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Roster Changes at ABT


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I wouldn't be surprised. With Reyes' retirement, ABT is in need of a pint-sized ballerina who can be lifted by Simkin, Cornejo and Gorak. (Even Sarah Lane, if she were treated more favorably by the AD, couldn't do this alone.) I'd love to see Gorak take on Solor and Siegfried, but I can't really imagine that with a ballerina of Boylston's or Copeland's proportions. Kochetkova makes Gelsey Kirkland look downright womanly by comparison.

I don't think the Misty fervor can last forever, but maybe it makes sense for ABT to promote her at this point. Her fame can perhaps sustain good ticket sales for the eight years or so of dancing she still has left in her (based on the career length of most dancers). ABT won't be left with several awkward years of less-than-stellar sales and waning interest, as they were with Herrera, a brilliant dancer whose star shone most brightly in her early years.

I think many of us believe that ABT is going to go through a fallow period for the next few years until the new generation of dancers takes the reigns (and perhaps new management redirects the company's course). Maybe Misty is just a natural part of that slump and will do her part to bolster the company financially and help it weather questionable artistic times. I think I can actually come to terms with that scenario.

There's other pint-sized ballerina's in the corp who have real potential and stage presence. Skylar Brandt for one. I also think Paulina Waski has real potential. However, ABT seems immune right now to nurturing their own talent and would rather import an overrated star who will be another principal in name only.

Honestly, I only brought up Misty because everyone's so focused on her potential promotion because they dislike what she talks about in the media, when it's highly likely that those vacant principal positions will also be filled by more imports who only come around during the MET.

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I don't think the Misty fervor can last forever.

I think that really depends on how long Misty pays Gilda Squires to do her PR. That woman is worth her weight in gold. On the Tuesday night I saw Misty in R&J (when she was a last minute replacement for Hee Seo) there were loads of empty seats. And after the 2nd intermission, loads more.

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There's other pint-sized ballerina's in the corp who have real potential and stage presence. Skylar Brandt for one. I also think Paulina Waski has real potential. However, ABT seems immune right now to nurturing their own talent and would rather import an overrated star who will be another principal in name only.

Honestly, I only brought up Misty because everyone's so focused on her potential promotion because they dislike what she talks about in the media, when it's highly likely that those vacant principal positions will also be filled by more imports who only come around during the MET.

Plisskin -- My post was based on the assumption that ABT of course wouldn't promote homegrown talent and would instead like the easy, instantly attainable option. I would so love to see talent emerge form the corps. It's one of the great joys of being a consistent ballet-goer.

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Plisskin -- My post was based on the assumption that ABT of course wouldn't promote homegrown talent and would instead like the easy, instantly attainable option. I would so love to see talent emerge form the corps. It's one of the great joys of being a consistent ballet-goer.

Y'know, it's really sad fondoff that ABT is at a point were we can't even assume that they'll even promote from within the company. What a sad state of affairs this has become. If this indeed true that Kotchekova is one of the newest principals that ABT will import, I'm not excited about it at all.

Also, I just found out yesterday that, per Thomas Forster's Instagram, Leanne Underwood left a few weeks ago. Her last performance was Zulma in Giselle.

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Y'know, it's really sad fondoff that ABT is at a point were we can't even assume that they'll even promote from within the company. What a sad state of affairs this has become. If this indeed true that Kotchekova is one of the newest principals that ABT will import, I'm not excited about it at all.

Also, I just found out yesterday that, per Thomas Forster's Instagram, Leanne Underwood left a few weeks ago. Her last performance was Zulma in Giselle.

Really? Didn't Underwood do Rosaline on Saturday PM?

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The apprentices have been moved over to the corps. Changes are a-coming! Hoping the promotions will be announced soon!

Wow, that's quite a handful. It's making me dread seeing which other corps members are leaving that must have warranted so many additions so soon.

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There's other pint-sized ballerina's in the corp who have real potential and stage presence. Skylar Brandt for one. I also think Paulina Waski has real potential. However, ABT seems immune right now to nurturing their own talent and would rather import an overrated star who will be another principal in name only.

Honestly, I only brought up Misty because everyone's so focused on her potential promotion because they dislike what she talks about in the media, when it's highly likely that those vacant principal positions will also be filled by more imports who only come around during the MET.

Plisskin -- My post was based on the assumption that ABT of course wouldn't promote homegrown talent and would instead like the easy, instantly attainable option. I would so love to see talent emerge form the corps. It's one of the great joys of being a consistent ballet-goer.

I agree with nurturing the homegrown talent, as Plisskin mentioned the potentials of Skylar Brandt and Paulina Waski, both from the lower school and studio company. I was fortunate to be at Julie's farewell show and both were in the show, although Waski was not listed in the "Juliet's Friends" dance, she was indeed dancing the role, one can clearly see both their stage presence, and after having seen both in other performances, their techniques are clean and they dance with confidence. I believe if given more coaching and nurturing that these dancers have great potential as well, I look forward to seeing how ABT will help these dancers grow to their full potential.

The apprentices have been moved over to the corps. Changes are a-coming! Hoping the promotions will be announced soon!I

It looks like they moved all the apprentices over except for one boy, I wonder if more from Studio Company will be added in the fall.

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It is a destination company and has been for a long time: just off the top of my head, Makarova, Fracci, Baryshnikov, Bruhn, Godunov, Ananiashvili, Vishneva, Bocca, Careno, Corella, Stiefel, Simkin, Cornejo, Gregory, Orr, Marks, Lander, Bolle, Semionova, Whiteside, McKerrow, Renvall, Radojevic, van Hamel, why even Kevin McKenzie. All danced in other companies, leaving from all ranks and joining at all ranks.

As frustrating as McKenzie's casting and promotion practices have been, 7/10 Soloists and 4/16 Principals hail from the Studio Company, and three more Principals joined as corps and were promoted through the ranks during his tenure.

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It is a destination company and has been for a long time: just off the top of my head, Makarova, Fracci, Baryshnikov, Bruhn, Godunov, Ananiashvili, Vishneva, Bocca, Careno, Corella, Stiefel, Simkin, Cornejo, Gregory, Orr, Marks, Lander, Bolle, Semionova, Whiteside, McKerrow, Renvall, Radojevic, van Hamel, why even Kevin McKenzie. All danced in other companies, leaving from all ranks and joining at all ranks.

As frustrating as McKenzie's casting and promotion practices have been, 7/10 Soloists and 4/16 Principals hail from the Studio Company, and three more Principals joined as corps and were promoted through the ranks during his tenure.

Sorry, my point was more a rhetorical one, and more about the recent past and present (not the time of Makarova, Fracci, Baryshnikov, et al). I was referring to the fact that every Met season now seems to end with a bunch of departures of very promising dancers to greener pastures. Perhaps that's the way it's always been, but I'm more aware of it now.

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But even now: Cornejo, Part, Semionova, Vasiliev, Bolle, Simkin, Vishneva -- all came from other companies to join ABT.

I remember that VHS tape which combined performances and interviews -- from the early '90's? -- and Ferri talking about the company feeling like family, partly because they toured together. Ruth Ann Koesun sharing her wonderful scrapbook and narrative in the ABT doc on PBS had the same feeling.

I don't think that rivalry or ambition was specifically less in the past, and there's always the possibility that familiarity through touring breeds contempt as well as closeness, but the company tours less and stories of the ABT "family" have been fewer and farther between.

I'm glad dancers take opportunities when they aren't getting them in their home company, even if it was and still is their dream company. I still miss Kara Zimmerman, for example, who joined Cincinnati Ballet and then Joffrey Ballet after PNB, but I hope she's getting in Chicago what she didn't in Seattle.

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All of the veterans in the corp are steadily leaving year after year and being replaced by inexperienced youngin's from the Studio Company. The corp is going to look even more ragged if ABT doesn't seriously invest in more sufficient rehearsal and coaching time. Which they won't. Who am I kiddin'?

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It is a destination company and has been for a long time: just off the top of my head, Makarova, Fracci, Baryshnikov, Bruhn, Godunov, Ananiashvili, Vishneva, Bocca, Careno, Corella, Stiefel, Simkin, Cornejo, Gregory, Orr, Marks, Lander, Bolle, Semionova, Whiteside, McKerrow, Renvall, Radojevic, van Hamel, why even Kevin McKenzie. All danced in other companies, leaving from all ranks and joining at all ranks.

As frustrating as McKenzie's casting and promotion practices have been, 7/10 Soloists and 4/16 Principals hail from the Studio Company, and three more Principals joined as corps and were promoted through the ranks during his tenure.

I love the idea of a feeder vs a destination company. I'd never thought about it that way before. I agree that ABT has been a destination company but this has changed somewhat over the years and will continue to change as the reputations of companies like PNB, SFB and others grow. I guess what I'm saying is that ABT is still a destination company but it is not as much a first prize as it used to be.

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I love the idea of a feeder vs a destination company. I'd never thought about it that way before. I agree that ABT has been a destination company but this has changed somewhat over the years and will continue to change as the reputations of companies like PNB, SFB and others grow. I guess what I'm saying is that ABT is still a destination company but it is not as much a first prize as it used to be.

And it's one thing for ABT to be a destination company for principals and soloists, as Helene's data shows that it still is. But is it as much of a draw for corps dancers from outside? (I don't know -- genuine question.) And in thinking about the term "feeder" company, I have in mind what's happened to a lot of promising soloists whom we've seen leave in recent years. Dancers who have risen up from corps to soloists, gotten stuck, and left. I'd be curious to know whether that trend has increased over time, or if it's just always been a part of what happens and I've only recently become more aware of it.

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And it's one thing for ABT to be a destination company for principals and soloists, as Helene's data shows that it still is. But is it as much of a draw for corps dancers from outside? (I don't know -- genuine question.) And in thinking about the term "feeder" company, I have in mind what's happened to a lot of promising soloists whom we've seen leave in recent years. Dancers who have risen up from corps to soloists, gotten stuck, and left. I'd be curious to know whether that trend has increased over time, or if it's just always been a part of what happens and I've only recently become more aware of it.

I'm also curious about talented NYCB corp members who have not risen from the corp. Do they leave the company and go somewhere else? MCB/PNB?

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