balletforme

I do think that the aesthetic in Russia is way thinner than here. Just follow a few dancers living and working in Russia and you can see the trends. To be a ballerina is to be ultra thin. I don't really know that culturally eating disorders are considered as serious there? I don't know. But they don't seem to see the pathology? When you see a 23-year-old who looks like they are 14, then there is an eating issue.

And watch pictures that COMPANIES actually post. Unfortunately, they also send mixed messages. I want to hear an artistic director say, "If you have a documented eating disorder, we will not cast you until you get help. "

"I'm sorry you feel that way. .. " "I'm sorry that ___ interpreted that way. . ." Is NOT an apology. But it's a very clever, device to make the person think he/she is hearing an apology. It's slimy IMO.

Truth

It feels to me as though Clifford is kind of "throwing" these dancers under the bus?

I think that an AD is so much more than artistic. . .and you really need to have solid management and administrative experience. You just do. It's a business . NYCB's budget is over 65 million. You are putting someone in charge of a multimillion dollar business (510C3 but still).

What does her dancing look like? Is she ready? Thinking that just hibernating in a serious coaching and rehearsal space is what is needed???? Hope it works!

At the risk of saying the Emperor has not clothes, I would venture that, Musicality at the very basic level, to me, is being in sync with the music. Dancing with the music. In the most musical dancers there is a brilliant "illustration" of the music by the dancer.

I have to agree with the very unfortunate quote re: It's not about entertainment. I have to believe there was something quite meaningful that must have come after that. It's like a resturant owner saying, "It's not about food." And aren't there many others that the world likes to see? Like Peck (the article does not name Peck) or Pite or some Balanchine? Why didn't she say Balanchine. I mean most companies do some Balanchine. Also what the dancers want is quite frankly immaterial as well. DC is such a different audience than NYC, Boston, Miami. . . . It's government.

Actually kids all over the city use public transportation Bus and subway to get to and from school. The schools issue tickets. And NY Child Labor laws are pretty robust, as are the regs governing supervision, schooling, rehearsal hours, etc. (Know several kids who are on Broadway now). Not saying that there aren't problems but no production company trying to sell tickets to a kid friendly show is going to want the kids in the show to be abused. .bad for business. https://labor.ny.gov/workerprotection/laborstandards/secure/child_index.shtm

Yep. . . and honestly, I found that memoir, to quote her "vulgar" and "amoral." Pot talking to kettle IMO.

It has been picked up international press https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/15/new-york-city-ballet-fires-two-dancers-for-sharing-nude-photos-of-women

If this is true, reticent or not, the opinions of those who do not want them around won out over those of their friends. Did Catazaro and Ramasar make other dancers feel uncomfortable, threatened, abused, or didn't they? The NYCB community doesn’t just consist of the dancers and employees at the company. Its community also includes audience members and donors, and their opinions count too. The PR fallout from this has been horrific - with articles everywhere, even in international papers. So, this was my point earlier about PR. . . there is such a PR machine at NYCB. The focus is very short term, worrying about "How do we look? How do we look? How do we look? What will people think? What will people think? What will people think?" That NO ONE is asking, "Who are we? How did we get here? What do we need to fix? How can we fix it?" They do not seem to be CHANGING the culture. . .only attempting to change the perception of the culture. It's ALL ABOUT PERCEPTION. It was with Martins. The purpose of the investigation was to test the boundaries of legal liability and improve PR. The focus now is about PERCEPTION. Both, the notion that the company fires someone after originally suspending them and that they don't know how to judge when someone has broken their own policies. I abhor what these men participated in. But NYCB is not acting wisely with this kind of decision making. Certainly appears to be an organization in complete chaos.

Toni Bentley's weighing in? Can someone link the Op Ed?

Right, my point entirely. You can't make decisions about dismissal based on the level at which "the organization at large would tolerate them." That's bizarre. You should know your policies, know what's legally permissible and do what you are going to do. That's my point, get PR OUT OF THE ROOM. You can't treat employment decisions like you would a season campaign, offensive photo on a website, or a press release. This could be a decision made by legal but waffling usually is not a good legal move and that's proving to be the case now. Just makes the organization seem unclear about it's own rules.

Maybe I missed something but why are Ramasar and Catazaro, being fired after an initial decision was made for suspension? NYCB had 2 months with the evidence made available to them in June to determine if these two needed to be fired or not. They chose to suspend them but now, once the negative press is accelerating, they fire them? Seems like a PR motivated thing to do. A panicked, "We've got to do something," move. What is new now that requires these two to be fired and not suspended as originally determined?

NYCB needs to get their PR folks out of the decision making. The tale is wagging the dog. It seems that NYCB is making decisions based on some kind of a PR plan.

Wow. . . just wow. Moral courage is indeed rare.

I have no problem with Waterbury's quote, at all. I don't think that she was emotionally manipulative. I was referring to Pointe's magazines' requests for various people to respond.

This is what Pointe Magazine asked: But should aspiring ballet dancers really "run in the other direction"? Were her alleged experiences isolated indences perpetuated by a tiny percentage of just one company—or are they indicative of major problems in today's ballet culture within and beyond NYCB's walls? The responses kind of went all over the place, some people did not respond to the questions but to Alex Waterbury's posts. . and honestly, several of the women were not supportive at all. Then other responders just kind of knitted together a bunch of silly platitudes or distanced themselves. Honestly, the responses were odd. Perhaps without facts, they don't want to commit to very much? The whole Pointe quote collection didn't really shed much light on things for me?

Yes

Yep. . she's actually been candid about her eating disorder. A month or so ago she annouced going "vegetarian" or "vegan"

Does she want to dance???? Does DANCE give her joy? Pleasure? fulfillment?

I'm betting on a settlement with an NDA. Likely what the attorney wants. NYCB would want this to go away, especially as a new AD comes in. There are probably a lot of people who could be asked to give accounts under oath that NYCB would not want out there, even if they do prevail legally. Just more bad PR for them in the middle of the #metoo movement.

Whether or not a legal complaint is truly founded is questionable. Clearly morally and ethically the behaviors are troublesome and they do degrade the NYCB brand. It all distracts from the mission of the organization substantially and it is sorted, crass, and classless.