abatt

Regarding Part's latest comments (translated in an earlier post above), she compares her situation to Julie Kent and Ferri, both of whom were permitted to dance with ABT at far more advanced ages than Part's. The fact that she is comparing herself to them is indicative that Part has no sense of how having a massive audience following can influence your standing at ABT. Kent was the face of ABT for decades and was a beloved figure with a huge following; that following trailed off by the end because her ability had declined so much. She had a special place in ABT history. Ferri also had a massive following and a legendary career, so it was a box office bonanza for ABT when she decided to make a comeback and dance 2 shows last season and this season. Unfortunately, if we are being completely realistic, Part did not have either a huge fan base or a historically significant relationship with ABT, so she was never going to receive the same treatment as either Kent or Ferri.

Marcelo is sharing the role with Dominic North, but I have not located any info on which dates Marcelo will dance.

https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/adea.cfm The federal age discrimination act applies to people 40 and older. However, even if she had been terminated at age 40 instead of 39, I doubt that she would have been able to establish a viable age discrimination claim.

Actually, Hallberg is dancing in the fall season. It is Gomes who is skipping the Koch.

Gomes is splitting the role with the man who originated the role in London, so the exact dates that Gomes will perform are unclear. I hope he performs with Mearns.

Hmm. I wonder if Golding will go back to ABT, where he used to be in the corps. ABT definitely needs an infusion of a tall principal dancer.

Actually, I think money is that tight. I think McKenzie probably has a fixed amount of money to work with to pay dancer salaries, so that a new promotion to principal is highly dependent on the departure of someone who is already a principal. Since Veronika was very senior, her firing may have paid for one new "junior" principal, plus a portion of the money needed to promote Royal. It's an ugly business at ABT. Edit to add: I think that when Veronika said on her instagram or other social media that "they already gave my contract to some other dancer", this is an implicit statement that the pool of available money is indeed very limited, and that McKenzie could not promote the people he wanted and also keep Part on as a principal. Zero sum game.

I loved Part's performances and always went to her shows. ABT's conduct is reprehensible. They behave more like Walmart every year. I understand that McKenzie probably did not have the funds to make all these promotions and keep Part as a full time worker, but would it have been so awful to make Shevchenko or Teuscher wait one more year for the promotion?

I don't think so. Kent stayed well beyond the age when she should have left, and McKenzie kept giving her the roles she wanted to dance. McKenzie also allowed her to make whatever changes to the choreography she wanted to accommodate her diminished ability. Kent retired when she wanted to leave, not when she was told to leave.

Lendorf was breathtaking tonight in Aurora's wedding. I don't think I've seen the male solo variation done as well by anyone at ABT in the past. Such clean, precise, fast movement, with every single step fully articulated. He was a marvel. Oh, and he doesn't cheat on the fish dives by using both arms to get the girl into position. He does it the old fashioned way, with his left arm only.

I would love to see Abrera as Nikiya instead of Gamzatti. But I'm not sure if they will give it to her at this stage of her career.

Devon and Christine have both been Lilac fairies in SB, so I'm not sure Aurora will be in their futures.

What new roles do we want to see our new ballerina principals conquer? I want Sarah to finally get a Juliet, and also a Gazmatti. I want Devon and Christine to be cast as Nikiya. I also want Christine to be cast in SL.

I think there is a lot of talk about disruption and booing, but it may amount to nothing in reality. Thank goodness the person arranging this is using booing, and not the nefarious and criminal conduct employed by Pavel Dmitrichenko at the Bolshoi.

The only person who should rightfully be blamed for Part's dismissal is McKenzie, not anyone who was promoted.

Does that fact that there were 3 principal promotions instead of 2 mean that Kochetkova is history at ABT?

Surprised Gabe was left off the list. But congratulations regarding all these well deserved promotions Now it's time for ABT to find another tall, strong guy to promote. I think Hammoudi may be out of the running permanently for promotion. Time to try out Hoven and Forster in some more lead roles

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/07/arts/dance/american-ballet-theater-promotes-4-dancers.html Lane, Shevcheko and Teuscher to principal Royal to solosit

Unfortunately, the dancers are not necessarily first and foremost artists, at least at ABT. They are equally, or perhaps primarily, fundraising and or ticket sales commodities. The better you are at increasing ticket sales, attracting publicity to the company, or and attracting money to the company, the more secure your position, regardless of artistry or lack thereof.

The house was packed last night. Given that the program was substantially similar to the one on Wed evening (when the house was half empty), I can only attribute the ticket sales to Misty's presence. No matter what else you want to say about her, she sells tickets. Her fans screamed and cheered when she came out on stage. It was like being at a rock concert. I thought Shevchenko and Hallberg both performed Mozartiana much better on Thursday night than on Wednesday night. However, neither one is up to the standards set at NYCB. I liked the new Ratmansky work a bit more on second viewing with the same cast, but this is not top drawer Ratmansky. Seeing Misty perform Nutcracker on Thursday only 24 hours after seeing Hee Seo's brilliant performance on Wed, I felt like I was watching a student workshop performance on Thursday. The difference in skill, attack, breadth and characterization was very apparent. I skipped AfterEffect.

Paul Taylor dancers also collect unemployment during their off season. Not unusual at all.

Since the ethos of NYCB is that the choreography is more important that the dancer, I hope we never, ever see the ABT style sponsorship of dancers at NYCB.

I was seated in the balcony, and I agree with Macaulay's statement. The lighting was a big problem in this ballet. Obviously, I'm so familiar with the individual dancers that I was able to identify them based on height, hair color and so on, regardless of the poor lighting. Also happy that he noted Hee Seo's triumph in Nutcracker pdd, because she was excellent and deserved the praise.

The July 7 program has changed. Nutcracker pas replaced by SL pas from Act II, with Herman and Misty. No jumping required for Herman, just partnering. Gorak replaces Herman in Aurora's Wedding on July 8 evening.

Boylston has great speed and attack in footwork, and a high, big jump. However, those positive attributes are often overshadowed by her other numerous problems, which have already been discussed in this forum. I liked her very much in Don Q this season, which I thought showcased her strengths. SL, on the other hand, highlighted her problems. There are so many ABT ballerinas who have part of the overall package, but are sorely lacking in some areas. If we could combine Hee Seo's lyricism with Boylston's attack, we would have a complete, wonderful Ballerina.