abatt

25 minutes ago, balletforme said:

Why do you think Stafford, who is usually quite low key, chose not to give "no comment?"  

The Board of Directors is now hearing about Martins' alleged retaliation and his going backstage, all courtesy of the NYTimes.  This is the same Board that is now deciding if Stafford will run the company permanently.  I guess he was sending a direct message out to the public and the Board that he attempted to control the situation, but Martins did not comply.  Stafford is being defensive regarding why he apparently had no control over the situation.  Ironically, Martins has been the impetus for Stafford's administrative rise within the company.  It was Martins who invited him to teach and take on numerous admin. duties while Martins still ran the company. 

28 minutes ago, dirac said:

This.

My takeaway is that Board needs to make its long-overdue decision about the leadership pronto. This is inside baseball of the worst kind and it's unfortunate that Stafford decided to fan the flames. I certainly can’t imagine any responsible company leader whining to the press about such a matter. 

Good to hear that Martins will be working for the Trust. I expect that will also give him something to do and get him out of town for long stretches, which will likely be beneficial for all concerned until things have settled.

I'm sorry for Hyltin. 

 

 

Stafford should have given a simple "no comment" to the NY Times.

25 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

Hyltin doesn't post to Instagram very often, but her post wishing Indiana Woodward every success in her debut as Aurora is an example of how it should be done. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuKH1ZHgZiw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Class and integrity personified.

Vipa, I completely agree with you.  SB has been running for two weeks without any review by the NYTimes.  Instead, they decide to publish Bouder's complaints about getting third cast.  While I do believe Bouder was  switched as a result of retaliation from Martins, I'm also lacking in sympathy for her.  She did, after all, get cast and has performed the role several times during the run of SB.  She thoughtlessly put Hyltin in an awful position.  For someone who purports to care about the health and well being of her fellow dancers, she had no problem throwing Hyltin under the bus. 

Hasn't this company had enough of its dirty laundry aired in public already?  Do we really want to see a NY Times article every time a dancer feels she was undervalued and switched to third cast instead of first cast?

12 minutes ago, nanushka said:

In what way do her words suggest that she is naive to that fact? She didn't say or suggest that NYCB, as a workplace, was unique in being led by a tyrant (her word, not necessarily mine), so far as I can see.

From the fact that there are multiple tyrants it doesn't necessarily follow that a person shouldn't call someone out for being one of them.

I guess the unique thing is that people who  deal with unpleasant bosses daily generally don't get a chance to complain about it in a published article in the New York Times.  Poor Jon Stafford.  He's caught in the middle of all this.

37 minutes ago, FPF said:

 I respect Bouder for not backing down from her previous statement, but I wonder if she will continue to be cast at all in Martins' works after this statement: “Dealing with somebody like Peter — who could be mean and could be a tyrant,” she said, “how do you change that reality when it’s been that way for so long?” 

It is likely that Bouder has never worked anywhere other than NYCB.  If she did, she would know that the working world is full of bosses who are tyrannical and unpleasant.  This is not unique to NYCB.

Mariinsky asked specifically for Peter Martins, not for the  Farrell or Vilella.

They have too much money invested in SB, and it is a box office sell out for every show.  I don't think they will dump this SB.

Briefly stated, Woodward and Huxley were terrific.  Sadly, I must get back to work now. 

I saw both Hyltin's first performance and Bouder's first performance of SB during this run.  I can say with absolute certainty that Bouder was thrilling and excellent, while Hyltin was weak and clearly having difficulty.  I cannot imagine any reason for putting Hyltin in as first cast instead of Bouder other than to retaliate against Bouder.   However, the company gave Martins that right as the choreographer, so even if his motives for the cast change was not ethical, they are nevertheless stuck with his decisions and control.  

I am pleased to learn that Martins will stage Balanchine ballets around the world.  Love him or hate him, he has extensive knowledge which should be passed on to others.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/arts/city-ballet-moma-lincoln-kirstein.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/arts/dance/sleeping-beauty-indiana-woodward-anthony-huxley.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront

Terrific article and interview with Huxley and Woodward regarding their upcoming debuts in SB.

8 hours ago, Fleurfairy said:

She is getting to the age where ballerinas are retiring roles. It nice to see her acknowledge that younger dancers deserve their place in these roles. 

I suspect that this season will be Bouder's final run of Aurora.  

I was trying to figure out why Janzen was standing around at the side of the stage during the vision scene.  Is that part of the choreography?  At the end of Aurora's solo variation, Desire runs across the stage to run after her upon her exit.  Did Janzen arrive too early for his cue?  It was truly bizarre and distracting to have him stand around at the side of the stage. I don't recall that happening when I've seen this production in prior years, but I could be wrong. 

It was not Hyltin's best performance.  Most of  her performance was well done, but she was obviously struggling with some of the choreography.  There were too many uncharacteristic little stumbles. A friend/co worker of mine who rarely attends ballet performances but took ballet classes during her youth asked me if there was something wrong with Hyltin's foot.  This was a very astute observation.

Janzen definitely needs improvement, but he did manage to do the fish dives well.  His partnering was strong, and I thought he did a fine job in supporting Hyltin.  There was one fish dive where she appeared to tilt off center and he immediately was able to bring her into the correct position to execute the fish dive.  In the hands of a lesser partner, that would have turned into a disaster.    

Maria was vivid in her acting as Carabose, although I wish that someone at NYCB could give this character some dignity.

I thought Reichlin was a bore as Lilac Fairy. She executed the steps well enough, but I rarely felt that she radiated warmth or dominated the action when she was on stage.

The precious metal and jewel dances were marvelous, especially Huxley.   Ulbricht's Bluebird was also a highlight.

There are a lot of prominent Broadway performers who also do gigs on cruises.  Seems like a win win situation if ABT makes some money, more people are exposed to high quality ballet, and the dancers get a free vacation cruise.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/theater/michael-jackson-chicago-musical-cancelled.html

The "pre-Broadway" run that was scheduled in Chicago has been cancelled. 

2 hours ago, BLalo said:

 

Perhaps most problematic for me was Taylor Stanley appearing as a character called “Africa” in Act I. Not the “African Prince” but “Africa”. The suitors are all pretty nondescript anyway, but why on earth are they each representing an entire continent (Europe, America, Asia, Africa)? It comes across instead as representing a race. They could easily just be “Four Suitors”.

 

This makes the point that Aurora is being courted by the regal heads of state from around the world.   Referring to them as four suitors does not convey their high statures.

Thanks for the report on the dress rehearsal. 

1 hour ago, fondoffouettes said:

Ashley Laracey’s thoughts on not being cast for the first four weeks of the winter season. Unless she’s been dealing with an injury,

 

By using words like left out and invisible, I get the impression that her absence was not due to injury.  I agree with others that Laracey is much more interesting to me than some of the other soloists like LeCrone. 

I have to wonder if Ashly Isaacs's absence was due to injury or because Stafford isn't casting her.

I think Ratmansky's wife may handle a great deal of the work of staging his ballets on other companies after the works have already premiered.  

I like the Huxley, Woodward pairing, but I can't imagine LeCrone as Lilac. 

NYCB has not updated the casting page, but if you click on tonight's performance you can see that  Janzen is replaced tonight in In Vento.  Peter Walker will be dancing in place of Janzen. 

I also got a chuckle out of the advertisement, but at the same time I felt it was indicative of  how NYCB lacks  credible character actors in full length ballets. 

2 hours ago, Leah said:

 

Unfortunately Naomi Corti had a bad fall in the beginning, and it seemed to rattle her. She is obviously a beautiful and talented dancer, though, and I look forward to seeing more of her in the future. She looked shocked at the large amount of applause she got.

 

She is only an apprentice, so she was probably nervous.  This was her first featured role, I believe.  (I'm not even sure I've seen her in any roles in the corps.) The casting sheet indicates that Sterling Hyltin was originally scheduled to do the role, but Hyltin was moved into the second cast  next week. 

Very thrilled that Woodward and Huxley will debut together in Sleeping Beauty.

Isabella LaFreniere (spelling?) has returned from injury.  She danced last night.  Does anyone know what happened to Alston Macgill?  Still injured?

Added: Macgill's instagram indicates she is returning for the winter season.  Good for her!

For me the highlight of last night was the smokin' hot pas in Agon.  Maria and Tyler Angle were electrifying.