Kathleen O'Connell

I would actually like to see it danced that way. I don't think Balanchine was entirely successful in grafting material taken from Japanese dance, music, and visual art* onto the framework of neo-classical ballet, but I'd like to see it once without the the distraction of the wigs and costumes as a test. The work's gestures might look something like those worked into the central pas-de-deux in Symphony in Three Movements. (I think those are more suggestive of Indonesia than Japan, but the impulse seems similar.) * I won't bet the ranch on it, but I suspect someone clued Balanchine in to Shunga.

Just for reference, here are some details re other ballet company AD compensation for years ending in 2015: NYCB - Total expenses = $79.2 million / AD base compensation + bonus = $900,000 SFB - Total expenses = $48.1 million / AD base compensation + bonus = $729,956 PNB - Total expenses = $23.5 million / AD base compensation + bonus = $384,292 ABT - Total expenses = $43.5 million / AD base compensation + bonus = $301,423 MCB - Total expenses = $15.5 million / AD base compensation + bonus = $325,000

No, that's just his NYCB base salary and bonus. Per SAB's 990, Martins' compensation for his duties there for the year ending 6/30/15 totaled $‭125,256.

In the year ending 6/30/15, Martins made $900,000 in base salary and bonus as Ballet Master in Chief, plus $39, 352 in non-taxable benefits. I'm guessing the list of people who would be willing to work for half that is long and distinguished.

Google Shunga. The careful depiction of elaborately layered clothing in gorgeous disarray seems to be half the point. Warning: definitely not safe for work. The yellowface has always ruined Bugaku for me, although I dislike the ballet for other reasons as well. There are ways of evoking and exploring an alien style that don't rely on costume gimmicks. ETA: Not photos, obviously!

I found this absolutely charming. Hayden Stark, Derek Dunn, and Daniel Durrett dance the three Shades variations from La Bayadere. It's not a send-up, and they're not imitating ballerinas: they're just dancing the variations as honestly as they can. I applaud both their respect for the style and their determination to honor it. One random thought I had while watching this: tutus really do provide an excellent frame for the feet and legs. (As Louis XIV well knew ...)

I'm sure you're right, but it would be heartening if some of the dancers further down in the ranks got opportunities out of what is otherwise a sad business all around.

Well, McKenzie might take a look across the plaza ... In a recent review of one of NYCB's falls season Swan Lake performances, Leigh Witchel suggested that Chase Finlay might find ABT's repertory more congenial to his talents than NYCB's: " Finlay’s obvious success in the role raises questions. His Siegfried is indeed a confirmation that his real repertory isn’t at NYCB. It’s ballet’s princes and heroes: Siegfried, Désiré, Albrecht. Those roles aren’t just more congenial, but safer. Finlay’s not a pyrotechnician; he’s a strong dancer and got through his variation in the Black Swan pas with no trouble, but that’s the edge of his comfort zone. The way Martins constantly pushes for harder, crazier phrases taxed and injured him. The dude is a prince – in a company that doesn’t really need them." I don't know if a permanent slot on the roster would suit either Finlay or ABT, but he might be a suitable guest Prince in he interim.

I don't know if the union could, would, or should get directly involved on Gomes' behalf with respect to the charges and the investigation itself. (Does AGMA limit itself primarily to contract negotiation and dispute resolution?) I was simply thinking that someone at AGMA has a rolodex with some lawyers' names and numbers in it.

Also, he has a union.

All we know is that ABT was investigating a claim of misconduct and that Gomes tendered his resignation as a result of the investigation. I don't think it's been established that ABT forced Gomes' resignation or that it decided to act as an enforcer. ABT as an employer has both the right and the obligation to ensure that its employees feel that they are both safe and treated fairly in the workplace. Let's leave Gomes aside, since we know nothing about the accusation itself or whether he is in fact guilty of misconduct. Suppose it was brought to ABT's attention that one of its employees (it could be a dancer, it could be a stagehand, whatever), prior to being employed by ABT, may have physically assaulted a colleague or close associate and caused bodily harm. I think ABT would be well advised to investigate the claim to determine a) if it was true, b) if true, whether there were other instances of similar behavior — i.e., if it was part of a pattern, c) if there was a risk that the behavior would be repeated at ABT, d) what impact knowledge of the behavior — or, if the claim was unfounded, the accusation — would have in its own workplace if and when the word got out and e) how they were going to handle the situation. What would the workplace be like if ABT's employees learned that a colleague had beaten someone up at a previous job? What action could or should the company take to assure them that they were not themselves at risk of physical assault? What would it be like if they learned that a colleague had beaten someone up, that ABT had been informed of the incident, and chose to do nothing? After the investigation the company might decide that the employee, for any number of reasons, posed no current threat, needn't be dismissed, and that it could satisfactorily explain its decision to the rest of its employees and assure them that they were not at risk. Or, it might decide that the employee had to go and that it could explain that decision too. But if they don't investigate the claim, they can't manage the situation.

"Hey, what's in this drink?" Yes, On Pointe, it is almost impossible to listen to that line now and not cringe a little. What surprises me today is that in the 50s and 60s persons of steady habits (including my parents) thought nothing of playing "Baby It's Cold Outside" and singing along in front of the children. And don't get me started on "To the moon, Alice!" Re On Pointe's important question: "Do we throw them out and pretend that the attitudes depicted never existed?" Interestingly enough, this morning I came across someone considering just this issue: The Music I Love Is a Racial Minefield by Michael Mechanic, a senior editor at Mother Jones (he's in charge of their culture section). Mechanic learns that the original lyrics to "Big Bend Gal," a catchy fiddle tune he particularly likes are, to use the current term of art, racially charged. "As a white musician who cares about racial justice, what do I do with that knowledge? Do I sing the sanitized version, or skip the words, or leave the whole thing in a box? Should I feel conflicted, even, about playing a haunting instrumental like “Mace Bell’s Civil War March” knowing it came from a Texas fiddler who served in the Confederate Army? (And does it matter whether the marchers were advancing or retreating?)" Later in the article, Mechanic reports back on his discussions with Dom Flemons, one of the founder members of the (excellent!) Carolina Chocolate Drops: In 2015, [Flemons] performed an instrumental version of Stephen Foster’s “Ring, Ring de Banjo” at a Foster-themed event with the Cincinnati orchestra. Foster’s racist lyrics are “absolutely unacceptable” nowadays, and “I would never think to perform that song outside the context of that specific show,” Flemons says. But these once-popular songs “are a document of what happened,” and failing to acknowledge that history would “completely devalue the strength of how far we’ve come. In short, to bury the hurtful pop culture of our past is to hide from the reality that the horrors of slavery and its aftermath are, to quote the sideview mirror, closer than they appear. Prejudice “is still in our blood, it’s still in our actions, it’s still in our Constitution—little fragments that are left over and covered up by new laws,” Ben Hunter says." Anyway, read the whole thing, as they say.

Drew, you've said it all more eloquently than I could. When to walk away is indeed the question. So is how: loudly and in protest (me and The Cage ) or with a sigh and in some little bit sorrow (me and The Merchant of Venice). How to stay is a question, too. Do we roll our eyes at some particularly outmoded notion from the days of yore while we enjoy the rest — kind of like raising an eyebrow at Aunt Mildred's cranberry and marshmallow jello mold while we tuck into her truly excellent turkey — or do we interrogate it and argue with it for all that we're worth?

Of course women are as capable of evil as men, but that's not what The Cage is about. (Robbins and his contemporaries left behind enough commentary on the work for us to know what was on his mind.) Enslavement of any kind is never OK. I've made no secret of my impatience with McGregor's deployment of women's bodies, and I'll state it again: it's a blight on the art form. Ditto for Wheeldon and Martins' substitution of the extreme manipulation of the female form for actual choreography. I'd happily chuck most of it into the bin with Corsaire. How we deal with historic works is indeed complicated, and The Cage, which was made 66 years ago, is now a work from history. We do need to parse our classics with a full awareness of the time and place in which they were made, and it's a delicate dance. But we're allowed to walk away from art that speaks against our values, irrespective of its craft or formal beauty.

There's nothing complicated about The Cage. ETA: It speaks volumes If The Cage is Balanchine's or Robbins' (or anyone's) idea of what a society populated by strong women would be like.

Giselle gives us a reason for the Wilis and their fury: abandonment at the altar was a very serious matter for a 19th century woman and it was something society had every reason to discourage. The insect women in The Cage are killers just because ... they're women.

In the case of ballets like Giselle, La Sylphide, and Coppelia, for example, I look to the works' overarching themes and the moral universe in which their stories take place. Albrecht may drive gentle Giselle to madness and death, but the ballet makes it pretty clear that he's wronged her, and that it's only her great moral strength and capacity for forgiveness that saves him. Coppelia's Swanhilda is the smartest (and bravest) person in the village; the men, not so much. La Sylphide is morally quite complex: we can admire James' longing for the ideal while condemning both his abandonment of Effie and his literally poisonous attempt to physically possess the Sylph. (I think it's one big giant allegory about art and imagination, but that's for another thread.) Raymonda? I don't think we need that one and I'm on the fence about La Bayadere.

If a ballet in some way, shape, or form — e.g., through plot, theme, imagery, body language, what have you — explicitly, implicitly, or uncrtically expresses or embodies something now generally accepted to be reprehensible, then yes, it should be consigned to the archives and left there. I don't care how pretty the steps are, if a ballet were to, say, casually depict violence towards women or reinforce noxious race, religion, or gender-based stereotypes, there's no need to expend blood and treasure to put it on the stage. We can start with The Cage.

I don't know what the norm is these days, but I certainly hope that institutions of every kind and size figure out how to communicate what's OK, what's not OK, and what to do when there's a problem — and that they also demonstrate that the intolerable will not in fact be tolerated.

I absolutely agree that although Morgan was within her rights to go on the record regarding her own experience at NYCB, should have steered clear of rehashing rumors and gossip. (I wouldn't advise her to say much about consent, victim's rights, or protecting oneself in an unsafe environment unless she's got genuine expertise in that area or has done her homework.) I simply wanted to point out that the word "rape" didn't come out of nowhere.

I'm not a Watts enthusiast, but I do want to give credit where credit is due. As Helene pointed out upthread, there was a period of time when Watts was the company workhorse. Did I prefer her to Merrill Ashley in Ballo della Regina or Patricia McBride in Voices of Spring? No, but I enjoyed the performances I saw her give in both roles (and I saw a lot of her in the workhorse years). And, yes, there were roles that I really liked her in: the Midsummer Divertissement, Dewdrop, Rubies, Agon. One reason she might be a valuable as a coach: she was at one point very open about the years she spent in an early-career wilderness because she didn't work hard enough or at least didn't work on the right things in the right way. What to work on and how — from the vantage point of someone who had to figure it out themselves — is useful knowledge to pass on.

Keep in mind that Morgan's comments are being made in the context of a flood tide of harassment charges against any number of prominent arts, media, and political figures, not just Martins. Many of those charges include rape, attempted rape, and extremely coercive behavior. She may have been trying to draw a distinction between what men like Weinstein and Lauer have been accused of an the kind of behavior Martins was rumored to have engaged in. And yes, Watts had a beautiful jump.

Those who have only seen late career Watts in the leotard roles Martins created for her might be surprised by something like this. Watts and Helgi Tomasson in the pas de deux from Bournonville's Kermess in Bruges. There was more to her career — and her dancing — than a lot of people remember.

Stafford joined the corps in January 2000, so she's roughly in the same cohort as Bouder (October 2000), Reichlen (October 2001), Fairchild (October 2002), and Hyltin (June 2003). In a dance, twilight is a relative thing. ETA: Lowery (October 2002) and Laracey (February 2003).

Maybe we need to clarify the terminology we're using as part of this discussion. Sexual Harassment, per the EEOC: Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including but not limited to the following: The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex. The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee. The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct. Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim. The harasser's conduct must be unwelcome. Sexual Assault, per RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): The term sexual assault refers to sexual contact or behavior that occurs without explicit consent of the victim. Some forms of sexual assault include: Attempted rape Fondling or unwanted sexual touching Forcing a victim to perform sexual acts, such as oral sex or penetrating the perpetrator’s body Penetration of the victim’s body, also known as rape Force doesn’t always refer to physical pressure. Perpetrators may use emotional coercion, psychological force, or manipulation to coerce a victim into non-consensual sex. Some perpetrators will use threats to force a victim to comply, such as threatening to hurt the victim or their family or other intimidation tactics. Child Sexual Abuse, also per RAINN: Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse that includes sexual activity with a minor. A child cannot consent to any form of sexual activity, period. When a perpetrator engages with a child this way, they are committing a crime that can have lasting effects on the victim for years. Child sexual abuse does not need to include physical contact between a perpetrator and a child. Some forms of child sexual abuse include: Exhibitionism, or exposing oneself to a minor Fondling Intercourse Masturbation in the presence of a minor or forcing the minor to masturbate Obscene phone calls, text messages, or digital interaction Producing, owning, or sharing pornographic images or movies of children Sex of any kind with a minor, including vaginal, oral, or anal Sex trafficking Any other sexual conduct that is harmful to a child's mental, emotional, or physical welfare Note that legally, assault is distinguished from battery, even though we may use them interchangeably in conversation. Generally, assault is a credible threat of bodily harm; battery is the actual infliction of bodily harm. (I learned this while on Jury Duty.) From Wikipedia: "In criminal and civil law, assault is an attempt to initiate harmful or offensive contact with a person, or a threat to do so. It is distinct from battery, which refers to the actual achievement of such contact." It's not clear to me whether sexual assault requires actual physical contact or whether the credible threat of contact is sufficient for something to be deemed sexual assault.