ABT Fan

7 minutes ago, Dale said:

No. Third guy is Geoffrey. 

It must have been cached for me because he was still in the ad. 

5 minutes ago, Helene said:

We can only hope that NYCB is doing very deep background checks on anyone they are taking seriously for the AD job. 

Fraildove spoke of her own, personal observations as a student.  I don't think I'm outing Fraildove to say that this wasn't in the immediate past, ie, new behavior.  The only likely thing new about this is the technology.  It's hard for me to believe than anyone who applies for the job and knows the company well enough to qualify, doesn't have an inkling of its internal culture and its internal cultural history. Whether they expected to take it on, rather than taking the Company's party line about this being personal, when they applied is another story.  There's no reason to think that this wouldn't be a litmus test for the Board, and I'm not sure that's a positive thing, except possibly from the point of view of their lawyers, given their public position.

 

Did you mean to add a link?  I don't see him in the quoted link.  (I did see Geoffrey Zakarian.  I will never forgive the judges for his Iron Chef win.) If it's the quoted link, it may be cached for you.  Or I might be blind.

I was referencing Dale’s link. When I clicked on it, he was still in the ad, I believe the third guy down.

1 hour ago, Dale said:

I noticed that Catazaro has been removed from the Bloomingdales ad campaign and he deleted the items from his social media:

https://www.bloomingdales.com/b/campaigns/mixmasters/men/?cm_sp=Zachary-Catazaro-image

 

He is still in the ad via this link.

2 hours ago, Rick said:

The scandal extends far beyond Finlay, Catazaro, and Ramasar. There were several unnamed male dancers and at least one donor who participated in the emails, according to the complaint.

Yes, I’m aware. That’s partly why I said the worst is yet to come. I can’t imagine a new AD walking into this mess. I’d think the job would look a little (to say the least) less appealing now.

Why is it whenever i don’t check this site for a day or two, I come back to some catastrophic news?! I’m sick to my stomach over this. How can these men behave this way?! I can’t fathom Ramasar and Catazaro returning now, whether they quit or “resign” or are outright fired to help restore some good faith by the company. And who would want to dance with them anyway? Even if NYCB isn’t found legally liable, their reputation is severly damaged, far more so than following the Martins situation. This is disgusting and disgraceful. The worst is yet to come I fear. 

2 hours ago, Olga said:

Marvelous article and in every way.  Canbelto - Thank you for posting.

Yes, ditto!!

From Alastair Macaulay's Instagram:

Ferri is returning as a guest artist.

Lendorf will NOT be dancing.

Here's the press release:

https://www.abt.org/casting-announced-for-abt-2018-fall-season/

1 minute ago, Fleurfairy said:

Lane didn't get anything. One performance of Other Dances. Even if she's in the new Jessica Lang, is that enough to keep her at ABT?

The casting is dribbing out. When I wrote my post, Other Dances wasn't cast yet.

I'm glad Lane/Cornejo got at least one. I'm guessing she'll get the new Lang piece, as she's been in her work before. But, I doubt she'll be in the Dorrance one going by previous casting.

Casting is up! Not for everything though: premieres, Other Dancers, AfterRite...

Disappointed Lane didn't get a Symphonie Concertante. Surprised Abrera did.

Glad Royal and Forster were given debuts in Fancy Free. I think they'll both be great.

Also, Shayer was not given Songs of Bukovina w/ Boylston, even though he stepped in last year to replace Lendorf. She's paired with Hoven instead.

Speaking of, no Lendorf on the schedule yet.

https://www.abt.org/performances/master-calendar/

Regarding codes of conduct, every company I've ever worked at (non-union companies) has had a code of conduct for all of its employees. This governs how you behave in and outside of the workplace.

Where I presently work, a top executive was fired for breaching our code of conduct. 

My handbook says that the company will not tolerate sexual harassment, discrimination or offensive behavior of any kind. Many types of behavior can fall under the "offensive behavior of any kind" part.

I don't know if AGMA or other unions have a similar code of conduct, but in the business world this is pretty standard.

Heartbreaking. 

He was the reason I came to NYC as a young dancer and studied at the Taylor school. 

I think he's the last modern great to go (unless I'm forgetting someone).

16 minutes ago, BalanchineFan said:

Since Ramasar and Catazaro are being suspended without pay I wonder if they'll be able to take class at SAB to stay in dancing shape. I know injured dancers, and other dancers returning from Broadway have done that. Depending on the nature of the offense that might still be allowed.

I had already forgotten about the “without pay” part. I wonder if they will lose their benefits during the suspension as well. 

1 minute ago, FPF said:

That was my impression.

Then that’s....I don’t even know what to call that.

I know Carousel is closing soon, but I wonder if this will trickle down and if Ramasar will be replaced/removed till it does.

Are we to assume that the three guys sent inappropriate communications to the same person, the complainant? 

2 minutes ago, abatt said:

It's not the end of the careers of Catazaro and Ramasar, although how they would ever be able to work alongside the person who reported them is hard to imagine. 

The Times says that the accusation came from someone outside of NYCB.

7 minutes ago, California said:

I'm stunned, like everybody else. What's so baffling: after the publicity about Weiner, Cosby, and on and on for years now, wouldn't you think maybe people would be super-careful?

You'd be surprised how many people still do this.

What in the world??

According to the Times, Finlay refused to discuss the matter with NYCB management (?!) and instead just resigned last week. He's already been removed from their website.

And, I don't understand why the other two would be suspended without pay till next year. If what they did was so bad, why weren't they fired? I'm not advocating for them to be fired, I'm just wondering what's the point of the suspension. I have a feeling they'll both resign (or "retire") and not return.

This is devastating in so many ways.

Added: there's no way any of these three will by hired by ABT. 

11 hours ago, FPF said:

Andersen definitely ticks the boxes of having successfully led both a school and a company.

By the way, the full ad is linked to here: https://www.phillipsoppenheim.com/po/arts-media-culture/new-york-city-ballet-and-the-school-of-american-ballet/artistic-director-new-york-ny/53/, and it is much longer than the excerpts in the NY Times article. The various qualities that we all have been discussing are part of a much longer list of ideal qualities, and should probably not all be looked at as absolute requirements. Which of these the search committee will consider the most important may also evolve when they are actually reviewing applications. Studies have shown that women generally will not apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification, whereas men will apply if they meet only a fraction. If they are serious about considering women, I would expect Phillips Oppenheim to reach out to encourage potential candidates, especially women, to apply. 

Wow, thank you for posting the job description. 

So much to think about, but two things stood out to me:

One, I appreciate that championing "diversity" in terms of the school and the company was mentioned several times throughout. 

And, in the "Position" section, it's mentioned that the AD may possibly need to "supervise and recruit one or more deputy AD's". Hmmmmmm. I think it's a brilliant idea for them to finally create a #2 position (or a team of #2's) and it would also "solve" the next succession issue, at least temporarily if an abrupt departure should befall the company again. If no one from the interim team is hired as the AD, perhaps one or all of them could take on a deputy role. Maybe this wording leaves open the possibility of keeping the entire interim team in a formal managerial capacity of some sort, with more say and responsibility in terms of hiring/casting/etc than a traditional ballet master. 

15 minutes ago, Buddy said:

... I sometimes think of the Divertissement duet from George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. For me, it’s perhaps the most beautiful and dreamlike of the Balanchine ‘adagios.’

This pas, along with the gorgeous music, is one of the most beautiful duets I've ever seen by any choreographer. It's my favorite part of that ballet.

5 minutes ago, mom2 said:

He was supposed to perform in Vail earlier this month (as per the big glossy program), but did not.  I assumed that this was a result of injury, but no announcement was made. (Misty Copeland was to have performed on Friday August 3, but it was announced that night that she was ill and would not be dancing).

I hope Mr. Lendorf is well.  

This was mentioned on the ABT thread, I believe, but he recently had knee surgery; in July, I think, I can't recall. He posted on his Instagram about it.

Interesting. Is ABT next?

Casting is now out (and before their Fall season....).

Interestingly, Murphy/Whiteside are given only 1 performance (maybe due to their own schedules). Also, Abrera's partner for two performances is TBA. Hammoudi was paired with her last year.  Would love to see Royal get it.

Debuts for Forster/Shevchenko (especially thrilled for Forster). I was really expecting to see a debut for either Brandt or Trenary as Clara this year.

Edited to add: it's also telling, in addition to not casting Hammoudi, Gorak also hasn't been cast as The Prince (he has also danced this part before, though not last year). 

https://www.abt.org/events/the-nutcracker/

1 hour ago, bingham said:

I think the company is still on their summer break and has not started the rehearsal period. ABT is probably waiting for the rehearsals to start before deciding the casting. Just a thought

Though, last year they released casting in August before the company returned from their break.

43 minutes ago, Helene said:

Helgi Tomasson was born in 1942, according to Wikipedia.  Ib Andersen was born in 1954, also according to Wikipedia.

I think it's interesting that we're dismissing people in their '70's to run NYCB,  when Donald Trump was elected President at 70 and Ronald Reagan at 69.

I think 70 is too old to be President and there have certainly been numerous news articles citing similar opinions. 

However, a President can only be President for 8 years (though it's arguably the hardest job on the planet), while the head of NYCB (or a similar institution) would hopefully and probably be in charge much longer, making their age a bigger factor.

1 hour ago, its the mom said:

Woetzel just started his contract in July.  I realize he was working in tandem with Polisi for a year, but officially just started.

https://www.juilliard.edu/school/about/office-president

Yes. Which is why I mentioned he'd have to break his contract if it were for longer than a year.

1 hour ago, abatt said:

Ethan Steifel is never mentioned in this topic, but he has all the credentials they are looking for.

He is mentioned further up thread by a few of us.