abatt

Whereas I would always show up for a new Ratmansky, Wheeldon or Tharp work, I rarely show up anymore for new works that ABT presents by other choreographers.  There are a seemingly vast supply of very bad choreographers out there.    Best of luck ABT.  You are going to need it.

Jaffe should acquire rights to Ratmansky's Swan Lake  and his reconstruction of Giselle  for a future season. 

ABT desperately needs star dancers who can attract an audience.  Attendance is now so poor that they have reduced their Met schedule to 4 1/2 weeks.  People are not coming to the theater much to see the majority of the home team players.  I know there was a huge backlash against international guests in favor of home grown dancers, but that plan doesn't seem to be working out very well at the box office.  With a few notable exceptions, ABT is now a shadow of its former greatness.

Most entertainment has returned to full capacity, so we can no longer blame the pandemic for the lack of box office for ABT and the substantial reduction in its Met season.

Ratmansky's position as Artist in Residence was funded largely from funds supplied by David Koch.  Now that Koch is gone, I have to wonder  what role, if any, financial considerations may have played in this outcome.

Of course, Ratmansky is in demand all over Europe and America, so he is not lacking in commissions.

Ratmansky owns the rights to his works.  ABT will have to pay him for the rights to perform a particular work.  This is not a change from any prior arrangement. The difference is that he is not contractually obligated to create a new work each season for ABT,

The Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky Is Leaving American Ballet Theater - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

This is very bad news for ABT in my opinion.

What Does an Angel See in Her Future? Maybe a Sugarplum Fairy. - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Nuts review.  One takeaway for me is that quite a bit of rehearsal is needed to present a wonderful performance of the lead dancers in this ballet.  The pas is quite difficult and intricate.  For those who wonder why there are not more debuts, I think the answer is that given limited rehearsal time and resources, training of the lead performers must be focused on a few people learning new roles.

Emma Von Enck is making bold strides in demonstrating her readiness for bigger things.  I have no doubt she will debut as Aurora, and I can't wait!

The same reason Trenary hasn't been cast in Swan Lake. They have enough people right now for the roles, so they are not training many  new people.   

Hurlin seems to be the most favored of the younger principal dancers, with good reason in my opinion.    

If Misty ever comes back, that is one more Juliet that will have to be inserted into a future schedule.

I've been looking for casting on this engagement, but so far nothing has been posted.  If anyone comes across the casting info, please post.  Thanks.

2 hours ago, MarzipanShepherdess said:

Exactly! If these men had been sharing images from PornHub with one another, there would have been no issue. Any workplace doing its duty by its workers would sanction or fire workers who shared intimate images of other workers without their consent.

And I would add, nonconsensual sharing of private nude or sexually explicit images of someone isn't just a breach of trust, it's increasingly ruled to be a crime in many cities and states. I

Alexa Maxwell was the NYCB employee whose nude photo was exchanged.  She consented. 

Waterbury never consented to her photo being shared, but  she was never an employee of NYCB.

The notion that the complaints of a few women dancers that they don't want to work with a particular male partner could result in the firing of that male dancer is very disturbing.   The obvious solution is to not pair up these dancers.  The solution should not be to fire the person. People in all workplaces are thrown together to work with people they dislike.  But I've never heard of  terminating the employment of a person because someone in the company doesn't want to work with them as a proper course of action.  More broadly speaking, I don't think the few complaints about not wanting to work with Ramasar and Catazaro caused their termination.  These are unionized dancers with rights.  I believe that certain women (Bouder?) complained that the union was defending Ramasar and Catazaro, to no avail.  Her right to feel completely comfortable  did not outweigh the union's obligation to defend against two wrongful terminations of employment.  I'm sure  NYCB's attorneys advised them that the terminations were unlawful and that the company would probably lose the arbitration.  The company made the decision that at least if they had to rehire these men, they could say  in the media that they were ordered to do so by a legal tribunal .  This lessened the damage to the public image of the company.   I believe that the firings were calculated to stem the tide of bad publicity against the company.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/16/arts/breakout-stars-2022-music-tv-movies.html

Hurlin made the list of breakout dance stars in the NYTimes.

2 hours ago, Balletwannabe said:

I'm referring to cancel culture as a new phenomenon, where instead of a proper (private) review process of behavior that might end in a firing, the public has become the judge & jury and companies unfortunately let them decide more often than not.  I think it's awful, but as I said, it's not going anywhere.  

I think that is exactly what happened to Ramasar and Catazaro.  Remember that they initially received only a few months suspension, which seemed fair. After all the negative publicity , NYCB fired them both.  This series of events were key, I believe, in leading the arbitrator to require the company re-hire them.  This was a way for NYCB to demonstrate to the media that NYCB tried to get rid of their "bad apples" but was forced to rehire them, deflecting any blame for their reinstatement to the arb decision.  Notably, I don't recall the media ever presenting stories about the fact that they were reinstated, and that Waterbury lost her court case against these two.  Basically, she was allowed to run amuck in the media while getting regular news coverage of  her protests with her minions of Ramasar,  and destroy two lives with no real repercussions to her.

I think Kikta is very deserving of promotion.  She and LaFreniere are essentially the inheritors of the Maria K. rep.  There are tall men in the company who can partner these ladies. 

That's true that Ramasar became the face of the "scandal".  He was dogged by Waterbury and her minions when he appeared in West Side Story on Broadway.  I believe his case was still in arbitration while he was on Broadway, but it's hard to recall the timing.  Since he was the only one of the three men who continued to actually work in New York City, he bore the brunt of the negative news media coverage.  I don't think it was because of racism that he became the public face of the scandal.  He fought the hardest to refuse to permit Waterbury to destroy his career.

Does anyone know why Mejia was replaced this week?  I'm considering buying a ticket to the final performance of Nuts on Dec 31 in which he is Cavalier. 

I just looked at nearly every date of the post Christmas Nut run for tickets, and it seems like every show is sold out.   Good for them.  

Mearns has not danced in Nutcracker in a long time. She withdrew last season due to stress and mental health issues.  This season she has been replaced.  

Sara Adams appeared on The View today and danced Marzipan variation  with 4  ladies from the corps.  It was a very brief appearance, which focused primarily on the sponsor, Pandora, and their lab created diamond jewelry.

2 hours ago, Jacqueline said:

Just checked this week's casting and Kikta will debut Sugarplum Saturday evening (replacing Sara Mearns)!  

That cast change sounded very appealing, until I checked the casting sheet and realized that LeCrone is Dewdrop.

Thanks for posting the video, canbelto.   

I have to admit that I thought Hyltin was promoted too early to principal.  However, she grew into her roles and after a few years I grew to like her performances very much.  

Interesting how Amar Ramasar has unleashed a freedom in other dancers to invite Peter Martins to be in the audience for their farewells.  

No reports or videos of Hyltin's farewell?

I wish the NY Times would hire her.  The folks they have writing dance reviews at NY Times now are unimpressive.

I see that  in addition to Bouder, Mearns and Laracey are also replaced in the casting for this week.  Hopefully all is well.

I didn't notice this before, but all performances of Swan Lake are now considered "special events" which are priced higher than other performances during the season.

Ahn is scheduled for only one classical show - a Giselle with Boylston.