Marta

I never loved the theme idea that NYCB came up with 10 or more years ago. I do love the all Balanchine or the Balanchine B & W but as Vipa said, I also would be thrilled to see a program with an indisputably great Balanchine and two new works, or two by other choreographers, new or not. I'd be curious to know which programs had higher ticket sales.

I also was curious about what The Traveling Ballerina didn't like about "Symphony in C". TB, find the comment from your review "...perhaps a ballet with a cast of around fifty dancers is an ambitious undertaking for a company that has no leadership" curious too! This ballet is so rich in contrasts and moods that I suggest at least a few more viewings. One can only begin to perceive this ballet in a single performance.

I've been thoroughly enjoying all the reviews. I'm late with my impressions of the only two performances I was able to see in the first week of the season: Jewels on Thursday night, and the all Balanchine on Friday. I was excited to see Kowroski in Diamonds and thought she was magnificent. Her dancing transported me into another realm and, as someone has said here, seemed to give form to an "inner life" quality. I loved Bouder and de Luz in Rubies! Both were great and fulfilled all expectations. Kretzschmar as the Tall Girl didn't seem any taller than the other women and although she danced well enough, I really wanted to see Reichlen-- always. Emeralds was a disappointment. Both Stafford and Angle looked stiff and danced out. Angle particularly had a portly look not helped by the unflattering costume. He should retire this role. The all Balanchine program was wonderful. Reichlen in Barocco was fantastic and Stafford seemed like a different dancer than in Emeralds. I didn't think the two women looked that terrific together. Peck and de Luz were thrilling in Tschai PdD. All the superlatives have been said; I loved it and I was absolutely thrilled to see de Luz twice. Stravinsky Violin: I liked Hyltin very much in this and thought all the dancers were good except la Cour who at times looked tired and effortful . In the Bizet, Joseph Gordon was great! He really stood out with his clean technique and light jump. I saw him in spring in Coppelia and he was excellent. Kowroski and Angle were gorgeous in the adagio, even though I could barely take my eyes off Kowroski. Troy Schumacher stood out in the last movement and I've never noticed him before. Spartak Hoxha was impressive in 3 or 4 of the ballets I saw. He's been in the corps for a long time. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Woodward, Janzen, Olivia Boisson and Miriam Miller.

Agree about who gives us glimpses of their "inner life", especially Veronika Part. I don't know if any other women in ABT are in that category. Kowroski and Reichlen do share some roles but they are quite different. Jennie Somogyi comes to mind too. She was a very individual dancer that I saw too little of.

I nominate Marina Harss as the next Chief Dance Critic of the NYT. She's knowledgeable about many forms of dance as well as opera and music. I think [but don't know] that she has also had real live experienced at the ballet barre. Hers is a fresh voice with a slightly different perspective.

Thank you Kaysta for one of the best summaries I've read. I completely agree.

Tiler Peck, Unity Phelan, Miriam Miller ... forget who is the dancer on extreme left. If you click on their faces, their names come up.

Amy Reusch, I don't know if Baryshnikov ever coached the PdD you refer to from Other Dances for the archives, but this spring he coached OD with de Luz and Peck. Haven't heard that Makarova was invited to coach at City Ballet though.

MintyLee said: Your suggestion that no friend or parent warned her that dating Chase might not be a good idea possibly takes for granted how stubborn a headstrong young woman can be (some, not all), but I do agree and struggle with the thought that the people in her life could have done more to protect her from someone with that reputation. We have a responsibility to protect young women who might be more impressionable at that age than we are at ours. Might you also agree then that others also might have had responsibility in protecting her from someone with that reputation? Perhaps responsible parties that knew more concrete, everyday details of his actions? Perhaps responsible parties that might have more in their arsenal of course-correcting remedies than late night texts and sad-faced emojis? Perhaps... an employer?  Well, they didn't warn her, or she didn't listen. Or the friend or parent didn't know more than she did. Why would "responsible parties" know more concrete details of Finlay's actions? It's not as if his actions were common knowledge among non dancers.

Enthusiastically agree. As Nanushka said above, I also fail to see the relevance of many of these comments to Waterbury's specific complaint against Finlay.

I think this is the path. I scribbled it down and hope it's complete. Go to: https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/Login You'll be asked to enter the code to prove you're not a robot. Then you enter the case number: 158220/2018

Very well stated, and I completely agree. Opinions on what Waterbury should or should not have done or known about seem rather unfair. I'm skeptical too about the probity of the company's investigation.

I read all the articles and the complaint. Appalling and disgusting only begin to describe this ugly behavior. There are many valuable comments here and I gave up trying to quote all the ones I agreed with! Finlay is so disrespectful to women, indeed it seems as if he hates them. He is so adolescent and stupid that it's difficult to imagine he only started acting this way because NYCB "gave him permission" to do so. I don't know how much the environment there is responsible for how these dancers operate. Certainly the organization can't control what dancers do or say on their personal time. I noticed almost immediately that the donor was not named anywhere. That's infuriating, and does not look good for the board. Also, maybe it's not relevant, but the inconsistencies and quality of writing in the complaint were questionable. I don't know what the solution is. I will continue to attend performances because these horrible people don't represent the company. The board is not the company. The dancers are!

Taylor was the last titan of modern dance. Very sad news. Morris or Tharp are not in the same generation -- or league, in my opinion.

So true. While I enjoyed her book, I was aware of its flaws. I think her reviews and critical writings in other publications are far better and don't try to include something for everyone. I love Veronika Part too, and that I knew Jacobs was a fan influenced my decision to read Jacobs' book.

Also Trump is decisively not a good example. However, there could be a 70 something person who'd do a good job as president or artistic director. Farrell was my first thought back in January. But given that Martins will have at least some influence on the decision, I don't see her being hired. Andersen or Lopez, yes, but do they really want to leave their companies, especially Lopez? I really like Woetzel too. I would be surprised if he ditched Juilliard. bcash said: Speaking about overall leadership style and innovative drive, I really think Millepied, from two documentaries on his short-lived tenure at POB, would make a great director. Please, anyone but Millepied!

I think Steifel danced in City Ballet for a while, but point taken.

Artistic Director reporting to a Chair of the Board.

Totally agree. As stated earlier, Balanchine called himself Ballet Master. The term choreographer was possibly not as commonly used as it is today. Aurora said; Lady painter is certainly not a modern phrase. It is exceptionally old fashioned (Victorian era). And is often not very accurate. Rosa Bonheur was certainly female but she was no lady. Even woman poet (etc) are not what I would consider modern usage. If you are going to designate the gender of the artist (in whatever medium), I'd argue "Female poet" or "female artist" is more the norm. Lady painter, woman poet and all their sibling terms, like woman doctor, male nurse, etc. sound so antiquated they're comical. Almost.

Actor shouldn't really be gender specific. We say poet and not poetess, even though the latter exists. Singer, not songstress. Since English is not a language with true genders, like romance languages, it makes sense to use the same word to describe all people who practice the same art form. Painter, not paintress. Potter or ceramicist. No female sculptor I know wants to be described as a sculptress. It sounds trivializing.

"Ballet Master" was good enough for Balanchine, but apparently not for Martins. I always disliked that "in chief". Maybe it's a good idea to retire the BM title and use Artistic Director.

I enjoyed the book a lot. It has something for the hard core balletomane as well as for more casual dancegoers or newcomers. Her style is flowing and her knowledge is impressive. It didn't hurt that some of her favorite dancers are also my own! I loved the section on Serenade. Her opinions on why certain greats of 20th century dance were important are concise and very well stated. My only criticism is that I did not like the drawings.

She was the greatest.

My top picks would be Kim, Shklyarov, Sarafanov, all unlikely to cross the pond I think. Muntagirov is terrific and I think may have guested at ABT a few years ago. Semyon Chudin or Heymann would be good choices too. My absolute last choice is Golding who leaves me completely cold, even without the weird grimaces. I also thought of Finlay, although not of Catazaro but they seem unlikely to cross the plaza. Has any City Ballet dancer ever been a guest at ABT, other than Veyette who only danced one ballet?

Your comment reminded me that I'd read a review of a bio of Yakobson -- although I didn't read the book. In case you haven't seen it, here it is: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/23/books/review-like-a-bomb-going-off-leonid-yakobson-and-ballet-as-resistance-in-soviet-russia.html