fondoffouettes

Yeah, and I feel as if I've seen one or the other or both at nearly every ABT performance I've attended this season.

The company doesn't have a good track record of treating dancers over 35, at least over the past decade or so. But I think Murphy has a very good chance of being treated as well as someone like Kent (well, she was indulged way too long). But I'm sure there is still a sense of uncertainty.

Interesting! Now that you mention it, I do remember recent likes from Misty and Kent. Mearns has definitely been a consistent "liker" for a long time now. You may be right that the male principals are even more conspicuously absent.

In other news, Gillian Murphy liked Part's most recent Instagram post. I can't think of any other time Murphy has liked any of Part's posts, and she doesn't even follow Part. I know canbelto has posted some chummy moments between Part and other dancers (and they certainly do exist!), but it's a rarity for any female principal dancer, with the exception of former principal Irina Dvorovenko, to acknowledge anything Part has posted. I don't want to read too much into this; I'm just very surprised to see Gillian liking this post.

The translate feature in Facebook is a bit rough for this one; anyone who can read Russian is welcome to provide a more precise translation. This brought to mind some poignant comments she made in this video (posted in the Divided Opinions thread) about her invitation to join ABT and her relationship with her family. Those topics begin at 13:30.

Veronika Part responded via Facebook 25 minutes ago to the suggestion of yelling out things in the auditorium, saying, "[Name of protest organizer] you can do whatever you want!" She must feel she has nothing to lose at this point. And I'm sure today's promotions have not helped.

Can you direct me to a link for that one? It astounds me that touring venues post these performances before ABT announces them on their own website (if that's the case here, as well).

And presumably at least a couple dancers will need to learn Nikiya, assuming they bring back Bayadere next year. I believe Murphy, Seo and Kotchetkova will be the only ones on the roster who've already danced it (and Kotchetkova's future with the company looks uncertain). Teuscher would seem to an obvious choice. She'll handle all those turns, no problem!

A new Raymonda with the three new principals all taking on the lead role! Okay, that's unlikely, but I'd like to see an Odette/Odile from Shevchenko. And Aurora from both her and Teuscher. I also think Teuscher could be a ravishing Juliet. And of course it would seem a natural fit for Lane.

Luckily some people are now offering reasonable alternatives on that Facebook page. I heartily agree with the person who suggests handing out flowers instead. My two cents: Throw a red rose in support and appreciation of Veronika...how nice would that be? She often received a special red rose bouquet onstage in addition to her regular one from ABT. I always assumed it was from a sponsor or someone personally connected to Part. Trader Joe's offers high-quality long-stemmed roses for $4.99 a bunch (10 stems). Just sayin'... Just be sure to de-thorn them if thrown individually!

My gut feeling is that it's going to end up being a big nothing. The amount of support for the in-person "protest" is tiny in comparison with the response to the online petition.

It's bad enough when the audience hasn't settled down enough before Mozartiana starts, let alone protesters shouting! Distractions during that opening section are just terrible.

What's most disturbing to me is that they are talking about shouting things "before the lights go down." Nothing should interfere with her performance or disturb the mood right before the Preghiera of all things. If they want to boo KM during the curtain calls, that would be far less egregious and at least somewhat isolated from the adulation Part will receive before and after. That said, I don't think booing has any place at a farewell performance. The other evening, a Part fan passed out roses to those sitting in the front of the theater to be thrown during the Mozartiana curtain calls. It could very well have been the same person who is organizing this "protest," but this was a much more positive way to focus one's energy. The effect was lovely. Throw flowers; don't shout at McKenzie!

I'm really happy for all four of them, and they've all earned it and then some. It's unfortunate that Part's departure is casting somewhat of a shadow over what should be a completely happy occasion. But even as a diehard Part fan, I'd never feel that any of the three ladies stole her spot. They've all proven themselves. ABT just needs to improve its finances if it really has such limited funds to afford principal spots. I remember a few years ago when NYCB's principal list was huuuuuge. That will never be possible at ABT, but it's a shame they can't support more principal dancers.

ABT's model is certainly based on the idea that the more you give, the more access you get to the dancers. I can only imagine what a nightmare it is to deal with donors who feel like they've purchased the right to give their two cents about artistic issues. But it must be worth it...

I've always assumed that these donors aren't actually paying the dancers' salaries. I thought it was kind of like how you donate money on NYCB's website to pay for extra snowflakes or toe shoes in the Nutcracker, but obviously your money is going toward anything they want to spend it on. I assumed that having your name attached to a dancer was just a perk of giving a large annual gift, but that the dancer's actual salary wasn't dependent on that specific gift. If all these dancers are actually depending on their individual sponsors for their salaries, that's a really hairy situation. Is ABT's endowment so crappy they can't pay more of their salaries from the money they make from it?

I think any donor, ideally, would understand that sponsoring a dancer is actually a donation to operating expenses with a nice little perk of having your name listed next to a dancer's name in the program. The key word there is "ideally"! (I know that sometimes there is a closer relationship between donor and dancer, though, as described in a NYT article a couple years ago.) That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there are donors who cross the line and feel as if they have the right to be involved in the artistic decision-making process. It's a pretty great enticement to potential donors to say "Give $100,000 and attach your name to a dancer." A bit more exciting than having your name engraved on a brick in the wall. The benefit to ABT must outweigh the annoyance of entitled donors. I only really follow ABT and NYCB closely. Does anyone know if the practice of sponsoring dancers is one that's widespread in the ballet world?

I can't see this garnering much mainstream news attention, to be honest. What they are protesting isn't a hot-button issue for 99.9% of the population. If coverage is their objective, I think the best they could hope for is a follow-up article in the NYT. I think it's a blessing they've settled upon after the performance. That seems like it will cause much less of a disturbance. I've been spending every day agonizing over whether to attend this performance after being a Part fan for about 12 years. Ultimately, I've decided to forgo it and cherish her splendid performance from Monday eve. I worry this last-minute farewell will be satisfying to none involved (in terms of curtain calls, etc.). But I will depend on reports from the BA community!!!

Ah, yes -- sorry, I forgot about the union issue. I guess there must have been other disagreements and/or negotiations that have led to such an odd treatment of the farewell.

Part has posted two responses to the public-facing Facebook thread we've all been talking about: It is done deal. They gave my contract away to some dancer. I don't know who.. You can let them know you're not excited about this turn of events, but can you change it, I don't know .. The first was posted in English. The second has been translated from the Russian. Edited to add: I know others have said that dancers are usually informed months in advance that their contracts are not renewed (in order to provide them time to look for other employment). The hasty and seemingly unplanned nature of Part's departure seems to imply that management decided to promote a dancer after the Met season had already started and then needed to terminate Part's contract as a result. Perhaps all the promising debuts of the soloist ladies has led them to promote one more dancer than they'd initially planned. And that additional money needed to come from somewhere...

Honestly, it's hard for me at times to even think of Boylston as a ballerina, let alone an ideal Balanchine ballerina. "Ballerina" connotes grace.

I agree, even though I'm a diehard Part fan. An online petition is a nice gesture, but I worry that any public demonstration will only breed ill-will and accomplish nothing. There's no way she can continue with the company in a normal fashion given what's happened so far. At this point, I think energies are best focused on making Part feel appreciated in her farewell performance.

The online petition has surpassed 500. (I have to admit that I did not expect it to do quite so well). The organizer's public-facing Facebook feed indicates that she's applied for a public protest license from the NYPD. I'm assuming that any gathering would take place in the space right in front of the plaza, like for the Death of Klinghoffer protests.

Plus, I've overheard patrons discussing it in the lobby for the last two performances, as well as venting to ushers. Fans are seriously distraught and don't know how to deal with this. I'm one of them. It's actually been making me feel depressed.

Just back from the Tchaikovsky Spectacular. As I've noted above, Murphy and Whiteside were a huge improvement over Boylston and Gorak, to say the least. They luxuriated in the music so much more in the pas de deux, and they looked so at ease in the partnering. Both were spectacular in their solos. Murphy has so much more innate musicality than Boylston, as well as an openness in her upper body that others have noted is lacking in Boylston. And Murphy's fouettes, with the step down between turns, were swift, light and everything they should be, as opposed to Boylston's incredibly awkward attempt. I know some City Ballet dancers thrown in multiples (and God knows Murphy would have no trouble doing so), but her perfectly executed step-down ones are what I'd prefer to see. Her hops en arabesque were swift and musical without distorting the choreography like Boylston's. The leaps into Whiteside's arms weren't quite the launching effect we all want, but they were far, far better than Boylston and Gorak. Ugh, not the harp on Boylston's shortcomings, but she's been showing no signs of improvement. I think I'll check back in five years and see if she's worth viewing in any of ABT's full-lengths. Mozartiana was danced well by all tonight, but it didn't quite come together for me. Shevchenko's dancing can't be faulted; she executed everything quite well. There just wasn't a sense of grandeur about it, and her preghiera was lacking in gravitas. It's hard for me to say what exactly she could have done differently. It doesn't help that she's not particularly statuesque. Hallberg was in good form, though a few of his turns looked a bit tentative. His legs articulated the choreography so beautifully. I just think he probably would have complemented one of ABT's taller ballerinas (Teuscher, Seo) much better. His presence kind of dwarfed Shevchenko at times. Simkin was pretty similar to earlier this week; quite understated for him. I loved Seo and Gomes in the Nutcracker pas de deux. Seo's dancing was so lyrical and free and expressive, and of course she looked completely comfortable in Gomes' arms. It was nice to see both dancers have the big Met stage (as opposed to BAM). They were really able to take full advantage of the space and the pas de deux ended up looking much grander in scale. I loved seeing how Seo ate up the stage with her leaps. They didn't go for the leap into the torch lift; in fact, it had one of the slowest and most deliberate setups I've ever seen in this pas de deux. Oh well. The lift itself was beautiful once she was up there. I've been taking a break from Seo, but maybe next season is the time to see her again in Swan Lake. I was looking forward to Aurora's Wedding more than anything else in this program, but for some reason my interest really started to wane as all the divertissements proceeded. Outside the context of the complete reconstruction, this act just failed to excite me and I'm not sure exactly why. In any case, all the dancing leading up the the pas de deux was fine, with Lane and Shayer's Blue Bird pas de deux being the standout. The choreography for the Three Ivans is so much more lively and interesting than the goofy dance they do in Ratmansky's Nutcracker. The one part where Roman Zhurban does a breakdancing-style move (not sure how else to describe it) where he's crouching and spins his leg around under himself just looked slow and awkward. The Chinese dance did nothing for me. The women are in pointe shoes but theri panniers are so wide that they can't do much real dancing. And the Asian-style face makeup was borderline offensive. Definitely yellowface territory. The pas de deux started out quite well. The part where Gorak holds Trenary's hands over her head and then release them, while she balances and does a backbend was STUNNING. In face, you could say Trenary was stunning through the entire pas de deux, and it made me anxious to see her again in the entire ballet. The biggest glitch was in fish dives. The first one was stronger than I expected; Trenary rotated with great force, and Gorak managed to get her into position very quickly, though using two hands. Then the second one seemed to get away from him a bit; not a complete diisaster, but he seemed to lose his footing a bit as she went down in the dive. The third one was just fine. Also some iffy supported pirouettes throughout. Gorak's solo was fleet-footed and among the best I've seen; he only started to flag toward the end. I left wanting more Trenary, please! (And also with renewed interest in Seo.) I forgot to write in about this, but Trenary's Princess Praline the other evening was just as astonishing as in the NYT video.