its the mom

I share this at the risk of getting attacked.  Getting back to the article, there are several points being made.  However, when it comes to a lack of women in ballet or having their voices heard, I would comment this:

Off the top of my head:  Directors:  Karen Kain, National Ballet of Canada (Not to mention National Ballet of Canada was co-founded by Celia Franca);
Aurelie Dupont, Paris Opera; Tamara Rojo, English National Ballet; Lourdes Lopez, Miami City Ballet; Julie Kent, Washington Ballet; Patricia Barker, Royal New Zealand; Virginia Johnson, Dance Theatre of Harlem; Victoria Morgan, Cincinnati Ballet; Judith Jamison, Alvin Ailey; Emily Molnar, Ballet BC,; Suzanne Farrell, Suzanne Farrell Ballet; Hope Muir, Charlotte Ballet; Patricia McBride, Associate Artistic Director, Charlotte Ballet; Sol Leon, NDT; Ingrid Lorentzen, Norwegian National; Dorothy Pugh, Ballet Memphis; co AD, Carinne Binda, Sacramento Ballet; Diana Byer, New York Theatre Ballet; Kathryn Bennetts, former AD of Flanders; Monica Mason, former Royal Ballet; Barbara Weisberger, founder of PA Ballet; E. Virginia Williams, founder of Boston Ballet; Mary Day, founder of Washington Ballet; Barbara Riggins, co-founder of what is now Orlando Ballet; Patricia Blair, Associate Artistic Director Ballet Chicago; Kathy Thibodeaux, Ballet Magnificat; and numerous smaller companies and projects founded and/or run by women.  

Choreographers:  Cristal Pite, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Martha Graham, Twyla Tharp, Agnes De Mille, Bronislava Nijinska, Trisha Brown, Judith Jamison, Ninette de Valois, Yagpin Wang, Aszure Barton, Jessica Lang, Gemma Bond, Hope Boykin, Isadora Duncan, Pina Bausch, Lauren Lovette, Mia Michaels, Sonya Tayeh, Cathy Marston, Carolyn Carlson, Debbie Allen, Andrea Schermoly, Katherine Dunham, Marguerite Porter, Marie Agnes Gillot, Susan Stroman, Natalia Makarova, Gillian Lynne, just to name the well-known ones.  

Additionally, there are numerous female Associate Directors, Executive Directors, School Directors and Ballet Mistresses.  

1 hour ago, zerbinetta said:

Tiler Peck replacing Boylston tonight.

zerbinetta:  Can you tell me where you saw this?  

3 minutes ago, Vs1 said:

I read a European turned principal left Boston after a couple of years to freelance and had cancer. I wonder how she pays for anything.

 

Masha's abt swan mystified. I felt like i was watching a gymnast who didn't know what to do with her arms. Her legs  were fine.  But she was executing steps.

 

 

You are speaking of Petra Conti.  She is dancing with LA Ballet, and her husband, up until now at least, remained with Boston Ballet.

3 hours ago, Vs1 said:

Can someone explain freelancing realistically? Because I have read of Guillem  and know of Bolle ( yet he is also an etoile and principal),  but I also read of names hardly known who host a gala or two . In my head , that is called unemployment.

As Helene states, freelancing can vary.  Ironically, Taras Domitro has had great success in this arena since leaving SFB.  

9 minutes ago, Buddy said:

So  the Sarabia saga continues. How was he, by the way?  I'll say again that I thought that he could become one of the greatest and I guess he makes an ongoing interesting look at the freelance life.

In regard to Maria, I do have to disagree, although our viewing experiences may have been quite different. As I posted earlier, I found one of her Swan Lakes with ABT to be one of the finest ballet performances that I've ever seen and I've seen some great ones as I'm sure you have as well being based in Moscow. The several other times that I've seen her I was also highly impressed.  

I saw Rolando recently at a gala where he danced the Nut pas with one of the girls from Washington Ballet.  He looks great.  The problem for Rolando was the toll his training and early performances took on his body, especially his knees.  I spent some time with him at the party after this recent gala (we know each other from when he first defected.)  He is happy with his life - married with a baby.  He dances what he can at WB and does guestings, mostly with his wife.  He also teaches at the school.  He really could have been one of the greatest (I still think he is beautiful on stage), but sometimes the transition from Cuba can be a challenging one.  I wish he had had some more guidance when he first arrived.  

Concerning Maria, I have always enjoyed her performances, and was one of the people in the minority here on this board who was glad to have her at ABT.

15 hours ago, Laurent said:

I don't know what this sentence is supposed to mean, I am talking about "quality". Are we talking about the top companies, or companies of regional importance? When two years ago I was seeing NYCB in Paris every night for almost two weeks, I was very, very impressed with the company, Scheller was the only one of their principals who didn't impress me then. SFB in comparison, seemed to be far below, with the notable exception of Kochetkova.

15 hours ago, pherank said:

That should settle it -  you don't have to waste any time or money flying to SF in the future. Leave it all to the rest of us.  ;)

Everyone has their particular likes, dislikes and prejudices. I've long appreciated Masha, but that doesn't mean there weren't other SFB dancers I liked better, or as well, in certain kinds of roles or in particular choreography. No one artist can be all things to all people.

I have never thought that SFB lacked talent or were "far below" the talent of NYCB dancers.  Just goes to show us that ballet is very subjective, isn't it?  SFB has some beautifully talented principal dancers and others on the rise that bode well for the company.  Quality is certainly not an issue when looking at the resumes of SFB dancers.  I am with you, pherank.  And, given a choice, I would watch SFB over NYCB or ABT any day.  It just so happens that I live on the east coast, so I do not get the opportunity. 

Got it.

Sad for San Francisco:

I am not sure if this is new (I think so).  It just came up on my Facebook feed.  

 A little more information in this article:

https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000005621582.html

I believe they danced Giselle together for Lake Cities back in 2009.  Steven's mom is a teacher there.  Sarah has guested several times with them.

Fun to see Jon Stafford in coaching mode.

11 hours ago, Vs1 said:

Is this what people want or expect from ABT or is it the company's role?

I am not sure what you mean.

29 minutes ago, abatt said:

Interesting that Schevchenko attempts to do Murphy's gloss on the variation by raising her arms overhead while turning.

I have seen many dancers do it that way.

20 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

Also, Ferri is returning but I can't see for what.

I think for McGregor's piece.

New website

http://www.abt.org/

43 minutes ago, abatt said:

Back in the day when Kochetkova was first a guest artist and then became a regular company member, there were no principals small enough to partner with Cornejo.  She was a good match for him.  Now he has  Lane and Copeland on the principal roster, so Cornejo and Circio both have small partners to work with.  Kochetkova  became superfluous.  I would much rather see Kochetkova than Copeland any day. She is way above Copeland in technical strength.

The invitation to Dorrance to choreograph a piece for ABT is bizarre.  I always go see Dorrance and her company, but tap  and ballet do not blend.  An experiment that may be completely appropriate and innovative for a summer festival is not not an experiment that should also be pursued at a large opera house.  This is a McKenzie gimmick.

 

 

Agreed on all of the above.  I am in the minority, but I would rather watch Kochetkova than many of the ABT dancers.  

2 hours ago, sandik said:

I'm looking forward to hearing about Dorrance's work for the company -- I think she's a very smart choreographer, and is likely to make something quite special for them.

I hadn't noticed the lack of Robbins' work -- not even Fancy Free?

I think they did Fancy Free in 2015.  I just thought it would have been nice to give Robbins more of a nod on his 100th birthday.  Perhaps they will in the fall.  

I was not thrilled with what Dorrance did in Vail.  Perhaps I have not seen enough of her work.

Very happy for Steven.  I have followed his career for awhile now.  He is a great young man!

15 minutes ago, miliosr said:

Of all your excellent points, this is the only one I disagree with. Baryshnikov tried this in the 80s and a portion of the audience drifted away. The ABT audience didn't want to see Karole Armitage, Merce Cunningham and David Gordon. Paul Taylor (!) was considered radical enough!!!

In any event, the sheer size of the Met works against programming a lot of these one act wonders who make works for the companies you cite. (It will be interesting to see just how well Wayne McGregor sells.)

I was actually thinking more of their fall programming, and not the Met.  

12 minutes ago, miliosr said:

I don't think management is wrong to have a "take it or leave it" approach. You cited Messmer, Matthews and Kajiya as departures. I would add Sterling Baca, Roddy Doble and Matt Golding. But there was always someone to replace them. We can argue about whether the replacements are as good as what might have been. But the continuing willingness of people to join the company tells me it's still a buyer's market at ABT rather than a seller's market.

It's interesting.  In talking with young, talented dancers, many will cite the fact that they do not want to dance for ABT and languish in the corps for so long, nor do they want to wait until they are thirty-something to get the opportunity to dance principal roles. So, in reality, is ABT attracting the best of the best in terms of young, developing dancers? I am not so sure.  

I know that I am not as familiar with the company as most people on this thread.

However, I think the company suffers from a few different policies:

1) the harm of numerous guest dancers for so many years.  

2) Kevin allowing several principals to stay on past their prime.  

Both of these policies have caused non-development of potential principals.  People like Messmer, Matthews and Kajiya (who have left), and Forster and Hoven in the soloist rank come to mind.  I am sure there are others who have left.  

3) Miscasting - once again, not allowing dancers to develop roles of which they should be given the opportunity.

4) Severe lack of creativity and vision.  While the company is supposedly America's classical company, the dancers should be afforded the opportunity for strong contemporary work.  Looking around at the other large companies in the U.S. and abroad, they are all performing works which afford the dancers the opportunity to work with current, contemporary, and proven choreographers.  (PNB, SFB, Boston, and numerous European companies come to mind.) While many here will disagree, I am delighted that the dancers are working with McGregor.  I do not consider Lang, Millipied, and the latest announcement of Dorrance, to be of the caliber the dancers deserve.  Obviously, an opinion.  I also wonder why the company has not joined in on the MacMillan celebration or Robbins celebration (I realize they performed "Other Dances.")  

I just do not see that management cares about developing its dancers, giving them opportunities to grow, and to become the artists they should/could be.  I get the sense that it is a "take or leave it" kind of situation at the company.    

My list is similar, cobweb.

16 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

I've also gotten the sense from dancers on Instagram -- mostly NYCB dancers -- that they simply aren't crazy about dancing matinees from a physical standpoint (is it harder for them to get fully warmed up in time for a 2:00 p.m. curtain? tired if they had danced the night before?). Does anyone know if that's the case?

 

No, actually, it is easier to get warmed up.  Company class occurs right before the matinee (2:00 show usually indicates an 11:30 or 12:00 warm-up for an hour or so.)  Since most companies do not have another warm-up for the evening performance, dancers warm themselves up for those shows.   I think it is hard to do a matinee when you have danced the night before and that may be the reason you see dancers complaining.  

15 minutes ago, NinaFan said:

I thought the same when he was brought in.   Why did they even bother.......

Maybe, for once, Kevin saw into the future.  With Cornejo winding down and three smaller women on the rise (Lane, Trenary and Brandt), they can use him.  Who knows if he will stay long enough for us to find out.  He danced a lot more in Boston and at ENB.

4 minutes ago, NinaFan said:

Sarah did dance O/O with ABT.  I saw her last year when she was a last minute sub for Maria Kochetkova last Spring at the MET.  She was breathtaking.  What I don’t understand, is why she is not being cast again this year either on tour or at the MET.

Agreed.