Karenatasha

Okay, I am looking at this thread several years after it started and finding the comments fascinating. But perhaps the person who should have the last word is Gomes himself. And he has repeatedly spoken about how much he loves partnering and how important he feels it is to become the role he's dancing -- whatever that role may be. Clearly, he doesn't feel he's repressing himself, although he clearly enjoys taking the opportunity to dance with companies like Matthew Bourne's, where he can play more gay-identified roles.

In ballet, as long as you're doing the classical repertoire in a traditional company, you're going to have to do straight roles. And that's known as acting. It would of course be nice if more contemporary ballet choreographers worked with same-sex partnerships, but I think the fact that lifts and so forth are more easily done by men with women probably restricts that.

In any case, I feel Gomes is the finest partner out there, attentive, physically strong, and emotionally available. And a wonderful dancer, too.

BTW, both David Hallberg and James Whiteside are equally out.

I thought sitting far left was better (that is far left when you are looking at the stage). When on the right, I completely missed the stuff that happened in front of the bassinet in the Prologue, missed the King/Queen acting, Carabosse's entrance in Act 1, the big kiss to wake up, etc. Obviously none of these are MAJOR issues, but I saw two from far left and one from far right, and sitting far left was my personal preference.

Thank you both! Looking forward to the conversation.

I personally think Master's Muse was the better of the two books, but I still had some fun with this. Yes, clearly Baryshnikov and Balanchine from a mile away, though it does depart from reality quite enough so that it's not slavish.

In some ways I'm less concerned about what happens to Misty than I am about what happens to Stella Abrera and Sarah Lane--two outstanding dancers who deserve principal status. Stella's recent Giselle was unbelievable, and I think she may get the promotion. I'm more worried about Sarah.

Misty is selling tickets and bringing in new audiences. And whether people like her dancing or not, she is definitely inspiring kids of color to feel that they might just get a seat at the table. (Hence, at least part of the reason for making herself so visible, though obviously not the only one.) There are a lot of black ballerinas in the past, like Janet Collins, who didn't get where they should have because of race. So if one person, after all these years, gets a little further than she's entitled to, I guess that's the way it is until things even out more.

As for Gisburg, in general that kind of self-aggrandizement is considered unseemly in the judiciary and would generally work against you. However, DeCaprio is definitely a self-promoter, as most movie stars must be. In the end, after all the promotion, it's the work that will count.

Thank you for the heads-up! I am in NYC, so I'm pleased to hear about this. I'll put it on my calendar.

Hello! I wanted to introduce myself to the forum. I am a longtime dance fan and avid balletgoer, and also have written on dance and film. I'm looking forward to participating in this community.