abatt

I found the accusation in the NYTimes laughable. I'm referring to the corps member who asked Martins what she had to do to get promoted to soloist, and he reportedly replied that she had to make him notice her. She twisted those words in her mind and took that as a proposition for sex. Having been an audience member of NYCB for about 20 years, I know exactly what those words convey in the context of NYCB dancers: awesome technician and/or charismatic stage presence. Without more - a LOT more - this accuser's allegation is simply not a reasonable interpretation of his alleged words. I'm no great fan of Peter Martins, but this one is a real whopper.

If non sexual touching during a coaching or training session is going to be taken to extremes, then that will spell the end of ballet. Political correctness or fear of lawsuits will doom the essential partnering that is central to ballet.

True, but once the headlines start and it makes the news, people often start to feel more comfortable about saying me too.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/sports/olympics/ioc-russia-winter-olympics.html I was so saddened to read this. This is so unfair to Russian athletes who did nothing wrong and have never taken any banned substances. As a figure skating fan, this is especially disheartening because some of the top women figure skaters in the world right now are Russian.

There is a tendency for accusers to come forward after the first accuser speaks out. We'll see if anyone else comes forward to speak out against Martins. If it is only this one "anonymous" complaint, he probably will not be in danger

I think the next AD of NYCB could be either Wheeldon or Justin Peck.

Wow. It's been a BAD few months for the Martins household. Daughter Talicia arrested and in drug rehab, and now this.

I think the alleged pedophilia component is the most important and troubling aspect of the Levine controversy. One of the accusers (in Illinois) claims that the inappropriate conduct started when the victim was 15, and sexual abuse took place when the victim was 16. The age of consent in Illinois was 17. Not sure about the ages of the other alleged victims.

I haven't been closely analyzing every detail of this debacle, but it appears that the claims against Levine involve conduct that did not occur on the Met Opera premises. Moreover, the claimants are not former or present employees of the Met. It's my understanding that there are no claims against Levine of sexual misconduct made by any current or former employee of the Met Opera. The Board member who directed an alleged claimant to contact the police and then took no further action did exactly the right thing. This situation is completely different from the one involving Matt Lauer, where Lauer is accused of improper conduct as to victims who are NBC current or former employees, and some of the improper conduct took place either at NBC's premises or while employees were on assignment for NBC as part of their employment. IN the case of Lauer, NBC has potential substantial liability for Lauer's misconduct. The only common thread here is that both the Met and NBC are dealing with a public relations nightmare. Once Levine was branded in the media as a pedophile, the Met had no choice but to cut him loose based on the public relations aspect. So who will they find to conduct Tosca on New Year's Eve? I think this Met Tosca is cursed. Jimmy Levine was conductor number 2, after Kristine Opolais's husband withdrew. Original singing leads of Kaufmann and Opolais were replaced by Grigolo and Yoncheva. Who will be conductor number 3 inserted into this new production with less than one month before the performance.

His Instagram says he's dancing with Murphy in Harrisburg PA for PA Regional Ballet. This gig appears to be unrelated to ABT.

The fouettes were also Sarah's weak spot when she debuted SL at the Met last season. It wasn't just the problem w. completion of all the fouettes and filling out the entire music for that section of the ballet. A separate problem at that performance was that she broke character when things went poorly. She was no longer evil temptress Odile, but sad faced Sarah Lane. A lot of people chalked it up to the fact that Lane was tossed into the role at the Met at the last minute. Maybe that's the case, but the subject video of her recent performance seems to support the opposite conclusion.

His Onegin was spine chilling. Thank goodness it is preserved on DVD. A tragic loss of a great talent who died far too young.

Day and Fairchild should only be angry at themselves for assuming that the general public was too dumb to piece together the information that they were publicly sharing with the world over a long period of time. The ship for caring about and protecting their former spouses or others sailed long before canbelto ever re-posted their publicly available info & photos on ballet alert. Robbie sadly missed the boat on this one.

I saw this performance last night. It was fabulous. Kelli O'Hara sings and acts so beautifully in this. Robbie Fairchild danced up a storm in the supporting role of Harry Beaton. Also, I think his acting has improved substantially since I saw him in the Broadway run of American in Paris. Patricia Delgado has a small non speaking role, as the dancer in "Funeral Dance". The only somewhat weak link is Patrick Wilson, who replaced the originally announced Steven Pasquale for the entire run. NY Times review below, plus red carpet photos. Peter Martins and Darci Kistler were at last night's show. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/theater/brigadoon-christopherwheeldon-city-center-review.html http://www.playbill.com/article/see-kelliohara-patrick-wilson-and-more-come-out-for-the-new-york-city-center-gala

Very bad news for dance. I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of Mark Morris under Jane Moss' leadership, but not much in the way of major ballet companies.

Natl Ballet of Cuba may be coming to Saratoga, NY this summer. Nothing has been firmed up yet. http://www.saratogian.com/article/ST/20171017/NEWS/171019827 https://saratogatodaynewspaper.com/today-in-saratoga/pulse/item/7425-spac-announces-2017-successes-2018-initiatives-and-explains-reasons-for-condensed-nycb-season

Lincoln Center Festival is no more. That may explain, in part, issues relating to the cancellation of the POB tour to NY. This seems like a death knell for visits by major international ballet companies to NY. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/14/arts/music/lincoln-center-festival-jane-moss.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

If Vengsay Valdes is announced as leading the first Don Q in DC, I will definitely be there. I'm waiting for casting.

Since nobody other than Peter Martins has commissioned her to create new works, she would not be able to make a career out of choreographing. She has missed a lot time over the past few seasons due to injury and the surgery she had on her foot. However, Justin Peck could certainly have a full time career as a choreographer.

http://www.penbaypilot.com/article/court-appearances-rescheduled-again-pair-arrested-after-camden-summer-burglaries/94475 Current status - Court appearance delayed until 2018 while Martins and her accomplice are in residential drug rehab programs.

I wish they would bring Scotch Symphony back into the NYCB rep. They haven't performed it for many, many years.

Hallberg was a poor partner during the time period at issue. It took him a long time to build his upper body strength. Wiles would have been a particularly difficult assignment for him because she was quite tall. However, sounds like her behavior in response to his weaknesses was repulsive, unprofessional and inexcusable. McKenzie was pairing them together a lot, so that may have been a factor in her abrupt departure from ABT. I don't think too may audience members shed a tear upon Wiles' departure.

Juliet is probably Hee Seo's strongest role. The technique required doesn't expose her weaknesses in the way the Petipa ballets do.

I was contemplating whether that TBA slot in SL might end up being Bolle. He's danced a number of times with Copeland at La Scala and during La Scala's visit to CA last summer. Bolle has been doing 2 shows per season at the Met for a few years. He stopped doing the ABT SL a few years ago, but maybe Copeland's small stature (easy lifts) could be be a motivation to return to the role.

I'm considering going to see the Natl Ballet of Cuba at the Kennedy Center, which conflicts w. ABT's Bayadere week. I have no interest in seeing Hee Seo or Boylston as Nikiya, especially after having seen the ethereal Nikiya performances of the Mariinsky's Tereshkina and Kondaurova at the Kennedy Center a few weeks ago.