Helene

And here is where we differ fundamentally, because I don't think that institutionalized and unexamined racism gets a free pass because people mean well. Then it's a good thing that only dance critics are forced to see dancers they'd prefer to ignore.

Thank you so much for the description, sandik! I wish I could have been there. PNB just tweeted a link to Jessika Anspach's blog entry about being in the corps for all three ballets: http://www.4dancers.org/2014/09/jewels-a-multifaceted-ballet/

You still can subscribe: they have mini-series for the rest of the season, and subscribers get a 20% discount on additional tickets: http://www.pnb.org/Season/Subscriptions/MiniSeason/Overview.aspx

Arthur Mitchell has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Bessie: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/2014-Bessie-Award-for-Lifetime-Achievement-Goes-to-Dance-Theatre-of-Harlem-Founder-Arthur-Mitchell-20140918#.VB0CkDcN5gk.twitter The announcement includes a wonderful summary of his life in dance. Congratulations to Mr. Mitchell

From the same article, two dubious sentences in a row: Perhaps the author had never heard of a certain Ms. Hayden, who started several years late and became a prima in the prima-less NYCB. Nureyev's father's resistance was equally, if not more, important to his starting elite ballet training late as the vagaries of the post-Second World War Soviet Union. I would have thought these assertions would have been fact-checked as well. I'm not arguing that she didn't say it. She very well might have meant to mean "Traditionalist are racist," and if she had written it I might take it this way, but I've read and heard enough interviews to know that thoughts can run on and the beginning of the sentence can be left in the dust. If they can't imagine something other than what they think a set-in-stone, never-changing or evolving tradition is, then there are a lot of underlying assumptions, conscious or not, that cover a gamut of -isms, conscious and unconscious. "Tradition" by definition, excludes, for better or worse, even when objective standards are met by those excluded. Hence the change at Harvard and other Ivies to add "well-rounded" requirements, when the test scores were an advantage to groups whose numbers they wanted to limit, not to mention the underlying biases in the tests.

It's hard to imagine that if she told Peter Boal that she could only dance neoclassical and classical works to be able to extend her career another few years, he wouldn't have, especially since the number of full-lengths is greater than the number of mixed-bill programs, and she's been cast in all of the leads in the full-lengths: Kitri, Odette/Odile, Aurora, Titania, Giselle, Clara. However, it's perfectly understandable that when facing a cross-roads -- an engagement, wanting to be in the same place as her fiance, a difficult recovery -- she's decided to go in a different direction.

Wow, just wow.

Casting is up for both weekends (as always, subject to change): http://www.pnb.org/Season/14-15/Jewels/#Casting There are a lot of major debuts, more than dancers reprising their roles: In Emeralds: Elizabeth Murphy, Margaret Mullin, and Leah Merchant in the Verdy role (and Carla Korbes) William Lin-Yee, Joshua Grant, and Steven Loch in the Ludlow role Margaret Mullin, Amanda Clark, Kyle Davis, Jahna Frantziskonis, Leta Biasucci, Price Suddarth, Brittany Reid, Eric Hipolito Jr., and Carli Samuelson in the Pas de TroisLindsi Dec, Laura Tisserand, and Elizabeth Murphy in the Paul role Charles McCall and Eric Hipolito Jr in the Moncion role (and Karel Cruz) In Rubies: Leta Biasucci, Angelica Generosa, and Jahna Franziskonis in the McBride role (and Lesley Rausch) Jerome Tisserand and Matthew Renko in the Villella role (and Jonathan Porretta and James Moore) In Diamonds: Lesley Rausch in the Farrell role (with Carla Korbes, Carrie Imler, and Laura Tisserand) William Lin-Yee and Jerome Tisserand in the d'Amboise role (and Batkhurel Bold and Karel Cruz) MIA: Seth Orza (knee surgery), Rachel Foster (having a baby), Kylee Kitchens (having a baby). Maria Chapman had a daughter in July, but won't be back in time to reprise her radiant "Emeralds" (Paul role) Benjamin Griffiths, Kiyon Gaines, and Sarah Orza are the Soloists who aren't listed for featured roles. PNB Jewels Sep-Oct 2014.xls

Congratulations to her!

Joyce Di Donato just tweeted a link to this "Mozart Rap" video: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=679954435406189

McKenzie said: Granted, my exposure to Lane has been limited, but I've never seen or read much to suggest that Lane was an interpretive prodigy to justify an early Aurora using the same criterion. Since she says “reason,” singular, she seems to see the two things that follow as one and the same. In other words, traditionalists are racists. Now granted, traditionalism can be a cover for racism (among other things), but she just equates the two, plain and simple. I think that is a stretch. "The reason is" followed by a list is a grammatical mistake I've seen regularly in writing, whether that be on message boards, blogs, or poorly copy-edited (semi)-professional writing, let alone interviews where an interviewee is responding to a question in the moment verbally. I think the two things are linked, especially since most traditionalists -- your word, not hers -- don't go farther than "What I saw the first time" plus perhaps "What I can see on video" and don't have much of an historical or accurate view of what that tradition is or the evolution of the art form, like thinking that what the Bolshoi or Mariinsky puts on the stage in classics today is what Petipa choreographed, or that the extensions perpetrated on us by lithe white dancers in the traditional rep would be recognizable even by the generation of coaches in Moscow or St. Petersburg. "Traditionalists" can be rather selective about what they include in tradition.

PNB just posted a clip of d'Amboise coaching the very end of the "Diamonds" Pas de deux: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152478231683952&set=vb.21358443951&type=2&theater&notif_t=notify_me

Katha Pollitt on Joan Rivers and women comics in "The Nation": http://www.thenation.com/article/181568/joan-rivers-gets-last-laugh

It's not just Copeland: it's every company and every role and every promotion and every matinee vs. evening vs. opening vs. the less prestigious night when the dancer is given an opportunity. There's a scarcity of everything, and, by definition, anyone who gets something blocks someone else from it. When there are dancers at the same level vying for the same thing, particularly that elusive promotion from Soloist to Principal -- and, in Paris, to Etoile -- it's a vigorously and passionately argued battle among many fans. Every promotion, every casting, every bit of scheduling means something. It could mean lack of foresight on the company's part, limited resources, the impacts of illnesses and injuries, lack of healthy suitable partners, rep choices that limit opportunities or lock dancers into types of roles and/or rep, -- or it may be, as Merrill Ashley posited in her book, that she was held back because Balanchine linked her with Colleen Neary and Christine Redpath and wanted to give them all a chance to progress together, which never happened -- but, on the other hand, it may mean that the AD sees the dancer that way in comparison to the others, rewarding virtues that are either not comprehensible or not as important as those seen in others.

From New Zealand Ballet announced the news about their new Artistic Director to Facebook: The info link gives details about Ventriglia's training at the Ballet School of La Scala, his performance career at La Scala, and his post-retirement career as Director of MaggioDanza in Florence that began in 2010. The New York Times reported on the appointment; the article was posted in today's Links. Congratulations to Mr. Ventriglia and New Zealand Ballet

I totally agree, Drew, and I apologize for quoting you in a way that makes it seem like it was your opinion. I've edited it to clarify.

Part two: I don't know how saying that there should be a broader range of acceptable body types -- a range which is extended to white dancers of various shapes and sizes -- is "a simplistic, sure-fire route to sympathy and support." Nor do I think she's required to provide a list of names of all the people who commented rudely, to her face or within earshot, any more than white dancers do in memoirs, on podcasts, and in interviews when they talk about being discouraged by various teachers and administrators. Because life will teach most everyone that they cant just will whatever they want, especially if what they want is a soloist spot with ABT. I think there are ways to encourage hard work, determination and self-esteem and hope without raising quite likely false hopes and fostering self-aggrandizement. But thats an argument not so much with Misty Copeland as with the culture at large. Do you think that if Michael Jordan or Derek Jeter had made that ad and said, "I will what I want," that kids would think they could just go to the playground and become Michael Jordan, and when they found out otherwise, their delicate self-esteem would be shattered? I think in this day and age, people are primed to accept her particular story as truth.We hate racism. We sympathize with people who say they've been victimized by it, and we're inclined, by that sympathy, and for other good and bad reasons, to accept their stories at face value. Who is "we"? From what I see in the world at large, "we" don't hate racism There wouldn't be the term "race card" if we believe everyone at face value if they they've been discriminated against because of race. There wouldn't be questions about whether Copeland was promoted to soloist simply because of race. If "we" are people interested in ballet -- and Ballet Alert! shows that "we"'re not a monolith -- and all of the mostly white male artistic directors always act with the most sincere of intentions for the best of the art form, then Exhibit A wouldn't be the number of beautifully trained yet remarkably jobless dancers -- by Arthur Mitchell, by Tanaquil Le Clercq, by teachers trained by Karel Shook -- from Dance Theatre of Harlem when the company dissolved. If ABT claimed that no one on their staff ever treated Copeland different because of race, didn't accept her because of race, and never discouraged her because of race, they'd be a laughingstock, not to mention opening themselves to legal action. ABT is a big place with a lot of people of various backgrounds and whose opinions are shaped by background and experience. Er, I think learning nuanced and charitable thinking would be good for anyone, no?One person's "charitable thinking" is another's "Yessuh, Yessum." You can say that again. Thank you to Alexandra for establishing that tone and to the board moderators for reinforcing it. The author's quote was "murmurings, on some online dance-discussion threads, that she has been excessively promoted within A.B.T. because of her race," and while I think this is a too-mild description of our discussion, it couldn't possibly apply to the sites to which abatt is comparing ours.

I have to break this up into multiple posts, since there are too many quotes for a single post. Yes. Which I think reinforces my point racism might not be a cause here. I don't think it does. I think it means there are a myriad of things that can obfuscate an AD's personal/professional preferences -- since we're discussing her progress with McKenzie, not American Idol -- acknowledged and hidden/subconscious. The myth of a single narrow aesthetic is exploded in every ballet company I've ever seen. There are exceptions, and not just exceptions for the Principal dancers/stars. Karin von Aroldingen was muscular and gymnastic in her approach, but Balanchine took her in, as he took in and created great works for many tiny dancers. Martine van Hamel was tall and muscular. Cynthia Gregory was hardly a wisp. Veronika Part, as much as I love her, had noted technical issues when she first came to ABT. Every dancer, no matter how close to some ideal aesthetic he or she comes, is a trade-off. Even in the Mariinsky: in their last City Center tour, there was one dancer who, in real life, would have been told by her mirror or her best friend to lose the stomach. I thought she was great in the modern rep they brought, but was off the charts for the company. I specifically watched the corps of the Bolshoi when I saw them in Berkeley in the late 00's, and I was surprised to see how many dancers weren't wisps and actually had noticeable calf muscles and, compared to the stereotypical ideal, irregular bodies. (They gave among the finest corps performances I've ever seen.) The Bolshoi took Vaganova top grad Zhiganshina, who was allegedly too fat for the Mariinsky. Even Paris Opera Ballet, which has probably the most uniform bodies has a few outliers, and these are the most rigid schools and companies with regard to body type, and even NYCB didn't come close even in Balanchine's last heyday. Misty Copeland's body isn't that extreme onstage, and she's argued that within a group of highly trained elite dancers, the range of acceptable, in which exceptions are regularly made, shouldn't be the decisive factor. Given that the ballet world outside of Havana is overwhelmingly white, that means those exceptions are made regularly for white dancers who don't check all of the "aesthetically pleasing" boxes. There has been discrimination so hers must be a case of discrimination as well?I think she's made her case about *her* situation, even if someone during her training and early career made comments purely to test her mettle, like Branch Rickey to Jackie Robinson, given that she was going to hear about race at some point. I'm not sure which news you're following, but I don't see any evidence that "most people oppose racism" when most people don't even recognize where it's been institutionalized, let alone unspoken and unexamined. The instances of black men killed by police and black mothers arrested for trying to get jobs while they have children just in the past few months have inspired virulently racist public commentary, to give just a few examples. How do you define traditional? Where is your line in the sand? Do you go back to when the great dancers, among the greatest of all time, were short and muscular and could do the petite allegro that Petipa choreographed before it was bastardized and with which today's dancers would struggle? Are we talking about Patricia Wilde, several of whose parts were dropped from ballets because no one else could do them justice? Are we talking about Gloria Govrin? Are we talking about the young Farrell? Are we talking about the great Kirov and Bolshoi ballerinas of the 40's-60's, who couldn't get into the Vaganova or Moscow academies today?

That was my misreading of Ismene Brown's translation. I though she could join rehearsals of the new ballet after her RB commitments. It wouldn't be the first time Osipova or her management thought about or tried to have her in two places at once, but I don't see that game or "misunderstanding" played successfully on Urin.

I somehow missed this thread altogether. I was searching for a place to post the new "New Yorker" profile of Misty Copeland, and I think I've found the source of what Rivka Galchen describes as "murmurings, on some online dance-discussion threads, that she has been excessively promoted within A.B.T. because of her race..." http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/22/unlikely-ballerina One very interestig point is that she *did* have a ballet body when she joined ABT's corps at 18, but she was advised to go through forced puberty because of bone injuries and issues that resulted from delayed menses. sidwich, Drew, and Tapfan already made a number of important points up thread, so I'll stick to these: On the contrary: the primary purpose of the school is to produce dancers for the Bolshoi through extensive and specialized training and integration into company performances from the time the students are children. Foreign students can come late -- ie the age North Americans start elite pre-professional training -- and pay top dollars, but they are highly unlikely to catch up to the top students, a handful of whom are invited into the affiliated companies. There have been a few exceptions, some of which ended in failure, like Joy Womack at the Bolshoi, and there are a couple of others who have trained in the Vaganova School and been accepted into the Mariinsky, with a lot of grousing that they aren't good enough. If a foreigner wants to go to one of these elite schools, they get elite training and as much attention as a dancer, who is not expected to be accepted into the company, would get based on limited time and interest in them, but with the disadvantages of still learning the language and culture and not knowing the years of shorthand that their classmates take for granted. To assume anything more without an explicit promise is a recipe for disillusionment. Things might be quite different for the MacKay brothers, whose mom moved to Moscow with them to support their training from young ages, and who've received the long-term training and stage opportunities that their Russian classmates have. Cuban National Ballet has embraced diversity, and, IMO, is proof in training as the foundation from which to select dancers. I don't know if dark-skinnned women are weeded out along the way for that reason, though. I could argue against pretty much every promotion at PNB in one way or another and point to dancers I think are more deserving. Consensus is rare, and there are no perfect dancers: the greatest have said this about themselves. Any audience member or AD can find fault anywhere, and it's not surprising that her dancing is controversial when people here argue the minutia of every soloist. Not until Dutch National Ballet comes to NYC. Out of sight, out of mind. I don't think its news to black people that black dancers meet resistance in the ballet world. The message has been told a number of times before. The other half of the story is that she's been successful, in an age of social media where she can tell her story as she sees fit and not just wait until the NYT came calling, which is a big generational difference. It's an athletic theme for athletic wear. I don't know why this would engender depression and poor self-esteem any more than Nike's "Just do it," and "I will what I want" is actually an accurate description of what most ballet dancers experience, as few become professionals without having to have great fortitude and discipline to adjust to puberty and growth spurts, injuries, mind-numbing competition, and constant scrutiny and criticism. The American story is coming from poverty and, very often, overcoming ethnic prejudice and fierce resistance against great odds through hard work, discipline, self-sufficiency at a young age, grabbing opportunities when they present themselves, and character. I don't know why her story is any different or should be judged by different standards. The Webster's dictionary definition's "neutrality" ignores the pejorative meaning it has assumed in context and,as a result, is a distortion of its common usage, which is to shut down discussion with a simple, short-hand phrase. From the Urban Dictionary, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Race%20Card Bruhn, Baryshnikov, Verdy, Martins pere, Martins fils, Luders, Andersen, Sylve, Verdy, Kaye, von Aroldingen, De Luz, Garcia, Tomasson, La Fosse, Bonnefous, Kozlovs, and Fischer are some I can think of off the top of my head for whom this was true. Many more men than women, but not as exclusively male. Not only through Arthur Mitchell, but wouldn't Graf have overlapped with le Clercq at DTH? SAB's training was a lot more eclectic back in the day, too, with the old school Russian teachers, Stanley Williams, Dorothy Littlefield, and Muriel Stuart. Imagine the bad publicity _that_ would bring them. That would be pretty dumb, don’t you think? They have no way of responding without drawing scrutiny from a wider audience, and as this thread demonstrates, an awful lot of people are inclined to accept her story without evidence it’s true. On the other hand . . . ABT could have made it very clear without being explicit ad getting themselves in legal trouble. I think most of us are inclined to accept her story as *her story*: it's a memoir, not a legal brief. A service to whom? Edited to add: the quote from Drew is in the voice of an objector, not Drew: Darci Kistler was prone to injury, too, and she was allowed to receive her salary for over a decade (at least) of questionable performances as a result of her injuries. (I'm not sure which would have been worse: getting ca salary without dancing -- Balanchine famously kept the non-dancing Kent on the payroll so she could feed her children after her husband snorted everything she had earned-- or getting paid for substandard dancing.) When a company wants to make exceptions -- and NYCB did for several years for Kathryn Morgan, or Martins did against board objections -- it does, and the exception was made when Morgan *was* injured, not when she *might* be injured. She was only rejected after she had been away, and from recent videos she's made, before she was in shape and is still a question mark after being off the stage for several years. There was a time at NYCB where Graf's height would have been considered great asset, and I wished that PNB had snatched her up.

I somehow missed this thread altogether. I was searching for a place to post the new "New Yorker" profile of Misty Copeland, and I think I've found the source of what Rivka Galchen describes as "murmurings, on some online dance-discussion threads, that she has been excessively promoted within A.B.T. because of her race..." http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/22/unlikely-ballerina One very interesting point is that she *did* have a ballet body when she joined ABT's corps at 18, but she was advised to go through forced puberty because of bone injuries and issues that resulted from delayed menses. sidwich, Drew, and Tapfan already made a number of important points up thread, so I'll stick to these: On the contrary: the primary purpose of the school is to produce dancers for the Bolshoi through extensive and specialized training and integration into company performances from the time the students are children. Foreign students can come late -- ie the age North Americans start elite pre-professional training -- and pay top dollars, but they are highly unlikely to catch up to the top students, a handful of whom are invited into the affiliated companies. There have been a few exceptions, some of which ended in failure, like Joy Womack at the Bolshoi, and there are a couple of others who have trained in the Vaganova School and been accepted into the Mariinsky, with a lot of grousing that they aren't good enough. If a foreigner wants to go to one of these elite schools, they get elite training and as much attention as a dancer, who is not expected to be accepted into the company, would get based on limited time and interest in them, but with the disadvantages of still learnig the language and culture and not knowing the years of shorthand that their classmates take for granted. To assume anything more without an explicit promise is a recipe for disillusionment. Things might be quite different for the MacKay brothers, whose mom moved to Moscow with them to support their training from young ages, and who've received the long-term training and stage opportunities that their Russian classmates have. Cuban National Ballet has embraced diversity, and, IMO, is proof in training as the foundation from which to select dancers. I don't know if dark-skinned women are weeded out along the way for that reason, though. I could argue against pretty much every promotion at PNB in one way or another and point to dancers I think are more deserving. Consensus is rare, and there are no perfect dancers: the greatest have said this about themselves. Any audience member or AD can find fault anywhere, and it's not surprising that her dancing is controversial when people here argue the minutia of every soloist. Not until Dutch National Ballet comes to NYC. Out of sight, out of mind. I don't think black people need to be told that black dancers meet resistance in the ballet world. The message has been told a number of times before. The other half of the story is that she's been successful, in an age of social media where she can tell her story as she sees fit and not just wait until the NYT came calling, which is a big generational difference. It's an athletic theme for athletic wear. I don't know why this would engender depression and poor self-esteem any more than Nike's "Just do it," and "I will what I want" is actually an accurate description of what most ballet dancers experience, as few become professionals without having to have great fortitude and discipline to adjust to puberty and growth spurts, injuries, mind-numbing competition, and constant scrutiny and criticism. That's true of elite athletes as well. The American story is pulling oneself up by the bootstraps from poverty and/or obscurity, very often, overcoming ethnic or racial prejudice and fierce resistance against great odds through hard work, discipline, self-sufficiency at a young age, grabbing opportunities when they present themselves, and character. In entertaiment, it's being discovered, but having the talent to make the most of it. I don't know why her American should be judged by different standards. The Webster's dictionary definition's "neutrality" ignores the pejorative meaning it has assumed in context and,as a result, is a distortion of its common usage, which is to shut down discussion with a simple, short-hand phrase. From the Urban Dictionary, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Race%20Card Is a discussion of race and a person's perception of it to be dismissed out of hand automatically as an unfair rhetorical tactic? If so, why not just tell people directly that their experiences and perceptions have no validity? Bruhn, Baryshnikov, Verdy, Martins pere, Martins fils, Luders, Andersen, Sylve, Verdy, Kaye, von Aroldingen, De Luz, Garcia, Tomasson, La Fosse, Bonnefous, Kozlovs, and Fischer are some I can think of off the top of my head for whom this was true. Many more men than women, but not exclusively male. Not only through Arthur Mitchell, but wouldn't Graf have overlapped with le Clercq at DTH? SAB's training was a lot more eclectic back in the day, too, with the old school Russian teachers, Stanley Williams, Dorothy Littlefield, and Muriel Stuart. Imagine the bad publicity _that_ would bring them. That would be pretty dumb, don’t you think? They have no way of responding without drawing scrutiny from a wider audience, and as this thread demonstrates, an awful lot of people are inclined to accept her story without evidence it’s true. On the other hand . . . ABT could have made it very clear without being explicit ad getting themselves in legal trouble. I think most of us are inclined to accept her story as *her story*: it's a memoir, not a legal brief. A service to whom? Darci Kistler was prone to injury, too, and she was allowed to receive her salary for over a decade (at least) of questionable performances as a result of her injuries. When a company wants to make exceptions -- and NYCB did for several years for Kathryn Morgan, or Martins did against board objections -- it does, and the exception was made when Morgan *was* injured, not when she *might* be injured. She was only rejected after she had been away, and from recent videos she's made, before she was in shape and is still a question mark after being off the stage for several years. There was a time at NYCB where Graf's height would have been considered great asset, and I wished that PNB had snatched her up.

Ismene Brown posted an intro to and commentary on an article in ITAR-TASS with a translation of the article to her blog. Urin is trying to convince Ratmansky to choreograph a new work for the company and hopes that Osipova will return after her Royal Ballet season is over, with Urin suggesting the new production of "Hero of Our Time." see below. There are also interesting comments from Filin. http://www.ismeneb.com/Blog/Entries/2014/9/11_Bolshoi_woos_Ratmansky_and_Osipova.html

I didn't realize that PNB was filming at least part of the "Diamonds" coaching section with Jacques d'Amboise, but here's the end of the Pas de deux with Leslie Rausch and Jerome Tisserand, and d'Amboise's reaction:

PNB posted a Throw Back Thursday video to Facebook yesterday from 2013, the 40th anniversary season, in which Carla Korbes talks about "Diamonds." In the video, she's first seen with Stanko Milov and then with Karel Cruz. From the coaching session with Jacques d'Amboise, she was partnered with Batkhurel Bold, and Cruz and Laura Tisserand went to DC for coaching with Suzanne Farrell, and the video references the stand-alone "Diamonds." https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152470860708952&permPage=1