The Lie in over-reLiance

For much of the past year, McKenzie has knowingly over-relied on Hallberg getting back on stage in order to peddle tickets. Only when it  became obvious to 99% of the buying public that he wouldn't be dancing did McKenzie finally fess-up. Then, as though he had no other choices, he swiped Paloma Herrera's Sleeping Beauty partner (Bolle) out from under her and gave him to the Russian Faux-ABT kitsch-ster for Swan Lake as Hallberg's sub. Why? Because in the year that he's trying to pretend that ABT is so damned concerned about presenting a "proper" and authentic Sleeping Beauty, he can't stop himself from praying to the crotch-exposing, artless Semionova.

Hopefully, the Latino audience will observe the trashy treatment of Paloma Herrera by ABT in its blind service to the Russian faux-ABT kitsch-ster.

Hopefully, the Latino audience will remember ABT's trashy treatment of Angel Corella and Jose Manuel Carreno who the company pushed off the stage little by little in blind service to Russian kitsch-sters.

Hopefully, the Latino audience will see that Wednesday, May 27th will be DUMP ALL OF OUR LATINA PRINCIPAL BALLERINAS IN SERVICE TO RUSSIAN KITSCH-STERS DAY.

Hopefully, the Latino audience will just turn its back and walk away.

A Wednesday matinee Farewell slot is a slap in the face, a message of the honoree's insignificance. If Paloma doesn't want to be saddled with a Sleeping Beauty partner who is a guest sub-artist, as she was last week in Costa Mesa, who will blame her? If she'd rather go out on a Giselle, who will blame her? But McKenzie's foisting a Wednesday matinee while awarding  the weak, klutzy, over-the-hill Giselles of Seo, Boylston, and Kent higher profile slots is just inexcusable.

By the way, the fraud and lies continue - Smirnova is still injured. The Bolshoi wouldn't dare slot her for future performances, but, oh yeah, ABT will. When it comes to the point where the Bolshoi is more honest and truthful in it's casting than ABT, it's past time to give McKenzie his own Farewell - at a tech rehearsal.

If that Sleeping Beauty slot vacated by Paloma doesn't go to Stella Abrera, you may see us get even more irritated.

 

Comments

[Gstavella]

H,
Oooooo yeah. Now tell us how you really feel, H!
Really WTF? No Sleeping Beauty Farewell for a beloved ballerina like Paloma? And to share the day with Xiomara? Not cool dude. What ARE they/he smoking over there at the ABT compound? I get your point about the Latino audience, but what about the ballet-loving audience? Paloma and Xiomara are beautiful dancers, loyal to ABT who should be getting a better kiss goodbye.
xoxo
P.S. All this shuffling around is getting interesting. Im going to have to start keeping a score card!

[Haglund]

Agree, Gstavella. Paloma and Xiomara deserve better. Looking at all of this in the context of the great artists that ABT has lost in the last couple of years who would have made them strong and proud makes this all the more sad.

[Genna]

Bolshoi's Olga Smirnova has not danced this season since her disasterous Mariinsky debut in Swan Lake last fall, which show her basic technique and artistry to be flawed to say the least. Videos from that performance are on youtube. Smirnova was supposed to later this month in Lady of Camellias but again her slot is scratched out by Bolshoi and assigned to E. Obraztsova who also replaced her last month in Onegin. If Ms. Smirnova cannot even dance in technically unchallenging ballet such as Lady of Camellias in late March, are we to assume that she will be in top form for ABT Swan Lake just a few short months later? I hope Kevin has contingency plans for a few missing Russian guest ballerinas. Even if by miracle both Smirnova and Osipova show up for full run of their performances, you wonder how watered down the choreography will be to accomodate the two dancers.

[Genna]

I meant La Bayadere not Swan Lake for Smirnova guesting at ABT.

[Haglund]

Hi, Genna.

Thanks for the update on Smirnova. No doubt, McKenzie has run back to the Rent-A-Russian garage for a potential replacement. What a sad joke this "company" has become.

[Tiffany]

I'm hoping that it was Paloma's decision. I really am. Because otherwise, this is really terrible. Also, Stella Abrera? Get ready to write a scathing post because you know that is wishful thinking Haglund, lol. Their going to sub in a "Guest Artist" for the slot. Either a Russian or some inferior dancer like they did last year with Kevin Reynolds. Speaking of retirements, this season is very sad and a death nell for ABT. Gillian is the only female principal who is worth seeing at that company now. I guess McKenzie got his wish for the new ABT to be primarily about the MET season and Guest Artists, while ABT dancers are just filler until then.

At this point I wouldn't mind if Ratmansky took over. He atleast casts ABT dancers in his ballet's instead of a lot of Guest Artists. We would never see dancers like Shayer or Zhang otherwise.

[Haglund]

Hi, Tiffany.

Don't forget Veronika, but that still only makes two women principals who will be worth watching. In more than a half century of watching this company, I've never seen it so lacking in identity and style, so fearful of utilizing its own true talent, and such a depressing hospice for its homegrown artists.

[angelica]

Although over the years I lost my love for Paloma, i still think it was unconscionable of McKenzie to pull the rug of Roberto Bolle out from under her. And to give her Whiteside, no less! It was predictable long ago that Hallberg wouldn't be able to dance the season and so now the whole casting goes down like a house of cards. I wonder if Veronika learned the new SB--she danced the old one some time ago. I know, there's that darned Rose Adagio. She is, however, along with Gillian, a female principal worth seeing. I'm glad that those particular three principals are retiring this year, but I wish they would promote the deserving dancers who have devoted their lives to the company. My vote for SB is to see Sarah.

[Haglund]

Hi, Angelica.

We'll definitely see Sarah twice in Sleeping Beauty, but there is no reason on earth why we should not be seeing Stella Abrera as Aurora. She danced it 10 times in New Zealand. That's more experience as Aurora than possibly all of the people who are currently cast in it. I'm really ashamed of ABT.

[Dreamer]

This is so sad. I don't even know what to say. What will happen to the company once the MET season is over? It seems to me that ABT is hanging by a thread.

[Haglund]

Hi, Dreamer.

Indeed, it IS sad. After 24 years, what would provoke Paloma to withdraw from an important performance so suddenly? What provoked her? Does anyone have another guess other than ABT's outrageous bungling of her partner assignments and its clear expression of preference toward a Russian Kitsch-ster?

[Jeannette]

As a Latina, I am deeply offended by ABT's shenanigans. The abhorrent treatment of Paloma Herrera is the last straw. I've just cancelled my annual trip to the ABT Met season. I chose not to patronize these idiots. Thank goodness I had not bought tickets to the Kennedy Center run. And I will not even be going to the FREE premiere of the ABT 75th anniv docum on March 23. QUE SE VAYAN PA' LA MIERDA!

[Haglund]

Hi, Jeannette.

I don't blame you. I know that others are considering pursuing clawbacks through the credit card company or bank.

Alexei Ratmansky could wave his magic wand and make this problem go away. Let's hope that he does it.

Given a decent partner with whom she has a good history, Paloma would be a fabulous Aurora in this new production.

[Gstavella]

Hmmmmmmm, I think the anti-Latino thing just doesnt make sense. Didnt ABT transition into LABT (Latin American Ballet Theater) under McKenzie's watch? i.e. Gomes, Corella, Carreño Cornejo, Lopez, De Luiz, etc. Im sure that there are many I am missing. Paloma, and Xiomara (though her DOB remains rather 'fluid') are both at the end of their careers. So there has to be something else going on...... But H, I do think the whole swing towards 'ABT as CdS' (Cirque du Soleil) with those 'I-can-touch-my-ear with-my-instep-but-can't-spot-to-save-my life-Russians' is def an issue. xoxo

[Haglund]

It's not anti-Latino. It's holding too many Russian/Eastern European assets that weren't cultivated here and continually and falsely valuing them above everyone who was cultivated here. You've got the Ardani "family" pushing every mediocre Russian/Eastern European artist they can find, and McKenzie sees them as his saving grace. You've got Ratmansky's long list of favorites that he wants to rescue from the regime. You've got Makarova who basically wants only Russians leading her Bayadere. They should dump that damned Bayadere and find one that the company's own dancers can own.

Cirque du Soleil is right, Gstavella.

[Tiffany]

Part is lovely and I love her, but McKenzie doesn't like her which is why I didn't include her. I mean, it took McKenzie ages to promote her, then when he did for the longest time gave her only matinees... There is video of the Mariinsky's "controversial" (I personally love it and think it's superior than that dreck their dancing now) Sleeping Beauty, and Vishneva is dancing Aurora while Part is doing Lilac Fairy. I found it sad that even now, she is playing second fiddle to her. If I'm not mistaken she is the only principal female not cast as Aurora atleast once. Terrible.

I don't understand how people can get excited about these Guest Artists anymore. I used to be a fan of Osipova for instance, but in Russian press she bashed NYC and ABT, yet McKenzie still hires her? Are you that desperate to get NYC Russian's to fill MET seats? Because that's who the majority of patron's are when they do come. He should be trying to fill the seats with loyal ballet goers outside of the Russian community who don't just come during the MET when Smirnova or Osipova dances, but alas...

[Haglund]

Hi Tiffany. Let's hope it doesn't get worse. Osipova has hooked up with Polunin for a Giselle in Italy. McKenzie is so desperate that he'd probably beg the only dancer on the planet more unreliable and irreverent than Osipova to come here for her Giselle. Polunin may be on the TSA No Fly List. For certain, he's on our Ain't Gonna Fly List.

Wouldn't that be the insult to end all insults to see that psycho-jerk of a drug addict show up here and take an ABTer's slot just to appease Osipova? Russian kitsch-ster after Russian kitsch-ster - there seems no end to the supply of them.

[Dreamer]

I honestly don't understand why it appears to be a problem for some that Russians attend the MET season? They are supporting the arts just like anyone else who buys tickets and comes to see a performance. It's not like the issue of guest artists would go away if the Russian community stopped coming to the ballet. And BTW I saw plenty of Russians at the performances not featuring Russian guest artists.

[Genna]

Veronica Part in my opinion cannot dance Aurora. Her technique is not solid enough for Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. She had problems dancing Lilac Fairy, so for her to be cast as Aurora would be cruel unless the choreography is considerably watered down for her.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Russians buying tickets to ABT shows featuring Russian dancers. The problem lies with ABT management which is giving what the reliable Russian fans what they want, but going way overboard with the pandering. This then perpetuates an impression that homegrown dancers are not up to grade and can't be cast in leads. Even American fans not just Russian ones are falling for this false narrative.

[Tiffany]

There is nothing wrong with Russians attending the MET. But they in general only see Russian guest artists. ABT is going the easy route of selling tickets of appeasing them and other Russiaphiles (This is hardly a new development in North America. Poor Maria Tallchief was advised early in her career to change her last name to "Tallchieva" due to this phenomena. Thank goodness she didn't take it) instead of building the company by pushing their own dancers and making the NYC audience and others abroad be excited to see ABT dancers.

Right now ABT has turned into Russians and friends. I love Russian dancers. I love the Bolshoi and Mariinksy. My favorite prima is Lopatkina. But I don't love their dancers constantly getting opportunities here over ABT dancers in their home company. ABT would rather fly Shklyarov half way around the world for 1 performance, instead of giving someone like Forster a try. Shklyarov gets ample opportunities to dance soloist and principal roles at home and elsewhere. Dancers like Forster in ABT is lucky to get a handful of soloist or demi soloist roles during a BAM run. Otherwise their standing in the background posing in Giselle.

[Haglund]

I think I've probably seen all of Veronika's Auroras in the Kirkland/McKenzie staging. While at the beginning I had my doubts - particularly after a faulty Rose Adagio excerpt at the Opening Night Gala during the premiere year. Veronika was still a soloist, but Gelsey was hell-bent on her shouldering the responsibility of the premiere. Veronika's technical weaknesses in the role were repaired within a short time, and her subsequent performances have been extraordinarily beautiful and mostly secure. Of course, they are the most magical when she is dancing with Gomes who is now the sole property of Vishneva whenever she wants him.

The problems that Veronika had in this current production's Lilac Fairy variation were related to the very tricky and slow battement fouette/en dedans pirouette sequence. There is nothing as difficult as that in any of Aurora's choreography.

With regard to the Russian audience - I have on many occasions sat in the middle of that audience in the moderately priced and cheaper seats. They are ballet-casual and come to see only imported Russian guest artists. They're not interested in ABT's own Russian artists and they certainly are not interested in any of the non-Russian artists. Feeding them a Russian guest artist doesn't result in them coming back again for anything. It is a total waste of money and harms the company's own dancers.

[Irina]

Unlike you, I think it would be an absolute dream to have a dancer of Polunin's caliber to come to New York and perform this "Giselle". You may call him a jerk and a drug addict (old news, by the way), but he has been giving unforgettable performances both in London and Moscow for the past few years. Polunin's Giselles with Vishneva and Zakharova are available on YouTube and Dailymotion; you may see for yourself what remarkably accomplished dancer he is. It is easy to lable someone; to be open minded about obvious talent is not easy, but far more rewarding.

[melponeme_k]

I just found your blog, its a great resource on which dancers to watch!

I can back up Russian ballet fans only attending performances of Russian dancers. The last time I was at a performance at NYCB, the audience was entirely American. And this is a company founded by a Russian American!

The ultimate conclusion is that they don't think non-Russian dancers are worth seeing and catering to them has badly skewed ABT's casting.

However I do think it is interesting that Russian schools and dance companies are starting to poach promising western dancers here and there.

[Dreamer]

I still like to voice my disagreement about the Russian audience and its alleged bias for imported Russian artists. I don't attend a lot of ABT performances to be able to prove my point. But in the city where I live Russians turn up in large numbers for any cultural event involving a classical art form, no matter who the performing artist is and where she/he comes from. I can't say the same about any other minority group. Most people tend to support one of their own and I personally have no problems with this. But I believe it's a bit of an overstretch to suggest that the Russian community of NYC has such a tremendous influence over ABT's casting decisions and that their prejudice is the root cause of misfortune of home grown talent. It also unlikely that ABT is after the wallets of Russian balletgoers since I can attest to the fact that most of the time they purchase seats in the least expensive sections. The problem of ABT as I see it is its perpetual dependence on the guest artists that happened to be from Russia/Eastern Europe and not the ethnic makeup of its ballet attendees.

[Lisa C]

Yes, I remember Veronika did the opening night of Gelsey's production as Aurora and fell off pointe during the Rose Adagio. It was kind of a disaster at the time. I never saw any subsequent performance of Veronika as Aurora and was under the impression that after that first year she wasn't cast much in the role. I think she is basically more suited to Lilac Fairy.

[Haglund]

Catching up here after a late night at the opening of Wheeldon's An American in Paris which I'll try to blog about this weekend. Let me just say, get your tickets now.

Re: Polunin - he may have thrown a few good performances of late, but he is still unreliable, unprofessional, disrespectful and seems to think that none of it should matter if he can throw off a clean pirouette. What he doesn't understand is that dancers of his quality are a dime a dozen. His big reputation is being made by the media's coverage of his abhorrent behavior, not what he puts on stage. His latest foray into pop culture video shows a sloppy dancer in decline.

Re: Part's Aurora and LF. Although her latter Auroras were lovely and secure, I agree that she is probably better suited to LF in the previous production, but perhaps not in the current one.

[Dreamer]

From interviews I read/saw in Russian media with Polunin I got an impression of him as a very respectful and humble individual; respectful for his art form, for his audiences, for his fellow dancers and for his mentors/teachers. In my opinion the reason for his restlessness and unpredictability might be some sort of a mental illness. I remember his mentioning about depression and anxiety. He might have quit the Stanislavsky theater but he still appears with the Novosibirsk Ballet Theater.

[Haglund]

That's good to hear that he's been behaving well during his media interviews. I think most people assume that all of his circuits aren't connecting as they should - whether it's due to stress, depression, or recreational drugs and alcohol.

[Dreamer]

Re: "The last time I was at a performance at NYCB, the audience was entirely American".

First, I feel compelled to point out that many Russians in fact are Americans. Just curious, who are the Americans you are talking about? Everyone who is non-Russian? Do you happen to interview every single attendee to conclude that the audience was entirely American?

[Dreamer]

RE: "This then perpetuates an impression that homegrown dancers are not up to grade and can't be cast in leads. Even American fans not just Russian ones are falling for this false narrative."

This phenomenon must be at least 50 years old. I vividly remember a conversation I had last summer with a couple of well-to-do non-Russian patrons after Mikhailovsky's Giselle starring Osipova. When I didn't share their enthusiasm about her performance and suggested they should see an American ballerina Sarah Van Patten in this role at SFB they laughed at me. I was told that due to my age I may be excused for making such a gullible comment. Apparently, they had been coming to ballet for over 50 years and had seen every major ballet star. They then proceed to express their disbelief that SFB might have anyone or anything worth seeing.

The question, however, remains, who is to blame for this situation? I am not convinced it's the Russians despite of many assertions about their penchant for Russian dancers.

[Haglund]

The comments to this entry are closed.

[Trina]

OOPS here we are again typo free -- it send too soon on last one: Omg so much wrong here. and its all tied together.. Kevin is all rent a russian-- bc at heart he has no respect for them... if he did, wouldn't ABT fully use the the incredible russian history and knowledge they have at their fingertips? Their own school is based in Cecchetti -- a strong base but not a full preparation for a serious classical Petipa work.. and they have the new 65000 dollar teacher training MFA -- with less studio hours needed to even grasp the basic pedagogy of something as simpleas turnout.. meanwhile Vaganova pedagogy requires like 5000 hours of training and research and study.. all by examination. Irina Kolpakova -- a master of the Vaganova tradition and her husband, another master and scholar and pedagogue who could easily advise on a proper syllabus here in America, sits as a coach whilst the likes of "those others" who are deemed so experienced run things right into the ground... makes absolutely no sense.. the reality is Americans wouldn't dare bring the likes of a Uliana Lopatkina to the stage here.. bc that would shine the light of truth all too bright on the deficits of the american ballet system.. as long as they bring in the circus stars with maybe one or 2 verifiables, they can keep the last laugh or feel they have the upper hand....put them on stage and laugh behind their back at their "tricks" - knowing full well that it is the weakest in russia or latin america who rely on tricks.. what about bringing the strongest from these places, who are artist sublime? They do this to keep up the faux image of being "more". Its all subterfuge. Here we are in America without one academy that can rival a Russian academy or Latin American academy.

[Haglund]

Thanks Trina.

I wish there was an academy that combined the Paris Opera Ballet's training of feet and legs with the Vaganova Academy's training of the upper body.

I totally agree with you on the unfortunate use of circus stars and tricksters as a substitute for classical ballet artists. But there are people who, while claiming knowledge and sophistication in the art form, will go to see these con artists like they have been attracted to a horrible car crash. They can't turn their eyes away from the hideous accident.

[Haglund]

The comments for this entry are really, really closed. Really.