Kathleen O'Connell

With all due respect to Kourlas, I think it's a shallow one. I'd have liked to have seen a woman fully in charge of NYCB as anyone, but Whelan doesn't arrive with a full portfolio of AD skills. As Kourlas herself points out: "She certainly faces a steep learning curve. Until recently, she hasn’t done a great deal of teaching, coaching dancers or staging ballets." You know, those things that take up a considerable portion of an AD's working day. Kourlas seems to think that Whelan's biggest qualifications are her "star power," her willingness to hire contemporary choreographers to make dances on her, her showing up at MoMA, and her personal grace. Does that warrant co-equal status? I'm not sure.

Would any other company even be given the performance rights for Revelations? I don't believe this is still the case, but there was a period of time where every AAADC performance would close with Revelations. I don't know who controls the rights, but it could be that the company itself has them locked up for as long as it wants them. It's AAADC's signature work, a touchstone of the company's heritage, and a cash cow. I can't imagine the company wanting to dilute the work's box office potency — or, less cynically, its stylistic integrity and the special place it holds for the company and its audience.

Well, about $4.8 million of the company's $200 million endowment has been earmarked for Martins repertory. I don't know what stipulations the donors have attached to the use of these funds or what specifically they are intended to support (royalties? rehearsal time? music licensing fees? production maintenance?), but the powers that be would have to have a really good reason to walk away from that pool of money. If I were fabulously wealthy, I'd tell the Board I'd double the amount of money earmarked for Martins just to put his R+J and Swan Lake permanently in mothballs. Yes, R+J and Swan Lake do put butts in seats, but I think anyone's version of Romeo and Juliet or Swan Lake would put butts in seats.

Oh, I suspect the Board's gala committee will be able to fill more tables with a leadership team in place than they would be with a hint that a "big announcement" might get made at the gala itself. Also, the foundations and government agencies that provide a decent chunk of the company's funding were probably as eager to see the leadership question wrapped up as everyone else. (Organizational stability is one of the key factors foundations consider when they make funding decisions.) Delaying the decision for much longer might have put some of their funding at risk or a least created a little friction with the institutional donor base. And ... at least a subset of potential gala donors will happily pony up for Whelan. Being able to put her name on the invitation is a good thing.

I think it's more complicated than that. From the press release: "As Artistic Director for NYCB, Stafford will supervise all areas of the Company’s artistic operations, working closely with NYCB Executive Director Katherine Brown, who is responsible for all administrative functions for both the Company and its home, the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. Stafford will also continue to teach Company class and rehearse and prepare ballets for performance." "In the role of Associate Artistic Director for NYCB, Whelan will focus on conceiving, planning, and programming NYCB’s annual performance season; commissioning new work from choreographers, composers, and other artistic collaborators; and working closely with NYCB’s dancers in the rehearsal studio, both teaching class and coaching numerous works in NYCB’s unparalleled repertory." "The new leadership formation at NYCB will also expand the involvement of Resident Choreographer Justin Peck, who will add the role of Artistic Adviser to his portfolio. In this capacity, and at Stafford and Whelan’s invitation, Peck will work closely with both of them on ideas for programming and new commissions." "As Artistic Director of the School of American Ballet, Stafford will work closely with Chairman of Faculty Kay Mazzo and SAB Executive Director Carrie Hinrichs to ensure that the most promising ballet students in the United States have the training, resources, and guidance to develop into world-class artists and healthy, well-rounded individuals. While Whelan will not take on a formal leadership role at SAB, she is expected to guest teach with regularity." I'll have to noodle on this for a while to sort out what it really means in terms of who does what and has final say when push comes to shove. In any event, it is past time.

"Daydream Believer" was playing overhead while I was waiting in line at the drugstore, and it was like being 14 all over again. I should have saved those copies of Tiger Beat! We were all so young ... RIP, Peter Tork.

It would have behooved Martins to explain the reason for his changes to both Stafford and to the dancers who were affected by them — and it could well be the case that Bouder wasn't the only dancer who, at his direction, got bumped from a performance slot, got bumped from a role altogether, or got thrust into a role they either weren't ready for or that didn't suit their talents. Martins had to have known that bumping Bouder from the opening night slot had at least the potential to send a message — to Bouder, to Stafford, and to the company as whole — and to create additional friction in a company grappling with enough disruption as it is. A thoughtful person with some regard for the company and its dancers might have tried to ameliorate the damage.

Hyltin doesn't post to Instagram very often, but her post wishing Indiana Woodward every success in her debut as Aurora is an example of how it should be done. https://www.instagram.com/p/BuKH1ZHgZiw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Eh. There are plenty of non-Martins ballets in the NYCB rep that are worthy of Bouder's particular talents. Is she regularly cast in any Martins ballet other than Sleeping Beauty and Barber Violin Concerto? It's time for the Board to do their job and select — and fully empower — a new AD. And in the interim, someone needs to have Jonathan Stafford's back. Putting Martins' ballets in mothballs for a while, as Nanushka suggested above, would indeed be an excellent brush-back pitch.

I suppose that the objective of this almost 30 year old production was to show that princes came to court Aurora from all the continents as a demonstration of her worth and renown. (I don't think the conceit of having a prince from each continent was part of the original production, but if someone knows, please say! If we can trust Wikipedia, the four suitors are Prince Chéri, Prince Charmant, Prince Fortuné , and Prince Fleur de Pois.) Since the Native American prince is pretty clearly capital-R Royalty on a par with the other princes, I suspect the production team intended the depiction to be nothing but respectful. I don't think it would be unreasonable for someone to see at least vestiges of colonialism in the African, Asian, and American princes, however, so perhaps it's time to rethink the fancy-dress and just let them be plain old fairy-tale princes once again.

In NYCB's production, the American suitor is costumed to evoke a Native American. In past productions the dancer performing the role has worn a long black braid, a few conspicuous feathers in his headgear, and a fringed cape and tall beaded boots evocative of haute buckskin. (Ahem, and also darkened his face.) You can get a pretty good look at the four costumes in this footage of Ashley Bouder's Rose Adagio. I believe Ask La Cour is America, Taylor Stanley is Africa, Zachary Catazaro is Asia, and Jared Angle is Europe (I think.) I've always assumed that Asia is supposed evoke Ottoman or South Asian royalty. https://www.facebook.com/nycballet/videos/10158366933385529/

Congratulations!

Likely both. For whatever reason, NYCB insists on taking the score at an absolutely punishing pace. It's not just hard on the dancers, it's hard on the audience too; it's impossible for the music to breathe at those metronome markings and it's as fatiguing to listen to as it must be to dance. If the company is worried about overtime or getting the audience on the last train to Ronkonkoma, then for heaven's sake cut a few minutes of fairy promenading or something. And yes, it does seem as if Martins indulged in an extra step or two when he really didn't need to — when everyone, dancers and audience together — would have benefited from a phrase that was allowed to breathe.

I find Laracey to be a much more interesting dancer than a couple of the other soloist women who are cast more often — and not infrequently in ballets that either don't make the most of their talents or that actually showcase some of their weaknesses. From the outside it looks as if the company has decided that there are a handful of ballets that suit Laracey's presumed "type," and that's what she gets. If it's willing to challenge other dancers with roles that might not suit them at the outset, but that will feed their artistry, why not Laracey?

I think the ballerina roles are listed as follows: 1 = Diana Adams' role 2 = Melissa Hayden's role 3 = Violette Verdy's role 4 = Jillana's role But don't bet the ranch on it.

Ah - right you are! I should have checked the text again before I posted. Well, the company certainly seemed to have tried its darndest to make a star out of Finlay from the get-go, which perhaps served its own interests more than his.

It also skates past the fact that there are more than a few very promising talents in the junior males ranks, as well as the fact that although Finlay and Catazaro may have been "stars," as Accocella would have it, they weren't especially strong or particularly interesting dancers. Based on the enthusiastic (and richly deserved) applause that greeted Taylor Stanley during his solo bow after yesterday's performance of Runaway, I'd hazard a guess that if NYCB has a male star right now, it's him.

Tanowitz has already done some work with NYCB dancers at Vail, where she's also worked with dancers from ABT & MCB.

From the New York Times: Pam Tanowitz Joins Lineup for City Ballet’s Spring Gala I happen to be a Tanowitz fangirl, so as far as I'm concerned, it's about time. Apparently, Tanowitz had originally been tapped to choreograph something for the Fall 2019 gala, but her commission was accelerated when one of the Spring 2019 choreographers had to drop out for personal reasons. Her work will be set to Bartok's Fifth String Quartet. Tanowitz was a student of Viola Farber, and some of that Cunningham heritage shows in her work, although she is very much her own choreographer. I once heard her declare "Oh! I LOVE petit allegro" during a post-performance Q&A.

I'm not a big fan of Bigonzetti, but will give him full props for his making sure that we get to listen to Bruno Moretti's music now and again.

I second Rock! And I highly recommend seeing Porte et Soupir while Kowroski is still dancing it. She is droll without being jokey, which is absolutely what this ballet requires. I've seen it danced by other ballerinas, and Kowroski is the only one, IMO, that made the ballet more than the sum of its decor and its rather literal response to the music.

Janzen is a vast improvement over Finlay, who absolutely butchered the role when I saw him dance it last year, so I enjoyed watching him tackle it even if he hasn't quite nailed the whole thing yet. Although Mearns looked better last night than she did last year (partnered by Finlay), I still don't think the ballet flatters her. I know Mozartiana is a plum role that's generally given to the company's senior ballerinas, but it just doesn't suit Mearns' particular gifts. She! Tends! To! Put! An! Exclamation! Point! after every one of the ballerina's telling little throwaway gestures and it just ruins the effect. Mearns shines in a role like Walpurgisnacht, where being bigger than life is the whole point.

I can't speak to whether Reichlen was better than she was on Saturday, but she certainly didn't dance the role with the kind of take-no-prisoners attack, authority, and musicality that I've come to expect from her in this ballet (Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2). I actually thought she looked a bit better by the third movement simply because she appeared more relaxed and happy than she had in the first movement — she finished the ballet smiling what appeared to be a real smile, not a stage smile. And yes, the corps was a mess, although they did seem fully charged. Re the costumes: I know Marc Happel built them around the beautiful blue brocade he fell in love with, and in general there's nothing wrong with following one's passion wherever it may lead one, but I do think the lead ballerina at least deserved her own color, even if it meant that she didn't get to wear that particular brocade. That said, the new costumes are an improvement, especially for the corps women. I like the dusty blue, but agree that the hue of the cyclorama now needs to be adjusted to accommodate it.

The last couple of times I saw Reichlen dance Piano Concerto No. 2 she absolutely blew the doors off of it. Perhaps it was an off night?

NYCB has some promising taller men in its ranks, which is a good thing because it happens to have a bevy of promising taller women in addition to its taller principals. I'm sure it's not lost on the current team that they need to bring these young men along with as much dispatch as a sane development plan allows. NYCB actually has more principal men than principal women (eleven and nine, respectively).