Haglund's Heel

Program reminder - NYCB Fall Digital Season begins

Tonight at 8:00 PM 

www.nycballet.com

https://www.youtube.com/nycballet

https://www.facebook.com/nycballet

_{(available until Tuesday, October 6, at 8 PM EDT)}

SYMPHONY IN C (First Movement)
Ashley Bouder, Joseph Gordon**
Conductor: Clotilde Otranto. Filmed on 9/21/2018.

IVESIANA (“The Unanswered Question”)
Janie Taylor, Anthony Huxley
Conductor: Andrews Sill. Filmed on 5/1/2013.

LIEBESLIEDER WALZER (excerpt)
Maria Kowroski, Jonathan Stafford
Solo Pianists: Andrews Sill, Susan Walters. Filmed on 5/22/2012.

LIEBESLIEDER WALZER (excerpt)
Lauren Lovette*, Jared Angle
Solo Pianists: Andrews Sill, Susan Walters. Filmed on 1/20/2016.

EPISODES (excerpt)
Teresa Reichlen*, Adrian Danchig-Waring
Conductor: Daniel Capps. Filmed on 2/6/2020.

TSCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX
Tiler Peck, Joaquin De Luz
Conductor: Clotilde Otranto. Filmed on 9/21/2018.

STRAVINSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO (finale)
Sterling Hyltin, Ask la Cour, Sara Mearns, Taylor Stanley**
Conductor: Clotilde Otranto; Solo Violin: Kurt Nikkanen. Filmed on 9/21/2018.

 

NYCB, SAB, Catazaro, Ramasar, Longhitano win; Finlay doesn't.

Judge James D'Auguste dismissed Waterbury's claims against NYCB, SAB, Catazaro, Ramasar, and Longhitano, but will allow one claim against Finlay to proceed.

Can we please move on now? Can we please figure out how to get both Catazaro and Ramasar back on the ballet stage when that stage comes alive?

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=rPLVUnskYCM89NLHno7z4g==&PageNum=3&narrow=

https://nypost.com/2020/09/28/nyc-ballet-cleared-in-porn-suit-as-case-against-ex-dancer-proceeds/

observations 9/23

Oh, dear.

The Metropolitan Opera has cancelled its season until September 2021. True, the mammoth scale of its stage productions requires a small city of workers and performers to pull off every night. Both the New York Philharmonic and NYCB are a little more flexible. But still, it does not bode well for arts in New York City, especially for ABT. However, people are often socially distanced with many seats between them at ABT's Met performances anyway; so, it may be a bit early to write off the company's spring season.

There will be stages in the U.S. and in other countries that will be open to ballet, but perhaps not here. That doesn't mean that NYCB can't put together a live digital season for a paying national and international audience and make it a profitable endeavor. TV programs are still being made; TV commercials are still being made -- good grief; movies are still being made. Jeopardy is still producing new shows with social distancing.

European ballet companies have spent a year on tour while their theaters were being refurbished. It's not unheard of and not unmanageable.

Walking by Lincoln Center today, Haglund couldn't help but note that the campus is abuzz with major repair & refurbishing activity. A worker even did a Bouder off the roof of the building behind David Geffen Hall on W. 65th this morning around 8:30. The EMTs came and carted him off to the hospital. It was reported that he's okay. It looks like Lincoln Center is not going to waste the time off.  Let's hope that the Met replaces the cushions in some of those strongly scented seats in Rows S & T of the side Orchestra.

It's days like this that we need the panda cam...

 

observations 9/17

Pennsylvania Ballet's Board Chairman, David Hoffman, is presenting two very special performances by volunteer Pennsylvania Ballet dancers on September 26th at 1:30 and 5:15 outdoors at Red Rose Farm in Villanova, PA. Tickets are $250 for the early performance which covers blanket seating for up to four people. The later performance tickets will be $1000 per individual and chairs will be provided. Whoever makes the drive will certainly be in for a treat. Look at this line-up of Pennsylvania Dancers, all of whom will be donating their time:

Programs (subject to change):

Afternoon at 1:30 pm (approximately 1 hour)

1- Grand Pas Classique, by Gabriela Mesa & Pau Pujol

2- Contemporary Solo, by Nayara Lopes

3- Gopak, by Aleksey Babayev

4- Flames of Paris, by Lucia Erickson & Peter Weil

5- Fonte Pas de Deux, by Oksana Maslova & Sterling Baca

6- La Bayadère, by Nayara Lopes & Aleksey Babayev

7- Tarantella (Balanchine), by Mayara Pineiro & Etienne Diaz

8- Esmeralda, by Sydney Dolan & Austin Eyler

Early evening at 5:15 pm (approximately 1 hour)

1- White Swan Pas de Deux, by Oksana Maslova & Sterling Baca

2- Contemporary Solo, by Nayara Lopes

3- Black Swan Pas de Deux, by Dayesi Torriente & Arian Molina Soca

4- Tarantella (Balanchine), by Mayara Pineiro & Etienne Diaz

5- Fonte Pas de Deux, by Oksana Maslova & Sterling Baca

6- Penumbra, by Aleksey Babayev

7- Volver, by Dayesi Torriente & Arian Molina Soca

8- Le Corsaire Pas de Trois, by Mayara Pineiro, Sterling Baca & Etienne Diaz

 

From the Chairman:

Experience Ballet Under an Open Sky The very first public performance of Pennsylvania Ballet nearly 60 years ago was hosted outdoors on a Trustee's property. With the current circumstances preventing dancers from taking the stage, it is with this same collective creative spirit that I have decided to host two outdoor performances by volunteer Pennsylvania Ballet dancers on Saturday, September 26. Please click the photo below and read carefully the details on the performances, social distancing, and safety requirements. This fundraising event is sponsored by me and voluntary trustees and supporters of the arts, with the goal of financially supporting Pennsylvania Ballet. If you are unable to attend, please consider supporting the event by clicking Get Tickets below. I look forward to seeing you at Red Rose Farm later this month! Please feel free to share this invitation with your friends: BalletRedRoseFarm.eventbrite.com

 

observations 9/10

It's great to hear that New York City Ballet will be presenting another digital season beginning Tuesday, September 29 with previously recorded performances of Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux and “The Unanswered Question” from Ivesiana, as well as excerpts from Episodes, Liebeslieder Walzer, Symphony in C, and Stravinsky Violin Concerto.  The season will include four weeks of previously recorded performances (each Tuesday at 8PM, available for a week) which will be augmented by two Saturday family-friendly performances. The season will conclude with recorded premieres by Justin Peck and a bevy of non-ballet choreographers who hope to coax applause from the stodgy, know nothing, can't let go of balletic standards, the medium is the message, we'll judge you in comparison to Balanchine until we die NYCB audience that is in no mood whatsoever to see the equivalent of garage ballet. Hullabaloo outdoors -- nuh uh. Not even for free.

And not from dancers who are convinced that they have experienced some special struggle during the past six months that others have not and that the only thing they know how to do is ask for a handout from NYCB patrons through an independent solicitation effort. We're not living in a time where anyone can claim entitlement to work only at a job he loves and wants to do. That is why thousands of New Yorkers who really are feeling hunger and have dependents who are suffering are knocking themselves out to get temporary jobs as census takers, contact tracers, seamless delivery people. How many dancers at NYCB would laugh at the idea of climbing on a bicycle to deliver food in order to make ends meet? Probably every one of them. If the dancers want to claim that they can't escape the city like the rich Manhattanites do, they shouldn't post photos of themselves on Instagram showing their beach vacations or playing with their pets while living at Mommy & Daddy's or otherwise having a fun time every day. It's looking more and more like ballet dancers in this city live in their own little bubble worlds where there is always an NYCB donor nearby who will give them a handout. They can put together a slick website and Instagram page, but they can't ask for a job doing anything other than what they love and want to do. Does anyone want to guess how many of these dancers have been using the past six months to try to build some skills that might get them temporary work? Our guess is that it would be a piddly poor number. How many actors in this city wait on tables, answer phones, deliver food, toil over tedious data entry when they're not employed in the job they love and want to do? A lot.

Oh yeah, we're cranky today.

It seems that ABT has stumbled its way into the news again. Graceless as ever. Such a tactless, formless, unprofessional, shameful way to unload Sarah Lane. Here's hoping that McKenzie gets the same treatment and gets it soon.

We're extremely happy for the promoted dancers who deserved it, and we recognize social promotion when we see it.

 

Chins up, Everybody

Today the Washington Post reported:

"At Lincoln Center, Timms said, plans are being worked out for a 400-seat socially distanced outdoor space for ballet and other arts"

Small steps, but steps nevertheless.

We're guessing that the outdoor space will be Damrosch Park which will be the perfect setting for the beginnings of a comeback. New York audiences have long sat through cold rains, 100 degree heat, and anything Mother Nature can throw at us to watch performances on that stage, and we will weather just about anything to get the music playing and the feet moving again. If somebody can figure out how to provide overhead heating for the stage area and if we are blessed with a mild November and December, we could make this work for months. In fact, Lincoln Center could run multiple outdoor stages simultaneously on its campus – there's room for a stage in front of the Met Opera as well. No wonder the Damrosch Park Corps de Azaleas has been such a vivacious and happy group lately!

However, there may be a problem with crowd control.

There are ways that the crowd can roll up its sleeves to help. Get serious about planning to get a vaccination. Let's hear none of this scare tactic poo-poo about vaccines that were produced a half century ago. Times have changed. Pharmaceutical science has made a few advances, to put it mildly. Don't be one of those people who wants to rely on everyone else getting the vaccine to protect them while they sit on the sidelines. Don't be one of those ____s who banners up with "Nobody's gonna force me to get a shot, social distance, wear a mask, or ever get tested. If I spread the virus to others, so be it; it's my right to do so."

The Phase III vaccine trials in the NYC area still need volunteers. The Pfizer trial is a 1:1 vaccine:placebo study. However, we have been told that once the trial vaccine is shown via data to be effective, there is an ethical obligation to offer it to those who received the placebo. Consider getting an early start by registering on the NYU Langone Vaccine Center website. NYU is currently recruiting for the Pfizer Phase III trial and will soon begin recruiting for Phase III of the Oxford/AstraZeneca trial. Every little bit of cooperation will help.

Again, every little bit of cooperation will help. People who are more likely to come in contact with the virus are especially encouraged to sign up to participate. Start here.  Get on the list now. The old folks who grew up during the polio epidemic of the 1940s and '50s have been turning out in droves for the Pfizer clinical trial. This is the generation that took the risks over a half century ago in the race to eliminate polio. It's time to let them pass the baton.