observations 3/28

It's hard to keep track of all the opportunities that Zachary Catazaro has discovered since landing as Principal Guest artist at Bayerische Staatsballett in Munich. Director Igor Zelensky has cast him in the opening night Jewels performance of Diamonds opposite the lovely Kristina Lind. He's also been cast in several performances of Onegin including the upcoming one that is supposed to feature Hallberg and Osipova. Also on his plate are several performances in Grigorovich's Spartacus and Neumeier's The Lady of the Camellias.

Meanwhile, in addition to Hallberg bailing out of his Bolshoi performance of Giselle a week or two ago due to a calf injury, Miss O. walked away from a Don Q performance at the Mariinsky this week. No apparent claim of injury or illness, just cancelled. The Mariinsky literally backed her against the wall and into a corner and had her create a little I-gram video expressing her regrets for not performing. Take a look here. She's like a guilty character out of a Dostoyevsky novel. Some of those commenters are fairly angry particularly since the Mariinsky apparently charged more for the tickets for the Miss O. performance.

––––––––––––––––––––

More documents have been added to the Waterbury court folders. Her attorney has responded to Longhitano's request for the judge to reject a motion for a delay by continuing on his path of trying to confuse the judge and make him think that Waterbury and Longhitano were somehow employed by NYCB.

New, however, is a Waterbury affidavit which indicates that she did not necessarily have permission to use Finlay's laptop to check her email on the occasion when she discovered the photographs. Rather, she had obtained permission on previous other occasions and just went ahead and proceeded to open up his device. Very interesting development.

––––––––––––––––––––

One of Haglund's all-time favorite Auroras, Viviana Durante, is restaging Kenneth MacMillan's Seven Deadly Sins at Wilton Music Hall in London May 8th through May 18th. The project has been developed by Durante and Lady Deborah MacMillan. Among the cast are Royal Ballet's Laura Morera, Melissa Hamilton, and Nehemiah Kish, along with Ballet Black's Jose Alvez.

 

Comments

[Solor]

I find the legal minutia of the Waterbury case fascinating. Can what she found on Finlay's computer be excluded because she didn't have specific permission on that occasion to use it, even though she had permission to be on the premises and had previously had authorization to use it? A private citizen can produce evidence in a criminal case obtained without a search warrant as long as he/she was not acting at the best of the police. But that's a matter for a criminal case. In this instance, the proverbial toothpaste is out of the tube - what was on the computer is public, and was the basis for the controversial actions by NYCB. What happens to Ms. Waterbury and Mr. Longhitano and their lawsuits will have virtually no impact on how the firings are remembered.

[Haglund]

Solor, I tend not to agree with your statement that what was on the computer is public. The public hasn't seen any of it short of a few texts included in a filing. The plaintiff may not have had any more right to open Finlay's device and read his mail than she would have had to slice open an envelope or even look at the contents in an unsealed envelope in his residence. Nor would she have the right to steal or copy the contents and try to use them for her own benefit.

We don't know how specific or vague or enforceable the morals clause is in the NYCB/AGMA agreement. But the fact that NYCB's reason for ultimately firing Ramasar and Catazaro had to do with surveying the other dancers, some of whom said they would not be "comfortable" working with them, probably isn't a very good reason.

[yukionna]

Is it possible to get second-hand awkwardness? Because that’s what I felt watching Osipova’s video. Yikes.

[Haglund]

lol, yukionna. I loved how they zoomed in at the end to capture her expression.

[Solor]

I didn't mean to imply that the communications were public - only that they are now out in the open. Regardless of how they were made public, their exposure is what caused the result.. They can fight out the legal battles but in the end, unless the communciations are proved to be false, what remains is what was communicated and how that resulted in what happened to the three men.