ABT does not see Gabe Shayer as he sees himself

[nanushka]

Gabe writes in the Times:

Quote

In Russia, I found this freedom. There was no history to support American stereotypes, and so I was so alien, so foreign, that I was the author of my past, present and future for the first time. Also, the Russians didn’t care about diversity, so they didn’t plaster my face on a billboard or in a catalog to show they filled a quota.

My nearly 12 years dancing for the American Ballet Theater could not have been more different. Back in the United States, my skin color seemed to snap into the spotlight. I tended to get cast in swarthy, sinister roles, like the evil sorcerer in “Swan Lake,” and subservient, exotic roles like the lead fakir in “La Bayadère,” where I played a beggar. When I was given the title role of Harlequin in “Harlequinade,” a significant role, I was still playing what is essentially a comic court servant. I couldn’t help feeling humiliated, like I was doing a shuck and jive. Would I ever be ready in their eyes for a more aristocratic role?

The leadership of the American Ballet Theater does not agree with the way I am characterizing my tenure with the company. They said I lacked the technical and artistic skills for the roles I sought. But if so, why did I get promoted to soloist in 2020 if they didn’t think I was ready?

His full ABT repertory list is here.

(For those without access to the full NYT text, try this link.)

Edited July 7, 2023 by nanushka

[matilda]

Cringe. Maybe if he were a better dancer he would have gotten better roles recently. He's not a good writer either. This kind of narcissistic attention seeking doesn't get you far in ballet especially when the talent isn't there to back it up. I hope his contract is not renewed. 

Pulling the race card only goes so far. Calvin is dancing Siegfried, Albrecht, and Romeo this season--as he did last season. Misty is the company's biggest star. Courtney Lavine, Erica Lall, and Jose Sebastian have gotten numerous featured roles as respected corps dancers. They didn't bring in Brooklyn Mack as a guest in 2019 to be "woke." Etc. 

His behavior at ABT last fall sounds totally unprofessional and I just can't with the comparisons to Nina Simone, James Baldwin, and Josephine Baker...  you are not on their level!!

Edited July 7, 2023 by matilda

[abatt]

I notice that this article does not have an option for people to comment.  Too bad.  I agree that Shayer was not a great dancer.  He was mediocre at best.  I'm sorry to say this because I have met his mother, and she is so sweet.   

Additionally, Shayer is short and short men are generally not used in danseur roles.  The company has limited space for short men in the lead roles, and Herman is and was the go-to short guy.  For a while Cirio, who is immensely talented, also filled the short guy lead roles. It took Herman, one of the greatest dancers of his generation, years and years to be assigned the danseur roles.  He was stuck at soloist level doing peasant pas  for an extended period of time because of his stature.  Shayer is not a fraction of the dancer that Herman was in his heyday. 

Nobody will ever fully know why DeLuz left, but he was another short guy who was never going to get his due at ABT, especially after they promoted Herman to principal and left DeLuz at the soloist level.  Shayer never even mentions height as a potential issue. 

Harlequin is a lead role.  Why is Shayer denigrating it?

He also implies in this article that Calvin was promoted  to principal because he is black.  Not cool.

I will agree with him that Lifted was a  dumb idea. 

Feeling sorry for Susan Jaffe, because she was not in charge of the company during the time period that Shayer is complaining  about, but she has to deal with the fallout from this article. 

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by abatt

[nanushka]

53 minutes ago, abatt said:

Shayer never even mentions height as a potential issue.

Nor does he mention the numerous featured roles that do not fit his argument — e.g. Mercutio, Bluebird, the boy in Whipped Cream, Espada, peasant PDD, etc.. And the "why did I get promoted to soloist if they didn't think I was ready?" logic is just flawed. He was getting lots of soloist roles. What he wasn't getting were many principal roles.

He implicitly criticizes ABT for promoting him "suddenly" in 2020, apparently due to his race, but he publicly pushed them on exactly that point in the lead-up to his promotion.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBxy5iJgh8H/?igshid=OGIzYTJhMTRmYQ==

I have zero doubt that perceptions of race have been and continue to be an obstacle for many talented dancers at ABT and elsewhere, but I also don't think Gabe's essay is the best articulation of the problem. And in my opinion his dancing really was not up to the higher standard he suggests it was.

Edited July 7, 2023 by nanushka

[abatt]

The most disturbing thing in this article was that he decided to throw Calvin under the bus to suggest that he was promoted due to his skin color. 

It is also completely lost on him that he is praising Russia for colorblindness, but Russia is the only country that still uses blackface in its productions.  Is that not offensive to him?  Russia is brutal in its treatment of ethnic minorities.  Russia also criminalizes  being gay.  Does he really want to praise Russia?  Think it through Gabe.  Think it through.

Edited July 7, 2023 by abatt

[matilda]

Not surprised this appears in the op-ed section and not the dance page. I think the arts editors might know better. 

The title "The American Ballet Theater Does Not See Me as I See Myself" (probably written by an editor) does kind of sound like a backhanded insult though. He clearly has an inflated view of himself. Good luck finding an outlet to satisfy that ego--TikTok seems more suitable than Lincoln Center. 

[abatt]

He is still listed on the ABT roster.  This sounds like a set up for a lawsuit if/when they do not renew. his contract. 

[matilda]

3 minutes ago, abatt said:

He is still listed on the ABT roster.  This sounds like a set up for a lawsuit if/when they do not renew. his contract. 

Maybe. Although this line indicates he abruptly left in the middle of the fall rehearsal period, abandoning his job responsibilities:

"Painfully aware that I might ruin my career, and be rejected by my community, I boarded a plane to Paris."

I'm pretty sure he was originally listed in "The Seasons" cast along with "Lifted." So he had plenty going on in that short season. 

[FayBallet]

1 hour ago, abatt said:

The most disturbing thing in this article was that he decided to throw Calvin under the bus to suggest that he was promoted due to his skin color. 

 

This part made me sad. There's really no need to speak on others here.

[abatt]

Shayer also fails to mention that Calvin was promoted at the same time as many other people, including Trenary, Brandt  and Forster, I believe.  It's not like Royal was singled out for promotion as a response to Black Lives Matter.

Shayer danced the role of slave owner, Lankadem.  He forgot to mention that in the article.

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by abatt

[FayBallet]

Yes, those dancers along with Ahn and Bell were promoted to principal at the same time.

[nanushka]

1 hour ago, matilda said:

Not surprised this appears in the op-ed section and not the dance page. I think the arts editors might know better. 

I wonder if the piece is appearing in print. There's usually a note at the bottom of the page, if so, giving the date and section/page info.

[ABT Fan]

This isn’t the first time Shayer’s gone public accusing ABT of holding him back due to racism. And, it’s not the first time he’s singled out Royal. He posted this on his IG back in June 2020 (I remembered it well, so I went back to find it) - he was promoted to soloist a few months later. 
In this post he doesn’t refer to Royal by name, but a colleague who was promoted to soloist a few years prior.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBxy5iJgh8H/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Going back to 2019, he and Royal had an exchange in the comment section on one of Shayers IG posts (comments still visible), link below. A magazine was publicizing Royal/Copeland being cast as the leads in R&J and they proclaimed it as being the first black dancers to be cast as a lead couple in a ballet at ABT. Yes, I vividly remember that too. (Some dancers like Shayer I don’t follow but occasionally check their page for performance info. And, when something like “this” gets posted, it’s hard not to forget.) Shayer has since scrubbed his initial wording in that post (he wrote he was angry that Royal/Copeland were singled out for being the “first black couple at ABT…”, something like that and went on to say that he and Copeland have been paired together in a leading role - and he still has “leading” in parentheses - hence the Bluebird picture) but the comments are still there including Royal’s comments.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsvGQoJAK6a/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I bring these two posts up because I think in light of the recent Times article it’s important to show the background and history of Shayer’s other public comments regarding race at ABT. 

I think the article and what he says is extremely flawed- as noted above so well already, he leaves out ALL of the other roles, plum roles, he was cast in and also does not give appropriate context to the “sinister” roles he mentions - ie they’re principal level roles that are usually performed by white men (yes because the roster is mostly white), and that those roles require a level of technique and artistry that he was deemed capable of. Also, he was promoted to soloist, not principal, so him accusing the company of not giving him the prince roles when he was promoted is not an argument. 

Also, maybe someone with more knowledge of union contracts can weigh in, but even before this article hit I’ve wondered how he can just choose not to perform when he has a contract? Did he take a leave of absence? Is that allowed? There has been no asterisk with “leave” next to his name like they’ve done with others, or maybe they just didn’t add the asterisk for him since he’s not a principal. 

Edited July 7, 2023 by ABT Fan

[seldevetiver]

I saw Shayer as Espada in Don Quixote last year and I enjoyed his performance.

I'm not sure I follow his line of argument: he shouldn't ever have to play a comedic role, a bad guy, or a supplicant due to his phenotype? Does anyone else find it doubtful that ABT only cast nonwhite dancers in the roles he finds so objectionable? They seem like fairly common roles for dancers rising up the ranks.

Reading the op-ed, it seems to me that his chief complaint is that ABT sees him as a soloist, while he sees himself as a principal. That would seem to be more of a problem of his ego, not of employment discrimination.

Edited July 7, 2023 by seldevetiver

[Phrenchphry11]

Major major yikes.

He 100% lost me once he started comparing American attitude to race to Russia's. 

I get the feeling of tokenization, I'm a minority in my career field as well, and it sucks to feel singled out at times.

But, his arguments feel totally unserious when he starts comparing ABT to Russian dance.  I was just reading Olga Smirnova's most recent interview post-leaving the Bolshoi, and was struck with her poise through this whole thing.  She denounced Russia, called out their war crimes, and has moved on to bigger and better things.  Shayer's refusing to admit any of the problematic parts of Russia purely so he can frame his own argument, all while bringing Royal and other dancers down with him.

[cargill]

I think this is very unfortunate.  I enjoyed Shayer's dancing very much in the past and had hoped he would be made a soloist several years before he was finally promoted, but post-pandemic he has looked out of shape.  The title is strange too, since that picture doesn't say ABT principal in any way; for me he was a character dancer in the glorious tradition of Alexander Grant, etc.  It's too bad (for many reasons!) that ABT has done so little Ashton recently, because there are a number of good roles he might do--Puck obviously, or Alain, or  perhaps the skater in Les Patineurs.  

[angelica]

Last year I saw three performances of R&J and I posted on this web site that of the three Mercutios I saw (I don't remember the other two), Shayer was the only one whose dancing was sloppy, definitely not up to par. Others on this board agreed with me.

[MarzipanShepherdess]

A lot to take in in that essay.

As others have said, it does feel unkind and uncalled for to suggest that Calvin's very much deserved principal promotion came through because ABT was trying to tick a diversity box. 

This seems like a more complex case of how racism can play out than one in which someone who was an undeniable star was passed over, but IMO that doesn't mean Shayer's claims that racism at ABT held him back are baseless. We talk on this board all the time about how there are many (mostly white) men in ABT's principals ranks who are pretty mediocre. And yet, they made it to principal. 

[abatt]

There are mediocre people of all backgrounds at ABT who are principals - Asian, African American and Caucasian. 

Edited July 7, 2023 by abatt

[angelica]

3 hours ago, MarzipanShepherdess said:

 We talk on this board all the time about how there are many (mostly white) men in ABT's principals ranks who are pretty mediocre. And yet, they made it to principal. 

Timing is everything.

[cobweb]

4 hours ago, abatt said:

 

There are mediocre people of all backgrounds at ABT who are principals - Asian, African American and Caucasian. 

 

LOL. This is so true, but I don’t know whether to laugh or cry!

[dirac]

6 hours ago, Phrenchphry11 said:

Major major yikes.

He 100% lost me once he started comparing American attitude to race to Russia's. 

I get the feeling of tokenization, I'm a minority in my career field as well, and it sucks to feel singled out at times.

But, his arguments feel totally unserious when he starts comparing ABT to Russian dance.  I was just reading Olga Smirnova's most recent interview post-leaving the Bolshoi, and was struck with her poise through this whole thing.  She denounced Russia, called out their war crimes, and has moved on to bigger and better things.  Shayer's refusing to admit any of the problematic parts of Russia purely so he can frame his own argument, all while bringing Royal and other dancers down with him.

The article seems misguided, to say the least, but I understood what Shayer meant about feeling less burdened by color in Russia (and Paris). He would not be the first artist of color to feel that way and say so, even if  he does place himself in rarefied company.

[nanushka]

3 minutes ago, dirac said:

The article seems misguided, to say the least, but I understood what Shayer meant about feeling less burdened by color in Russia (and Paris). He would not be the first artist of color to feel that way and say so, even if  he does place himself in rarefied company.

Yes, I got that as well, and I don't think the idea is really at odds with the facts about Russia that others have raised here. Those two ways of describing the role race plays (or doesn't) in contemporary Russia both seem understandable to me. (I have no first-hand experience of Russia, but both fit what I've heard and read elsewhere.)

[vipa]

I agree with everyone's statements that the piece is highly flawed, and there is no need for me to restate what others have said so well. The interesting thing is that the New York Times chose to print it. Many people in many fields feel misunderstood but they don't get published in the Times. Clearly someone at the Times thought this point of view would draw interest.

[California]

Apologies for an extremely trivial matter that I noticed: The NY Times spells ABT American Ballet Theater instead of the company's own American Ballet Theatre -- in the header, editor's note, and text. I found the same thing in several other articles in recent weeks on ABT. I assume the Times finds the spelling "theatre" pretentious and incorrect in the US, but it's a proper name!