abatt

I completely agree with most of what you said. The firings were based on public opinion and perceptions of the board and donors. However, I do not believe that the firings were based on considerations of NYCB's potential legal liability. In fact, I think any lawyer who had a clue would have immediately advised NYCB that under the circumstances of this case, there was no basis to fire these two guys, and that the firings would likely be overturned after an arbitration. To me, this was not even a close case. There was never any legal basis to fire them. If NYCB's lawyers told them to go ahead with the firings, NYCB needs to find new counsel PRONTO. My suspicion is that NYCB was told by their counsel that this would be overturned if the dancers pursued arbitration, but NYCB decided to go ahead with the firings anyway. I think NYCB decided that garnering positive publicity by firing them was more important to their bottom line than following the law.

I attended last night's gala. The biggest star of the evening was the utterly brilliant Kimin Kim. He defies gravity. He was absolutely thrilling in his Don Q and Black Swan variations. Olga Smirnova dumbed down her solo variation in the Black Swan pdd by doing pique turns around the stage instead of the traditional fouettes. Is she afraid to get injured? I expect that modification from certain dancers, but not a Bolshoi principal. I enjoyed Smirnova's Dying Swan, but they decided to turn it into pas, with Calvin Royal circling around her and stalking her. I wanted to swat him out of the way so I could focus on Smirnova. His presence added nothing and distracted the viewer from this beautiful solo. Kondaurova was sharp and authoritative in a pas from Forsythe's In the Middle. It was for me a highlight. Lucia Lacarra and Fabrice Calmels trotted out Arpino's Light Rain duet (subtitled I Am Gumby, Dammit.) Lucia's flexibility is marvelous, especially given that she is not so young. It was trashy but fun. The Manon pas with Stearns and Seo was deadly boring. I don't have high hopes for their upcoming ABT performances in the lead roles. The new Hamrick piece to boyfriend Mick Jagger's music was harmless but amateurish. The finale was a pastiche of excerpts from Don Q. Shevchenko killed it with a portion of Kitri's Act I variation, where she does the Plistetskaya kicks. There were film clips of youngsters talking about ballet after each piece. The first one or two clips were cute. But the repetition of the cute kids on film trying to articulate their love of ballet started to become grating and a complete waste of time.

Whoever was the architect of these firings at NYCB should be terminated . These firings smelled to high heaven from the outset. Added: I'm assuming this reinstatement is effective immediately. Hopefully we will see Ramasar during the Spring season.

Wow. Just read the rest. Ramasar returns. Excellent. He and Catazaro have finally been vindicated. Wonder what Ms. Waterbury and her attorney are thinking about their lawsuit against these two. It truly is a Good Friday. This news combined with the news earlier this week that K. Morgan is joining Miami City make me very happy. Now if only Gomes could return to the New York stage.....

NYCB would NEVER have done this voluntarily. He should not have been terminated in the first place. Thank goodness for the triumph of justice. Sadly, the company has damaged his reputation in spite of this reinstatement.

https://www.broadway.com/buzz/195492/mike-faist-to-bring-cool-factor-to-steven-spielbergs-west-side-story-film-as-riff/ More casting news for this film. Brittany Pollack and Harrison Coll of NYCB are going to be part of the dance ensemble for the Jets. Jeanette Delgado is part of the ensemble for the Sharks. Perhaps others will recognize additional names of ballet dancers from the long casting lists contained in the above link.

The program for the opening night gala is now listed on the website. They will perform Ratmansky's Serenade after Plato's Symposium and Ratmansky's new work, The Seasons. No casting info is available.

https://nypost.com/2019/04/02/ballet-bandit-gets-72-hours-of-community-service-for-maine-spree/ Talicia Martins sentenced to 72 hours of community service.

I'm glad to see that the company is finally putting a warning on the program regarding lyrics used in the Runaway.

Where are the calendars for the new season? I don't see them on the company website.

Since they are doing two weeks of SL instead of only one, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some debuts in the lead roles.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with Mariinsky casting. On a day when public sales begin for a variety of events at the KC, the KC website becomes overwhelmed and the computer program makes an assumption that anyone visiting the site is looking to buy tickets. I don't know what went on sale today. You can directly get into the casting page instead of going to the home page by clicking canbelto's link.

Forgot Charles Askegard, who came from ABT.

That ballet will never see the light of day at the Koch (or anywhere else) again. I remember Twesley partnering Whelan in Balanchine's Ballade, but they have never revived that ballet since. Tewsley left. Why have they never revived that ballet in something like 20 years?

There was also the short-lived tenure of Robert Tewsley. NYCB attempted to hire( Joel?) Carreno from Cuba, but ran into visa issues, if I recall.

My bad. Thanks.

I'm surprised that Harrison Coll is still in the corps. He's performed many leading roles with distinction.

Bolshoi hasn't been to the Kennedy Center in many years. That would be great, if true. Mariinsky did SL at KC a few years ago, so I doubt that Mariinsky will be doing that ballet again so soon. SB would be great. During the last run the Aurora's were Vishneva, Somova and Tereshkina. I recall there was a blizzard in DC that week, so I missed Somova's performance but saw the other casts.

Actually, I think dancers may go back to basics more often than we realize. I read Sara Mearns' instagram now and then, and she takes instruction from a teacher she met on tour in Denmark whenever this teacher is in New York. The video Mearns posted involved correction of some basic issues.

Yes, forgot about Indiana. She is cast all the time. I think her promotion to principal is just a matter of time.

I think there are certain soloists who are cast fairly regularly. Among the women it's Unity Phelan, Emily Gerrity and to a lesser extent Megan LeCrone . Lauren King finally got some important new roles this season.

This musical has been reworked and will be playing in Seattle shortly. Tiler Peck is still playing the lead, but it looks liike all other members of the original cast have moved on. I hope we get to see this in New York at some point, even for a limited Off Broadway run. http://www.playbill.com/article/see-the-cast-and-creative-team-of-marie-dancing-still-meet-the-press

Yes. Ditto with Robert Schumann's Davidbundertanze. I guess audiences are more into electronica music (Times are Racing) and hiphop lyrics (Runaway) than "old fashioned" masterpieces.

I would guess that the 2019-2020 season has already been fully mapped out, and that it will probably be announced shortly. At the earliest, any impact that Whelan might have on programming would not be until the following season.

Lovette also had some stumbles when I saw her on Tuesday of last week. Of the five casts, she was my least favorite. I don't think her technique is strong enough for Aurora. In most of the NYCB rep, Lovette performs well. However, in the role of Aurora, there is nowhere to hide. If you have weak technique, it will show.