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balletforme

Inactive Member
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Posts posted by balletforme

  1. Dale, I agree entirely with your analysis.  

    That said, for me, something is missing? And I think it unwise to be so public and detailed if you want to keep working in the industry.  Better to simply say,  "My body type and size were an issue for leadership.  I chose to leave valuing my health."

  2. 3 hours ago, Helene said:

    There is no evidence that NYCB is doing "nothing" for their dancers.  From official news, we know they have not brought dancers back into the studio, at least yet. Edited to remove, as Leah has posted that, according to official social media news, at least one dancer is back in the studio.  How many and for what purposes will come out or not based on whether dancers and/or the Company post/speak about it.

     

    And.. . .so what "official news" is telling us that they ARE doing anything? A lone principal dancer's instagram post doth not official NYCB news make. Mearns is always involved in a number of side projects.

    Megan Fairchild is not in NYC I do not believe. 

    Many others are not either. 

    Would company dancers come back if the company was offering class? Would NYCB let their audiences and donors know that "dancers are back?" Seems odd for them to "hide it under a bush?" 

    All the other companies who are bringing dancers back are proclaiming it through news outlets, official company social media.  

    What Variety? WSJ? NYT? sources tell us that NYCB is doing anything?  NONE! 

    They are.doing.nothing. They have an annual budget over 60 million--highest in the the US. They have an endowment that is also the highest. All public info. NYCB does not "rent" space for performances or rehearsals.  Koch is "their" theater. 

    MCB raised relief funds to support their dancers.  National Ballet Canada got grants. Cut salaries  Boal discussed their funding outreach and salary cuts.  I can post the official sources if verification is needed. Ballet West is going forward--"working as long as we can"  Even ABT is up at Kaatsbaan bubbling and dancing. 

    Perhaps in the long run the choice to pay the administrators in a company through the pandemic and let the dancers collect unemployment and find their own conditioning and classes is a "good" decision, but the question remains for whom? 

  3. NYCB ballet dancers are collecting unemployment (those who can.)  Not foreign dancers. That's verified through numerous Instgram posts. They are not being offered any classes through the company.  Th

    What a sad company.  They have the HIGHEST budget of ANY ballet company in the US (89 Million in 2018) and yet companies with less money are paying their dancers, using relief funds to give them classes, performing in small works and chamber pieces (SFB, MCB, PNB).  

    They do not care about their dancers or do not have the will or the way to raise a decent fund. (Yet these other companies can.) 

  4. It seems to me that the media (and related group think) are doing what they do during epidemics-- make a "news story" out of people who are infected.  This further stigmatizes the illness.  I find that really damaging to the ballet world.

    It's kind of sad that the chief critici for WaPo can only think to drone on and on about Julie Kent. Clearly a slow news year in dance. 

    Furthermore, people in all walks of life, in all professions have contracted this disease and dance is no different. If we dramatize and decide that the standard in dance is no dancers infected ever, then we really do endanger the future of dance with group think. Acknowledge the risks, give dancers some choices about their return, and then let "Early adopters" move forward. 

    Other sports are doing so. 

    The purpose of controlling this spread is to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. As a group, dancers are pretty healthy.  Few are morbidly obese, few are hypertensive, few have respitatory issues (though this might be a higher risk.)

    And, if you are going to mention that study in South Korea about dancers, do remember that it was 37 dancers (a very small sample in my field) and that, when distanced the risk was not high. 

     

     

  5. I think that the technical flaws (32 fouettes, menage) are hard to characterize as a downfall of the NBS training.  IMO those are strength and stamina issues.  No school could be faulted for failing to deliver a neophyte dancer who struggles with the stamina demands of one of ballet's most challenging roles?  Most advanced dancers can do 32 fouettes in studio.  It's doing that after dancing full out for an hour on stage. 

     

  6. Volcano hunter

    I do think that most of the dancers in NBoC are NBS graduates.  And, well, I puzzle over the suggestion that there has been a decline in quality>  Do they use RAD or Vaganova syllabus instead.  I do know that they are staunchly classical in their training. Cecchetti is so dry. I actually learned that way. It is slow and there is little movement.  It's like a mathematician's approach to ballet. I wonder why they changed? 

  7. Choice based on comfort level with various consequences.  In the final analysis I believe (could be wrong) that the "asympotmatic" carrier will not be accountable for the vast majority of infections.  The "studies" upon which that is based have very small sample sizes (one has one 37) and the others are largely correlational.  People who infect others have symptoms. It would be very unsual if they did not. Diseases don't really act like that.

  8. It does seem obvious to do outdoor performances.

    I think the entire country and the arts world are all just breath holding and waiting for it to go away or for a vaccine to come. 

    Instead, we should figure out how to press on.  Reconfigure theaters, do outside performances, come up with protocols for back stage and on stage safety. 

    Life has changed for good and we must do so.   

    It can be done.  We are innovative and resilient. 

     

  9. FYI:  I said nothing about masking but here's my view:  I live in a state that has a state-wide "face coverings" mandate. I obey laws.  So I obey that law and my employer requires it as well.  I live in an area with less than 2% infection rate.  I don't believe they are needed. But I obey that law.  Mostly, however, I don't shop inside stores or go to resturants. 

    Health care settings and settings that civilians work in are very different.  N95 masks are actually carefully fit in hospital settings. I have a friend who is an RN and fits employees. 

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