abatt

Thanks for posting the Macaulay photos and info.  From reading his post, it appears that Russell Janzen replaced Adrian DW last night in the new Neenan work.

5 hours ago, KayDenmark said:

Today's September 27th. Shouldn't we be hearing from Chase Finlay soon?

Not necessarily.  The amended complaint was only filed last week, and he would filing an answer to the amended complaint, not the original complaint. Also, extensions to file are routinely granted.

Here are some photos of the costumes and makeup for the new ballets:

https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/fashion-new-york-city-ballet-1202844354/

I'm trying to keep an open mind, but some of the costume and makeup choices appear to be distracting and awful.

Brooklyn Mack is substituting for the embroiled Amar Ramasar in  upcoming Fall For Dance performances at NY City Center. 

5 hours ago, Pique Arabesque said:

It would be a shame to punish whistleblowers for attempting to hold institutions and the people in them accountable. 

I guess we will have to disagree.   I don't regard Waterbury as a whistleblower.  A whistleblower is someone who informs on an illicit organization.  The illicit behavior, however, was committed by an individual on his off hours in his personal life.  There is no basis to impose liability on NYCB for the private actions of Finlay and his friends.  Time will tell, as they say.

5 hours ago, On Pointe said:

I

Ms. Waterbury  is angry at Chase Finlay and she's taken action against him,  rightly so.  

Yes, her claim is against Finlay, and potentially against any of his friends who also distributed her image after receiving it from Finlay. SAB and NYCB are in the suit because they have deep pockets.  Hopefully the institutions will be dismissed from the suit.  If and when that happens, Waterbury's chance of collecting her damages from Finlay may be an uphill battle.  He comes from a wealthy family, but their wealth is not his wealth.  He is an unemployed student at the moment.  

If any members of the company were her friends, I'm not sure they still are. By embarrassing members of the company such as Alexa Maxwell and others by repeating the stories she has heard or says she has heard, all she has done is treat other women poorly.  For someone who holds herself out as a representative of "me too",  Waterbury has not done any of these women in the company a service.  

19 hours ago, On Pointe said:

Most of the claims against the defendants are ridiculous and will certainly be thrown out - like but for the existence of NYCB and SAB,  Ms. Waterbury  would not have met Chase Finlay,  therefore the company and school owe her damages.  But it's as if the lawsuit itself is an act of revenge,  no matter what the outcome.

If and when NYCB wins and gets the case dismissed, they should send a press release touting the victory to every news outlet in existence.  I do feel badly that Waterbury hooked up with such a lousy boyfriend as Finlay, but trying to bring down NYCB for this is farfetched, to put it mildly.  In the end, if NYCB is victorious, Waterbury will suffer consequences down the road.  If I were a potential employer, I would never hire Waterbury because she now has a reputation of being litigious and bringing frivolous claims against the institutions she is affiliated with.  

1 hour ago, chicagoballetomane said:

Is Lexi Maxwell not performing this season? She posted a palm tree picture on her IG story. Shame if she’s not dancing to support Amar 

She has been out for some time. I don't know the nature of her injury.

50 minutes ago, yukionna4869 said:

I’m going tonight. I’m curious who the Tall girl will be. 

The instagram post from NYCB with Kretschmar & LaFrenier from two days ago says that Claire was scheduled to debut on the 19th, so Im not sure why casting isn’t updated still. I’m hoping LaFreniere isn’t injured. 

NYCB casting page was updated. Claire is doing all Tall Girl performances for the rest of this week.

10 minutes ago, tutu said:

My guess is that it could be one piece of evidence (though not a smoking gun) to add to the impression that NYCB was willful, reckless, or negligent in fostering an environment where people could act with impunity and no expectation of discipline. 

I haven't seen anything in the complaint discussing an EEOC-style hostile workplace claim, so 

I mean, shouldn't we expect to see a 12(b)(6) motion without necessarily taking the filing thereof as a referendum on the merits? They're not exactly non-standard motions...

It would be under CPLR 3211, not 12(b)(6), because this is a state court action. 

Sorry to hear Kikta is injured.  She was fabulous as Tall Girl in Rubies on Tuesday.

Her assertions against the institutions of NYCB and SAB seem to be so weak  and lacking in merit that I would not be surprised if counsel for NYCB and SAF file  a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, rather than filing an answer to the complaint.

Let me add my appreciation of J. Gordon's spectacular performance of his solos in Diamonds.  I have not seen the solos performed that well in a very long time. I thought he did good work as a partner for Mearns, but there were some elements that require additional polish regarding the partnering.  In particular, the part where she leans all of her weight into him and he has to rotate her 360 degrees looked a little unsteady. But I do look forward to seeing him again in the role.

Unity Phelan was a striking goddess in Emeralds.  So much more I'd like to say, but alas I must get to work.

Hoxha is replacing Huxley in both performances of Emeralds this week, per the revised casting sheet on the NYCB website.

Hod is great friends with Alexa Maxwell, who is Ramasar's girlfriend.  Maxwell is seen in the photo posted previously hugging Ramasar, so she is apparently sticking with him. 

1 minute ago, Ilovegiselle said:

So Maria Kowroski commented on Amar's post  "😘❤️" kissy face emoji. 

If Maria supports her, how do we feel about Amar now?  she's the most senior ballerina and well respected at City Ballet.

Exactly.  The employment status of two principal dancers should not be based on public opinion or a popularity contest.

It matters because nobody in the company has been identified as a victim of the distribution of improper images by  Ramasar or Catazaro. The alleged victim is Waterbury, who  has never been a member of the company.

Additionally, Franken resigned. He was not terminated.

3 minutes ago, Rick said:

I'm speculating, and feel free to delete if this is inappropriate, that Catazaro and Ramasar were fired to appease the donors and prevent a #metoo protest on opening night.

Bingo.

3 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

It may be that they received feedback from dancers and other NYCB employees after the Waterbury's complaint was made public that either advocated for dismissal or indicated that dismissal would be tolerated by the organization at large. 

Firing of a dancer should not be based on feedback from other dancers.  Ramasar and Catazaro were working at NYCB for many years, and up until Saturday the company apparently never got negative feedback about them and continually renewed their contracts. Ramasar has been working there for about 18 years, and Catazaro for about 11.

4 minutes ago, balletforme said:

Maybe I missed something but why are Ramasar and Catazaro, being fired after an initial decision was made for suspension? 

NYCB had 2 months with the evidence made available to them in June to determine if these two needed to be fired or not. They chose to suspend them but now, once the negative press is accelerating, they fire them?

Seems like a PR motivated thing to do. A panicked, "We've got to do something," move. 

What is new now that requires these two to be fired and not suspended as originally determined? 

I agree with you completely.  The change from a four month suspension to firing had better be supported by some extreme new evidence that was not previously available.  

I guess the overpaid Kathryn Brown now has some tasks on her plate other than the  shut down of the third and fourth rings in order to increase ticket sales of the higher priced seats in the open rings.

Do the AGMA contracts which the principal dancers sign have an arbitration provision?  If so, the wrongful termination claims of Ramasar and Catazaro may end up in arbitration.

At present, with an 8 week season certain principals barely get any meaningful performances (while others get way too many).  I fear that the shortening of the ABT New York Met season will only make things worse for the principals who are already marginalized, like Lane and Abrera.

Notably, when NYCB programs Other Dances, it always pairs up that ballet with one more short ballet to fill out the program.  In contrast, ABT programs short works like Other Dances and Duo Concertante (a few years ago) as though they can comprise one third of a full rep program even though they are very  short ballets.

If the donor is a fact  witness in the lawsuit, his name will come out in discovery even if he is not a named defendant in the lawsuit.  To the extent that any party in the suit wants to rely on discovery provided by the donor (a deposition transcript of his testimony, for example) in motions practice,  his identity will  be disclosed and become part of the public record.  The only way to prevent that would be to get a court order to place certain documents under seal, which seems remote. 

NYCB does not need this kind of a donor, no matter how much money he was contributing.

It will be interesting to see how NYCB and Finlay defend the case.  Will NYCB cross claim against Finlay?  Will either NYCB or Finlay sue additional individuals  as third-party defendants?

I just got an email from ABT  announcing the casting for the Family Matinee on Oct 27. Clearly they are trying to stimulate ticket purchases for that performance.

Ticket sales overall seem to be dismal for the fall season at ABT. 

50 minutes ago, JuliaJ said:

I think the media's choice of wording ("ballerina," "dancer") helps to further paint her as the perfect victim -- beautiful, white, Ivy League student, and only "19" as opposed to her real age, which we know from her Instagram is 20. Though I believe her claims and take them seriously, we're only getting her side of the story regarding the culture of NYCB, which we can assume that she's experienced mostly via her relationship with Finlay. I don't care what happens to him and the other culpable individuals, but, as others have said, I don't think it's fair to the other dancers in the company -- the women, gay men, and decent-human-being straight men -- for fans to stop attending performances and donating. I have multiple tickets for the 18-19 season and look forward to using every one of them. 

Anyway, I hope that NYCB can take the necessary steps to fix whatever institutional problems lie within, and to ultimately restore the public's favor. 

The media's interest in the story is because of the accusations against the ballet company, so classifying her as a ballerina gives a boost to media interest. Otherwise, this would be merely a dispute between ex boyfriend and ex girlfriend that would get little media interest.  

I fully intend to go see NYCB this season.  However, I would not give any donations until there are significant changes. I also think the suspensions should have been longer.