AB'sMom

I think that the JKO school will always be limited in the students they can attract because they don’t have housing. Their pool is limited to people who live close enough to commute. They don’t even have dorm contracts for their five week summer Intensive. 

If you click the link, it isn’t a reference to the Carol Pardo review. 

I’m so glad she is getting these opportunities.  It is especially gratifying to see someone who joined the JKO school at a relatively young age doing well in the company. 

Sorry, my image didn’t post. 

I’ve never understood why theatres charge fees for buying online and printing tickets at home. It seems like it would be much more convenient for them than having lines of people at the box office. 

Ooh, Sunday has the benefit of both new principals and potentially lighter traffic. I think we have a winner!

Isabelle Boylston just posted an Instagram video of her rehearsing with Kimin Kim, so he is officially “in the house.”

We’d love that here in Orange County!

In his Instagram story Patrick Frenette posted a copy of those safety rules and wrote something about how they went from the Fairmont in D.C. to this. I’m not a snob, but if a review says, “not the dirtiest hotel I’ve visited,” I try to stay away. 

Just a thought, but perhaps they could have checked the list of hotels recommended on the Michigan Opera Theatre website. Seems like a pretty obvious start. 

It worked! Thanks!

I got blocked by the NYT paywall. When the photo of the up-until-2am negotiations was posted to Instagram, Misty was the one dancer I couldn’t see. 

2 hours ago, ABT Fan said:

I think the ballet gods must have read this thread, because Bell is now cast in the Leaves of Fading pas (replacing Gomes) with Abrera on Feb 24 in Chicago!

http://www.abt.org/calendar.aspx?startdate=2/1/2018

Amazing!

I don’t know Aran Bell’s exact height, but he is quite tall. Definitely not 5’9”. I saw him at the Nutcracker cast party and I’d say he’s in the 6’ range.  

When he played the Mouse King in Nutcracker he sometimes didn’t run across the backs of the other rats because the two men/rats responsible for kind of lifting him to do that couldn’t manage it. He’s a big, strong guy. 

It protects everyone to have rules in place that prohibit bosses from dating or sleeping with their subordinates. Some companies allow these relationships but HR must be notified. It seems ridiculous on the surface but it really does offer a level of protection. My husband worked for a company where the (married) president was having an affair with an employee. When he broke it off she got a lawyer and sued the company claiming sexual harassment. It was cheaper and easier to pay her off than to go to court. 

I’m not suggesting anyone hang him for it now, but if is the case that Martins or any other adult male in a position of power was engaging in relationships with minors at the school, that is surely something parents would want to be made aware of. And certainly, as a parent, something I would want to know if I were considering sending my teenage daughter to study at the school. 

I can’t imagine anyone who has spent any time with a 16 year old girl thinking it is appropriate for a 34 year old man to pursue a relationship with her. Serious ballet dancers tend to be highly focused and responsible but that doesn’t necessarily correlate to having the maturity to enter into a relationship with a grown man. 

If he signed a non-disclosure agreement with someone, whether he admitted guilt or not, publicly saying he is innocent would likely make the NDA null and the other party could start speaking publicly. 

I will say that Hoven was a very capable partner for Murphy in Nutcracker this year. She clearly trusted him and they looked beautiful together. 

I want to believe that he resigned because he was upset that they would start an investigation or because he didn’t want a cloud hanging over the spring season if allegations were made public, and that he is now doing the work behind the scenes to clear his name and reputation. I don’t want to believe that he is capable of whatever it is that is being alleged. He is so loved and is such a role model for so many young dancers. 

I will never accept, “but they created great things...” as a justification, for anyone. We will never know how many potentially amazing things were never created due to the oppression of others, be it through racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. 

Often the binding arbitration clause is between employee and employer, not individuals working for the employer. So it may not be possible to bring a civil suit against NYCB or SAB, but it may be possible to file suit against Peter Martins personally. 

On 11/28/2017 at 7:44 PM, Josette said:

I'm only going once to the Ratmansky Nutcracker this year, and mainly to watch the adorable children, but I happily chose the Sunday matinee Hee Seo-Cory Stearns performance.  I've seen all the female principals but Copeland, whom I do not find interesting or distinctive as a performer or dancer.   

I am also seeing two performances of Miami City Ballet's premiere run of Balanchine's Nutcracker in L.A., which includes dates when ABT is performing in Orange County.  I wish Miami City would post their casting.  

Just saw on her Instagram that Sarah Lane is filling in for Hee Seo at tomorrow’s matinee. She’ll be dancing with Cory Stearns. I don’t know what happened to Hee Seo but I’m guessing that she caught whatever bug seems to be going around. 

I feel like I’ve seen this show so many times over the last few years that I now have a dream cast for almost every role. I got last minute balcony tickets for last night’s show. (My daughter got to perform with the young Prince from the opposite cast, who happens to be one of her best friends, so I couldn’t resist). From where I sat Blaine Hoven looked great. I’m sitting in good seats closing night so I’ll get a better view of his next performance.