Julian Mackay's Last Performance with SFB on April 15

[Helene]

Per this (his) Instagram post, Julian Mackay's last performance with San Francisco Ballet will be April 15:

 

Quote

 

julianmackay

Verified

My last show with @sfballet will be this Friday April 15th in Prism ‼️
I just wanted to let you all know so that you can catch my final performance dancing at SFB as I will not be continuing here next season.
Looking forward to new opportunities and sharing more with you all soon
Hope to see you Friday 💙

 

 

 

[PeggyTulle]

Huh. His run with SFB was fairly anti-climactic. 

[pherank]

So he's destined to have no long term impact on the ballet scene in SF. I'm not exactly surprised because Mackay seems to be pulled in many different directions these days, and spends a lot of time out of town. It certainly doesn't seem to be the case that Mackay has found a new home in San Francisco.  ;)

Tomasson paired Mackay with Nikisha Fogo much of the time, and I was never sure if that was because they already knew each other, or they just had similar dancing attributes. I wonder how he feels about that partnership, and what will happen with Fogo now?

I remember when some of us complained that Tomasson should have been finding a dancer of color rather than hiring Mackay (although those acquisitions are rarely spur of the moment). That decision seems academic now.

 

[PeggyTulle]

Yes, McKay seemed to put a big focus on traveling, guesting, and doing his own thing. Didn't quite seem to have SFB as his main focus. I'm curious, too, about Fogo and some of the other dancers. Hopefully they'll stick around for the initial Rojo era and see what's to come.

[pherank]

6 minutes ago, PeggyTulle said:

Yes, McKay seemed to put a big focus on traveling, guesting, and doing his own thing. Didn't quite seem to have SFB as his main focus. I'm curious, too, about Fogo and some of the other dancers. Hopefully they'll stick around for the initial Rojo era and see what's to come.

I hope they do as well, because simply jumping ship because one has doubts rarely works out well.
Forgetting any rumors they may have heard - don't people want to know what it is like to dance for Rojo in the new repertoire? It will be yet another experience to add to the resume. The dancers may even learn something.  😉

Edited April 13, 2022 by pherank

[pherank]

One of the comments on Mackay's posting: "Hopefully go somewhere where they use you more - you are ready to dance Romeo and I’d actually love to see you as a joyous Colas"

Presumably this person was pointing out that Mackay is primarily a Classical Ballet dancer, and performs traditional roles. But he's not well versed in contemporary ballet - not yet, anyway. And I'm not sure that he cares to develop those kinds of roles. At SFB under Tomasson, the idea was to develop as an all-round dancer in many genres. Mackay may have been too limited in his interests to really fit in well at SFB. Currently, he's nothing like an Ulrik Birkkjaer, Yuan Yuan Tan, Wei Wang, Sarah Van Patten, Angelo Greco in his range of interests and abilities. Each of these dancers have relished learning new techniques and styles.

 

[Josette]

I saw MacKay dance with Fogo (she was exceptional) in The Nutcracker and then last week in Dwight Rhoden's The Promised Land, and will see him in his last show on April 15, after which it appears that I will have seen him in all the ballets he has danced with SFB.  He seemed to have a distracting, localized claque present at both of the performances I saw with him.  He was quite good in the Rhoden ballet. I think that there are better dancers already in the company.   Hernandez will be back dancing next season with SFB so there is one male principal position taken.  I wonder who will be dancing Swan Lake, given that MacKay will not be performing. 

I am eager to know whether Yuan Yuan Tan will dance the final Swan Lake, closing Helgi Tomasson's directorship.  

[Helene]

He was trained in Russia from the time he was an early teen and performed in Russia as a professional.  His CV is public, and he has a public that would like to see him continue in that rep.  Certainly given the timing he would have known that Tomasson was going to retire and another AD would be hired, but he hasn't invested Whether he gave new rep a shot and thought it might not be for him, has looked at Rojo's choices and decided they weren't for him, or has other reasons for leaving SFB after a short try we may or may not learn from him, but he's promised to reveal his future plans, and I'd think he'd be in demand, given his skills.

 

 

 

[Josette]

7 minutes ago, pherank said:

One of the comments on Mackay's posting: "Hopefully go somewhere where they use you more - you are ready to dance Romeo and I’d actually love to see you as a joyous Colas"

Presumably this person was pointing out that Mackay is primarily a Classical Ballet dancer, and performs traditional roles. But he's not well versed in contemporary ballet - not yet, anyway. And I'm not sure that he cares to develop those kinds of roles. At SFB under Tomasson, the idea was to develop as an all-round dancer in many genres. Mackay may have been too limited in his interests to really fit in well at SFB. Currently, he's nothing like an Ulrik Birkkjaer, Yuan Yuan Tan, Wei Wang, Sarah Van Patten, Angelo Greco in his range of interests and abilities. Each of these dancers have relished learning new techniques and styles.

 

I had seen him several times before he joined SFB and appreciated his enthusiasm, but did not think him by any means a pure classicist.  He has an engaging personality.  His lines were smudgy and bettered by other male dancers at SFB, which was evident in the grand pas de deux in The Nutcracker.  Still, I would have liked to see him in Swan Lake.  He was very effective in Rhoden's contemporary work last Saturday and was fully there for the beautiful Thamires Chuvas.

[pherank]

21 minutes ago, Josette said:

I had seen him several times before he joined SFB and appreciated his enthusiasm, but did not think him by any means a pure classicist.  He has an engaging personality.  His lines were smudgy and bettered by other male dancers at SFB, which was evident in the grand pas de deux in The Nutcracker.  Still, I would have liked to see him in Swan Lake.  He was very effective in Rhoden's contemporary work last Saturday and was fully there for the beautiful Thamires Chuvas.

I never got to see Mackay with Fogo, but in earlier videos I'd seen of him partnering I thought he still had a ways to develop. Particularly when it comes to lifting his partner. Maybe Tomasson has been able to coach him effectively in that area, I don't know. Some of it is just about building the strength in the upper body and legs for that particular purpose. But some danseurs never get there.

I'm glad to hear that he danced in the new Rhoden ballet. Might have been outside his comfort zone(?), but learning new things informs what we already know.

About Swan Lake - I think we've all assumed that Mackay and Fogo would be dancing the lead roles, but then Fogo developed an injury and I'm not sure she's completely healed at this point. If she could dance in Swan Lake, who would be a good substitute partner for her? Helimets can always be counted on to make the ballerina feel safe, but who would provide the best chemistry with Fogo?

Edited April 13, 2022 by pherank

[Phrenchphry11]

Can't say I'm shocked.

I only saw him perform once (opening night of Prism) and I honestly really liked his energy!  It's a shame I only saw him in one role.

Though I believe it came up in another thread within the past few years - I get the general impression Helgi likes gutsy, versatile dancers who learn new choreography quickly and are fairly adaptable (which I think contributed to the quick success of dancers like Wona Park, etc).  It seems to me like SFB has quite a few promising male soloists who've been given lots of opportunities and are already pretty familiar with the rep and are very versatile (or at least have existing working relationships with the choreographers who have recently been brought in).  Maybe an unfair comparison but Vladislov Kozlov also didn't stay super long at SFB (trained at Bolshoi just like MacKay), I wonder if rep played a factor in both departures.  

Or, it may have been for entirely personal reasons!

At the very least I'm still holding my breath for other big departures in the coming weeks 😕

[Helene]

Re: removed posts: all news about ballet professionals and institutions -- including employment and contracts -- posted here must include a link or reference to an official source.  Insider information and initial info without citation has always been verboten (unless posted by a handful of Editorial Advisors) and will continue to be removed.

[yodasan]

Didn't see the removed post.  Is Instagram not an official source? 

[Helene]

Instagram is an official source, if there's a link to the post*, it is public-facing (ie, not restricted in any way/private), and it's from a ballet professional.  (Or noting that it was part of a ballet professional's Instagram stories.)  

 

*For those not familiar with Instagram, to get the permalink to the post itself, click the time/datestamp on the post, and Instagram will navigate you to a page with the post.  You can copy the URL from there.  Facebook and Twitter work the same way.

[sf_herminator]

4 minutes ago, Helene said:

Instagram is an official source, if there's a link to the post*, it is public-facing (ie, not restricted in any way/private), and it's from a ballet professional.  (Or noting that it was part of a ballet professional's Instagram stories.)  

 

*For those not familiar with Instagram, to get the permalink to the post itself, click the time/datestamp on the post, and Instagram will navigate you to a page with the post.  You can copy the URL from there.  Facebook and Twitter work the same way.

Julian's post earlier today:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccdav08JY9x/

[Phrenchphry11]

Wow, that’s tough to read, and it sounds like there’s much more going on behind the scenes than I imagined.

I was glad I got to be at his (and Freemantle’s) final performance. I know his initial hiring garnered lots of discussion here, but I thought he brought lots of energy to his performance and looked great in the Rhoden piece (which is very contemporary). 
 

I’m sad about all the departures I’ve heard of so far, but it does seem to be a particularly big loss to see some of the younger principals leaving.

[Helene]

The SFB Board is presumably getting what they wanted.  Based on what I've seen so far, as a visitor, I think I'll stick to San Francisco Opera once I start to travel again.

[pherank]

1 hour ago, Helene said:

Instagram is an official source, if there's a link to the post*, it is public-facing (ie, not restricted in any way/private), and it's from a ballet professional.  (Or noting that it was part of a ballet professional's Instagram stories.) 

*For those not familiar with Instagram, to get the permalink to the post itself, click the time/datestamp on the post, and Instagram will navigate you to a page with the post.  You can copy the URL from there.  Facebook and Twitter work the same way.

The text was posted on this other thread: https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/46885-roster-changes-2022/#comment-439207

Edited April 17, 2022 by pherank

[pherank]

39 minutes ago, Phrenchphry11 said:

I was glad I got to be at his (and Freemantle’s) final performance. I know his initial hiring garnered lots of discussion here, but I thought he brought lots of energy to his performance and looked great in the Rhoden piece (which is very contemporary). 
 

Which is all good to hear, and it's a shame that MacKay won't be around anymore. I never doubted his basic talent.

I should point out that so far, this is the only loss that can be tied to the change in directorship. The other retirements and leavings seem to have been initiated by the dancers themselves. There's no evidence yet that any of those people were told that they were no longer wanted.

[Phrenchphry11]

5 hours ago, pherank said:

I should point out that so far, this is the only loss that can be tied to the change in directorship. The other retirements and leavings seem to have been initiated by the dancers themselves. There's no evidence yet that any of those people were told that they were no longer wanted

Very good point @pherank - I definitely didn’t mean to imply any other departure is due to leadership changes, since it now seems pretty clear some of the others’ departures explicitly aren’t related. 
 

[Josette]

I saw Julian MacKay in Prism and The Promised Land on Friday night and watched him intently throughout as I knew he was leaving.  His dancing was excellent, and I don't see how he could not be considered to have mastered "contemporary" choreography.  His dancing had no hesitation whatsoever, everything was fully executed and sharp.  His last, eloquent moment at the front of the stage in The Promised Land spoke volumes.  He was again an excellent, attentive partner for the beautiful Thamires Chuvas in The Promised Land - there were no partnering issues.   At the end of the performance, when Helgi Tomasson pulled him and Ben Freemantle to the front of the stage, after taking a bow, Julian MacKay ran over to Helgi Tomasson to shake his hand.  That is a class act. 

I also loved watching Ben Freemantle dance with great freedom, wit, and joy in Finale Finale and then in The Promised Land.  What a shame he is not continuing in ballet (at least for me) but I wish him all success in his new career activities.