Balletwannabe

4 minutes ago, On Pointe said:

I took a look at Misty Copeland 's Twitter to try to understand the outrage her comments seemed to have engendered,  as I felt that the statement she made directly was quite innocuous.  It was an eye-opening experience,  not because of what Misty posted,  but because of the racist invective sent her way by the girls' defenders,  especially from Russians.  I now believe that the "little girls" were fully aware of the racist connotations of their costuming,  and that they found it amusing.  In my opinion,  they should have realized that you're safest when you keep your bigotry under wraps,  among like-minded individuals.  But they were old enough to know that Instagram goes out to the world,  and blowback was forseeable and expected. 

The singer Camila Cabello's racist posts have seriously damaged her career,  because while anti-black racism is common among Cuban-Americans,  she was considered old enough to know better than to go public.  She was around the same age as the Russian girls at the time.  If Misty should apologize,  the Russians should apologize as well.  But we all know they won't because all they regret is the threats they're getting.  Any sympathy I had for them is limited.

Which tweets led you to believe that they found it amusing?  I'm not on Twitter.  The tweet I qouted was from an article.

31 minutes ago, On Pointe said:

I don't believe that blackface and yellow face are equivalent,  but I recognize that others disagree.

But she did.  Misty said,  "this is the WORLD I live in".  She did not say anything about the girls.  I believe that a reasonable person would infer that she was making a comment about the institution of classical ballet,  not two young girls whose identity is completely obscured.

Do people set themselves up as spokespersons,  or do leaders emerge?  When he was alive it was Arthur Mitchell.  Could be that,  considering the endless vitriol hurled at Misty,  other black dancers are reluctant to put themselves out more in the public eye.

She posted the girls IG name, along with a re-post of the original text, including 6 other Russian girls IG's, 5/6 which are now "not found".  When you re-post, it is not necessary to post the text/names.  You can easily just post the picture.  It shows up on their end when their name is tagged.  Misty knows that.  And yet still, after all of the bullying, she doesn't delete the text and names?  She could leave her original message and picture and delete their identities.  Any reasonable person would do so upon hearing that children are getting death threats. 

She said this on Twitter: "But until we can call people out and make people uncomfortable, change can't happen".  

But I digress.  This is the reality of social media.

Just curious if any of you are currently parenting a teen girl dancer in the age of social media?  It's brutal out there. 

Yikes.  

He mentioned Misty in Swan Lake in July- and how his training is the reason she's improved.  Did anyone see her in this performance?  Did you notice a difference?

For those that were interested and talking about this months ago; the last 10 mins of this describes the nature of Misty's training year with Conrad. 

12 minutes ago, Syzygy said:

I can see both sides of this. On one hand, company members getting passed over for a student can't be great for company morale. Putting on a happy, supportive face in the back of the rehearsal wouldn't be fun. Also, I wonder if Taylor Naturkas is getting paid? Way back in my day (at a different but similar company/school) students would get pulled for snow or flowers or whatever, and they were paid in experience. Eye roll! Hopefully that's not the case here, because that would beg the question: If she's ready for this part why not hire and pay her for her work?

On the other hand, in the -- admittedly very short -- clips she looks great, and I am certainly the type of audience member who would be thrilled to watch a young, unknown in a wild debut. 

My thoughts exactly.

Just now, California said:

Do you mean including dozens of students from their school? I daresay this is a widespread practice, even for ABT and NYCB. Or including an advanced student as Dew Drop?

Dew Drop.  

I don't quite understand this decision...have other companies done this? 

She is listed as the new AD of Kaatsbaan SI 2020 on their website.

Just now, BLalo said:

Definitely a big difference between casting an Asian dancer in an Asian role and casting Asian dancers only in Asian roles...

I'm sorry I was probably misunderstood- she's cast in all of their other ballets.  However in Nutcracker, she's only cast in Chinese (in the 2nd Act).  I'm sure she could do something else.  I'm not behind the scenes though... that's why I'm wondering if she likes the role or not.  

1 hour ago, FauxPas said:

Discussing non-white dancers, there is also a lack of Asian dancers in NYCB.  I fell into a conversation with Wendy Whelan during the intermission of a recent performance.  I was interested in Balanchine ballets that have been out of the repertoire:  "Tzigane", "Gounod Symphony" and also "Bugaku".  Wendy replied that "Bugaku" is problematic right now with the yellowface and cultural appropriation issues.  I mentioned that "Bugaku" might fly if cast with Asian dancers and Wendy replied that they don't have that many in the company right now.  So there's that.

ABT actually has more Asian dancers and could cast Stella Abrera and Hee Seo in "Bugaku" (Hee is not ideal but she is Asian) and Joo Won Ahn as the partner - maybe Kimin Kim could guest.  Plus there are two other Asian men and two girls in the corps de ballet and Zhong Jing Fang, a soloist.  The piece requires a soloist couple and four corps couples - so five women and five men.  Allegra Kent and Edward Villella are still around to coach it.

I wonder how Asian dancers feel about this... I'm genuinely curious if they enjoy, or loathe being cast specifically because of their race.  The one Asian dancer at the largest company in my local area is ALWAYS cast in Chinese in Nutcracker.  She will never even be considered for anything else, because, well...would it insult her if they cast a white dancer?  I have no idea.  

Just now, Petso said:

😉 Maybe... I thought it´s about their work too, about the ballets they are showing - in their own way.

Absolutely- the ballets & the dancers who perform them. 

1 hour ago, Petso said:

Okay, maybe instagram isn´t the perfect way to ask questions like this - but just deleting it isn´t the perfect way of answering either in my opinion.

I think we all know that nutcracker is a ballet where step into racist stereotypes is done very easily. So she asked how they deal with it. 

It wasn´t my question, but I was curious to see how they would react. As I already wrote: just deleting it is not a very soveraign way in my eyes. They could hav wrote something like you: "Write us an email. "("Because we just answer important questions here like: Who is the one in the green leotard.... ")

Admiring dancers in a dance company, is kind of the whole point of a company Instagram account. 

They're not going to answer a question like that on Instagram.  Instagram is for snapshot photos for marketing.  Is there a specific scene in BB's Nutcracker that the user finds offensive?  They would be better off sending an email with their concerns. 

Looking amazing!

Any update on what Gelsey Kirkland is up to?  Sad to see she's no longer training pre-pro students.  Her school seems to be a rec school now.

27 minutes ago, Emma said:

I noticed she doesn't have Boston Ballet on her Instagram bio. Did she remove it or did she never add it?

I thought she had it in her profile but I could be wrong.

I agree they are likely paying very close attention to social media posts.

9 hours ago, Phrenchphry11 said:

Woah love that so many of the new members are getting cast in main roles. Chisako Oga as Giselle! She's come such a long way... I remember seeing her years ago as an apprentice at the SF Ballet.  So excited for her.

Plus, Soo Bin Lee and Paulina Waski getting cast is great!  Sad that Waski left ABT but it seems to be the right decision for her now that she's getting opportunities here.

I was really hoping Joy Womack would get cast in more things (especially since I believe she performed Myrtha in Russia?), but it seemed on her Instagram she was at the doctor's office - perhaps injured?

I'm not sure if we're not allowed to discuss this (I noticed the Womack thread is closed for commenting); social media is obviously a huge marketing tool- and Womacks followers have been brutal lately on her IG; and Womack isn't deleting any of the comments.  Is it possible BB is trying to avoid a spotlight on Womack's life right now?  I'm just thinking, it's a possible explanation.

I don't even think it's worth discussing to be honest (not that you can't)...I think he just wants press to sell his books. 

I guess it's just a matter of opinion.  I don't think adding comedy to ballet necessarily = mockery.  This is one of my fav's:

Travis Wall's IG story has an update.

Comments gone on her apology.  Might as well just delete it. 

I'm not really sure I understand how a company can monitor health?  You need more than just a scale.