abatt

Murphy and Copeland are the only principals not participating. Not surprising.

I guess I'm skeptical of claims that dancers employed at ABT are living hand to mouth and earning poverty level wages. I'm similarly skeptical of such claims by other groups, such as the musicians at City Ballet.

Sorry. Just wanted to highlight that there are many people who are working multiple minimum wage jobs and not offered health insurance or any benefits. Did not intend an offense to you.

Professional athletes get paid huge amounts in sports in which the teams have contracts to televise the games. Ballet is a niche art, so the salaries of ballet dancers will never be competitive with those of athletes in sports like football, hockey, basketball and so on.

It is their choice to work for ABT. NYCB works many more weeks per year, which is part of the reason their compensation is higher than what the ABT union could negotiate for ABT's dancers. Paul Taylor dance company, when it didn't have enough work, would intentionally lay off their workers so that they could collect unemployment during the off season. Unfortunately, if the dancer chooses to perform with a company that has far less than 52 weeks of employment, they may need to find supplementary income from gigs, teaching (a la Bouder at Steps) or other means. To say that they don't earn a living wage is an insult to all of those workers who are killing themselves in multiple minimum wage jobs to earn a living.

Given that they only work for a fraction of the year, is it really fair to say that they are working for less than a living wage?

Tours always have sponsors. ABT doesn't pay from its own funds to go on tour.

ABT used to do Feld's Variations on a Theme of America. In college I had a poster for the Eliot Feld Ballet in my room of Baryshnikov in this ballet. This was about a decade before I ever attended a ballet (no money).

At Ballet Theater, a Thrilling Puck and a Moment to Take Stock - The New York Times (nytimes.com) More praise for Jake Roxander. Someone above suggested that it would be exciting to see him again as Mercutio. While that is true, I would much rather see him debut in a lead role. If you have someone with tremendous talent, use him. Don't stick him into a minor role. By shortening the season, and by repeatedly bringing back the same works season after season at the Met, dancers are deprived of valuable performance opportunities. As an example, Roxander would be great as Colas, or as Franz. At this point he may not be ready for Albrecht, Siegfried or Romeo. But will we ever see Fille Mal Gardee or Coppeilia, given that the season is drastically reduced. I'm not so sure. Hopefully we will get a Don Q revival and see him in the lead. Not sure what Jaffe's thoughts are on preferring seniority over talent for casting lead roles.

Definitely Dark Elegies.

Thanks for the assistance, but it is not afterrite. That was Wayne McGregor. I hated that ballet. Just recalled. It was Tudor's Dark Elegies. A masterpiece. Will we ever see that one again? If they were happy to blow money on a singer, why did they spend it on an instantly forgettable trifle by Gemma Bond. The money would have been much better spent to revive Dark Elegies.

There was a ballet ABT did at City Center that required an opera singer and was about the death of children and a grieving community. Anyone recall what the title was? It was very moving.

There won't be any opportunities for debut Juliets if Misty comes back and uses it as her retirement ballet.

Oh no. What a complete lack of imagination.

ABT knew all along that Ratmansky was interested in reconstruction of old ballets, and David Koch was happy to fund that pursuit. Notably, the Swan Lake reconstruction was not funded by ABT and has never been presented at ABT. Why not? Is it because McKenzie wants to keep getting choreography royalties for his version of SL at ABT in perpetuity?

Misseldine did not have the fixed smile when she did Myrta, from what I recall. As reported previously at the Guggenheim talk Jaffe indicated that Misseldine is prepping the lead in SL. Now that should be interesting.

Based on what I saw at NYCB this fall, both Mearns and Tiler Peck did the turns on demi-pointe in that opening solo. That's the choreography. So if Shevchenko did any of those on pointe, she did not do what is choreographed. Boylston had a lot of trouble with those turns. I think maybe one went right. The others were botched and unsteady. Just one of the many issues with ABT's performance of Ballet Imperial.

Just a slight correction of the above, I think Mearns danced with Tyler Angle, and Peck danced with Joe Gordon. While the costumes in Ballet Imperial convey grandeur and a regal nobility, there was nothing in the performance that conveyed that. So ABT's costumes, in my opinion, were incongruous with the performance. Boylston and Whiteside gave the impression of siblings . She grinned broadly at him during the pas. As a result, the entire section where Whiteside is searching for his Czarina comes off as phony. He was just looking for his little sister Bella. Devon would have been a more sensible choice for this role. Everything about her is regal, and she did a wonderful T&V previously.

Roxander was once again incredible as Puck. The person who did Bottom last night was very very good. Don't have my program handy so I cannot identify him. He had no trouble with the pointe work and was quite endearing. Trenary was wonderful as Titania. Boylston was improved over last week's debut, but I still prefer NYCB in Ballet Imperial.

I never see Julia Koch at these events anymore. I guess David Koch drove the donations to ABT, and she has ceased such donations after his death. David Koch was a driving force behind Ratmansky's work with ABT, including the costly reconstructions that were presented during Ratmansky's tenure with ABT. I have to wonder if the death of Koch, and the loss of funding from Koch, played a role in Ratmansky's decision to cross the plaza to NYCB. As the saying goes, follow the money.

Inside American Ballet Theatre’s Star Studded Fall Gala | Observer Attached are photos of various attendees at the gala. Melanie Hamrick decided to carry a bag that references her book, First Position. Crass.

The dancers work, including rehearsal weeks and performance weeks, for only a fraction of the year. Being a ballet dancer at ABT is not a 52 week per year job, and salaries reflect that reality. That's why many of them appear during off time at other gigs. I think overall, NYCB dancers have more weeks of work than ABT dancers.

I don't know. who that was. He was indeed very impressive.

Only a few words to add to what California posted above. Completely agree that the SB excerpt was painfully slow, and the two handed cheat on the fish dives were disappointing. Mr. Abatt and I were astonished at how much difficulty Royal had in lifting Trenary. If you can't seamlessly lift teeny tiny Trenary, who can you lift? In parts of the variation, Calvin's dancing was very slow and unimpressive. While I love Leaves, Ahn and Brandt had no chemistry. He was also late in partnering her early in the excerpt, causing her to come down off pointe. Frankly, Concerto was such a bright spot because the performances were so strong, and the connection between Stearns and Seo was more genuine. Most everything else at the gala came off as a bit stale. Nice to see Bell for the first and last time of the Fall season, but Danzon is a very minor trifle. Hurlin is adding difficulty to her fouettes, by changing her arm position during every other fouette. Carmago was impressive. Regarding the med emergency, I was shocked at how disorganized and long the response was. A similar thing happened earlier this year at Carnegie Hall. In the Carnegie incident, someone yelled for a doctor, the person received medical treatment within a very short time, and was removed by EMS within minutes. Last night, precious time was lost needlessly. During the nearly half hour interruption of the performance from the med emergency, people obviously walked in and out of the theater to use the bathroom. As a result, the overpowering smell of the dinner that was being prepared for the gala permeated the auditorium. It smelled like onion for the entire show.

yes, i completely agree with that.