FauxPas

It hasn't been done in a long, long time and it would allow certain ballets that are no longer acceptable as full-lengths a chance to be seen. Well, for one thing, The Tribute to Petipa evening could include the Kingdom of the Shades scene from "La Bayadère" as a standalone which would allow us to see part of the ballet which is pure classicism and isn't weighed down with orientalist faux-Indian tropes. Hurlin, Teuscher and Schevchenko and Misseldine have never gotten to dance Nikiya and that would give them an opportunity. Boylston, Seo do dance Nikiya (so has Murphy but let's leave that in the past). The evening also could include parts of "Raymonda" and "Le Corsaire" that are not troubled by the racist and faux oriental parts of those ballet librettos (no dancers in brown makeup and black fright wigs leaping around as "savages" doing the Drum Dance or Fakir dance, etc.). The Final Pas de Six from "Raymonda" or the Jardin Animé or Grand Pas de Trois from "Le Corsaire" could slake our thirst for the Petipa choreography while leaving the politically problematic plots behind. Add in Act III of "Sleeping Beauty" (Brandt, Teuscher, Schevchenko, Misseldine as new Auroras, Trenary and Boylston dance it). Then do "The Hunting of the Larks" from "Harlequinade" and possibly throw in a "Don Quixote" or Black Swan pas deux from "Swan Lake" and you have a lovely evening with opportunities for lots of dancers, including role debuts.

Just a quick mention that the opening Lauren Lovette pièce d'occasion for the ABT school and studio company was charming and seemed to be modeled on "Etudes" showing the development of dancers from beginner child students learning the basics to more advanced levels as teenagers and young adults. The music was excerpts from Saint-Saëns' "Carnival of the Animals". Of course, "Etudes" finished the evening as the last piece, so it was a lovely bookend to the whole evening. I must also mention that in the classical pas de deuxs from "Sleeping Beauty" and "Don Quixote" they only performed the opening entrée and pas de deux and then the coda, no solos. Takumi Miyake was impressive. Also Madison Brown, a young African-American ballerina, currently an apprentice, was prominently featured in both the Lovette piece and also was interviewed in a film that was shown before the gala. Katie Kouric was honored at the gala for her support of the company as was Diana Phillips, president of the Schubert Foundation which has given unrestricted grants to the company since 1977. Susan Jaffe is a good speaker and poised onstage and her introduction was just long enough.

One who is kind of right there like low hanging fruit is Daniil Simkin who is now a freelancer. I don't know if his break with ABT was due to his accepting a position in Berlin and either party were either unwilling or unable to facilitate a dual affiliation regarding scheduling, availability, etc. I also don't know if Daniil finds it more financially profitable being a star guest artist around the world or whether he even wants to settle back with ABT in New York. A compromise or reconciliation could be reached though. From his social media posts it looks like Daniil would like to come back to New York.

I agree with all the above except that on paper, the Ratmansky commissions were wonderful ideas. What resulted was profoundly uneven and flawed (i.e. the new/old "Sleeping Beauty"). But even in the flops there were BEAUTIFUL things - for example "The Hunting of the Larks" in Act II of "Harlequinade". That is gorgeous! ABT used to do "Petipa Tribute" evenings with bits and pieces and it would be lovely for the Act II of "Harlequinade" or just "Hunting of the Larks" section to be done as a separate piece. Also Ratmansky was a supporter of young dancers in the company giving Schevchenko, Brandt and Lane as well as many of the men big breaks. I think Ratmansky still oversees and approves the casting of his ballets and he tapped Jarod Curley not only for "Of Love and Rage" but also to replace Aran Bell in both "Piano Concerto No. 1" and "On the Dnipro" this Fall season.

What Jaffe doesn't seem to be planning on doing is drafting in star designers with no background in dance or theater and having them redesign ballets. Also bringing in choreographers with no background in ballet to do new works with a classically based company. She seems leery of corporate partnerships or linking in celebrities with no background in dance for publicity and that does sound like a wise choice. Not ruling it out but being careful and choosy of who you get in bed with.

Jake Roxander shared a charming and touching story on Instagram today. It seems that his ABT Puck costume in "The Dream" runs in the family... https://www.instagram.com/p/CybXuwgA2o3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

"Added: After Stearns/Whiteside, came Bell and then Camargo as season workhorses. Hopefully under Jaffe that over-reliance on one/two male principals will cease. It will take time as new blood is needed first, either from within or hired." There was a period in the 90's when ABT had the "Dream Team" of Corella, Stiefel, Malakhov, Carreno, Bocca (often injured) with Joaquin de Luz and Herman Cornejo as a talented soloists. There were others during that period like Giuseppe Picone and Guillaume Graffin who were also good but retired or left. Frankly, Camargo joined ABT as a guest (recommended by Ratmansky) in the Met 2022 season and is still a fairly recent hire as a full-time company principal. He has become a workhorse but not at the level Whiteside and Stearns were. Bell was pulled out of roles in the Met 2022 season and the Met 2023 season - he was pulled from "Don Quixote" in 2022 but put back in for one show when Stearns dropped out. Bell is a potential workhorse but has been unable to perform that function. I agree however, that more men need to be groomed for leads - either by training the likes of Curley, Frenette, et al. to dance more principal leading roles or go on a hiring spree. We are all agreed on that point.

ABT used to depend a lot on James Whiteside and Cory Stearns to be MVP's carrying a huge load all season. Before that Marcelo Gomes and David Hallberg were workhorses - especially Marcelo. Those days are over. Time flies. The decision to cast Jarod Curley in Piano Concerto No. 1 may have come from Alexei Ratmansky who has an eye for up and coming new talent and isn't afraid to tap deserving corps and underutilized soloists in major assignments. Good for him!

All the good soloists were promoted to principal in 2017 and 2020. So what was there in the now depleted soloist rank were the ones that weren't going to move forward. Promoting Misseldine, Park, Granlund, McBride and Han last year was a bright move. Katherine Williams is probably the best of the older soloists. I like her. The new ones are promising but the male ranks look thin right now. I think that this Fall season is a testing ground for some young people (Roxander for example) and we will see who comes through the gauntlet and advances. However, I don't know if the promotions will be made this year - the contracts were already signed for this year and the season is starting. So whatever changes that were made, are already made. I don't know if there is a mechanism for a mid-season promotion with a change in rank and salary.

Brandt was also hinting broadly that she would look for a position in another company if she wasn't going to be promoted to principal at ABT. Also I remember that Brandt and Shevchenko both ended up making emergency Medora debuts in "Le Corsaire" replacing V. Part and Gillian who were injured and unable to dance. That might have been 2017. But it was an emergency save and both Skylar and Shevy had to go to Max and Irina for emergency coaching. Both scored successes. Shevchenko was promoted to principal immediately after but Brandt had to wait a few years until 2020.

Just to mention that "Harlequinade" and "Whipped Cream" are both Ratmansky ballets, and as I said Ratmansky is always looking to give young dancers a shot. When he was running the Bolshoi back in the aughts, two he developed as youngsters were Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev.

The weird thing is that when all those soloists were promoted about 3 or so years ago, very few had danced leading principal roles. Ratmansky had cast Trenary in "Sleeping Beauty" (he has an eye for up and coming young talent) but Forster, Ahn, Bell, Royal et al. had danced very few full-length classical leads until they were promoted to principal. So all these promoted dancers had to get up to speed very quickly with little previous exposure as classical leads. So it was catch up fast. Teuscher and Shevchenko were promoted in 2017 and had danced some principal roles as understudies in emergency situations. Trenary, Brandt, Bell, Ahn and Royal were all promoted to principal in September 2020, during the pandemic. Hurlin and Camargo (hired as principal) were promoted in 2022. Except for Trenary's Aurora, many hadn't danced the leads in major classical ballets. Bell and Ahn had been tried out as Solor and Bell got a Romeo. That again, was due to the McKenzie management sticking with the hierarchical casting of only principals in principal roles with no soloists getting a shot. The mass promotion of all these talented young soloists to principal meant that the soloist ranks were depleted and full of senior dancers who were (as ABT Fan aptly put it) "stagnant/can't dance principal or challenging soloist roles." So that is why it is necessary to develop as much from within and possibly grab some hot talent to fill in the gaps.

To hammer home my point - back in 1980 Susan Jaffe made the papers when Mikhail Baryshnikov chose her to dance the lead in "Swan Lake" at the age of 18. Things like that happened then. I also don't think that 10 years wait to dance principal roles is a good idea since that basically cancels out the dancer's 20's when they should be at their peak physically. That is why the majority of the principals (including several who were promoted in the late aughts) are 35 and over now.

Andrew Robare is a young dancer who joined the corps from the studio company. He has some similarities in type to a young David Hallberg. He shone in the studio company and was given many leading roles in ballets there. He is another young corps dancer who needs to be given solo opportunities and tracked for promotion. https://www.facebook.com/passionballet.mybb.ru/videos/sunmi-park-andrew-robare-grand-pas-classique-by-victor-gzovsky-american-ballet-s/666935471212554/

From what I can see, Hee Seo has just as much as the other principal ballerinas. She is cast in Piano Concerto No. 1 and is cast in a premiere "Depuis la Jour". Plus she might be in "Petite Mort" which is just "Company" for now. She could dance Titania in "The Dream" but never was cast in that role. She could be good as the self-sacrificing Natalia in "On the Dnipro" - there is a TBA in there. Trenary and Murphy are kind of skimpily cast. Boylston also has two roles but more performances of them.

I wonder if splitting up Aran Bell and Cate Hurlin with other partners was part of this thinking re: Boylston and Whiteside. I want to see them together more often. Except for Hurlin and Bell, a lot of the recently promoted principals are over 30 and many over 35. I think Skyler Brandt is about 30, as is Cassandra Trenary - so they are on the younger end of the spectrum. Joo Won Ahn is also 30. Daniel Camargo is 31. Devon Teuscher is roughly the same age as Shevchenko - 34. Shevy is 35. Calvin Royal III is 35. Isabella Boylston is 36, Tom Forster is 37, Hee Seo is 37 as is Cory Stearns. Whiteside is 38, Misty Copeland and Herman Cornejo are in their early 40's. Gillian Murphy is 44. In five short years many of these people will retire or be retired. I hope dancers like Schevchenko and Forster are allowed to hang on for a while since they were held back cruelly for over a decade and promoted late. In the lower ranks, Chloe Misseldine is clearly a prima ballerina in the making. She has been dancing the pas de deux from "Swan Lake" in guest appearances - both Odile and Odette. Clearly she is being groomed for stardom. Others like Park and Granlund et al. are good dancers - often wonderful but could they cover all the repertoire that Gillian Murphy has? Jaffe needs to start finding the next generation of dancers - and fast. BTW: social media is full of technically remarkable young dancers. Elisabeth Beyer new to the corps is one of them. I am seeing some amazing dancing on Instagram. I haven't seen the Studio Company but have read reports here that they are chock full of new talent. Sascha Radetsky and Stella Abrera are in charge of these dancers and are working with young dancers at Vail. They are a resource. But new dancers need roles and I think casting one performance with promising soloists or corps dancers would be a boon. Chloe Misseldine in Swan Lake. Jonathan Klein and Zimmi Coker in "Coppelia" or "Don Quixote". Patrick Frenette as Albrecht in "Giselle". I could go on. Thirty-three years ago we got things like Julie Kent as matinee Giselle or Juliet even when the company had stars like Ferri, Jaffe and Martine Van Hamel on the roster. It needs to happen.

The last time I remember the Bolshoi coming to New York was the year they did the awful Grigorovich retrospective of his "Swan Lake" and "Spartacus" at the NY State Theater (what year was that?). Hallberg was dancing with the company partnering Zakharova in SL and Smirnova had one O-O too. (BTW: "Spartacus" for me is a delicious but deeply guilty pleasure) Then there was the "Super Jewels" where the Bolshoi, POB and NYCB all did a section of "Jewels". The Bolshoi "Diamonds" was glorious, their "Rubies" was... well... different. NYCB held up their reputation in both "Diamonds" and "Rubies" while the POB looked a touch musty in "Emeralds". But that was the last time I saw them. The Kirov-Mariinsky had visits to BAM and City Center but that was a while ago. BAM also had Vishneva and Lopatkina evenings for ballerina devotees. I wouldn't mind a Smirnova evening myself. 😍 I am at a loss to remember the last time the Royal came - was it the Ashton Celebration? There was also that program honoring Balanchine where the Royal brought Tarantella with Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé. Also some of those Ardani evenings would have pas de deux. Otherwise, there are generations of POB and Royal dancers who I just see on video.

I also have been down this summer about the lack of summer events in the classical arts. The Metropolitan Opera is also presenting fewer revivals next season, concentrating on new productions of new (or new to the Met) contemporary operas. The overall number of performances has been reduced drastically. Also, this year was the last year of Mostly Mozart which was designed to keep the empty halls of Lincoln Center filled with music during the summer months. The new regime at Lincoln Center wants to concentrate on more inclusive, racially diverse programming including Hip-Hop festivals and the like. A lot of my friends have said that the audience for hip-hop music isn't coming to Lincoln Center for that - they have their own venues with their own audiences. Supposedly, Mostly Mozart will be replaced with something else but we aren't hearing what that is. The other thing is that Lincoln Center and the Met used to host summer tours from the Kirov-Mariinsky and Bolshoi Ballets (thanks Putin... not happening), the Royal Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet and also the Stuttgart Ballet et al. That hasn't happened for over a decade or more. The Lincoln Center Festival used to host some of these tours but now we must go to the Kennedy Center in DC to see foreign companies.

Cathy Marston's "Summer and Smoke" seems to have gone by the wayside. At least from what we have heard. Perhaps, not an unfortunate circumstance... The Metropolitan Opera is shutting down for approximately four weeks in February, the Met could use those empty weeks renting out the theater to ABT for a winter season. Evidently later in the summer and early September are out because the Metropolitan Opera uses that time for tech rehearsals for new productions for the upcoming season. Given the amount of tourism during the summer and a lot of tourists wanting to see a show at the Metropolitan Opera House, I wish another week could be managed in late July. The other option (which I have suggested before) is that one of the only benefits of the pushing forward of the ABT Summer Met season into June-July (formerly it was mid-May to July 4) is that ABT no longer overlaps for two weeks with the New York City Ballet across the plaza. However, given that the Theater formerly known as New York State is empty by June 1st, why not do the whole summer season there? They are open and available.

Regarding Patrick Frenette - I agree wholeheartedly on the deserving, handsome and princely. Tall - I don't think so. He is just about medium height and rather on the shorter side. Jonathan Klein is also medium height. Same issue with jake Roxander and Tyler Maloney, who both are on the shorter side. Historically, Keven McKenzie had a preference for promoting tall male dancers (who resembled him in his dancing days). Examples: David Hallberg, Cory Stearns, Marcelo Gomes, Alexandre Hammoudi, Aran Bell. Thomas Forster is also tall but took a long time to promote. Herman Cornejo, the reigning senior short virtuoso, was held back too long due to his height and perceived inappropriate look for danseur noble roles.

Usually at this time of year we get an announcement of roster changes. Don't the new contracts start in the Fall? Wouldn't any new contracts include a change in company status? We know that Gabe Stone-Shayer and Joseph Gorak aren't coming back. Connor Holloway is leaving for destinations unknown to us. I haven't seen any reports from dancers' social media announcing that they are moving on. The loss of two soloists leaves room for at least two promotions if not more. I think Jarod Curley, Jonathan Klein and Zimmi Coker are definitely ready. Carlos Gonzalez, despite somewhat mixed responses, seems to be in the running. Erica Lall has her admirers. Jake Roxander is definitely soloist material already but only just started with the company. For others its more urgent. Obviously, any announcements must be backed up by an official announcement by the company or announcements on artists' public-facing social media.

If Gabe Stone Shayer was informed back in December that his contract was not being renewed, that puts his op-ed piece in the New York Times (during ABT's Summer Met Season) in a wholly different light.

He has personally admitted that he has mostly been in Europe lately after walking out on the Fall Season last year. I think that is in violation of his contract - both the walking out and the not being present for rehearsals, classes and performances.

Gabe has opened up on Instagram that he learned of his departure by reading the New York Times: "I’m saddened by the recent announcement of my departure from the American Ballet Theatre after 12 years of dedication and hard work. It’s especially disappointing to learn of my own dismissal through the media without any effort to contact me personally. While I had hoped that the hiring of a new artistic director, and the publication of my NY Times op-ed piece, might signal a change, it is clear that there are still many hurdles to enacting meaningful progress in my industry. I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all the words of support that I’ve received since my experience was made public, and I can assure all of you that this is just the beginning of a new chapter in my story." https://www.instagram.com/p/CvQNwKLAbei/?img_index=1 The article was printed several days ago. This post was just put up on Instagram less than an hour ago. The commenters are all urging a discrimination lawsuit. I suspect that ABT and their lawyers are prepared for that. Shayer appeared on "See What Happens Live with Andy Cohen" this week as a guest bartender.

Two things I must mention. Gabe was a guest bartender on "See What Happens Live with Andy Cohen" I think this past Wednesday night. https://www.instagram.com/p/CvM_m1sAT2y/?img_index=1 He also has not been rehired by American Ballet Theater and is "retired". He states he was not informed by the company but read it in the New York Times. https://www.instagram.com/p/CvQNwKLAbei/?img_index=1 "I’m saddened by the recent announcement of my departure from the American Ballet Theatre after 12 years of dedication and hard work. It’s especially disappointing to learn of my own dismissal through the media without any effort to contact me personally. While I had hoped that the hiring of a new artistic director, and the publication of my NY Times op-ed piece, might signal a change, it is clear that there are still many hurdles to enacting meaningful progress in my industry. I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all the words of support that I’ve received since my experience was made public, and I can assure all of you that this is just the beginning of a new chapter in my story." The comments are all expressing outrage but I am wondering if Gabe was even attending classes or rehearsals at ABT and if it really is a surprise?