LadyBubbles

Aww congrats to Fang! Some happy news for a change.

About that Lane post, it's not the first time she posts to try and help find a pup a home. She's done that quite a few times in fact, so I wouldn't look into that for clues or anything like that.

So is Arron Scott's profile page https://www.abt.org/people/arron-scott/ but we know he's gone.

Well, obviously ABT is doing quite well in the $$$$$ department. How else would they promote so many people at once? I doubt Sarah Lane made so much money that just getting rid of her allows them to promote so many others. I guess they don't need any more donor cash, then. Side note, I'm glad Aran Bell got promoted. It's only fair considering he's had a heavier principal load than the other male principals.

Okay, now onto how I really feel. This stinks. I'm not surprised because ABT is as unscrupulous as they come. I know some here and on IG are saying that might be an error but it's never an error. It wasn't when Polina was taken off the roster, or Kochetkova, or Lendorf. Did they even announce any those three leaving? I don't really recall.

I don't see Lane going to another company. She's 36. At 36, things only go downhill in terms of technique, stamina, etc. Hiring her would be too risky for any company, unless she joins under "guest" status, but that only happens for the super famous dancers. Her best hope for employment right now is to go into teaching somewhere or on her own and hope she gets called for gigs here and there when things get better. At this point, I kind of welcome a salty/shady IG post from her, because ABT totally deserves it.

On the bright side, with all my favorites gone, at least this means I can stop caring about ABT altogether. Good. No need to worry about donating, promoting, or buying tickets for others, traveling to NYC, etc. In any given company, I'm always a fan of the dancers, not the company, so there's no loyalty at play.

Oh I'm sure some people agree with it. I wished no one did, but life has taught me otherwise.

I was looking at the schedule for the next few weeks, and it looks like Forster is getting a "debut deferred" feature on July 1st. It doesn't say what it's for. Swan Lake perhaps? I think that was supposed to be Swan Lake week, but I can't remember 100%.

If Copeland deleted her account, it only lasted a few minutes because it's definitely up and running. So are all the comments under Lane's post. I just read every comment in that very long thread. I'm sorry, but I agree with those saying that Copeland took it just a bit too far. At one point, Misty implies that insensitive mistakes shouldn't be made, as in ever. I was going to agree with that until I read the response to that comment. Mistakes will be made and that's how one learns. Has she never made mistakes that may have hurt others? I'm sure she has. It's one thing to be openly racist or even intentionally making jokes that are definitely inappropriate. It's another thing to make a mistake because you didn't know that a hashtag that looks innocent is in fact used by really awful people to help push their just as awful agenda. Anyway, she changed the hashtag and even acknowledged her mistake in a story post. For the record, I don't agree with everything Lane posts and our views on life couldn't be more different from what I see on social media, but I think she tried to be empathetic and meant no harm with her post.

What I don't get is, why didn't Misty just reach out to her co-worker privately and helped her with that post? I get not reaching out to people you don't know, but a co-worker? I think Lane would be better off deleting that post before the Misty trolls come at her (and no, I don't mean just "Misty fans", I mean those who will insult and even publicly threaten anyone who dares to disagree with their idol. I've seen it before, maybe some of you have too).

Met season will be cut to 5 weeks starting in 2021 because the Opera season will be extended. This was supposed to be the last 8 week season, unless future seasons run into mid-late July.

1 hour ago, Leah said:

Hopefully promotions will happen after the fall season.

I was fully expecting to see Bell promoted (and maybe Forster if he had delivered). But, I suppose promotions will depend heavily on the budget.

How disappointing and how disheartening for the dancers. I feel for everyone but especially for those without any additional sources of income and who are struggling financially. I know it's easy to think, oh they should get a job, but it's incredibly difficult to find any job right now. I hope they're able to get help.

Some of the ABT dancers shared this link on IG a few days ago (Alexandra Basmagy has it linked in her bio) https://pages.donately.com/dancersemergencyfund/campaign/dancers-emergency-fund

I wonder if the crisis relief is managed by ABT and the emergency fund is managed by the dancers themselves? I'd like to donate, but I think I trust it more if it's managed by the dancers. Not that I don't trust ABT but, well, I don't trust ABT.

Shows cancelled for now https://www.dpacnc.com/events/detail/american-ballet-theatre

Swan Lake in Detroit is still on. With so many things getting cancelled in the last few days, I do wonder whether these performance will happen. I hope the theater and ABT do what's best for everyone, dancers, staff, and audiences.

The Giselle shows in NC are cancelled/postponed too https://www.dpacnc.com/events/detail/american-ballet-theatre

I haven't seen the ballet but I'd give Hurlin a break for now. It's her first time being the lead and doing a role like this, not to mention that she had the responsibility of premiering this ballet, while Bell has had experience in roles that require emoting and has been the lead many times before. We'll see how she does in the Spring. The nerves should go down a little bit by then, so then we can really judge her expression and emotion in this role.

Are any petite dancers cast in leading roles? Maybe this is a "tall" ballet. Boylston, Copeland, Lane, Trenary, and Brandt are all missing.

It's nice that the corps ladies who are not doing a leading role get a shoutout outside of the occasional story taken from the wings. Often times, corps dancers get a lot of encouraging posts when they debut a principal role, but many of them will never get that chance so it's nice to be recognized. Also, that's a very lovely picture.

1 hour ago, Fleurfairy said:

Same. Sad to think Trenary may get passed over for big roles that truly suit her because of this huge social media push and a ton of money being spent by Brandt. I know that that is the name of the game these days, but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth. 

Trenary doesn't have the Brandts' cash flow. Actually, I believe no one at ABT does. Except management maybe.

I thought about Trenary being favored. I, myself, said that in the past. I just realized that all those opportunities were Ratmansky ballets. SB, Whipped Cream, Harlequinade. Trenary got cast right off the bat for the last two while Brandt replaced Copeland. In everything not Ratmansky, they've had an even split up until now. Trenary got Juliet but Brandt got Medora a while ago. Juliet fits Trenary. Medora fits Brandt. Regarding Gamzatti, they both had a shot at it two years ago but they're only doing 4 shows (right?) this year. Don't get me wrong, I do believe management always intended to groom Trenary to principal and they still do. I just don't feel like she's that favored compared to Brandt as she is compared to Paris or even Katie Williams.

10 hours ago, balletlover08 said:

I love sky but yeah because everyone spends $$ to rehearse swan lake(that she's never done b4) for fun! I would rather see Sky in Swan Lake than Misty though..so I'm okay with it. 

Lots of $$$. I'd rather see Brandt than Copeland, but then again I'd rather see Lane than Brandt. Then again, there's the Cornejo problem so we know it's not going to happen (the latter).

"For fun", sure sure. We'll pretend we bought that line. Is Misty going to do another "pass the baton" post this spring?

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad she's able to share her own story and speak up. I don't think there will be repercussions with MCB. Lourdes knew what she looked like when she hired her. I doubt she expected her to go from her normal ballet size to super petite in less than a year.

I found it https://www.spreaker.com/episode/21898128

Injury talk and roles part starts around the 13 minute mark.

No idea @jessa_sissonne according to IG she's currently in NYC in some mystery trip. I think she said (was that yesterday or the day before that?) that she can't share details yet. No sure what she's up to.

I don't think joining MCB was a PR stunt. I think she legitimately wants to dance full time professionally again. As for MCB, I'm sure her social media popularity was a big part of the reason they gave her a soloist contract after almost 10 years of not being on stage with a company and almost 8 years not being part of a company at all. I think if she weren't big on social media she'd have a corps contract (at best) after such long break. In a smaller company, I can see her getting the soloist nod, but not MCB. She did an interview in a podcast recently where she mentioned that the reason she injured her calf was because she was learning too many roles. She mentioned she was learning Mercedes in Don Q, so maybe she'll end up dancing AND it'd be interesting to see if she's also Queen of Dryads (does MCB do dual roles or do they cast two separate dancers?)

In my opinion, and my opinion only, her comeback is legitimate but she tried too hard too quickly and is just now finding out how much her body can truly handle at this age and after so much time away from the professional ranks. 

On 2/22/2020 at 3:48 PM, Leah said:

Oh god. I sat near the most awful family last night who talked and loudly munched on snacks the entire time. Then therewas another family who had young kids in front us. The little boy was transfixed by the ballet and didn’t want to talk except throughout the ballet the dad kept trying to engage him in conversation. The little girl, meanwhile, kept yelling and talking throughout the whole thing and her mother just ignored her. Someone finally shushed the little girl, as she was yelling during the black swan pas de deux, and one of the eaters I was sitting next to loudly came to the defense of the brat and tried to get into a fight with the audience member. 

And then there were multiple people who came and went as they pleased throughout the dancing. Naturally, the usher in my section happily seated latecomers and engaged them in conversation. During the dancing.
 

Sounds like a night from hell. I've been there, so many times. One time during a Don Q performance abroad, these three siblings kept fighting over who got to use the iPad next. The only time they paid attention to what was going on onstage was when Amour made her entrance. She was wearing a light blue dress and had a bleached blonde, but not totally white, wig. The girl in the group yelled "mom is that Elsa?" The parents never even made a single attempt to shush them. None.

Note about the Elsa comment: We were very close to the stage and I noticed that one of the little cupids on stage started giggling after the girl yelled that. It would have been cute except she got distracted and missed part of the choreo. Little cupid then looked mortified. Poor thing.

Wow Forster! I didn't realize he had such a heavy load this spring. So, he and Bell are doing the most lead roles among the men? I sure hope ABT can reward these two soloists (well, assuming they deliver).

My favorite one was "a country singer?" Whaa...no! Well, this one I wasn't too surprised about.

1 hour ago, nanushka said:

I see no reason to doubt her. The statement seems pretty sincere, and it's not as if Hope Hicks is a household name.

True. Today I asked 6 people (ages 25-40), educated people, if they knew who Hicks was. Only one knew and that's because he's one of the greatest critics of the guy in the white house. The rest had no clue or failed miserably at guessing. Oh and one of the people who had no clue is a republican, so there's that.

5 minutes ago, Roberta said:

To me, it sounds as if we are witnessing the beginning of the "PART-ing" (as in Veronika Part) of Sarah Lane.

That's what I've thought ever since casting came up. Will this be her last season or will she get cast in a single Wednesday matinee next season? That's usually the way it goes. Even Herrera had her farewell on a Wednesday matinee. Herrera, of all people!

Another factor in Lane's lack of casting could be Cirio leaving so soon. Not that I blame him. He also got the short end of the stick at ABT. Being young and having other opportunities, he took them and, honestly, good for him.

34 minutes ago, nanushka said:

Getting heat? As of now, there are two negative comments with a combined 10 likes. The post as a whole has only gotten 36 comments, none of which are from ballet professionals I recognize. Many other dancers, etc. are liking the post, but all are staying silent, none expressing support. That to me is pretty revealing.

Some comments were deleted. She kept the reasonably critical ones.

Trust me, I wouldn't use the word heat too loosely. I'm not one of those people who overreacts and over-analyzes everything on social media.

Well now Lane is getting HEAT for using that quote. Let's see what she has to say about that. I can't even sure she knows who this person (whose name I refuse to say) is what she represents. I've seen so many people find random quotes they like and use them carelessly on social media. Some don't even cite the source, which is wrong. Others do, only to be horrified when they're told who that quote came from. Well, the latest comment was rather straight up "how could you?" so we'll see if she a) responds, b) ignores, c) deletes the comment and ignores, e) deletes the quote, or f) delete the post entirely. I can't defend her; she's a big girl. You put it out there, you answer for it.

As for the rest of the post, I wouldn't put too much thought into it. Was it about Brandt? Maybe or maybe not. Copeland? Maybe or maybe not. A random reflection she thought of while taking a shower? Maybe (or not). The timing was unfortunate. If this was meant to be shade, then this is no different than any other workplace. There will be drama, there will be tears, there will be fights, and there will be make ups at some point. I personally have to deal with it, as in deal with the conflict resolution, all the time. Of course, I'm not allowed to comment on anyone's drama outside of my little team bubble, but boy do adults really get into the drama of life.