Kathleen O'Connell

There's a fair and frank assessment of an artist's technique and artistry and then there's criticism couched in language that effectively equates technical or artistic limitations with some kind of moral failure. It's the latter I find troubling.

Twenty five years from now, Catazaro will be regaling an interviewer, or a table full of donors at a benefit, or a class full of aspiring danseurs with tales from his epic fail of an Apollo debut -- what went wrong, how it felt, what he learned, how it made him a better dancer (as it surely will) etc etc etc -- and everyone will go home well pleased with a story about a fine dancer whose artistry was tempered in the fire of a very public crisis.

That got me thinking about who would replace her, and who could come close to matching her. The only current dancer who can match her for intensity and conveying a sense of interiority (can't think of a better term) is Sara Mearns. Who else?

I like Teresa Reichlen in the role very much, especially when partnered by Tyler Angle. I know she's a touch too tall for him, but I think their partnership -- which appears to have been shelved for now, alas -- was among NYCB's best in terms of rapport and drama.

I didn't think this would turn out to be the case, but Reichlen has become my all around go-to NYCB Balanchine ballerina. I've come to prefer her in just about every Balanchine role she shares with someone else. I prefer a cooler style in general, however, so your mileage may vary.

I thought she looked awful in the SL costume and the dancing was terrible. I also couldn't believe she fell off pointe in SB. If that's the kind of dancing that will pass for principal, I'll just pass on seeing ABT. I'm almost at that point now, but seeing the mediocrity of Misty's dancing, if that passes for principal dancing, will just put me over the edge.

Can you be specific about what you didn't like?

CBS' 60 Minutes segment on Misty Copeland is available for streaming here: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/misty-copeland/

There's also an "Overtime" segment on two young African American twins at (I think) the JKO school who Copeland now mentors. Go here:http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/how-two-brooklyn-brothers-became-protgs-of-a-star/

It's easy for me understand why she'd take a public stand in refusing to be part of another committee, when years of committee, panel discussion, and symposia conclusions on the subject have been ignored. It's possible to interpret the enterprise itself as a cynical attempt to look like action is being taken, but actually to avoid doing anything, like creating yet another special panel or commission ostensibly to investigate, but ultimately to put off action.

I was frankly surprised that Martins extended his invitation via what looks to me like a form email sent out to who knows how many people, rather than just picking up the phone and calling her to discuss his initiative and the role he wanted her to play in it himself. Yes, he's a busy man, but if the initiative is important to SAB and the group of alumni is really select he might have found the time rather than delegating the call to an underling.

They have!

Totally OT, Drew, but has NYCB managed to get the video itself into the FB newsfeed, or just a link to the video? If the former, even better -- that's how it will have the most éclat.

Since ABT is as forward-thinking in its use of video as it is in website design, there is little footage of any of the dancers unless they perform with other companies.

Compare ABT's reticence on this point to NYCB's recent (or at least new to me) tactic of making video footage of recent performances available to The New York Times for placement adjacent to reviews. (Go here for footage of Ashley Bouder and Taylor Stanley in Square Dance. And here for footage of Theresa Reichlen and Sara Mearns in Concerto Barocco.) I rather get the impression that NYCB is so interested in making sure that you see what all the fuss is about that they've decided to save you the trouble of going to their own website or searching on YouTube.

I haven't checked to see if NYCB has found a way of getting its video content inserted into folks' Facebook news feeds, but if it has, so much the better.

ABT needs to figure out how to make a fuss over its dancers! (Rather than relying on the "Star Strategy" -- their characterization, not mine -- articulated by CFO William Taylor in the now deleted Babson College video. I'm not an AD, but that strategy sounds like an artistic dead end to me.)

I don't see anything cynical about that. "Black Ballerina Breaks Color Barrier" is a good story in both senses of the word.

Cynical because the news organizations that feature Copeland's story are happy to talk to her and about her, but won't commit the resources it would take to do real reporting on the issue, or any issue in the arts for that matter.

Yeah, my bad, sorry. I amended my reply, but we must have been posting at the same time.

No problem - I wasn't as clear as I might have been. Conversing online in text only has its delights and its challenges.

Yeah well, I've answered about a hundred questions here. I'm not going to answer them all again.

I wasn't asking you to. I simply wanted to state that I didn't think I was among your non-respondents, at least not knowingly.

Kathleen, I don’t really want to reiterate all my opinions of Copeland’s publicity campaign. Of course there’s nothing wrong with social media per se. Other than that, I could write a detailed reply to your questions, which I don’t think have simple, yes or no, black or white answers. But essentially, in this thread, I already have. My own questions, meanwhile, don’t always get answers, although I don’t remember if you were one of the non-respondents.

When asked a direct question, always make an effort to respond.

I see no reason why Copeland should not do outreach on social media to reach young girls and teenagers of color. It is a good thing. However, the confusion/criticism/questions have their basis in wondering if she looks at her massive PR campaign as a way of pressuring ABT to give her principal status. A number of people do not agree with KM's choices in who he has elevated to principal, but one assumed there something about their dancing he thought deserving. When he makes Copeland a principal (as I'm sure he will) a lot of people will question his reasons. I can't think of a principal in ABT or any other company who used such massive PR. The Russian defectors had a lot of press, but it was not self initiated. Copeland is really alone in this, as far as I can see, in the field of ballet.

To what extent is Copeland's press "self initiated"? I'm going to be cynical and suggest that the media look at Copeland and see the perfect feel-good, triumph over adversity, you go girl story to fill all that airtime and generate all those page views. It doesn't hurt that she's an attractive, well-spoken woman who has genuinely achieved something. (Any dancer who gets into a top ballet company has achieved something.) So yes, they're going to make a fuss. If I were her, and wanted to be a role model for young women of color and champion diversity in ballet, I'd be working my 15 minutes for everything they were worth, too. I do not doubt for a moment that there are now new donors who will write checks for Project Plié or similar programs because Copeland asked them to or inspired them to. (Actually, Copeland has had more than 15 minutes, which is to her credit.)

I don't view Copeland's media efforts as a sinister, unseemly campaign to get promoted to Principal. That being said, given ABT's alleged* "Star Strategy" it doesn't hurt to demonstrate to the CFO that you can put butts in seats.

*I say "alleged" mostly because I'm not sure how accurately William Taylor's comments in the Babson video represented ABT's actual policies, although it doesn't look good ....

Well, who can object to people trying to further their careers? But I appreciate the humility and disinclination to boast of the people Garrison Keillor gently mocks. Brooks: “We live in the culture of the Big Me. The meritocracy wants you to promote yourself. Social media wants you to broadcast a highlight reel of your life. Your parents and teachers were always telling you how wonderful you were.”

Usually whatever other side there is. Brooks is willing to acknowledge the other side’s points while making his own.

Well, who can object to people trying to further their careers? But I appreciate the humility and disinclination to boast of the people Garrison Keillor gently mocks. Brooks: “We live in the culture of the Big Me. The meritocracy wants you to promote yourself. Social media wants you to broadcast a highlight reel of your life. Your parents and teachers were always telling you how wonderful you were.”

Usually whatever other side there is. Brooks is willing to acknowledge the other side’s points while making his own.

Do you think Copeland is boastful or lack humility? What are some specific things that she has said that give you that impression?

If she wants to reach an audience of girls and young women of color, why should she decline to go where those girls are, which is social media?

It's never "if so and so said it, it must be so" with me, but I think Brooks is one of the too few public intellectuals around who tries to give the other side their due.

It's still shameless then?

No more shameless than Leopold Mozart or Franz Liszt or Andy Warhol or any other artist who has carefully crafted their image for maximum public éclat. One makes one's own luck, as they say. I've got no problem with artists taking their careers into their own hands.

Who is "the other side" that's not getting their due?

I'd rather not name names here. Those things are hardly new, obviously, but seem to be more common nowadays, in part because of social media. David Brooks has written about it.

Oh, David Brooks. Well, it must be so then.

Artists have been engaged in more or less shameless self promotion since Leopold Mozart started dragging his little prodigies from one end of Europe to the other. Liszt raised it to a high art.

It's the way people do things these days - the self-promotion, the triumph over adversity story, the I-just-want-to-be-a-role-model line. In that respect, she's not a ground breaker.

Just out of curiosity, who do you have in mind?

Dancer jerseys. I love it. I think ABT should start selling those. They would make a bundle.

Or, assign numbers to the corps dancers and have wardrobe stitch them on to all the costumes ... Pay honor to your brightest stars by retiring their numbers when they retire.

Most people show up for the cover band to avoid traffic.

May I steal this?

RIP to Professor Abrams, and to the dogeared and heavily underlined copy of The Mirror and the Lamp that followed me faithfully through college, graduate school, and beyond but finally had to be laid to rest when its binding was beyond repair. The Mirror and the Lamp is Amazon's #1 bestseller in "British and Irish Literary Criticism" after being in print for more than 60 years - quite an achievement, that.

I highly doubt that, seeing as how McKenzie regularly gets million of dollars in bonus money. Plus shelling out thousands of dollars for all of these guest artists isn't cheap either.

For the record, unless it's been buried on some inappropriate line item on ABT's most recent IRS 990, Kevin McKenzie hasn't gotten any bonus money, much less millions of dollars. Per Schedule J (Officers, Directors, Trustees, Key Employees and Highest Compensated Employees) of ABT's 2013 990, which includes a column for bonus and incentive compensation, McKenzie's total 2013 compensation was $307,691. Here's the bottom line from Sched J:

Kevin McKenzie - Artistic Director - $307,691

Rachel Moore - CEO - $300,654

Alexei Ratmanksly - Artist in Residence - $247,283

James Timm - Director of Marketing - $179,117

Julie Kent Barbee - Principal Dancer - $185,466

Paloma Herrera - Principal Dancer - $185,197

Kyle Ridaught - Director of Development - $175,275

ABT's total wages and compensation -- including benefits and payroll taxes -- were $22.9 million, which is slightly more than half of its total functional expenses of $42.3 million.

I don't believe wages and compensation includes guest artist fees -- but dancers we might think of as "guest artists" might be characterized as "employees" depending on the nature of their contracts.

A big thumbs up for the decision to program Paul Taylor's magnificent Sunset! I know ABT performed it about five years or so after Taylor premiered in 1983, but I don't know if any other companies have tackled it. It's nice to see a ballet company get out of the Company B rut. Company B is a sure-fire audience pleaser and well deserves its place in the repertory, but Sunset makes me cry every time I see it. (Not that making me cry is somehow the final determinant of greatness ... but it's special when a work touches your heart as much as it delights your eye. I've been known to cry during Company B, too of course.)

Here are two video clips:

Christopher Gillis & David Parsons

Vail Dance Festival 2013

It's easy to see from the second clip especially that the work will likely get "balleticized," but I think that's OK. I prefer Taylor danced by Taylor dancers, but most of all I prefer that Taylor is just danced, period.

Re ABT's web presence. I think they got started early (I remember them having a much wider variety of content than other companies) but didn't stay on top of the technology. And there's nothing more stale than a just-barely-dated website.

I'd laud them for having a smartphone app, except that it costs $1.99. Whatever are they thinking? Hello?!? It's marketing, not a valuable public service! (NYCB's mobile app is free.) Now if they were to package their video dictionary up into a nice little app, that I might pay for.

Ugh. That website. I do give ABT props for posting their IRS 990 on the "Financial" page. So few arts organizations are that transparent about their finances even though they actively solicit donations from the public. It almost makes up for how much clicking around it takes to find The Ballet Dictionary and Repertory Archive. ABT's repertory archive doesn't look as slick as NYCB's but it's actually much more useful, since one can sort it by title, choreographer, and composer.

Per this post in Faye Arthurs' always enlightening blog "Thoughts from the Paint" it appears that a stomach bug wreaked havoc on the casting for NYCB's recent run at the Kennedy Center. Silver lining? Some dancers got to try on new roles, albeit under what can only be charitably described as less-than-ideal circumstances ...

I was dancing Balanchine’s Symphony in C all week. It closed an iconic Balanchine triple bill which began with Serenade followed by Agon. On opening night my regular partner Devin Alberda succumbed to illness right before the show, so I rehearsed with a brand new partner—the very game David Prottas—during Agon since David had to perform in Serenade as well. Poor David, who had never danced in Bizet (the dancer shorthand for Symphony in C) before, was flying blind that first show. But he did a great job of jumping right in. We ended up together for the entire week because by the time Devin recovered someone else was out, so he ended up changing spots too. It was quite the juggling act.

Later in the post, Arthurs runs through some of the reasons why a senior corps dancer like Prottas might never have danced the role before. She also points out something that I can't believe I haven't noticed in 30+ years of watching Symphony in C: the height of the corps dancers in each of the ballet's sections relative to the heights of the principals. It's details like these that make her blog such a worthwhile read.