Spoiler alert: we're not happy

A few years ago, ABT spent thousands of dollars that it didn’t have on trying to turn Natalia Osipova into an Aurora for its pathetic production of Sleeping Beauty instead of investing in the company’s own enormous talent. Osipova's was the worst performance of the Sleeping Beauty week, and she subsequently bailed out on future Sleeping Beauty performances with ABT because, well, that’s what she does – lose a passport, get mugged, get sick, have an accident, whatever it takes and always with big media-driven drama at the last minute. Then she went to the Mikhailovsky where they tried to turn her into an Aurora - because she sees herself in the role - and she bailed out on their Sleeping Beauty performances at the last minute, too. Then she moved to the Royal Ballet where apparently they have all the resources and money in the world to waste. Despite her obvious shortcomings and unreliability, they tried to teach her the finer points of Aurora. She bailed out on their Sleeping Beauty performances at the last minute, too.

Now comes Ratmansky to ABT with a brand new, expensive Sleeping Beauty and who does he want to invest resources in? The one who walks out when the going gets tough; the freakin’ ballet hillbilly with no aesthetic who creates a negative uproar at ABT’s studios. Who needs this crap? Once again, we are being denied the opportunity to see our best dancers perform the lead roles in Sleeping Beauty and Giselle because of this freakin’ ballet hillbilly. Maybe there will be a special scene in this new Sleeping Beauty production where Princess Aurora eats with her fingers, picks her teeth, drinks moonshine and pulls a wool hat down over her ears. Her Queen Mother will mime: "Nattie May, don’t spit in front of your birthday party guests. Wait until they leave.”  Those who think of Nattie May as nonpareil, such as Alastair Irrelevant does, also think of McDonald's french fries as fine French food.

ABT keeps giving a hackneyed outsider chances after chances for her to fail in this ballet while it ignores its own talent in the company. Apparently ABT thinks it’s damn funny to wait until the last week of the season, always the weakest attended, to toss Abrera a couple of breadcrumbs as Cinderella instead of giving her the Aurora and Giselle that the audience deserves to see. And suddenly, Ratmansky thinks that ABT’s equinarina, the unprepossessing Boylston, is now a Petipa ballerina? He is losing our support and the support of many, except for the infatuated stringer who aspires to be the Paula Broadwell to Ratmansky’s General Petraeus.

ABT is fast becoming the homeliest ballet company on the planet that wants New Yorkers to throw down money to see homely hillbillies dance ballet. And why do we keep getting this Kochetkova shoved down our throats when we have a much better, more classical Sarah Lane? Is the artistic team totally blind to Kochetkova's inadequacies, lack of musicality, lack of classical being or don’t these things matter any more? There were good reasons why the Bolshoi rejected her and good reasons why the Royal Ballet rejected her. She’s not top drawer.

Then there is the one out of the underwear drawer. You’d think it couldn’t get any uglier until you read that Misty Copeland is going to be flopping around in Swan Lake and Romeo & Juliet. We’ve already seen clips of her fumbling and flopping last August in Brisbane. What a joke; basic regional ballet quality or even less. ABT has already spent the money and time to prepare Sarah Lane for the role of Juliet and she has top professional experience as the lead in Swan Lake. There isn’t a soul other than those on Copeland’s promotion team who doesn’t know that Sarah would be a helluva better Juliet, Odette, and Odile than Misty could ever dream of being.

The problem, and it is a very big problem, is that Sarah is not black, and McKenzie is giving opportunities based on an employee's ethnic affiliation – not her classical ballet abilities and certainly not the content of her character. He has his legacy to be concerned about now that the company is in its worst artistic shape in decades. So he’s thinking that a black ballerina, or at least someone who says she’s black because, after all, race in this country is a completely self-reported attribute, will make him look more respectable as a director and a liberal hero to the conventional media. Never mind her actual dancing. Never mind that the company has dozens of artists who are much better. All he has to do is stuff her into a costume, let her bounce around on stage and watch the media squeal all over itself. At least half of the audience, including Alastair Irrelevant, doesn't know its ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to what is on a ballet stage; so what does it matter? Kevvie’s got his hero undershirt on and is ready to rip off his button-down oxford cloth while he’s ripping off the public with mediocre, uber-hyped product. It’s the taking off of one's shirt and exposing oneself that gets one what one wants. When Copeland refers to her fellow soloists as “underdogs” it’s because she knows that they lack the trashy proclivities that are propelling her career forward. Self-proclaimed black girl, big tits, and is willing to strip off her clothes for the public: McKenzie must think he is the luckiest white male AD on the planet.

When kids see adults do things that they shouldn’t do, it is a green light for them to do it – whether it’s smoking, drugs, alcohol abuse, public sex, wagging a bare ass all over a piano, or offering one’s tits to a photographer and then self-publishing the material. If ABT thinks that Copeland’s slutty online behavior hasn’t resulted in young girls emulating her, maybe they should consider joining Project Parent Reality. Unless of course, ABT and Copeland aren’t satisfied that a mere 7 out of 10 African American babies are born out of wedlock and that promiscuity among teens is no longer the exception. Twenty-two percent of teen girls have posted nude or semi-nude pictures or videos of themselves – just like Misty Copeland does. Thirty-seven percent of teen girls have sent sexually suggestive content via phone or internet – just like Misty Copeland does. Seventy-five percent of teens KNOW that sending such content can have “serious negative consequences” but Misty Copeland demonstrates that it is a good career move. A full ten percent say they have sent sext messages to people they don’t even know. When Misty Copeland distributes images of her bare tits and ass to her underage fan base via Instagram, she is conveying to them that it is perfectly acceptable for them to copy her behavior. That makes her very, very popular which, in turn, gets her cast in principal roles before better dancers. Sadly, it is that simple.

It’s been quite a while since the Mariinsky has allowed Diana Vishneva in a classical tutu on the St. Petersburg stage although she occasional slips into one when the company is on tour. She is no longer a strong purveyor of Vaganova values, or at least enough of them. But that has been her clear choice and it has served her well in these later chapters of her career. But why all of a sudden is she grabbing a new Sleeping Beauty, arguably the Petipa ballet that requires the strictest classical form? She’s grabbing it away from Veronika Part; grabbing it away from Stella Abrera; and yes, grabbing it away from Yuriko Kajiya. Vishneva is not really an ABT principal. Nor is Bolle. Nor is Semionova. They’re all just perennial guest artists who drop by for a gig or two in order to get some New York media attention and dollars. It's sickening to see freeloaders hog principal lot space at ABT while Stella Abrera, Sarah Lane, and Yuriko Kajiya, the three who long ago earned the principal designation and should be leading all of the major classics because they are qualified, have had to sweep the trash for these and other littering loafers. And to be clear, this year we are in no mood to see Vishneva’s lined lips cooing like an over-heated Manon while she’s dancing Aurora, the way she did last year in Giselle. Not kidding.

Pardon our incredulous stare at Julie Kent’s name under Giselle. Last year in front of a half-filled house, she gave an embarrassingly substandard performance that illuminated her declining fitness. Nobody wants to see that again when there are at least four other major ballerinas who we deserve to see in the role. Kent is blocking out FOUR major ballerinas with her I-just-can’t-give-up-this-role-Oh-it’s-so-important-to-me-for-my-children-to-see-me-on-stage selfish nonsense. Add that to the unprepossessing Boylston and the totally miscast and dull Semionova, and you get a wasted week of Giselles. Thank goodness it will only cost a few hundred bucks to go see Yuriko and Jared dance a true Giselle performance in Detroit.

Not that we object, but from the few castings of Daniil Simkin, it would seem that this could be his exit year. One performance in the fall and only three in the spring do not a principal load make.

Comments

[K]

Truly puzzling decisions, Haglund. The casting sheds almost no light on who will fill the run of SB in Costa Mesa. They need to fill seven shows: Vishneva, Osipova, Bolle, Hallberg, even, are all unlikelys. And they are not paired with each other thus requiring a shuffling of partnerships.

At least it seems likely we'll get to see Lane again. We see her in SB almost more often than NYCers do!

I really don't understand inviting Kotchekova back, especially to perform La Bayadere. I'm not a fan of her dancing to begin with, really (just find her nothing special), but in La Bayadere of all things? Incredibly weird.

I could go on...

[g]

One of the positives that I seemed to glean from the casting was that they're pushing Gorak into more principal roles, which is great.. I was really hoping there'd be a Lane/Gorak RJ though but alas...

[Haglund]

K, I think you're right. In fact, Hallberg's unreliability due to his typically slow recovery from injuries could bring this whole casting sheet down like a flimsy house of cards. He hasn't danced in top form for quite some time, and not at all since July.

But ABT knows and has known for probably a year who is going to dance in the premiere in Costa Mesa. Their reasons for withholding the info can't be good ones.

[Haglund]

Hi "g".

Yes it's good to see that Gorak is getting a lot to do, but that matchup with Copeland comes straight from the Sunday funnies. The absence of leading roles for Tamm and Forster (who gets a Lilac Garden and a Von R.) points to such blindness, such stupidity on the part of the artistic team. Both should be dancing heavy principal roles by now. McKenzie needs to get the hell out of the way and let this company dance.

Let.

Them.

Dance.

[Genna]

How is Gorak going to lift the very muscular Copeland above even his waist? The image of those two together in romantic balcony scene is one of amusement for me. At least her Odette debut here will finally bring out the critics who hopefully will review it truthfully without social agendas.

I notice Haglund, that you did not rant on the surprising inclusions of Nunez and Obraztsova. At least in my opinion these two are true ballerinas steeped in classicism, rare in today's celebration of crass Osipova and her similar kinds. Plus Nunez and Obraztsova do not guest or tour in the U.S. as much because they mainly guest or tour in Europe and Japan.

I think the time of Sarah and Stella to advance is getting closer to being closed. Unless next season with absence of the three retiring ballerinas somehow opens up lead roles for Sarah and Stella. Maybe Kevin went all out for guests this season because it's special blah blah blah. Hope that's the reason. I have to pin my hopes on the upcoming crop of new talents like Scout Forsythe who is one of ABT's newest apprentices. Very sad for Sarah and Stella.

[Genna]

Regarding Kochetkova, I have seen her a lot because I split my time between here and California. You are right, she is not too drawer, she is a serviceable ballerina without any special qualities and in fact has some not so great qualities. One of such things is her odd port de bras that's ugly at times. She is not remotely expressive or moving in her upper body because she possesses neither softness or lyricism in the back, arms, and head. No refinement, delicacy, unique musicality, nothing. When I watch her performances, I see a ballerina going through mechanical progressions, and I am never moved by any of her performances though I did enjoy her Kitri to be fair. But Kitri is lowest rung Ballet 101 of ballerina roles, and Kochetkova's artistic ceiling is Kitri. I've seen her Nikiya Kingdom of Shades act, underwhelming to say the least.

I loved your takedown assessment of Osipova SB fails. My London balletomane friend told me of the SB fiasco at Royal Ballet when Osipova bailed at last minute. She said many fans were angry at Royal Ballet but not at Osipova, but she thinks the blame should have been on Osipova for agreeing to performances which coincided with her other obligations at Mikhailovsky. How did Osipova think a couple of days are enough to rehearse SB in London? It should be clear by now to even the most gullible ADs that Osipova only likes the idea of dancing Aurora, not the actual dancing of Aurora. She has zero respect for this most classical of ballerina roles. She is like one of my cats, a greedy but cute calico, who hogs all the food bowls at meal time from the other two cats. Only eats from one bowl but keeps others from getting to their bowls. Osipova is this way in regards to SB, she prevents other ballerinas from the role and in the end just bails anyways.

[Elizabeth]

Oh goodness Stella really should be doing Odette/Odile as well as Giselle. Sarah Lane should be doing Giselle as well. I also think Sarah would be perfect as the Cowgirl in Rodeo. It's a real shame that the amazing talent at the soloist rank and corps are not getting enough opportunities to grow as artists. The only guest dancer that I would be interested in seeing is Obratszova or Nunez. The others don't seem worth bringing in. I'm actually a little surprised that Vishneva is not doing La Bayadere. Part should be dancing Hagar in Pillar of Fire among other roles.

As an LA resident I'll be seeing the new Sleeping Beauty in April but I really hope Ratmansky left in the White Cat Pas de deux unlike Kevin McKenzie.

[Dreamer]

I'll not be returning next year to watch the spring season as I am not interested in seeing all these guest artists except for Obraztsova and Nunez. I prefer to see these dancers with their own companies even if such opportunities are extremely rare. What I've seen of various guest artists so far was quite disappointing as they seemed to do a mediocre job when guesting with ABT. I don't know why. Besides I have a suspicion that the announced casting for Spring 2015 won't stand. Could it be just a publicity stunt to generate excitement and maintain the subscription numbers? But regardless, even if all the dancers do show up as scheduled it will not prompt me to travel East. This effort would only be worth making if I could see an American ballet company of home grown talents and not an assembly of hastily flown-in under-rehearsed guest artists.

Lastly, I'd like to express my disagreement about Kochetkova. I concede that she may be lacking refined acting skills but her technique is above average and the dancing is hardly unmusical. The reason for her rejection by the Bolshoi was her height not the inadequate training. And the fact that the Royal Ballet didn't want her doesn't impress me as a particular strong argument. After all, this is the company that has hired Osipova and aggressively touts her as the world's greatest dancer.

[smurray]

Although I am dissapointed that Misty got SW and RJ, I do look forward to an accurate critique of her performance. I didn't see any reviews from the debut in Australia that really shed light on the quality of dancing or lack thereof. However, the carefully edited clips of the performance that was posted by her pr team told me all I needed to know.

[Laurel]

I’ve been waiting seven years to see Sarah Lane as Juliet, but alas, it looks as if that dream has now ended. By casting Misty Copeland, she of the ungainly hands and feet, in R&J, the AD has made his intentions toward both dancers quite clear. What a waste – of everything! However, in addition to two performances in Sleeping Beauty, Lane also gets a T&V with Cornejo, which I look forward to seeing, as well as Stella Abrera in Cinderella. Other than that, the spring will once again bring us Russian Ballet Theater, when big names from the Bolshoi may or may not show up to dance. I do look forward to seeing Obraztsova in R&J on June 18, but other than that, I’m saving my time and money for the Royal Ballet. There’s no reason to pay for overpriced tickets to see second rate dancing, which sadly is what ABT today is all about.

[Haglund]

McKenzie is following his usual dishonest path of casting whomever he wants to promote in one misfit role after another and then boom, we have another hideous principal who few are going to buy tickets to see while the much better dancers are left sitting on their hands. Stearns, Simkin, Boylston - now Copeland. If you ever watched in horror as Boylston tried to be a sylph in Les Sylphides, seeing Copeland in it will make you think that you are back in time at a recital of Miss Amy's Scool of Danzsc. It's so dishonest how McKenzie continually denies Sarah Lane Swan Lake because of his fanatical, hypocritical prejudices, but he will throw the most clumsy, inelegant wahoos like Boylston and Copeland into Les Sylphides, Swan Lake, Giselle and other classical roles for which they are hideously unsuited. Copeland should stay away from tulle in any length. But let's repeat here that her pushy manager, Gilda Squire, does the media PR for ABT's galas and has for a long time had clear, unfettered access to whomever she wants in order to promote her client with the most rabid enthusiasm.

[dc]

I don't quite see Gorak as a T & A kind of guy, but, I suppose it is a valid interpretation of Romeo. Along with choreographic modifications, I would suppose the delicate columns supporting the arches on the set will have to be reinforced and repositioned, especially in the balcony scene, to allow for Copeland's pole dancing variations.

I am so sad to be missing the development of Gorak, as I have witnessed so many other ABT artists over the years, but, I just can't, anymore. Almost every piece has a casting disaster that takes me out of the art.

[Haglund]

Same here, dc. Their ploy to use Gorak to try to legitimize Copeland as a classical dancer will have just the opposite effect, and, as you suggested, drive people away who would otherwise be interested in seeing Gorak.

[Nicole]

However McKenzie chooses to promote Copeland, I have to wonder how much more of ballet's rigorous physical demands her body can take. She has had a number of serious fractures, with a metal plate and bone marrow from her hip fused into her shin. I think she needs to seriously consider if all of this is really worth sacrificing her ability to walk unaided, 20, 30, years from now.

[CMM]

Hi, Haglund. I have a couple of questions regarding seating at the Met Opera House which I detailed in an e-mail to you yesterday. I just wanted to check to see if you received the e-mail. (It's no problem at all if you just haven't gotten around to responding; I only want to make sure it didn't get lost in cyberspace.) Thanks!

[Haglund]

CMM, my apologies. I just fished out your email and responded. It somehow got by me; so thanks for the reminder.

H.

[Laurel Bern]

OMG! Marianela Nunez is coming? I have to go see her! Have you ever seen this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BqovhyLFFw

She's my absolute fave,fave, fave. perfect ballerina in every way in my opinion. And I've seen her in interviews. Absolutely adorable! I love Obraztsova too. I have lots of friends who love ballet and none of them have heard of these extraordinary dancers. Seems so odd to me.

[Haglund]

Yep. Marianela Nunez = real ballerina.