Helene

I don't know if non-subscribers can access the archives for long, ie, if you start listening, whether it will prompt you to subscribe. But it's worth a shot: http://tch15.medici.tv/en/candidates/voice Pick a candidate and scroll to the "His Performances" or "Her Performances" section and click the photo. The video should load, and if you scroll, you'll see the rep. (It may be in a different order than sung.) Every contestant sings a song by Tchaikovsky, and it's a wonderful opportunity to hear that rep. There's an amazing amount of young vocal talent coming especially out of Russia.

If you google "appolinaire scherr misty copeland", you should be able to access it through the link. If she's reading us about Misty Copeland, I feel sorry for her and offer her a handful of acetaminophen. We all read and participate voluntarily.

Discuss critics in the Writings on Ballet forum, unless to cite something factual in their reviews that is pertinent to the discussion/answers a question raised.. The company forums are for your opinions. It's very clear that Copeland is a lightening rod.

What is pertinent to the debate this evening is what is commonly agreed upon and what is being debated: Agreed upon, as far I know: Copeland is a female ballet dancer, and, hence, wears pointe shoes Copeland described being subject to racial discrimination during her training/career The press has been running with the race issue Copeland wrote a book Copeland has a PR person Copeland has given many interviews Copeland claimed to be the first black female soloist at ABT, until she stopped claiming that she was the first black female soloist at ABT Were Copeland to be promoted now, she would be the first black Principal Dancer at ABT Some people are going to believe she played the race card if she's promoted, and somehow, this will taint her promotion, because it will mean she didn't earn it through merit Not agreed upon: The extent to which Copeland's claims of racial discrimination during her career has hurt or helped her, and the proportion Whether it is a character flaw that she did Whether Kevin McKenzie has no choice but to promote Copeland, because she's claimed she was subject to racial discriminate during her career Whether she lied or was mistaken about her claim that she was the first black soloist at ABT Whether she should have known and how she should have know she was not the first black female soloist at ABT Whether someone during her career definitely told her about other black soloists at ABT The extent to which she should have done her research about whether or not she was the first black soloist at ABT Whether not knowing something makes one dumb or uneducated about the subject The extent to which dancers are educated in dance history Whether she got an PR representative to handle press when it became clear she needed it managed, or whether she hired a PR rep to drum up the press on her behalf Am I missing anything? Honestly, I don't think she should care about most of those arguments, and I hope Marina Harss and other professional critics are right: that there's a promotion coming her way. But my bias is towards movement quality over body type, and versatility and expression over technique.

It would be hard not to recognize her recent accomplishments in several styles of rep, except for the part about his he's managed to resist for a long time with her and many others. She's made herself useful to the company selling tickets, and ABT is partly in the business of selling tickets. Dancers are not sum, or dumber than most people. They tend to be undereducated, but my friends who teach college have tales that make her sound above average in research skills.

If it's not part of the narrative, it's easy to assume wrongly. If ABT did not make the first black soloist part of its ongoing narrative, for examply, why would she know. What she did know was that there were any black faces at ABT when she became interested in ballet and when she joined ABT. It's not surprising that a profession in which "They always get fat" and "They don't have the feet" -- "they," not "You, dancer Jane" -- is tossed around within eatshot of "them" that there wouldn't be a lot of celebrating heritage.

I don't think other people are lying. I think they are mistaken. There are very few places where dancers are steeped in dance history. Again, I disagree. Racism taints consideration of merit. Describing the racism she faced, in the context of ABT's hiring and training history -- and almost every other company's, for that matter -- may have helped to make up some of the unfair disadvantage and leveled the playing field.

I was clearly responding to kfw's summary of his thoughts, which he expressed differently. I don't have an issue with multiple factors being taken into consideration when a promotion is made. I think there is a credible, alternate narrative to "Because she's waged a PR campaign that includes the hot-button issue of race, the only reason she'll be promoted is because McKenzie has caved into the pressure." Rationalizers are going to rationalize, doubters are going to doubt, and haters are going to hate. I doubt that pleasing everyone, which is nearly impossible, is high on her agenda. The people who matter to Copeland, among the most lauded and respected in her field, have been supportive, and if others have a mental asterisk gun going, that's their issue.

Not if there's a videotape or written description, especially in another language, like German, that shows that someone else did it before the choreographer. That is also a fact, and the choreographer, who did not know this, is mistaken. To say that she should have just googled the facts: she was born in 1982. She did not even find ballet until 1995, at which point, she was living in poverty until she moved into her teacher's house, when her life was focused on ballet and school. To assume that the information was even easily findable on google, had she done a search, in 2000 -- when slow, expensive dial-up was still in its hey day -- is questionable: it was hard enough to find it until she made it a wrong point. The idea that everyone just searches immediately on their smart device and entire libraries and a century of the NYT is at one's fingertips is a very new practice. In fact, ballet companies delete prior seasons' information and bios of dancers who've left off their servers. Out of sight, out of mind. By the time she joined ABT in 2000, she obviously wasn't seeing any black female faces around, and ballet history is overwhelmingly oral/pass-it-down. There were people there who were contemporaries of the other black soloists. If I were a young dancer with an unusual background, I would hope that my teachers and mentors would point out my predecessors as role models. If they passed on the history -- because it was not readily accessible -- none of them have said a peep about this. Most dancers are not historians. Obviously, I'm not dirac, but I would say specifically that one thing I would dispute is your characterization, which leaves out how much more than her description of racism she encountered is part of her narrative, which is wider-reaching and more subtle. If the news media ran with that aspect, that's their business decision, because they assumed it would sell. I don't think she should have had to soft-pedal her experience, because of what the media would emphasize. I'm glad she didn't.

She also gave the correct info in the ABT documentary. Even if a person submits a correction to a publication, it's up to the publication to decide whether to make the correction.

Congratulations to Korbes! Earlier in the year she said she wasn't sure where she and husband Patrick Fraser would live -- he's been in LA -- but it looks like they're starting their married life in LA.

That may be your standard, but it's not mine. When people are mistaken about themselves, they are mistaken, unless they have intent to misrepresent themselves. The classic example is in modern and contemporary dance: choreographers, especially dancer-choreographers, constantly write and say that what they're doing is original -- and there are many people around them who will reinforce this mistake -- when, in fact, others were doing the exact same thing before they were born. In my mind, they are mistaken, not lying. Given how long it was before she was corrected, I'd think a lot of people believed that every black female dancer at ABT never made it past corps, too. We're not talking about former soloists who denied that they were black, like Tai Babilonia in skating, who tried to pass as a Filipina.

I don't see any reason to conclude that she was lying. I will repeat yet again the Jackie Robinson example, in which countless baseball journalists and professionals have repeated the mistaken assertion that Robinson was the first black player to play in an integrated professional league. I have no reason to assume that they are lying, lying liars and the people who love them. Everyone is welcome to judge anyone or anything by whatever standards they want, but to assume that all assertions, standards, and arguments have equal weight is also something we are all free to judge.

As for why they were there, perhaps one, both, or the company will speak on record. Wilkinson has been unreserved in her support for Copeland, and it would be no surprise if she was asked by someone or decided on her own.

For example, whether she intentionally told a falsehood or whether she made a mistake, or whether the falsehood or mistake was so obvious.

Tomorrow MacKay graduates from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy with perfect scores in both dance and academics. His younger brother, Nicholas, graduates from the lower school. https://twitter.com/balletlegacy/status/614047130097950720 Congratulations to them both :flowers:

Pia Catton has written another article for the WSJ with focus on the audience that attended Copeland's NY Odette/Odile debut: http://www.wsj.com/articles/misty-copeland-takes-the-stage-in-swan-lake-1435189061 Ballet has never been strictly a merit system: it's an American bias that meritocracy is the be-all and end-all and the most morally superior system, and except in Paris, determination of merit is affected by the biases of the artistic director, or, for a brief period, the co-artistic directors, as is how much merit plays in the decision. Peter Boal, for example, has said that it doesn't matter how great a dancer is: if he or she will not be a good colleague, he won't hire that person. Although the PNBS PD hired into the company next season is a jewel, there was another who is a better dancer by just about every measure. There was no room for another short man, however. Dancers are hired and promoted for their usefulness as well as merit or "merit." Companies are not the Olympics, where it's a one-time hit-or-miss opportunity, and even judging panels have their own deals and biases. The definition of merit is informed by usefulness: aside from how a dancer's personality fits with a company, and how reliable they are, is the "better" dancer the one with the best technique? Not to the people who find Murphy, Alexandova, and/or Tereshkina cold and overly technical, but think that a little less technique and more warmth makes a better dancer. Is the "better" dancer the one who does the best Odette/Odile, or the one who is more versatile and whose peaks may not be as high, but who dance at a more uniformly high level across different kinds of rep? Based on Corella's latest hires, I have little respect for his artistic integrity or his commitment to Pennsylvania Ballet's traditional strengths or rep. Enough people I respect who have seen Copland's most recent performances have written of the merit of her dancing in a range of styles and rep -- one of her strengths and not a common one in ABT now -- while acknowledging the importance of her audience and interest from the mainstream press. Until I see her again, that's where my trust lies, but everyone has his or own standards.

At Miami City Ballet, Patricia Delgado is a goddess.

There is one person who said that Copeland's performance was the best she'd seen since Lopatkina. To characterize this as "crazy talk" is an ad hominen attack. So stop it. Disagree all you want, but keep it civil.

I count 67 corps members on the roster, including anyone who is leaving at the end of the season. Of them: 1 went from Studio Company->Apprentice->Boston Ballet->ABT corps 1 went from ABT corps->Washington Ballet and other projects->ABT corps 12 went from other companies -- Australian Ballet/Dutch National Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Bocca Ballet, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, Royal Ballet, Ballet Arizona, Semperoper, Corella, Ballet Internationale -- to ABT corps 21% came/rejoined from other companies 9 joined as apprentices without having danced with another company 2 joined as corps without having danced wit another company 1 went from the Harvard Ballet company to ABT corps 18% came from training/competitions to ABT The rest -- 61% -- joined the Studio Company/ABT II. Some trained at the JKO School. Once ABT created this program, their stats for corps are more like the stats for other companies that have schools or second companies programs that regularly feed into their companies, with the possible exception of NYCB. The schools/second companies can't get the best students if they can't offer at least the best entry into the company. There have been six dancers who went from NYCB to PNB, but that was a special case of the AD leaving the mother ship, and by now, since Peter Boal has been gone long enough that his youngest students would have graduated. Peter Martins was about to/had just promoted Carla Korbes and Seth Orza to Soloist when they joined PNB, Korbes as a Soloist and Orza to the corps. (Each rose quickly.) Ricard Orza had left ballet altogether. Renko, Lin-Yee, and Ricard Orza joined as corps, and Lin-Yee and Ricard Orza have become soloists. Miranda Weese was first a guest artist and then joined as Principal Dancer. You just don't hear about that many NYCB corps members going to dance elsewhere, especially at the beginning of their careers, unless there's a great opportunity, like a long-running Tharp show, like Benjamin Bowman took.

It sounds like she did this (starting at 35 seconds: I don't know why the time instruction in the URL isn't working): The traveling is very deliberate there. And the audience appreciated it.

Just about every major ballerina has at least one technical issue that "should have been corrected long ago." The variation that Copeland performed doesn't make it any less legitimate than Plisetskaya's pique option, for example, for whatever reason she chose it. Individuals may have their preferences and their standards, but it's really up to the company directors to decide whether what a dancer puts onstage is acceptable to them and if they have a test the dancers must pass. Then it's up to donors and ticket buyers to vote with their $$ and their feet.

Then you might be surprised at how much you think is the choreography is not. A lot has been changed in the "After Petipa" productions. Odile's fouettes might not be one of them, but they were put in for a ballerina for whom these were a specialty, not because all of the greatest of her contemporaries could do them.

Thank you, tomorrow. That is what I suspected. dansomanie is not an official source, and I've removed references to information found there. If there's info from an official source, it can be posted here.

But even now: Cornejo, Part, Semionova, Vasiliev, Bolle, Simkin, Vishneva -- all came from other companies to join ABT. I remember that VHS tape which combined performances and interviews -- from the early '90's? -- and Ferri talking about the company feeling like family, partly because they toured together. Ruth Ann Koesun sharing her wonderful scrapbook and narrative in the ABT doc on PBS had the same feeling. I don't think that rivalry or ambition was specifically less in the past, and there's always the possibility that familiarity through touring breeds contempt as well as closeness, but the company tours less and stories of the ABT "family" have been fewer and farther between. I'm glad dancers take opportunities when they aren't getting them in their home company, even if it was and still is their dream company. I still miss Kara Zimmerman, for example, who joined Cincinnati Ballet and then Joffrey Ballet after PNB, but I hope she's getting in Chicago what she didn't in Seattle.