questions, we should strive to answer ‘yes’, always. And what about the dancers? Millennials get a bad press but, on the whole, I’m inspired by them. They expect to be treated with respect and they search it out. The new generation of dancers anticipate guidance and mentorship at all levels. They do not accept the instances of misogyny, nepotism or discrimination that previous generations of dancers and directors felt the need to consent to as ‘just part of the dance world’. Thankfully, most of the millennials I work with, both at Company level and in schools, do not recognise being shouted at, or humiliated as ‘working hard’, as some in previous generations did." https://www.scottishballet.co.uk/articles/behaviour-in-the-ballet-world

There is a new article on the ongoing fractures at the NBoC in the latest issue of Frank magazine. It says that Frola and Hawes are leaving for English National Ballet, that McKie is back after a three-month absence that he will not comment on "for legal reasons" and has his own legal/mental health team. NBoC management is still denying that anything is wrong despite several major individual donors pulling their support and citing the situation with nepotism/sexual harassment allegations as a reason. TD bank, a major corporate sponsor asked for a meeting to "address concerns" and ask why NBoC doesn't have nepotism/sexual harassment and was told "because no one has that!" only to have TD present hard copies of their own and say that they are monitoring the situation. The "internal investigation" found nothing wrong, NBoC management continues to deny that anything is wrong but are allegedly going to meet with dancers to find out who is snitching. Ugh. I'm so disappointed in NBoC yet again, but we're seeing it in other arts/dance orgs and businesses as well. Personally, I think the entrenched culture of denial and coverup is not going away easily but is in the stage of extinction burst. And again, my concerns are for all of the individuals who are speaking up and letting us know (as a society) that all is not well.

David Binet's name has now been removed from the French version of the NBoC website. The shady behaviour continues.

Thank you...this is wonderful news. I am sending this info/link to friends and family in the UK I wish I could go too!

Has anyone seen anything official on McKie? First he's out of Sleeping Beauty and now Nijinski...

Amen to ALL of that, JumpFrog...I can't add anything other that the fact that I agree 100%. Thank you Blackcurrant for the keen eye on the French version of the website. One gets the impression that things are not running smoothly or professionally there. Change happens because the people demand change.

I also have a .pdf of a programme from fall 2017. It's all public information plus what has come out in the tabloids. It adds insult to injury to keep assuming that people/the public are stupid/too gullible to put the pieces together, especially these days with many journalists and other investigative writers willing to listen and dig for what has been hidden under the rugs in many institutions and organizations. And if the leadership at NBoC has sunk to reading/reacting to internet discussions, then that speaks volumes about the level of competence.

Yes, the internet is forever. There's The Wayback Machine and screenshots. And disappearing listings and information is not a good look, I agree. When someone is trying this hard to hide/mask something, there's reason(s). Coincidentally, I've been listening to an 8-part podcast series on Watergate called Slow Burn. Curiouser and curiouser is right.

David Binet's name has now been removed from the Soaring Campaign Cabinet per the link that mom2 posted. This would be amusing/silly if it weren't so serious. He's getting shuffled around more than a sketchy priest at this point... The Soaring Campaign cabinet now: Sandra and Jim Pitblado David Macdonald Gail Appel Judi Conacher The Honourable Nicole Eaton (Senator) Sandra Faire Krista Kerr Genevieve McKillon Julie Medland Jessica Ray Gretchen Ross Liam Sobey Michele Symons

Thank you for that insight, sandik...that sounds like a wonderful peek into the work. I imagine that it's quite a challenge and new approach for the dancers. I bet they also either love it or hate it I so wish I could see this piece live at some point! I'm bookmarking the link to Synchronous Objects to watch later. This is just the sort of blend of nerdiness/analytical representation and art that I enjoy.

Thank you JumpFrog and mom2 for this information. I agree that it appears like the company keeps shuffling Binet Sr. around. There are likely requirements (legal ones) on reporting sources of funding, board membership, fundraising structures, etc. that keep this information public. I also agree that a) the financial backing of Binet Sr. and his companies/professional networks is probably significant and buys influence that comes with many strings, i.e., "golden handcuffs", and that the installation of Binet Jr. is clearly questionable and explains the sub-par work we've been subjected to. It strikes me that this onion has many layers, and there are likely more to come, sadly. As with other such situations I've witnessed in my personal/professional life, people eventually start connecting the dots, and if public relations handwaving and cover-ups are going on, it's 100 times worse when the details of the situation come to light. I have a continual bad feeling about this whole situation, and I am deeply disappointed with the company leadership.

On the recommendation of a friend with Cuban family, I watched this documentary over the weekend and found it beautiful and insightful. The filmmaker focuses on the ballet students but presents a wider portrait of their families (and the differing backgrounds/classes that they come from) and the Cuban culture. Highly recommended! From the film description: Secundaria quietly follows one high school class over a three-year period on its journey through Cuba's world famous National Ballet School. Our teenage dancers love to dance, but many of them must dance as their sole way out of poverty and the constraints-both visible and invisible-that shape life in Cuba. "What struck me... aside from how terrific the shooting was throughout, was the immense sympathy.. Clear-eyed...Stunning!" - Ross McElwee, Filmmaker Sherman's March, Photographic Memory Running time: 95 mins Year: 2012 Filmmakers: Mary Jane Doherty Languages: Spanish/English