abatt

I don't think the behavior here can necessarily be attributed to alpha male overcompensation of straight men who are in a profession where large numbers of men are gay. There are examples of men behaving like infantile, disgusting idiots in their dealing with women in every occupation. Finlay and the others don;'t get a free pass in my book based on some psychological analysis of their occupational stresses.

I feel sorry for Chase's mother. Some of you may know that she could frequently be spotted in the orchestra, and was always very nice. Her son is an adult and made his own bad choices, but I still feel sorry for his mom.

This may be completely true, and it's possible NYCB has no legal liability or exposure in connection with Waterbury's claims. However, the damage to NYCB's public image is already done and won't easily be undone, regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit.

NYCB did not dismiss Chase. Chase resigned. These events explain why Chase was not in Saratoga or part of the Denmark tour. Ditto, I believe, for Catazaro.

Doubtful. If anything, prices may go up because donations may go way down. They better start programming All Balanchine All The Time. Since we have a President who bragged on tape that he can grab women by the you know what and get away with it, the subject incident at NYCB speaks to the coarseness of our times. Voters didn't care, and maybe the audiences for NYCB won't care either.

This debacle tips the scales for hiring a woman to fill the AD job opening.

New York City Ballet is going to have difficulty raising funds from donors. These allegations just reinforce the idea that the company is replete with adult men behaving like little boys. I think this incident helps tip the scale for hiring a woman as the new leader of NYCB.

Not sure if this incident involves criminal conduct, but this civil lawsuit seeks injunctive relief and damages. Presumably if there was criminal conduct, Chase would be charged by the Manhattan D.A.'s office.

This is the highest number of people I've seen on a topic at Ballet Alert since joining! Chase needs to get lawyered up right away. Any chance of him being hired by another ballet company are up in smoke based on these claims.

Hmm. How long before the NYTimes has an article about the lawsuit.

I just obtained a copy of the complaint successfully through the NYSCEF website. Any member of the public can obtain the complaint on that website. https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/Login

Martins led the company from 1983 through Dec 31, 2017. McKenzie at ABT ascended to his position as AD in 1992, so he has also has had a very long tenure with no sign that he will be departing any time soon. How long has Helgi been running SFB? Long tenures are not uncommon for these types of institutions.

PBS News Hour did a tribute to taylor this evening. You can find the video on the PBS News Hour website.

It was definitely dysfunctional. (Before my time as a ballet goer).

But things like that do impact audience enjoyment. When Megan F. had to dance with Andy once or twice following the breakup, some audience members were just as focused on reading their expressions and interactions as they were on the choreography. Also, following the split long ago of Tiler Peck and Joaquin de Luz, people focused on their interactions and Peck's "coolness" toward DeLuz in their performances together following the split. (All is now forgiven, and they now appear to be friends.) These issues do impact performances, performers and audiences. Maybe only the balletomanes focus on such matters, but I'm not sure.

It's not only the current debacle and the Peter Martins debacle that give the public an overall negative vibe about the company. It's also the public split of Tiler Peck and Robbie Fairchild, with R. Fairchild departing the company soon thereafter. Also, Megan Fairchild has given interviews recounting her split with Veyette and the fact that they don't speak. All of this publicly reported negativity becomes a cumulative fatigue of infighting and dysfunction swirling around NYCB.

Well said. His dances evoked a range of emotions. Promethean Fire still always causes me to shed a tear each time I see it, because I closely associate it with my own experiences on Sept 11. Esplanade and other dancers always bring great joy.

Unfortunately, NYCB is becoming equally known for its dysfunctional internal upheavals and disputes as for its stellar dancers and rep. It's starting to get embarrassing, and I can't imagine that this is good for business.

The company's next full season in New York City will be in October 2019. I wonder if the schedule will be chock full of his masterpieces. He was a great American artist. I looked forward to seeing his company annually here in NYC.

I don't think they owe a thing to the public except to give their best performances when they are on stage. Additionally, if the conduct at issue was so awful, hand it over to the police department. If it was a civil infraction like libel or slander, let the person complaining bring a lawsuit. If it is merely unsavory conduct that does not rise to the level of being a felony or even a misdemeanor, why is NYCB the enforcer of promoting civil behavior. What gives NYCB the right to monitor speech or punish speech that occurs on a personal device? These are very troubling questions, in my opinion.

Harrison Ball hasn't danced in quite some time due to injury. Anyone know if he is now ready to return? Now that Finlay is gone, that substantially increases the possibility that Joe Gordon will get promoted sooner rather than later. And maybe Harrison Coll will finally get out of the corps.

Exactly. The person who was the recipient of the improper communications was not necessarily the person who wrote the letter of complaint to NYCB.

Sports figures get suspensions all the time. It's not the end of the careers of Catazaro and Ramasar, although how they would ever be able to work alongside the person who reported them is hard to imagine. Finlay's resignation, however, seems like a death blow to his career.

Given the circumstances surrounding his departure, I'm guessing ABT would probably not be interested in hiring Finlay.

I think it must be something more than just dating that led to this. Interesting that two of the three decided to take the suspension, but Finlay quit. Based on his instagram postings, Finlay is dating someone who is not a dancer at NYCB. Does this mean we'll be seeing a lot more of Veyette? Gulp.