Kathleen O'Connell

8 minutes ago, On Pointe said:

Whether it was "some" or "all",  firing an employee,  who is otherwise doing his job and fulfilling the terms of his contract,  because other employees don't like him is not a defensible position. 

I don't think "liking" or "not liking" is the issue here. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if some of the people who believe it is appropriate for NYCB to fire Ramasar and Catazaro also happen to like them. They may genuinely respect them as artists and may have had nothing but positive personal and professional interactions with them and still believe it would not be right for the company to continue to employ them.

1 minute ago, fondoffouettes said:

If ABT is being pushed to begin its season in early June, maybe they should just decamp to the Koch Theatre for its spring/summer season. It's certainly a more congenial venue for dance, and they'd have an easier time filling the house. 

My thoughts exactly. 

I'd like to see the Taylor company hang onto its March Theater-Formerly-Known-as-State season, though — especially now that it's presenting revivals of important modern dance works by other choreographers.

31 minutes ago, Helene said:

A few years ago, the Met took a short break in January, but the article doesn't say how long the February break would be.  If two weeks, at least, ABT might be able to switch their Spring head-to-head with NYCB to the winter with back-to-back full-lengths.  They might even be able to get two runs of the money-makers, Swan Lake and/or Giselle, four months apart.

Although I'd like to see ABT find a permanent NYC home that's more congenial than the Met, a two or three week run in the winter might not be a bad thing. However, the Met's stated reason for shutting the house down in February does give me pause:

The following year [2021], the Met will make another radical change in its schedule: It will take a midwinter break in February, when ticket sales are generally at their lowest, and add performances in the late spring, moving the end of the opera season to early June from May. [emphasis mine]

Now it may be that there's just so much opera on offer during the Met's gargantuan seven month season that its audience wearies of the surfeit and collectively decides to take a mid-winter break and that ABT wouldn't necessarily suffer from the same February doldrums. NYCB will be in the thick of their winter season right across the plaza, however, so it's not as if the audience will be starved for dance and ready to turn up for anything that happens to be in toe shoes.

39 minutes ago, Kaysta said:

It wouldn’t be so horrible if they did a small season at the Kennedy Center in DC.

Indeed!

Nor need Manhattan be the only metro destination for one of America's premier performing arts organizations. Not every person in the NY Metropolitan area wants to trek into Manhattan to see a show. Nor should they have to. There's NJ PAC. There's BAM. 

40 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

Does anyone know how big the new performing arts center at the WTC site will be? It would be nice if there were an alternative to City Center. And NYCB's schedule would seem to preclude ABT from expanding there fall season very much, right?

The Perelman Center will be one of those "flexible" venues that can (allegedly) be reconfigured to accommodate a variety of staging options and audience sizes. Maximum capacity when all of its spaces are combined is 1200.  I don't know if the center will have the kind of backstage space that a large theatrical production might require or if it can provide an orchestra pit, however.

Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater can seat about 1200 as well. I have attended dance performances there, and the revived NYC Opera performs there as well. The theater can be reconfigured to provide both a proscenium and an orchestra pit. It's a lovely venue and would be ideal for smaller-scaled works - i.e., I wouldn't do Swan Lake there, but some of ABT's triple-bill works would probably look great there. 

Would either venue really be big enough? By way of comparison, City Center seats about 2250. (But the sight lines are so awful - even after the big renovation - that only about half of them count, if that many.)

3 minutes ago, Helene said:

No one should have to do the head to knee curl.

If this video is any evidence, Allegra Kent didn't.

2 minutes ago, CTballetfan said:

Although one should never have to choose between two of the world’s greatest ballerinas, my personal preference is Sterling ... I love Tiler too—no one can touch her in so many roles—she’s just a different ballerina. Lucky to have both of them, and Ashley Bouder, Sara Mearns, Teresa Reichlen, Megan Fairchild (come back in the spring please!) —all different, each in her own way, and all superb!

This is why there isn't as much money in my bank account as there should be. Sometimes you just have to choose them all. 😉

3 minutes ago, cobweb said:

Yes, agreed. I'd say the same for LaFreniere - she could use a little more nuance outside of that megawatt smile. Hopefully both will get there. Gerrity shows some very promising development recently. This will surprise no one who knows how much I love Ashley Laracey, but of this group she is IMHO most ready for these roles, poetic, individualistic, and luminous. 

Yup, yup, and yup.

1 minute ago, cobweb said:

Totally agree. I would love to see Laracey, Gerrity, and/or LaFreniere in Symphony in C, second movement. Also I could see all three getting a shot at "Diamonds." And I'd add Unity Phelan as well, for both roles. 

I like Phelan a lot, but at the moment I don't think she has the kind of distinct and wholly individual style that the really big roles require. I think she just needs a little time and space to develop one — outside of the bright glare of  Diamonds, for instance. 

13 hours ago, BalanchineFan said:

I’m of the opposite opinion. I wish they’d let a few more women do 2nd movement Bizet. All the women who dance it have been doing it for quite some time (Kowroski, Mearns, Reichlen). They’re each good in their different ways but it would be so exciting to see someone new take a crack at it. 

I remember Sterling dancing it. Justin Peck partnered her IIRC. She was good, but not earth shattering. They usually cast the taller women. Is that why you say she was miscast?

I am a huge Hyltin fangirl* and would have crawled over broken glass to see her in the Bizet 2nd Movement had I been in town. But I can understand why the role might not have been right for her: although she counts versatility, charm, stage smarts, musicality, and a strong technique among her many gifts, she's not quite a ballerina in the grand manner in the way that Kowroski, Mearns, and Reichlen are.

I too would like to see LaFreniere in the role when she's ready, but also Emilie Gerrity, who has been very impressive in some of Mearns' roles (Sanguinic and Namouna), and Ashley Laracey, who isn't quite in the grand ballerina mold either, but who could be very special in the role nonetheless. She was just a dream in Divertimento No. 15.

ETA: * Given a choice between Hyltin and Peck in Sleeping Beauty,Coppelia, or the Midsummer Night's Dream Divertissement, I will choose Hyltin every time. 

19 minutes ago, nanushka said:

While some balletomanes insist that "ballerina" has only a more specific meaning, in common usage this more general definition of the term is widely accepted (and much more familiar to most) — highly unlike those uses of "general" — and so its use is, I believe, completely appropriate.

(Whether it's appropriate in reference to Waterbury is of course a separate matter — though it's been pointed out earlier in this thread that she is in fact still active as a dancer, though it is not her primary profession).

Eh. I'm fine with a female ballet dancer referring to herself as a ballerina when someone asks her what she does for a living, or on her social media profiles, or in a resume, or on an application, or wherever. To the general public it's as generic, descriptive, and succint as "soldier."

As a balletomane, I like to reserve capital-B Ballerina for actual capital-B Ballerinas, but the number of people of my acquaintance who understand the distinction is vanishingly small — and I see no real need to bore them with it.

2 hours ago, cassieallison said:

Surprised to Reichlen in Rubies, I've always heard she was excellent as the tall girl

I say this every chance I get: Best Rubies Tall Girl Ever. 

But I can understand the company wanting to give others a shot at the role. They are rich in Glamazons.

8 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

The caption in her summons and complaint states that the suit is against Chase Finlay and New York City Ballet, Inc. (which would include both the company and the school).  

Since the School of American Ballet, Inc. and New York City Ballet Inc. are separate and distinct legal entities with their own Boards of Directors, staffs, financial statements, and regulatory filings, I don't think the suit of necessity targets both the company and the school. 

43 minutes ago, minervaave said:

Just because someone sincerely apologizes doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be consequences for their actions.  I think an apology can be owed and given, but depending on what happened, that is not by itself enough for the matter to be closed and for justice to have been done, especially when it involves criminal allegations.  I merely felt that the steps below needed an additional one when it came to the act of apologizing.  (I think of forgiveness as necessary, but not necessarily sufficient.)

To be clear, I was certainly not my intention to suggest that there shouldn't be consequences for wrongdoing, nor that an apology was somehow enough by way of retribution and redress. An apology is necessary, but it's not sufficient.

I stated that sharing explicit photos without consent is a firing offense, full stop. If the company decides it wants to re-admit a dancer it has dismissed, however, I think a sincere apology is a required part of the package. That was my only point. 

3 hours ago, minervaave said:

I would add that the true mark of a sincere apology where the person should be forgiven is if the person who is being apologized to forgives them. 

Here, I must respectfully disagree. A sincere apology is sincere because the person making means it. It doesn't matter whether the person who was wronged decides to extend forgiveness or not. It's not a negotiation: the apology shouldn't be contingent on forgiveness nor should a wronged person feel compelled to offer forgiveness in return. The apology is in a real sense its own reward.

6 minutes ago, On Pointe said:

Many corporations have instituted mandatory seminars regarding sexual harassment,  where it's made crystal clear what behaviors are not tolerated from employees.  On my job,  in addition,  we are required to complete ethics training every year.  It would be a good idea for ballet companies to do something similar,  especially because so many of their employees are very young people working their first job.

I worked at a company that had mandatory diversity training that included a unit on sexual harassment. We had something even more valuable, though: men who were willing to call out other men when they engaged in behavior that demeaned and degraded women. 

14 hours ago, On Pointe said:

I'm curious as to what posters here would consider appropriate punishment?  

As far as I'm concerned, sharing explicit photos of anyone — company member or no, woman or man — without their express and freely-given consent is a firing offense. 

I'm not suggesting for a moment that the company should actively police its employees' private communications for infractions. Should it be presented with incontrovertible evidence that infractions have occurred, however, then yes, immediate dismissal is appropriate. 

And speaking as a member of the audience: if that means that the company has to reach down into the pe-professional program at the Dolly Dinkle Academy of Dance to cast the next three seasons, that's fine with me. As Charles De Gaulle pointed out, the graveyards are full of of indispensable men.

If the company decides that it can and should re-admit an offender back into its ranks, it shouldn't do so unless there's been an open, explicit apology. A good apology is more than the usual, tepid "I'm sorry if anyone was offended." Skidmore sociology professor David Karp has laid out five criteria for evaluating celebrity apologies.

• An apology should include an explanation of the harm done to the person or people receiving the apology.
• It should include an admission of the perpetrator’s role in causing that harm, an “acknowledgment of personal responsibility and avoidance of denials or minimizing.”
• Perpetrators should express remorse.
• They should explain which behaviors they are committed to stopping now that they understand the harm they’ve caused.
• Finally, they should explain what they will do to make amends.

These are taken from a Dec 5, 2017 Vox article by Anna North entitled "How to apologize for sexual harassment." Vox's Today Explained podcast for Aug 30, 2018 also featured a good discussion of this issue with an actual example of a well-done apology. You can listen here. I also highly recommend a Sep 10, 2018 Vox article by David Roberts entitled "What so many men are missing about #MeToo." Roberts points out that "The fate of abusers ought to be the least of our worries," but that alas, it isn't. 

Finally, "freely-given consent" is more than just saying "Yes." I means without coercion, which can include explicit or implicit threats of harm, be it physical, emotional, or social. 

15 hours ago, sappho said:

NO.  No they absolutely do not need father figures. Ballet companies are not families. Dancers are not children; dancers are employees. Dancers need collective bargaining power, dispute resolution mechanisms, limits on working hours and performances, health benefits, and protections against workplace discrimination. They need to be able to hold their leaders accountable without penalty. They need leaders who recognize that sexual harassment and abuse are not just institutional but structural problems.

Thank you for posting this, Sappho.

I would only add that dance companies — like nearly every collective enterprise, be it artistic, commercial, or charitable — is also a community. As such, it will have norms in addition to rules. Good communities have the kind of norms that foster things like fairness, reciprocity, tolerance, mutual regard, empathy, openness, and emergent leadership. What good communities don't require is a daddy. 

ETA: I added "tolerance" to the list, although one would hope it would be obvious.

12 hours ago, FPF said:

From Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=5507480

"New York City Ballet, Inc. operates as a dance company in New York. It operates a choreographic institute that promotes the development of choreographers and dancers involved in classical choreography by providing opportunities to develop their talents. The company also operates a ballet school. In addition, it retails apparel, souvenirs, media products, and vintage products online. New York City Ballet, Inc. was founded in 1948 and is based in New York, New York."

Thus, it seems that a student at SAB is, in fact, a student at New York City Ballet, Inc.

School of American Ballet, Inc. and New York City Ballet, Inc. are in fact separate legal entities. They file separate IRS 990s, have different EINs (Federal tax ID numbers), file separate CHAR 500s with the New York State Charities Bureau, have different New York State registration numbers, and prepare separate financial statements. They each have their own Boards of Directors, corporate officers, and administrative and professional staffs. They have separate endowments and do not have any material assets in common. They are each separate constituents of Lincoln Center. They do share an Administrative Director, but that AD is employed and compensated separately by each organization; they could have separate ADs if they wished, and someday might.

The two organizations are obviously closely affiliated, but an SAB student is NOT "a student at New York City Ballet, Inc."  Ms. Waterbury's lawyer needs to sharpen his pencil.

For EINs, search here: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/

For NYS Charities Bureau filings, search here: https://www.charitiesnys.com/RegistrySearch/search_charities.jsp

For SAB financial statements, go here: https://www.sab.org/school/financials/

For NYCB financial statements, go here: https://www.nycballet.com/About/Annual-Reports.aspx

9 minutes ago, Rock said:

How in the world did Finlay wind up with those pictures and videos? Is he some video wizard hiding cameras, etc.?

Nanny cams are cheap and easy to use. Just type “nanny cam” into the Amazon search bar and you’ll find over a dozen to choose from, including one that looks like a clock radio. 

I’m not saying Finlay set up a nanny cam, just that one doesn’t have to be a an AV wizard to film someone on the sly.

[Admin note: this post was in response to a post that was deleted among about a half dozen in response to a post that was so over the line, I decided I couldn't let stand, but couldn't edit to make the discussion coherent, and threw out the baby with the bathwater.  The original fork noted silence among dancers in the Company.]

In addition, I suspect many of them may still be grappling with their own conflicting thoughts and emotions. It's easy to express disgust at something in the abstract, or at things that have taken place somewhere else involving no one that you know. It's quite a different matter when you learn that a friend, colleague, or loved one has done something reprehensible. In that situation, one's anger and disgust is doing battle with one's loyalty and affection. (Trust me, I've been there.)

I think we can and should grant the dancers some space to come to grips with the situation, sort out their own feelings — which may be some complicated tangle of anger, shock, sorrow, resentment, self-reproach, denial, and even forgiveness — and decide what they need to do as individuals, a community, and a company. 

ETA: and the same goes for all of the other people who work at NYCB, e.g., the musicians, the technical staff, the backstage crew, the costume shop, whoever. Company leadership of course needs to speak out publicly and clearly. 

33 minutes ago, cobweb said:

Yes, of course. I hope I am not taken to be condoning that. If Chase actually did this, he should suffer the consequences. I was referring more to the comments up-thread (as I recall) about whether the professional ballet workspace is different from other workplaces in ways that might be related to physicality and sexuality.

Got it! I actually don't think the ballet (or arts) workspace is all that radically different from many more work-a-day enterprises. I'm not sure how many of those Paglia has actually experienced. 😉

9 minutes ago, vipa said:

The issues comes when there is a big power inbalance and non-consent. So I can agree that there are times in the performing arts when regular workplace rules are dismissed, still power pressure  and non-consent can not be accepted.

What are "regular workplace rules"? Where I've worked the only the formal rules 1) strictly enjoined romantic or sexual relationships when there was also a reporting relationship and 2) forbade coercion and harassment in any form. There were informal rules, of course: 1) keep it to yourselves, 2) don't let it interfere with work, and 3) don't exploit whatever power you might have.

And I absolutely agree that power imbalances, peer pressure, and even subtle coercion have no place in any workplace, whether the arts happen there or not. 

15 minutes ago, cobweb said:

I guess the question is, can one have a less rigid sex code, and still avoid abuses or harassment?

I have no idea what Paglia means by a "less rigid sex code," but I certainly think that freely consenting adults can have as much sex as they'd like with whomever they like without abusing and harassing each other. 

Taking explicit pictures of someone and sharing them without their express, freely given consent doesn't violate a sex code: it violates human decency and every individual's right to privacy, dignity, and self determination.

5 minutes ago, Balletwannabe said:

Maybe this was already answered- how would anyone have access to text messages from the men's personal cell's?  In the interview this morning she states she found out that images had been sent to 9 men on Chase's laptop.  I'm assuming she found the "innaproppriate emails".  How do text messages fit into this?  How in the world did NYCB get access to a text to Finlay from the donor?

If you use Apple products - e.g., an iPhone and a Mac laptop - it is very easy to send and receive text messages (via iMessage) to and from a cell phone on your computer. I do it all the time when I'm working on my computer. 

2 minutes ago, cobweb said:

It seems like if it was a major donor or if these were official NYCB events, that would be specified as those are significant details. I wonder why this person is left anonymous. 

I don't know what the legal implications are of naming a third person who isn't a party to the suit, especially when that person participated in the activities that form the central part of the complaint.   It may be that the donor is someone Ms. Waterbury's lawyer would prefer not to tangle with at this time.