ABT Fan

I'll be awaiting reports of this afternoon's farewell with wishes and hopes for a  lovely tribute minus any drama-infused interruptions.

I was also expecting, in addition to promotions, news of a new male hire or two at either the soloist (especially) or principal level. Since that didn't happen (unless it's forthcoming) hopefully that means they plan on developing/pushing their male soloists who may have principal potential. They cannot waste any time if that's their plan. 

9 hours ago, alexL said:

Sarah's Juliet will be heavenly!! She will be great in La Sylphide as well. Her partner better be Lendorf (who is probably the best James at ABT)

 

I have a feeling that some of the corp members will be promoted during the fall season(like Hoven and Cirio last year). My guess is Hurlin, Waski, and Shayer.

 

Edit: apparently there isn't any promotion during fall season. My apologies

Whiteside was promoted to principal in October a few years ago, but that was a one off, definitely not the norm.

6 minutes ago, Kaysta said:

I can't wait to see Calvin tackle some "princely" roles.  He has such beautiful lines and charisma on stage.

I hope to see his Purple Rothbart next year, but I think he'd make a beautiful Siegfried too.

I haven't seen any videos yet, but here's an adorable photo of Royal when he apparently found out he was being promoted:

I'd also like them to bring back Theme & Variations. A role Lane already excels in, and that both Teuscher and Shevchenko would as well.

Yes, to Lane in Cinderella as well. And, an absolutely to Shevchenko in SL.

Just now, fondoffouettes said:

Can you direct me to a link for that one? It astounds me that touring venues post these performances before ABT announces them on their own website (if that's the case here, as well).

Sure - here you go: http://www.abt.org/calendar.aspx?startdate=7/1/2018

Their calendar section is wonky as I'm sure you know. In order to view July 2018, you have to click on July at the far left of the screen as you cannot select that month in the drop down option at the upper right (that only goes till June 2018).

And, I think both Teuscher and Shevchenko will be terrific Nikiya's.

3 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

And presumably at least a couple dancers will need to learn Nikiya, assuming they bring back Bayadere next year. I believe Murphy, Seo and Kotchetkova will be the only ones on the roster who've already danced it (and Kotchetkova's future with the company looks uncertain). Teuscher would seem to an obvious choice. She'll handle all those turns, no problem!  

They are scheduled to do Bayadere next July in L.A., so they will undoubtedly perform it at the Met season prior.

6 minutes ago, abatt said:

What new roles do we want to see our new ballerina principals conquer?  I want Sarah to finally get a Juliet, and also a Gazmatti.  I want Devon and Christine to be cast as Nikiya.  I also want Christine to be cast in SL.

I agree with all of those. Also for Lane: Lise and the Sylph in La Sylphide. 

I'd like to see ABT bring back Paquita. All three of these women would be terrific in that (as would Brandt and Trenary).

These are so wonderful! Thank you for posting.

27 minutes ago, Natalia said:

Just saw...yeah!!!!!!  I'm delighted by each of the promotions. Calvin is the icing on the cake!

 

It's just a matter of time for Cassandra and Gabe.

...And Skylar Brandt!

20 minutes ago, nanushka said:

 

Yes, they have been very generous in giving Hammoudi opportunities, and it's really past time now to start giving them to others.

Agree. Hoven, Forster, Royal should be their focus now.

Well, the one good thing about this person posting all of her protest plans on Facebook is that (hopefully) the Met will be prepared with a lot of extra security and ushers. I'd expect the lines to get in will be extra long as they check bags and purses for tomatoes and other paraphernalia. 

I'm actually really glad I won't be going. I'm sad I'll miss Part's final performance but I would not want to see her farewell turned into some fan's demented attempt at retribution.

17 minutes ago, vipa said:

I'm surprised there was no corps woman promoted to soloist. If my count is right, correct me if I'm wrong, there are now only 3 soloist women. One of them, Paris, doesn't seem to be cast very much. Brandt & Trenary can't do all the soloist roles. Maybe it means more corps women will be given opportunities to do soloist roles. 

Same here. I think this next year will bring, as you say, some opportunities to corps women who I expect we'll see pushed to see if they can handle a promotion. Hurlin, Waski, Ogawa, Richardson, and maybe Degrofft I'd expect to see get more soloist roles (esp Hurlin who has already been getting more assignments).

For the corps men I think they need to start pushing Zhang, Whiteley, Maloney, Frenette, Klein, Ahn for the same reasons. Shayer I suspect will be a shoe-in for promotion next year and I imagine we'll see him get even more roles before that.

Wow! I can breathe a sigh of relief now. Soooooo happy for these dancers, but especially for Lane and Royal who should have been promoted years ago.

I had a feeling Shevchenko would be promoted too given the season she's had, but I'm surprised that Teuscher was included. I thought maybe next year for her.

I also thought they'd promote another dancer or two from the corps.

Congratulations to all of them! And, I hope to see some videos of the announcements made in class.

3 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

 

....Mr. & Mrs. Buck McBling.....

LOL! 

3 hours ago, its the mom said:

To sit on the Board, one must donate is my understanding.  So, whether the money goes toward "sponsoring a dancer" or to buying new costumes for a certain ballet, etc., I don't understand what the difference is.

To me, sponsoring a dancer implies a direct relationship of some sort (with a lot of sticky implications) whereas giving money to costumes or any other broader fund does not. It's perception. And, for a board member I think that's important.

However, in this link that was posted above earlier, then Executive Director Rachel Moore said this regarding sponsorship donations:

''The money doesn't go to pay that dancer's salary...''That's not what this is about. It's about supporting the company.''

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/arts/how-much-is-that-dancer-in-the-program.html?_r=0

That was in 2004. Have things changed? If sponsorship money does not pay a dancer's salary, and is instead routed to their general funds, then why is a donor given credit for sponsoring a specific dancer? Simply for the prestige?

8 hours ago, maps said:

Backspace on the url and you end up on the homepage. 

http://www.abt.org/membership/specialgifts.asp

 

"As a sponsor, you have the opportunity to develop a meaningful relationship with a dancer from one of the world’s most recognized ballet companies:

• Principal Sponsor: $35,000 annually
• Soloist Sponsor: $25,000 annually
• Corps de ballet Sponsor: $15,000 annually"

Meanwhile that facebook page is as public as the New York Times.  

Thank you for posting this. This is the info I was looking for but couldn't find. It's interesting that the link you used is an old one but it still works. If you go their regular site and click on Special Giving Opportunities, it doesn't show the amounts, it only states this:

Dancer Sponsorship

ABT’s Dancer Sponsorship program was initiated in 2003 in recognition of the Company’s greatest asset: its glorious dancers. Whether choosing to recognize a Principal Dancer, Soloist, or corps de ballet member, your participation as a sponsor will ensure the professional and artistic growth of all of ABT’s dancers and tomorrow’s rising stars.

58 minutes ago, vipa said:

The first statement is, in a way, unfortunate. Whoever gets promoted (and Kevin M. please do it already) will be looked at by some as the dancer who took Part's job. 

 

However this plays out (and I don't think she'll get the job back) ABT has done a terrible PR job.  The director of marketing should be stepping in and cleaning up the mess. Among other things, that's what he gets paid for. (I believe his salary has been mentioned above)

 

Aside from that, I am confused by the economics of it. Are there a specific number of principal contracts to give out or is there a pool of money for dancers' salaries to be divvied up. What about sponsors? I thought they covered the salary of the dances they sponsored, or do they pay part of it? If you sponsor a soloist that gets promoted, are you expected to raise your donation level?

I too would like to understand how the economics work. I looked on their website (as I swore it explained somewhere how much a sponsorship cost per principal, etc) but couldn't find any numbers. I thought sponsors only paid a part of their salaries, but perhaps I'm not remembering correctly. I did look at one of my recent Playbills where they list who sponsors who out of curiosity. Part's sponsor has been Theresa Khawley, who until Vishneva retired was also her sponsor and who is currently Shevchenko's. Khawley doesn't sponsor any other dancers. A quick Google search told me that Khawley only sponsors Russian dancers at ABT, but interestingly not Kochetkova (in the past she also supported Dvorovenko, Osipova, Seminova and some others. Link here: http://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/g33/photos-of-american-ballet-theatre-sponsorship-program-dancers/.) Also in Playbill she's listed as a Trustee, she also contributes between 100-199K to their Annual Fund and also an undisclosed amount to their Education and Training initiative. I'm not implying anything here, I just find it interesting. I didn't realize until I looked this up that a dancer's sponsor could/would sit on the board as well. But so does Stearns, Boylston's, Bolle's, and Cornejo's.

24 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

Part has posted two responses to the public-facing Facebook thread we've all been talking about:

• It is done deal. They gave my contract away to some dancer. I don't know who..
• You can let them know you're not excited about this turn of events, but can you change it, I don't know ..

The first was posted in English. The second has been translated from the Russian.

 

Edited to add: I know others have said that dancers are usually informed months in advance that their contracts are not renewed (in order to provide them time to look for other employment). The hasty and seemingly unplanned nature of Part's departure seems to imply that management decided to promote a dancer after the Met season had already started and then needed to terminate Part's contract as a result. Perhaps all the promising debuts of the soloist ladies has led them to promote one more dancer than they'd initially planned. And that additional money needed to come from somewhere...

 

I don't know. I'm finding this all very circumspect. That would open themselves up to a lawsuit if she was fired like that. She's protected by the union. But, you have a point. Perhaps given that she was let go, Part didn't want any farewell or announcement and management insisted to save face and it took them this long to reach an agreement. But, the fact that nothing was formally issued or programmed until this week only adds to the drama and second-guessing of this entirely awful situation.

6 minutes ago, canbelto said:

 

If you go to the organizer's page (and it's all public facing, so it's not a secret) the organizer has also had an ugly exchange with Alexei Ratmansky that she copied/pasted to her page and asked people to donate money to the cause. I'm sure she's a genuine fan of Veronika but some of her methods are questionable and Veronika has not posted anything to encourage this organizer's actions. 

Oh good grief. I'm not on Facebook so I don't know how to find this, but maybe I'm better off not reading it. 

I agree that a public protest is a little much (and I'm very upset over Part being fired), but to each his own.

However, Part hasn't organized this and I haven't seen anything anywhere that shows that she has had the slightest hand in the petition or the protest's organization. Of course, Part could still be blamed for either. I also doubt that McKenzie will be leaving anytime soon so I don't think we have to consider her coming back.

Edited to add: I agree with fondofouettes above that we should focus on giving her a hearty farewell. I think the organizer means well, but I'd hate to see Part's last days with the company clouded by a Lincoln Center protest.

8 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

 

Murphy may in fact make more than the Marketing Director on a weekly basis. It would depend on the length of her contract in weeks and whether or not the Marketing Director position is a full-time, full year job. 

That's an interesting thought. I hadn't considered that their office jobs are for the full year. Their job openings listed on their website doesn't specify. I wonder how one finds that out?

On ABT's website, the 2016 return isn't available.

Usually, their principal dancers are paid according to rank and seniority which is why Murphy is the highest paid principal (in 2015 at least) and why Herrera was before that. Even though Murphy and Gomes were both promoted to principal in 2002, she joined the corps a year earlier ('96) and was promoted to soloist a year earlier too ('99). I don't know if that pay scale follows a union rule or is just a company policy (written or not). But, let's assume it's not a union rule, I'd be surprised if Copeland's salary is/was bumped high above all the other principals. Even though she sells tickets, doing away with their policy of "seniority = higher salary" would really anger the other dancers I imagine. Or, maybe they're going to go the way of Hollywood - the more marketable/profitable you are the more you're paid.

But, the fact that the Dir. of Marketing is paid more than Murphy is outrageous.