canbelto

Well I wrote about this afternoon here: http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2017/07/farewell-veronika.html

Here are the curtain calls for Mozartiana:

More Giselle:

Well don't know what happened overnight but cooler heads seem to have prevailed -- the text for the flyer is very classy actually:

Well in Veronika's defense it's not as if being a "team player" really helped many past and current ABT colleagues. Xiomara Reyes - always known as a "team player," also given her walking papers when she was technically still very strong. Now she's part of Julie Kent's team and that's a shame. Stella Abrera - ultimate team player, patiently danced soloist roles as she saw one colleague after another promoted ahead of her. Finally did get her promotion but way too late. Astounding that she still hasn't been given an Odette/Odile. Irina/Max - adored by ABT colleagues including Veronika Part herself. Both were pushed into early retirement but that doesn't stop them from supporting their ex-ABT colleagues whether it's attending their performances or helping with extra coaching.

I agree but I think the actions of this fan have crossed the line from "supporting Veronika" to quite frankly a rather vulgar, self-centered display of ego. No fan who really respected Veronika would talk about throwing a tomato at Alexei Ratmansky or booing BEFORE Mozartiana even starts.

Hmm, Misty, Julie Kent, Luciana Paris, Gabe Stone Shayer, and Sarah Lane have liked Veronika's recent posts. From outside the company Svetlana Lunkina, Sara Mearns, Marianela Nunez have liked her posts too. Conspicuously missing are male principals. I've noticed Veronika interacts more with the females at ABT than the males on social media.

Here is a screencap of the anti-Nina Alovert rant

It's this thread:

Dewdrop over the years:

One of Veronika's relatives has now chimed in on the Facebook page. I think it might be her dad?

La Bayadere over time:

Her name can be found in the petition. And her Facebook is public-facing.

I also did Raymonda. Love the continuity in the port de bras.

I would love to see Sarah as Nikya actually. Nikya is one of those roles where petite dancers actually have had success with the role. Cojocaru, Makarova, Vishneva all wonderful as Nikya. And Sarah has that flexible back which is important.

Sarah - Juliet, Lise, Cinderella, Colombine (in the new Harlequinade next year)

Blaine Hoven joined the ABT corps in 2004. So he must be in his mid-30's because he also danced for the studio company prior to joining ABT. Thomas Forster is 31, per his page on the ABT website.

I just saw that they plan on booing "before the lights go down." That's awful. Mozartiana should be Veronika's moment and Veronika's alone. Any disruption will only take away from her rendition of one of the most beautiful ballets ever made.

It's really unfortunate. Supporting Veronika is one thing but this sort of behavior will only hurt her future chances at dancing at another company and I can't believe the organizer has made the event so self-centered.

These are really addicting.

Well back to Veronika's farewell ... apparently mass media didn't take up the story so now there's going to be flyers handed out and organized booing.

It's already happening. But congrats to the newly promoted dancers, especially Sarah, whose journey to principal was so long and arduous.

Some sense of the shaky finances of ABT can be found in this long interview with Susan Jones: http://dancetabs.com/2013/10/susan-jones-ballet-mistress-american-ballet-theatre/ This part is the one that blew my mind: Wow.

Actually it shocks me that a company like ABT doesn't have a part of its budget siphoned off for dancer salaries, and that salaries are dependent almost entirely on individual sponsors who also have to donate to the company. I mean all arts organizations are dependent on donors and fundraising but individuals "sponsoring" dancers sounds a bit like the old grand dukes sponsoring ballerinas in the Imperial Era ...