Marta

57 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

Maybe it doesn’t help that there are memories of Farrell for many of the roles Mearns dances. I’ve only seen Farrell in videos but she has a sometimes chilly aloofness that I actually find very appealing (it creates a sort of mystique). Mearns of course wears her heart on her sleeve much more often. But I’ve found her very satisfying in roles such as Piano Concerto No. 2 and Diamonds. I feel a dash of glamour and drama goes a long way in those roles.

A friend of mine, who was lucky enough to go to NYCB in the 70s and 80s (and a was a full-blown Farrell devotee), has told me that, for him, Mearns is the one current dancer that brings back feelings of the “good old days,” particular when it comes to her sense of risk-taking. He’s found other dancers too safe. So, just one person’s opinion, for what it’s worth.

I saw Farrell in the 70s and 80s and I'm still completely besotted by her!  The quality you called chilly aloofness strikes me more as ethereal or aloof. I agree that it's mysterious.  I haven't seen that much of Mearns. I like her very much, but she doesn't remind me of Farrell except that she "lives dangerously".  But then, nobody does.   Maria Kowroski is the dancer I love in former Farrell roles.

On ‎1‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 9:16 AM, abatt said:

I thought Tiler Peck was miscast as Terp.  She is too short for that role.  Terp. looks much better on someone with long limbs.

I thought she was miscast too even though I've never seen her dance badly.  Dance gods, don't strike me dead, but I wasn't even 100% thrilled  by Fairchild as Apollo in that performance.   I saw Chase Finlay years before he was promoted and thought he was a more interesting dancer back then.

13 minutes ago, BalanchineFan said:

I feel very fortunate that I saw Gelsey Kirkland perform. I saw her in Giselle with Ivan Nagy in Minnesota. Sublime characterisation and fabulous dancing. The Act 1 variation on youtube is just a taste of what she could do. The whole evening was like that. I saw The Leaves Are Fading live as well. I've forgotten what else. I love the Nutcracker film, costume and all.

Regarding Kirkland's memoirs, I don't recall that she "excoriated" Baryshnikov. I worshipped him like the sun, too, so perhaps I've blocked it out. IIRC, she wrote her heartbreak that he moved on romantically, whereas with Peter Martins she seemed blind to the fact that he and Heather Watts (even though he told Kirkland they'd broken up) were still emotionally attached. She seems very young and naive in the book, (age appropriate given her youth and inexperience with men during the events she describes) and extremely self-critical. Maybe the impulse to anorexia is anger turned inward. You can see that in the Diane Sawyer interview. Dancing on My Grave is a juicy read. I recommend it. Martins is the one to introduce her to Baryshnikov and suggest they dance together. Early evidence of his eye as an AD?

I saw Farrell quite a bit too. I happened to see two performances of Walpurgisnacht in a week in 1981 (or so). In the second one Farrell held a balance in attitude so long that she had to improvise an ending to the phrase. What guts. The audience went crazy. Darci danced the second ballerina role that performance. It was a golden era... for me at least.

I regret that I never saw Gelsey dance live! Lucky you.  What I recall from her book is that she met Baryshnikov in Leningrad while watching a class at the Kirov.  Also, he had seen NYCB perform in Leningrad and had noticed and admired her dancing, even, according to some, wishing  to someday dance with her.  I don't think Peter Martins  introduced them or suggested they dance together. I believe one of the reasons Kirkland left NYCB for ABT was to dance with Baryshnikov.

32 minutes ago, sandik said:

I have to disagree with you -- I think it's a wonderful and sly work.  When people look at the whole of Baryshnikov's directorship at ABT, I think his invitation to Twyla Tharp will stand as one of the most influential things he did.  I don't always love the direction that ballet travelled at that time, but there have been some phenomenal works come from it, and fascinating dancers to perform them.

I agree with you, Sandik.  Push Comes to Shove is a delightful work.  Tharp was an unusual choreographer and what she choreographed on Baryshnikov was unique.  Kirkland trashed  Tharp in her book, ditto The Turning Point, and anything she didn't consider artistic enough.

30 minutes ago, canbelto said:

Speaking of Kirkland another snippet of her Giselle has popped up:

 

Thanks, it's a beautiful snippet.  The lone other clip on YT of her Giselle is the variation in Act I, but with only piano accompaniment.

3 hours ago, California said:

Yes. The cocaine problems started in 1980 before she was to return to ABT when Baryshnikov took over as AD. Patrick Bissell introduced her to it. (Dancing on My Grave, pp. 224ff)

Absolutely right.  In either case, her performance in the DQ PdD at Wolf Trap was only a suggestion of her capabilities.

4 hours ago, On Pointe said:

It's unfortunate that in many of her recorded performances,  Kirkland does not look healthy.  She is thin and underpowered in the Don Quixote pas de deux with Baryshnikov,  which is otherwise well filmed.  In the Nutcracker she is additionally burdened with a horribly unsuitable costume,  a narrow nightgown that obscures her line.

But I know of young students who watch her  T and V obsessively,  so there is a younger generation familiar with her work,  but blessedly,  not her troubles.  They don't impress kids who watch reality television and tabloid TV anyway.  What was shocking in the 70s and 80s is small potatoes today.

Sadly this is all too true.  I've watched the Baryshnikov/Kirkland DQ DVD a zillion times, lamenting that Kirkland is so debilitated by cocaine and anorexia that only a slice of her brilliance shows.  The Nutcracker also is a favorite but that costume is a horror. If you can tolerate it, though, there's much to appreciate. Maybe you've seen a very fuzzy video of Le Corsaire PdD, also with Baryshnikov. If not, it's worth searching on youtube.

3 hours ago, Drew said:

Though it probably does not need saying, Kirkland was a genuinely great ballerina across a huge repertory (Theme and Variations AND Giselle, Dances at a Gathering AND Lilac Garden, La Sonnambula AND Juliet)... and her difficulties and people’s reactions to her as a person and to her writing doesn’t change that—nor their lack of interest in her experiences as she writes about them. Though I may think the last is too bad if one is interested in what might be called the ‘pre-history’ of New York City Ballet’s  #metoo moment. She does also seem to be having new success with her academy; its philosophy/staffing, as best I can tell, partly reflects, and in a positive way, her response to some of the experiences she wrote about in her book. Though ballet will always be an insanely tough career.

(Unlike Kirkland in her books, I have profound love for Balanchine’s ballets. Which is, indeed, the main reason I care about New York City Ballet.)

 

I agree, Drew.  Unfortunately, I never saw her in person, only on TV and now hundreds of times on youtube. She is a great dancer.    I read her book when it was new and again years later.  She  had negative things to say not only about Watts and Martins, but about almost everybody.  She trashed Baryshnikov mercilessly as a person and a partner, and  she criticized sarcastically his dancing in several ballets.  I was shocked at how little she thought of Balanchine's ballets, for which I also have profound love.  The few who escaped her ire included Makarova and Tudor, Ivan Nagy --there may be others.  I read that years after the book was published, she acknowledged that she'd excoriated  Baryshnikov and Martins.  It didn't really sound like an apology.  After she went to the Royal Ballet, her light  seemed to fade. Despite her problems she essentially had a brilliant though truncated career. One just wonders what heights she may have reached.

1 hour ago, Drew said:

Part dancing on a tiny stage in a less than ideal costume with, I assume, an unfamiliar partner, may not look her best but to my eyes she still looks like a pedigreed ballerina. I think that counts for a lot. And I quite enjoyed the variation especially. Am I wearing sugar-plum colored glasses? Oh...who knows... Thanks for posting.

 

Your comment is also true. I was happy to see her despite my critical thoughts, and I also enjoyed the variation very much.  I would watch her in anything!  She and Gomes were fantastic partners.  Were they not paired more often because Gomes was so often with Vishneva?

3 hours ago, Helene said:

Or, particularly in this context, many would remember Susan Falludi's book, "Backlash:  The Undeclared War Against American Women."

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200883.Backlash

Falludi's book is excellent, highly recommend it.  Since it was published,  there seems to be a backlash to the backlash.  I'm old too, I remember Anita Hill and many many hours spent watching the Watergate hearings.

9 hours ago, sandik said:

In general, I am known as a brightsider to my family and friends -- someone who assumes that the good will eventually win out and that justice may be glacially slow but will in the end prevail.  But these are early, early times in this process, and I fully expect to see backlash and retribution in many and various places.  I'm more grateful than I can say that people have started to speak up, but I do not expect that a problem which is so fully entrenched in so many parts of our culture will be overturned as easily as this. 

Two things I heard today -- Catherine Deneuve signed a letter to Le Monde complaining in part that the #metoo movement will create a new Puritanism, that men who were "touching a knee, trying to steal a kiss, or speaking about ‘intimate’ things at a work dinner, or sending messages with sexual connotations to a woman whose feelings were not mutual" will suffer the same consequences as a serious abuser.  Meanwhile, two women who had been harassed at their work at the Seattle Public Library by their manager and had complained about it, did get a settlement, but are forbidden from ever working in a city agency again.  Their manager did not lose his job.

I admire Deneuve's work -- I think she's a wonderful actress, but I think her skills and her celebrity would insulate her from any blowback, should she need to complain about mistreatment.  Her reputation as an actress would not suffer -- her ability to work in her field would not be affected.  These two women who worked as security guards at the library are not only out of a job, they are unable to apply for any city position.  Ever. 

Until I have more faith that a security guard who was spanked at work can complain about her mistreatment without losing a chunk of her rights, I won't be sanguine about the tiny bit of improvement we've managed so far.

 

Yes, I agree with your assessment.  I was unhappy about  the declaration of Deneuve et al.  I had the feeling that they really don't understand. I don't think the  attitude toward me too movement, or to the harassment issue in general, in France or Italy is  suitably angry!  I feel that they -- people, including many women -- are skeptical,  maybe even suspicious about motivations of women here who are saying "me too".

10 hours ago, Fraildove said:

Poor Veronika. That partner was too small for her and I think caused her to dance with so much hesitation in her movement. She also looks not in the greatest of shape that I’ve seen, although that costume was doing her no favors. For such a gorgeous woman and gracious performer to have been so undervalued and misstreated... well it’s beyond sad. Her variation looked much closer to the real ballerina that Part is. But the adagio was not a true representation of what she is normally on the stage. Heartbreaking and such a loss for ABT. I hope beyond hope she finds somewhere to dance that will appreciate and use her gifts in the way they should have been used for years.

Sad to say it, but I agree. While watching, I had the same thoughts and tried to deny them.  She did not dance big and bold; she somehow did not look in optimal shape although I couldn't define why; the costume was a horror, the stage was too small.  Still, it was wonderful to see her, and I imagine being able to perform at all is very welcome to her.  I really wonder if she's had any offers from any plausible company. 

16 minutes ago, Amy Reusch said:

 

Ummm... .I take issue with this.   Where is the evidence that Balanchine slept with his dancers?  As far as I understand, with the exception of Danilova with whom he was understood to have a common law marriage, he married his dancers before he slept with them...   

I agree, Amy R.   I don't think trial by the press or blogosphere of Balanchine/Robbins/insert a name  works posthumously. 

2 hours ago, canbelto said:

Have you ever seen how rape victims/accusers are treated? Have you ever seen every outfit they ever bought scrutinized, the way their sexual history is poured over with a fine tooth comb, the way they are shamed, ostracized, and (in some cultures) KILLED by their own families? If you haven't, then sorry for you. If you have, I can't believe you think women make these accusations so lightly and with such impunity. 

Just as an example, do you remember Robert Chambers? A troubled young man with a history of theft, violence, drug abuse, and sociopathic behavior? When he strangled a young lady (Jennifer Levin) to death SHE was the slut, SHE had a "sex diary" (actually a contact book, this was before cell phones), and he was the good Catholic boy. His claim of "death by rough sex" was refuted by forensic evidence that proved that they never even had sex that night. She was strangled almost immediately with her own clothes. 

I don't believe people lie about being sexually assaulted, when the stigma, shame and attitudes such as yours make the conditions so difficult.

I agree completely.  Some commenting here  perhaps don't seem to realize that their words amount to blaming the victim. 

As canbelto said, a kept woman, a prostitute, a liar, one with a history of mental illness, etc.  can also be drugged and raped.  I don't agree that Martins and Cosby are analogous. 

I agree with Vipa's [possibly last] comment that the dating thing is not evidence of predatory behavior. I've followed this topic from the beginning without commenting, as so many people have said what I would have written. I think the issue IS complicated, all of it, and unless the public is apprised of the investigation's results (highly unlikely), we won't ever know the  truth.  I disliked very much the NPR interview yesterday with Robin Pogrebin who wrote the article in the NYT about how the board of NYCB essentially knew of PM's behavior but did nothing.  She presented the allegations as if they were proven fact and I don't think she ever even called  them allegations.  

1 hour ago, vipa said:

 I feel terrible on so many levels.

1. There does seem a split between the Martins of the past an the Martins of the present. 

2. Regardless of what you think of him, he got the company through the post Balanchine years to a place that is (right now) financially secure and has an unheard of depth of talent. It's a terrible way for him to close it out.

3. The company has to find a successor in a hurry. Why would they consider Millepied? That is crazy IMO. I'm worried about the future and the Balanchine legacy. I don't want NYCB to become just another company that's interchangeable with many others.

 

 

 

 

I feel terrible too.  I agree completely with all you've written, and I hope that the investigation will illuminate your first point 

I'm worried about company morale and about  the Balanchine legacy. As others have commented, some of the names mentioned as successors would preserve the legacy, but for various reasons may not be ideal candidates. 

I fervently hope they don't choose Millepied.

6 hours ago, abatt said:

The Barth press release screams lawyer-speak. ABT was lawyered up the wazoo. Marcelo never had a chance.

That's how it seems to me too.  Even the phrase "profoundly disheartening" sounds insincere and lawyerese.  Abatt, I  agree with everything you've written.   

3 hours ago, AB'sMom said:

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. 

He also danced very well with Veronika Part at her last performance.

34 minutes ago, Quiggin said:

Thanks for the Financial Times link. I liked what Baryshnikov says about Brodsky regarding their walks:

Towards the end of the piece he talks about how demanding theater is for him at this stage of his life – and that he is cursed for having been born under Stalin and ending up under Trump. "So unfair ... But I don’t want to talk about it. I’m trying to live my own life.” 

I had to smile at what Baryshnikov said about being cursed, but did definitely not smile at his statement that his battery is running out. It's a very good article, and also the first I've ever read in Financial Times.  I'm hoping to see Brodsky/Baryshnikov next month in Boston.

On ‎3‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 8:02 PM, Stecyk said:

Neil Munshi of the Financial Times wrote an interesting article "Poetry and motion: Mikhail Baryshnikov on Joseph Brodsky." Unfortunately, the article is likely behind a paywall. Perhaps you can read through a library subscription. The article is dated 3/17/17.

 

 

This interview sets up Mikhail Baryshnikov for his performance in the UK premiere of “Brodsky/Baryshnikov”, Apollo Theatre, May 3—6.

 

If you google "Baryshnikov on Brodsky", you should find the FT article and can read it for free!  I just did it.

Thank you for posting this.

1 hour ago, balletforme said:

That has worked so well in the past.  As has attempting to fight back physically.  As has going to the police.  As has filing complaints with the union.  As has filing complaints with HR.  As has filing complaints with management.

 balletforme,  why say please???

Helene, I agree with everything you've written.  Women already know how to speak up, especially the when and why.  I don't think it's possible "to really stop this", however  it is men who have to learn.  

4 minutes ago, Helene said:

I found a Martha Swope photo of Ellen Shire from 1964, in which NYCB was a far different company than it is now:

https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/39c27f80-6e02-0134-41b3-00505686a51c

Interesting that she says "both" dancers, when the linked article's headline refers to "five dancers."

 

Helene, what she wrote was:  "My hope is that there will be due process and that both the dancers who are accusing Mr. Martins, and Mr. Martins himself, will have their chance to be heard."  I read it as both the dancers [all the "accusers" as a group] and Mr Martins ... will have ..."  

Will this happen?  I hope this is how the decision will be made even though I think Martins's career is already over.

29 minutes ago, Helene said:

That Jeffrey Edwards lodged a formal complaint in 1993 to management after Darci Kistler reported abusive behavior to the police, and neither management, the NYCB Board (if it was informed), nor the union did/was able to do anything, speaks volumes.

That almost all of a Nutcracker cast witness violent behavior against a 12-year-old, and, yet Martins continued, speaks more volumes.

That, in spite of all of this, the Vice Chairman said,

well, I'm not often speechless, but...

 

I feel speechless too.  It is beyond belief.  I wonder how many of us are trying to guess who the current dancer is who wishes to remain anonymous.

4 hours ago, canbelto said:

Veronika Part has put up two videos on Instagram of her dancing to Sara Bareilles' "She Used to be Mine." 

 

Thanks, canbelto.   This is wonderful! Veronika's my favorite.