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Multinational Ballet Theatre!


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I gather Ms Marquez is tiny, which is a considerable advantage if you have a small male principal looking for a partner.

With regard to Ari's perceptive comments about preserving Ashton's style: When MacMillan took over as director of the Royal Ballet he let it be known that he was unhappy with the way the company danced the classics, commenting that they danced them "like Ashton" and he wanted it changed.

The sad thing is that having got rid of Ashton style, other than in the MacMillan repertoire, no new company style has been imposed in its place. And with the wide diversity of backgrounds and training among today's Royal Ballet dancers, the task gets more difficult each year.

Although it will be great to see some of the Ashton repertoire next season, I wonder if there will be much sense of his style. There aren't that many people around who worked intensively with him, and many of those are either getting rather old, or are not called on for help in establishing the way the ballets used to be danced.

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Ari's recap of recent Royal Ballet history is my understanding as well -- I'm glad Alymer confirmed it :)

One of the great mysteries is how that silly, old-fashioned Cecchetti training produced so many first-rate dancers, while the new, improved updated curriculum has not. There was a similar situation in Copenhagen. Every one of the directors during the Time of Troubles came determined to revitalize the school and bring it up to date. One teacher from "the old days" came back a year into the First Reform Movement and told me the dancers came to her after the first class she gave and told her not to take offense, but her class was too hard and they wouldn't take it again.

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I know this is about ABT, but also about American dancers, if you look around at other companies, Medium to small sized, I would think the majority of them are Americans. And the majority of them are very good dancers, not everyone can be in ABT, or wants to be.

One thing i've noticed about ABT, is lately atleast, they only like to bring people into their corps who have gone up through their summer program, which alot of really good dancers, don't go to. I also think that alot of the NON- American principals are in the company because Americans tend to think..oooo Foriegn, mystery, must be really good!! Which is not to say this is Bad, because they are good!

That's just my take on it, though.

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I think if you look around the medium-sized companies you'll find that there are a lot of dancers from other countries -- this is a recent change. Cincinnatti Ballet sent out a press release a year or two ago listing their foreign dancers. Ballet Internationale and Ballet Arizona have a high component of non-American dancers, as does San Francisco Ballet -- those are a few I can think of without doing a web search, but it's a trend.

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Concerning ABT's"Buy it, don't develop it"approach to starmaking,although they went to foreign schools,the following principals(M Gomes,P Herrera, H Cornejo, I Dvorovenco,Max B.(?)started in the corp de ballet. So w/ JKent, a Tuttle,G Murphyand A Mckerrow.If that is not developing thier own, then i don't know what is.

Joe

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I still believe the reason we see so many foreign dancers in American ballet countries is the type of training American dancers are receiving in this country. That's not to say we are not seeing wonderfully strong technically skill dancers. We have them in truck loads!! But I think we all know in order to become a prinicpal dancer to any company you must be more then just an exceptional technical dancer. There must be a spark, a unique quality within that individual that seperate them from the rest and their ability to convey that to the audience. I think while Americans are being train to be strong technicians, they are not being train to be individualist. Now I know that cannot be taught, but maybe they are not being train in an environment that encourage them to be unique from others. As a school teacher I know you can teach an entire class of students the same material, some will understand the material better and faster, some will take a longer time to understand it and some may never gasp the material at all. But if you do not encourage students to think on their own, to help bring out their own uniqueness at solving a problem, to put their own personal stamp on a situation, the student will only follow the example the teacher set forth. In order words, if a teacher does not encourage individuality from their students you can't expect to see it in most students. Ballet schools in foreign countries, such as The Vaganova Academy in Russia and The Paris Opera Ballet School from what I've read does encourage individuality. The fact that most of the best known dancers in ballet are foreign born, I think says alot. I don't people think of Wendy Whelan a glorious dancer at NYCB in the same way as Darcey Bussell of the Royal Ballet.

Speaking of NYCB, this company is made-up primarily of American born and train dancers. Some of whom I believe are the very best in the world. But I don't think many people think of them as star dancers. I think because NYBC has ever encourage the star system. Of course over the years NYBC has produce some of the most famous dancers the world of ballet has ever seen: Suzanne Farrell, Edward Villella to just name two. I think NYCB is unique in the fact that, unlike other companies, the main attraction for audience is more for the choregraphy of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins then for the individual dancers. And I think the company encourage that way of thinking. Notice whenever NYCB advertise in posters or newspaper print they only advertise the ballets for a particular evening. Where as at ABT, which proudly foster the star-system, they put a greater stand on publicizing the individual performer. I think that has alot to do with the legacy of George Balanchine. As we all know Balanchine has had a enormous and profound impact on American ballet. And because he seem to put a greater importance on the choreography than on developing the "star system", it could be argued that NYCB is the only ensemble or repertory ballet company in the world, as being more important in the growth of a ballet company, most companies I believe has followed suit. And when you think of the fact that most artistic directors of American ballet companies are former dancers of Mr. Balanchine, they maybe following the example set by their mentor. So when they are looking for a possible star to attract audience they may feel they have to go to foreign dancers, because unfortunately they may feel their home-train dancers don't have the skills to develop into star dancers. Not bothering to develop and guiding them to greatness. After all a great dancer is not born, but develop.

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Oh, Im not saying there are no foriengers in the companies, but I would say there is a large amount of Americans in these companies, comparatively. Houston Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Alabama Ballet, PNB, and Ballet Met just to name a few who are primarily American filled companies.

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For all the non-Ahmerikens out there, please forgive my grandstanding....

America has alwasy been a nation of Immigrants. The Gubernator of CaleeFornYa is foreign born. So I guess most dancers in ABT will never be able to run for President. Besides that, everyone who immigrates legally and passes the test, can legally become an American. Even though muslim exteremists have killed some of my friends on 9/11, I still welcome all to this country.

Every nationality has contributed immensely to this coutry, if it were not for a kind professor from Syria, I would not have gotten my Masters in Informations Systems.

America has always strived for being the best, Ballet should not be an exception.

Mike

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...Concerning ABT's"Buy it, don't develop it"approach to starmaking,although they went to foreign schools,the following principals(M Gomes,P Herrera, H Cornejo, I Dvorovenco,Max B.(?)started in the corp de ballet...

Just so you aware, Marcelo Gomes may have gone to Paris Opera for his final ten months of school, but he had already been hired by ABT in the corps, one month after his graduation to Harid. He had won his prize at Prix de Lauzanne as a junior in high school. At that time Harid was a three year program, therefore if one had already done freshman through junior year at Harid, one had to go somewhere else to study. Marcelo was awarded the scholarship to POB School for his senior year of high school. Harid has since remedied this inconsistancey. Students may now complete their academic and ballet education prior to beginning their contracts with professional companies.

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Actually, I don't think Gomes had been hired by ABT when he went to the POB. I interviewed him a year ago, and he told me that ABT had asked him to join the corps, but that he (his parents, actually) thought it was best to take the POB offer, and that when he finished his year in Paris, he called ABT up and asked if they were still interested. Not that it is very important, since the wonderful thing is that he is with them now!

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Some other American-trained dancers hired by ABT include Danny Tidwell, Karen Uphoff, and certainly not least, Michele Wiles, although one could quibble with that if you consider that they're all from UBA. Maria Bystrova is Russian, but most of her training was at UBA as well.

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bingham, I know Mr. Halberg's teacher and I guarantee you, he learned his elegance and fine technique while studying in the USA, Phoenix, AZ to be specific. Most definitely, balletic elegance is taught and learned even to the most artistically talented and physically gifted students.

The point of my original post regarding Mr. Gomes was that he was already a prize winning, well trained dancer with the qualities that exist today, before he ever went to POB. I am quite certain that the other American trained (meaning trained in the USA) dancers mentioned in this thread also were well schooled prior to their success in the professional world. Well trained dancers are just that, well trained dancers, regardless of country or method of training. IMO, no student can go to one of these internationally highly recognized schools attached to big name companies, study for one year (really 10 months maximum) and come out an artist beyong all others. One year is not enough time! :wink:

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I have a question about the "American dancers are all trained for competitions" statement. Why do company directors say that and then go out and hire dancers who seem to do nothing but flashy tricks? For example: most of the current principals at ABT. There are plenty of tasteful, refined dancers in the US, but they don't seem to be hired unless there is something extreme about them (extension, feet, pirouettes...). And even then, they often languish in the corps. So that doesn't seem like the real reason to me.

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I'm coming late to this topic and just wanted to add my two cents to Leigh's original note.

It has always seemed to me that the "American" in the title of the company is due to marketing, and under McKenzie it has become a real gimmick. The company dances a primarily European rep, it's roster is not made up of Americans or American-trained dancers, and it's style is not one that is considered American. That's not to slam the company or to cast aspersions or to even say it might not be preferable to alternatives. But really, if any company can lay claim to being truly American, it is NYCB. That's why it grates on me that ABT advertises itself as America's national company.

Take a poll of people not very familiar with ballet -- people who will attend every 2-10 years, take their daughter or granddaughter for a treat, or to see a major production because it is passing through town. Ask them whether they would prefer to see ABT or NYCB (or SFB and MCB, for that matter.) You will find they will almost all will say they want to see ABT, as it is the national company.To their mind, that means all others must be regional (and likely inferior.) Most of these people would be shocked to learn that ABT is considered one of the prime proponents of the European classical style and that NYCB is apogee of the American style of ballet.

And I don't think McKenzie wants to market the fact that his roster is made up of non-Americans. Americans are pretty nationalistic, and by and large when they buy tickets to ABT they believe they are buying tickets to America's best.

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And I don't think McKenzie wants to market the fact that his roster is made up of non-Americans.  Americans are pretty nationalistic, and by and large when they buy tickets to ABT they believe they are buying tickets to America's best.

Which would be ironic, because for years, Americans would buy tickets to the company because of its foreign roster; American dancers were considered "inferior," the same way American pianists, violinists, and conductors were considered inferior to their European counterparts.

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What American style of ballet? I wasn't aware that there was one. Also, some people might be shocked to find out that ballet is a European art form, and that if you want to dance classical ballet, you've got to fit the European classics in there somewhere. (The real ones, not the easy-listening Martinized version.)

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A couple of quibbles on later posts. ABT does dance a lot of ballets originally danced by European companies, but saying they have a European classical style is stretching it a bit, I think. Each dancer has his or her own style, something those used to a company having a distinct style (especially the Europeans I've talked to about this) notice within about two minutes.

Also, while I agree with vrsfanatic that you can't teach ballet in a year, you can polish a well-trained dancer in that period of time -- I saw it in Copenhagen in the early '90s. ("You just calm them down and stretch them out," Kronstam said, about turning a rather over-exuberant American trained self-styled whiz kid into a lyrical dancer.) People have been sending children or students to major academies for centuries to be polished, to attend a class de perfection.

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Actually Alexandra, I do agree with you on this subject. It is quite a prevalent custom to take talented, schooled students, of generally good background and refine them. That has been the custom for years, but that does not say that one more year in their previous environment would not/could not have produced similar results! :wink: One would never know. It is of course enriching and important that the dancer was "trained" at the big name facility. These connections are life long and important to the future of ballet, but to discount the training one receives prior to entering the larger facility can be discrediting the hard work and foundamentals of many teachers who have provided the "jewel in the raw" . Also the dancer is much more prepared to actually hear what is being said, the older and more experienced they become.

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