abatt

It's not surprising that Paris Opera ballet does not rely on "outsiders", since the Paris Opera Ballet school is one of the most prestigious and venerable in the world. It's true ABT has various schools and junior companies, but there has never been a steady stream of world class dancers coming out the ABT schooling system. I think that, in part, explains why ABT relies on "imports", which POB does not. In addition, the POB is state funded. ABT must rely heavily on ticket sales and donations for its existence. Under the circumstances, it's not surprising that they import international stars to boost ticket sales , lure donors and increase the public media profile of the company. The "imports" like Vishneva and Cojocaru can pretty much sell out the Met. House ballerinas do not.

. You're right. Kent should be making more than Hererra under the seniority system. Found the answer. Pivnick is (or was) the chief financial officer. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/27/arts/dance/27ball.html

Cheri has extended for one additional week, until Dec 29. However, the tickets for the extension period are priced at $75.

Since the dancer salaries are based on a combo of seniority and level in the company (corps, soloist or principal), and the dancers are operating under union contract, it makes sense that Kent and Hererra are the highest paid. As valuable as Gomes is to the company, he did not join until 1997 and has only been a principal since 2002. If it were up to me, Gomes would be the highest paid because he is the single most valuable member of the principal team for ABT.

There is a provocative and interesting article in today's NY Times which discusses ballet dancers as "brands". http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/arts/dance/ballet-dancers-as-brands.html?ref=arts The issues discussed are at the heart of what some people are complaining about at ABT - namely, that it relies on "brand name" international stars, and thereby frustrates the development of its own "in house" dancers. The article questions whether there is such a thing as a unique company style anymore. In my experience, I have noticed striking differences in the way other companies perform Balanchine as compared to the NY City Ballet, and those differences continue to exist despite the "globalization" of ballet. I was amused by Osipova's comment that "so far" she intends to stick with the Royal Ballet. I don't have a problem with dancer's doing guest stints all over the globe, but her switching companies 4 times over 2 years, and breaking various contracts in the process, is a bit much. Any thoughts?

Off topic, but was Tennant's Richard II worth seeing? I'm debating whether to attend the upcoming screenings in New York during December. I just saw Ben Whishaw's performance of the role in The Hollow Crown series, so I'm considering passing on Tennant's performance. Thanks.

She (or, more likely her parents) should have worked out the tax issues and payment terms before she ever agreed to work there.

There are plenty of young attorneys who conduct small trials with little or no prior experience in small firms. It's only in huge "white shoe" law firms that you have clients willing to pay for hordes of youngsters doing wheel-spinning research and reviewing documents. Moving the conversation back to ballet, the situation is akin to a small regional company vs. the Bolshoi. The Bolshoi is like the white shoe law firm, where there are plenty of talented people hanging around waiting, begging, and pleading to move up into something more exciting within the firm. In a small regional company, just like a small law firm, people get important opportunities faster.

Glad to hear J. Stafford will be employed at NYCB and SAB post-retirement. The L.A. Dance Project sounds like an unstable prospect. I have my doubts as to whether that company will last long term.

A little surprised at the Taylor and Stafford retirements. Also a little surprised Somogyi is not among the retirees.

Of course low, unfair pay leads to morale problems and lack of loyalty. It was not the tipping point for Womack, but it added fuel to her already burning fire of discontent, and now that is part of the reason she is giving these media interviews. She's sticking it to the Bolshoi- an organization that already is embroiled in controversy and doesn't need any more bad publicity.

If we are to believe Womack, she was essentially working for free at the Bolshoi. Why end a contract with someone who is apparently so enamored of working for the Bolshoi that it costs the Bolshoi little to keep her on. Virtually free labor is the best kind of labor as far as an employer is concerned. I also found it interesting that she is the only person who had to pay $18,000 in tuition. The amount of her takehome pay puts her below any poverty line. What kind of organization pays its employee in cash? The only way this relatinonship was going to end was if Womack herself pulled the plug, which she has now done. (Apparently she was not getting any health insurance, either, since she had to pay for an operation on her own.) Let's hope that wherever she's headed, she negotiates in advance fair pay and benefits, as well as fair contract terms.

I thought MB's Swan Lake was much better than his SB. Most of the choreography for SB was boring and simplistic. This is not a production for a balletomane. I regret wasting my time and money on it when it was in New York.

I don't think the problem of rich people buying their way into top ballet schools is limited to the Vaganova. I'm guessing that SAB lets in plenty of little kids whose parents are well connected and who give SAB and/or NYCB a lot of money.

Kristen, I don't know what Cable provider you have, but the entirety of every one of the figure skating Grand Prix events (including all pairs and ice dancing events) have been broadcast on an NBC sports oriented sister station through Time Warner Cable. In NYC, that is channel 481, I think. Check your listings.

California, you had started a topic on this a few months ago, but not in the ABT forum. The doucmentary was mentioned in a prior ABT On Pointe newsletter. It will be shown on PBS in 2015, coinciding w. the company's 75th Anniversary.

This ABT Fall season and the one last year at City Center have been superior to the seasons that they previously presented. They are no longer wasting money and time on garbage new commissions that will end up in the trash bin as soon as the curtain comes down (Citizen comes readily to mind, although there have been many other commissioned duds over the years that will never, thankfully, see the light of day again). Tempest is a substantive work that while not perfect, is not an insult to the intelligence of the audience. Remember one City Center season when ABT took the cheapo route and only presented works that didn't require an orchestra! This season was loaded with masterworks, and even the mediocre works (Clear) were not disasters.

Aurora may be referring to that really awful landing Cory had in Sylphides, where he spent an inordinate amount of time trying to adjust the position of his foot to avoid falling over.

I went to the Sat matinee and the Sunday matinee. Part's performance in Sylphides was one for the ages. Absolutely gorgeous. This was an excellent two weeks of rep.

LOL Kristen. Now, seeing Johnny Weir do Swan Lake w. the Mariinsky would be something. Johnny has lined up a nice gig for himself. He will be a reporter for NBC during the Sochi games. For all you figure skating fans, Johnny is already doing commentary for NBC for the men's singles events on the Grand Prix circuit.

Ugh. My day is officially ruined. No Tereshkina.

I attended Thursday evening's performance. I thought Semionova and Stearns were wonderful in T&V. Semionova was radiant and performed the difficult choreography with ease and grace. Cory was a gallant partner, and executed his solo with panache. (I like his hair slicked back. It makes him look more sophisticated.) There was one minor problem I saw in the partnering, where he arrived a tad late to support Semionova, causing her to come off pointe too soon. NYCB has been assigning the T&V role to people I regard as soubrette (Peck, M. Fairchild, Bouder). It was refreshing to see a tall, regal Ballerina in the role. Kent and Cote were fantastic in Month. I was not looking forward to this revival, because I found Kent's performance disappointing during the Met season. I thought that she was tracing the steps instead of performing them full out. (I much preferred Hee Seo, but she is not doing the role during this Fall Koch engagement.) Kent surprised me in a good way. First, I thought she added a lot more to the acting of the role than when she first did the role last spring. I also thought her dancing was more robust last night than in the spring. Cote was fantastic. His partnering was effortless, he had dramatic insight, and he executed his solo work very well. Gemma Bond was perfection. Re Piano Concerto 1, Murphy and Royal danced with brio. In fact, I think I prefer Murphy over Vishneva in this. I guess it's not a fair comparison, but I found corps members Brandt and Shayer paled in comparison to the dynamic duo of Osipova and Vasiliev who originated these roles. There were many empty seats last night, and the fourth ring only had a handful of peoplle.

I hope NYC is a stop of the Mariinsky road tour during renovations.

I thought the casting of Bach Partita made a big difference in how I felt about the ballet. I thought the first cast, with Murphy, Gomes, Abrera ... was fantastic, and I couldn't wait to see the work again. Last night I saw the second cast with Herrera, Boylston, Part, Gorak..., and somehow the ballet looked a lot more boring. Maybe the fact that Twyla was in the house watching gave the first cast extra energy last Friday. I thought Part was trying to "emote" too much, and Herrera did not dance with the kind of abandon I saw from Murphy. I've seen Clear many times at ABT, and I think I also saw it again when Corella Ballet brought it to NYC during a tour. (I miss Angel!) Even though there are lots of silly gestures in it from the guys pounding their chests and stomachs, I still always enjoy the ballet. Kent did look great, and Gomes was magnetic. Calvin Royal was a standout. I hope we see a lot more of Royal during the Spring season.

How come nobody on ABT's board can get ABT this much publicity? So far we have had Leslie Stahl's piece on NYCB on 60 Minutes. Now this project from SJP.