Rose

Bouder DID look amazing. She thinks she is still just as amazing now. She has plenty of blind eyes to back her up.

1 hour ago, Novice123 said:

So, you're saying that they shouldn't have made those criticism public?  So, if somebody did you wrongly, your advice would be to wait a few years and see how you feel?   Are you saying that those dancers who showed up and posted positive posts on social media should now publicly say that they were wrong to criticized NYCB and that they are sorry for the harm they've caused to this "great institution"?  If so, I think I would follow Trump's example, and sue all these ex-dancers for defamation and make them penniless.  

Yes, mostly. Many people and institutions have done me wrong and I haven't shared it with the world. If I had, it would be wrong of me to turn back around and celebrate those people or institutions so I could experience a moment of glory. Your last statement is an over-reaction and I don't agree with it. 

2 hours ago, Novice123 said:

Are you implying that their criticisms were falsely made?

No, I think their criticisms are true. They gave their heart and soul to that institution and it was their entire existence for a time. But many dancers were treated like cans of paint that were drying up and needed to be tossed or colors that weren't ever wanted at all. If, after everything that's said and done, and the years have rolled by, the final outcome is great joy and happiness for a memorable life-lived, then your experience wasn't that bad. It was mostly good. Just because you feel a certain way at a certain time doesn't mean you need to share it with the world and disparage an institution whose very existence is amazing in the first place. Maybe wait a few years, let the dust settle, and then decide how you really feel.

On another note, I think it's in extremely poor taste for Ashley Bouder to bring her daughter up on stage for the bow (and to the party on the promenade if she did that too, not sure). Just think if everyone brought their kids what a mad house it would be! I think this is another example of her narcissism -- the rules don't apply to her and her daughter is merely an extension of her own self. 

I find it disconcerting that a great number of former NYCB dancers who were very outspoken about the various problems that they have with NYCB as an institution and its negative impact on their life, gushed on Instagram about how proud they are to have been part of such an amazing legacy. I can imagine that its thrilling (and frankly, ego-boosting) to be honored as an alumnus of such a select group. That (and a deep reverence for Balanchine) was likely the draw to attend such a momentous occasion. However, this behavior is the epitome of talking out of both sides of your mouth. 

1 hour ago, cobweb said:

 

Thank you abatt. My comments focused on Bouder's overall readiness, not her weight (although that is part of readiness). Given that I also referenced the deficiencies of Erica Pereira, it should be obvious I wasn't talking about weight. I think of Bouder (or used to think of her, before her complaints last fall) as the most talented and disciplined anyone could possibly be, so if anyone can achieve readiness, it would be her. We shall see. 

I thought so too. However, her priorities seem to have shifted a great deal in the past few years. Furthermore, despite the fact that she's supposedly been taking class and exercising outside of class for several months, there's been no discernible difference in her appearance. It's almost as if she's burned out and can't get back to the mindset/work ethic/discipline she once had. She's not the same Bouder from 2015 but many people still can't see it. 

3 hours ago, fondoffouettes said:

And Jonathan Stafford has taken on her title of "chief of faculty," it looks like? The fact that they eliminated an executive-level position and apparently laid off a long-time faculty member makes we wonder if, sadly, these are cost-saving measures. 

Because this was done quietly without the usual fanfare of a longstanding employee leaving, makes me think something else is going on besides saving money. 

Yes, I have. I like it. I think it's better than a lot of ballet-based fiction I've read. 

That's interesting! What was the occasion? What did she talk about exactly? I'm so curious!

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0C67RDL72

5 hours ago, nysusan said:

Yes, I traveled to Houston last weekend to see Sarah Lane in the Sunday matinee performance of their production of Swan Lake.  I wish her well and hope she's doing better - I don't blame her for canceling but naturally I was super disappointed when she did not perform.

 

Fortunately I also bought a ticket to the Saturday evening show with Beckanne Sisk and Chase O'Connell. Sisk was absolutely wonderful with strong technique - fast chaines & pirouettes and strong fouettes. She had some beautiful long balances - lyrical in the first lakeside scene and striking in her black swan solo. Her epaulement in the white swan acts was exceptional, with long, yearning stretches of the neck, head and shoulders. Her arms were sometimes a little too swanny for me but that is understandable in this production.
 

As expected, she and O'Connell had great rapport and he partnered her very well. He certainly looks the part of a danseur noble - tall & dark haired with long limbs but his first act solos had hard, brittle landings and in the ballroom scene it looked to me like he couldn't land a tour, leap or pirouette sequence facing the audience squarely.

 

Soo Youn Cho subbed for Sarah in the Sunday matinee. She was fine, delicate & sad but kind of generic. She had a really strange ecstatic look on her face in the first white swan scene. She held a balance for a super long time in the black swan pas, but she didn't hold it strongly, her arabesque leg kept moving up and down. Still, it was impressive. I liked Ryo Kato as Siegfried, he danced it very well.

 

There are a lot of soloist roles in this Swan Lake and I thought all of the dancers at the corps and soloist level were really strong. At least as strong as we have in NY at ABT. Houston should be proud of them.

 

Now, about their production - I hated it. There are so many things i disliked , these are some of the things that annoyed me most:

 

The complete evisceration of the first act castle scene (here 1st act scene 2 at an encampment in the forest) and the 3rd act (here act 2) national dances. The national dances were completely re-choreographed by Welch and lost all of their folk dance character. Instead of being danced in heeled slippers each is danced by the princess herself, on pointe and with 1-4 of her male companions ( Ambassadors and Guards).

 

In the 1st act they have eliminated the pas de trois, again replacing the Petipa with Welch's choreography for the 4 would be brides and the prince's 2 sisters. They use most of the pdt music along with music from other parts of the ballet as well as music from the Tchai pdd. This production gave us far too much of the princesses/brides for my taste, although all of the dancers danced very well.

 

I read what I could about this production before making the trip and learned that it was inspired by John William Waterhouse's painting The Lady of Shallott and "takes its aesthetic from the fairy tale valence of pre-Raphaelite painting". Let me start by saying that I did not care for the court's costumes, they were not elegant enough for a royal court and seemed very inappropriate for a tale set in medieval Germany (although he certainly could have changed the time & place).

 

The painting also inspired the look of Welch's Odette, who we see in the first scene of the first act (when VR captures her) in a long white dress with bell sleeves and long beautifully arranged hair. OK, I am not a fan of preludes where we see how Odette was captured and cursed by VR, but it is becoming more common and not so out of left field here.

 

It also says that Siegfried first meets Odette "as a maiden". I wasn't sure how this was going to work but it turns out that this "maiden" Odette in a long white dress shows up at the beginning of the first and second lakeside scenes. And VR initially shows up at the ballroom in the 3rd act with Odile in a black version of the maiden dress.

 

In the first lakeside scene Siegfried & maiden Odette dance a pdd set to either the valse bluette or pas de neuf music (not sure which) which then segues into the climatic music from the last white act. I can't tell you how jarring it was to hear this music here. Then she goes off with VR and comes back in a white tutu and dances pretty much the normal 1st act meeting scene & pdd. This trend continues - in the black swan act VR comes to the ballroom with a "maiden Odile" in her black dress. She goes off with Siegfried, then when she comes back to do the Back Swan pdd she is in a tutu. When Siegfried goes back to the lakeside to find Odette she and several of her companions are in the maiden dresses, then they exit the stage and come back in tutus. This was incredibly distracting and muddled.

 

In traditional versions of SL we see Odette transform from a swan back into a woman through her dancing and then being transformed back into a swan at daybreak, all the while in a tutu. So here's an interesting question. If she is a maiden when in her white dress and a swan when she's in a tutu is Siegfried not dancing with a woman but with a swan in the pdd & pretty much the whole first lakeside scene? In the black swan pdd? And in the last scene when she drowns herself she has changed from her maiden dress into a tutu so already a swan - so at that point she really can't drown!

 

I apologize to any Houston Ballet fans I may be offending but I just found this production to be a muddled hot mess. But I do think the Houston dancers were wonderful and I'm glad I got to see Sisk.

Every story ballet by Welch is "a muddled hot mess" in my opinion. Thank you for sharing your opinion because nobody down here seems to agree with me! Welch's abstract ballets are better but still leave much to be desired. It's a shame they waste millions of dollars on that crap. I don't think the big donors know any better. Houston Ballet dancers are amazing despite the ballets they are given. Just think how bad it would look if they weren't. 

On 5/1/2023 at 11:03 AM, vipa said:

Nice to hear that Ashley Bouder was there.

It's been a while since she was at an NYCB principal farewell. It looked like the dancers who came out after her were avoiding standing next to her with many of them clumped together off to her side. 

1 hour ago, cobweb said:

Not that anyone asked me, but I'm having doubts about the wisdom of some of management's recent promotion decisions. Obviously, I'd love to be proved wrong. I loved Isabella LaFreniere in Chaconne in 2021, but since then she's had a few dubious performances in big roles and appears prone to letting nerves get the best of her. Emily Kikta has been getting solo opportunities pretty much ever since she joined the corps, and IMHO would be a much more experienced and reliable choice here, besides being arguably more a more beautiful dancer (or anyway, just as beautiful). Yes she's tall, but what was the point of promoting two very tall women (Kikta and Miller) to soloist if they weren't prepared to have at least one as a principal? Moving on to Emilie Gerrity, I have been a fan of her too, and at her best she comes across as beautifully grand, but other times kind of dull. As I believe it was @vipa suggested awhile back, it might have been wiser to promote Ashley Laracey, who has been very ably carrying the load of a principal for awhile now, with the understanding it would be for a few years before she retires and meanwhile, one of the other soloists might become more ready. Moving on to the recent soloist batch, I really don't understand Olivia MacKinnon, I just find her dull. And KJ Takahashi - why on earth promote him while overlooking tall, versatile, and more-experienced dancers like Gilbert Bolden and Davide Riccardo? I really don't understand the decisions here. Takahashi would IMHO benefit from a little more time in the corps, while Bolden and Riccardo are needed now and ready to move on up. With all those tall soloist women, it seems obvious they need to move up some tall corps guys. I love the excitement of promotions as much as anyone, but I just see some questionable choices here. 

I agree with you. I think the reasons behind most of the promotions are not based entirely on ability. 

I'm not surprised about the recent promotions. Alexa Maxwell is definitely ready and deserving. I feel like she had to wait too long and had to deal with so much in the past few years (injury and the photo-sharing scandal). 

As for Bouder, I honestly don't really see her coming back. I know that sounds harsh but it's not meant to be. I don't think she's facing the reality of her situation. How she finally exits will be interesting. 

5 hours ago, Helene said:

Balanchine only appeared in SAB classes a few times a year -- dancers have written about how they would wear their best clothes, do their make-up carefully, choose the right earrings, wear perfume, etc. when they heard he was coming -- and, he too, made quick decisions.  If Martins disagreed with Kay Mazzo about her suggestions, he'd observed enough to form that opinion, for better or worse.

My apologies for not knowing the SAB terminology for the way levels are described at SAB.

So that means SAB students are no longer in The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Coppelia, The Sleeping Beauty, and Harliquenade?   (I don't know the new works, and those are the ones I remember with young dancers.)  Where do they get the children/teens from if not from the school?

No one was ever notified (that I'm aware) that PM was going to be teaching class. I don't think it mattered that much who PM chose because almost everyone in the advanced division of the school was good enough for the company. And to be very clear, I am not referring to the children in the school who perform roles in the above-mentioned ballets. Those are not corps roles. Please don't mention the Garland Dance for the hardly-ever-performed-SB. Story ballets are the exception. But, come on, how relevant are story ballets at NYCB?

I wasn't referring to non-dancing filler background roles in Sleeping Beauty or any other 'story' ballet. Those parts don't require technique (or anything) and also they don't come around very often. Advanced students don't perform with the company in dancing roles unless they are apprentices (I can't speak for the random male from the school who Stafford now employs). Sometimes dancers become apprentices so quickly, you might think they are still students. I'm not referring to a student during Balanchine's era who was in an advanced level and made it onto the stage in The Nutcracker. It was different then. Also, obviously it is not just Kay Mazzo who spoke with Peter Martins about which dancer to hire, it could be any teacher at the school. She just had the most clout at that time because she ran the school. 

55 minutes ago, Helene said:

Martins knew the corps members who were Professional Division students at SAB, both from classes and when they dance corps roles in the main company for productions like Nutcracker.

Peter Boal had taught 1/3 of the dancers at Pacific Northwest Ballet when he became AD, because he had taught them at SAB.  He knew their dancing very well.

There isn't a professional division at SAB. The equivalent is advanced levels C1, C2, and D. Peter Martins almost never taught their classes -- maybe once or twice a year -- and only glanced into classes for a couple of minutes every now and then. Also, the dancers in the advanced levels never perform with the company. They must become apprentices with the company first. Peter Martins made decisions about who he wanted in the company mainly from Kay Mazzo suggesting certain dancers (whose opinion he sometimes totally disagreed with), from who was cast in principal roles in workshops, and from those few minutes he watched or occasional classes he taught. He seemed to make very quick decisions about apprentices. It was sink or swim for the apprentices. There were always plenty more students to pick from if they sank. 

4 hours ago, abatt said:

Most of these young dancers may have been selected by Martins to attend SAB.  I forget the timeline of when he resigned. I think he is well aware of many people in the corps from SAB.

 

Peter Martins didn't select dancers for SAB. 

1 hour ago, carllovesballet said:

Also interesting to note Georgina isn't cast in SB - she's usually Carabosse...

Well, doesn't Peter Martins cast Sleeping Beauty because he choreographed it? She wrote that book...