Hoops

How is it that the New York Knicks can fire their entire coaching staff - from top to bottom - cleaning it out from corner to corner while retaining all of the players, and in a few weeks, implement a whole new coaching staff and be ready to start the next season, but ABT can’t rid itself of one incompetent artistic director who cannot put together one week of a Met Season without relying on imports who someone else has trained? The Knicks fired their entire coaching staff – everyone – because they understood that it was time for a change and a fresh start for their team of great players.

It looks like Steve Kerr, the NBA’s 3-point GOAT, might take over as head coach. He knows the Triangle Offense like the back of his hand, having learned it from Phil Jackson while playing for the Chicago Bulls. On a team where he wasn’t the media star or even one of the tallest guys, Kerr came up with huge plays when he took control of the ball.

In the final seconds of Game 6 of the NBA Finals in 1997 against the Utah Jazz, the score was tied at 86. During a time-out, Kerr grabbed the attention of the team’s biggest stars, Scottie Pippin and Michael Jordan, and boldly told them that he’d be ready for the ball to make the winning shot. He’d be ready even though he and everybody else in the world expected Jordan to take that shot. In the final 28 seconds, Pippen was blocked from getting anywhere near the basket and passed to Jordan. Jordan drove inward but got caught up in traffic. He saw Kerr standing 15 feet back and faked a jumpshot to pass the ball to him. With 5 seconds left, Kerr grabbed the pass, planted his feet, and swish. Game over. The Drive to Five was complete. [Relive it here.]

Pippen > Jordan > Kerr for the 5th Championship. The Bulls didn’t phone up Charles Barkley or some YMCA player to ask them to join the team for a couple of high profile games because the team’s management didn’t have confidence in the up and coming players on the bench. What the hell is going on at ABT?

Jared Matthews is finally getting the opportunity to dance Albrecht in New York during the Met Season only because of another dancer's injury. ABT’s first press release that announced the casting change was apologetic in tone instead of praising Matthews' accomplishments and conveying the certainty that it would be worthwhile to attend the performance. The press release lauded the accomplishments of the guy who wasn’t going to show up to dance, but said nothing about the guy who was.

Last year when Natalia Osipova bailed out of Sylvia because she couldn't get the steps, ABT’s stupid fools made the same mistake. They trumpeted the grand importance of Osipova, who wasn’t going to show up to dance, and made an apologetic-toned reference to Xiomara Reyes, who was the wonderful artist who would replace Owhimpova on short notice in her own debut.

ABT’s marketing strategy seems to be to convey to the public that all but a couple of its own dancers are losers. No wonder ticket sales suck.

Phil Jackson wouldn't think twice before firing Kevin McKenzie, because he would know that McKenzie is the source of ALL of ABT's problems. We need to be able to win with our own players.

Steve Kerr

Comments

[angelica]

Hi Haglund, I really have to commend Jared for forging onward despite the short shrift he receives from the higher-ups at ABT. I thought that in his adagio solo as Lensky last season, his true artistry was more than apparent. I hope that if he persists, he will rise to the top, like cream.

[Haglund]

Somebody needs to write a tell-all book about the crap that is going on at ABT. Maybe Radetsky will pen something, although McKenzie would certainly hold it against Stella. Or maybe we'll observe some thinly veiled references in Flesh and Bone. Right now, is there a worse director of a ballet company anywhere in America? Anywhere?

[Genna]

The problem lies also in the local and surrounding Russian community only buying tickets to Russian cast. I always seem to hear more Russian speaking fans when the lead cast is Russian or at least Russian ballerina. I never seem to notice the same with homegrown leads. So because of this, ABT caters to these somewhat nationalistic balletgoers. On a very well-known Russian ballet forum, some fans even make fun of dearth of talents ABT has, and crow about the superiority of Russian ballerina goddesses like Osipova and soon Smirnova at ABT. Basically ABT management is a laughing stock both here and abroad.

[Tiffany]

NYCB doesn't seem to have a problem drawing in a large crowd for their home grown (non-Russian) dancers. If McKenzie is smart, he should take note in what their doing instead of relying so heavily on Russian Guest Artists. One thing I've noticed is that the PR for ABT is so poor. Instead of MKenzie and others getting raises, that money should be going to promotions. I think it is a shame that companies like The Royal, Bolshoi, Mariinsky, etc. air these live broadcasts yearly in the U.S. but "America's National Ballet Company" hasn't even simply put a performance on DVD in 10 years.

[friedrich]

Haglund,

You are somewhat correct that NYCB has no problems drawing "large" crowds
to their homegrown dancers . I remember when Balanchine was alive there were few Russians among the audience ...considering that he was from the Soviet Union.....but of course he was a Georgian . And when I encountered some ...they could not understand the titles of some of his ballets , such as "Kammermuslk # 2"...and "Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #2 ".
As to "large crowds" at NYCB....I will disagree. Ever since "dynamic pricing" has been introduced , many long -time NYCB audience members do not go very often , because it it just too expensive . I paid $32 for performances in the Second Ring , and $64 in the middle of the 4th Ring ! Many times tickets are not even sold for the 4th Ring. Old fans that have been going to the company since 1964 have died , and the survivors show up once in a while....usually complaining about what Martins has done to the company.....and casting....poorly rehearsed ballets , sloppy , dull corps dancing...etc. You know the litany . I would add the promotions of mediocre dancers such as J. Angle and A. LaCour - a good partner , but certainly not principal material . Last season I saw an execrable ""Nutcracker ".... and , except for some principals , a sloppy , lethargic series of "Jewels" performances. And then there is the attempt to cultivate a new audience - which is necessary ....but the Martins ballet with a "score" by one of the Beatles ( who cannot read nor write music) , brought many for just that reason...and they never returned . And then the so-called artwork by "Faile" and the silly plastering of the lobby and facade with an extended photograph of the dancers...nice gimmick, nothing else. Who can forget the silly ballet with costumes by some retired fashion designer...and such lively fare as "Thou Swell".....but you get the drift..

[Haglund]

Hi Frederich.

I think Tiffany's point about NYCB audiences related to ABT's over-reliance on any Russian artist, no matter what the quality, so long as the infrequent Russian audience member would buy a cheap ticket in the Family Circle at the Met.

NYCB has some of the slickest, on point marketing of any performing arts organization. While their dancers certainly don't shy away from social media, NYCB does not force them to prostitute themselves to the media the way ABT wants its dancers to do in order to be given leading roles on the stage.

And yes, Tiffany, it is another example of ABT's poor direction that the company has not been able to celebrate and capitalize on its own artistry with more commercial videos.

[anisette]

I was 16, first time at the Met, and the Royal Ballet was presenting Sleeping Beauty. During an intermission I heard a woman say "Well, yes, she is good. But I would much rather watch Amanda McKerrow dance."
This comment sort of blew my mind, because I fell prey to this MYSTIQUE surrounding foreign dancers, that they were somehow better than American dancers. I was a student who read my Dance magazine every month-my only connection to dance pre-internet- and even then, I just assumed that a European-born, European-trained ballerina was better.
After moving to NYC and getting the chance to see so many wonderful ABT City Center performances each fall, I knew where that woman's comment was coming from. The homegrown talent in that company is astounding. And the opportunity to follow a dancer's trajectory to principal dancer keeps us watching them. I didn't renew my Met subscription this year, because all the 2014 versions of Amanda McKerrow - homegrown dancers with tremendous talent - are still doing the pas de trois and myrthas and such. Or they are dancing in San Francisco...

It is so satisfying watching a dancer grow and develop onstage. (And it is more satisfying watching a partnership grow and develop onstage. Would I love watching Sarah Lane and Herman Cornejo tear through every ballet together? Yes. But. I get it.)

[Haglund]

Thanks, Anisette. I imagine your early impressions were shared by many. What you described is exactly why American born Alice Marks changed her name to Alicia Markova. She believed, correctly, that she would be perceived as greater if she had a Russian name. People have been conditioned to believe that foreign dancers are better than anything American can produced, and that conditioning has been performed by the companies themselves as well as the media.