Haglund's Heel

observations 5/31

As we announced below in observations 5/22, ABT will be putting on a couple of little shows at the Little Island's amphitheater (Pier 55 at W. 15th St.) which has a stage the size of a postage stamp. The performances will be on Saturday, July 3rd at 5pm and 8pm. Six dancers will perform three pas de deux which so far are unnamed. However, the Little Island website features a photo of Christine Schevchenko with Don Q fan in hand. It's hard to imagine how a Don Q PdD could possibly fit on the Little Island stage, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow. According to Little Island, its theater bench seating will accommodate 700 people and they have permission from NYC to seat at full capacity.

Here's how it works: 30% of the tickets will be sold on the Little Island website; 30% will be distributed free to Little Island's Community Partners in Chelsea and the West Village; 40% will be sold on TDF. We won't know the prices until tomorrow.

Note that this will take place on 4th of July weekend when the city is fairly empty -- which might be a good thing -- unless, of course, it rains. There is no rain date posted for the ABT performances or any of the planned events. The FAQs claim that the performances will take place rain or shine. Really. But it also says that Little Island will contact ticketholders if an event has to be cancelled.

Little Island is very cool. Haglund spent another hour there today. The plantings are transitioning from spring to summer at the moment. The place should look sensational for these performances in July.

6/1 4:30 pm Update: This is crazy. They want $65 + $4 service fee for 3 PdD! Anybody who pays that must have money to burn. However, those over 62 can get tickets for $25 + 4. TDF tickets for $25 go on sale at noon tomorrow.

 

Carla Fracci ascends

Gramilano has composed a most eloquent tribute and obituary for his dear friend, Carla Fracci, who died today at the age of 84. He has posted quite a collection of photos and videos that span Fracci's life. Particularly beautiful is the Giselle pas de deux in which she dances with Vladimir Vasiliev. It's all there - everything that is necessary and nothing that is not. It is nine minutes of heavenly beauty.

Some years ago when YAGP held a birthday gala to honor Vasiliev, Fracci joined the celebration. Haglund recalls how Vasiliev tenderly took Fracci's arm and escorted her to the center of the stage. And there they stood - elegantly reclaiming the pinnacle of the past:

 

Damian Woetzel accused of stoking racial hysteria at Juilliard

Well, we knew this was probably happening. Lincoln Center is busy trying to Restart Stages and now we find out that they have a new stage: a stage 4 Wokeblastoma at Juilliard.

Heather MacDonald, a Smith Fellow at the think tank Manhattan Institute, is calling out Woetzel, Juilliard, and basically all of performing arts for stoking racial hysteria.

This is an outstanding article that is rich with gems of insight into the clannish climate of Woke-this, Woke-that.

In early August 2020, the school’s black drama students issued their own Letter of Demands. The Drama Division student body is over 50 percent “BIPOC” with nearly all of those BIPOC students being black. That 50 percent black share of the student body is unlikely to have arisen spontaneously. Blacks are 12 percent of the national population, and there is no indication that they disproportionately study drama in high school and college. Yet the black drama students’ letter portrayed the Drama Division as nearly lethally bigoted. Its “racist environment is hazardous to BIPOC students’ bodies,” the letter charged. “Some students are silenced, broken, and limited by racism within the Drama Division . . . [They] have to endure harm and violence [and] sacrifice their physical and mental health every day in this institution.”

....

The black drama students’ claim of being daily “broken” by the “harm and violence” they are forced to endure at Juilliard is equally unpersuasive. There are no racists at Juilliard, and the school’s leaders should say so. No one, it should not need stating, is engaged in violence against black students. To the contrary, Juilliard is filled with liberal, well-meaning adults who want all their pupils to succeed. Far from being oppressed, all of Juilliard’s drama students are fantastically privileged compared to actors in bygone centuries who picked up their thespian skills rattling around with a flea-bitten vaudeville or commedia dell’arte troupe.

....

Racial identity is also the key to evading colorblind behavioral standards. The drama students demand that every black student on probation for missing or being late to class be taken off probation and his record wiped clean, since Juilliard’s attendance policies have a disparate impact on black students. Any white students on probation for missing class will stay under discipline. Juilliard’s self-described “rigorous” class schedule is “deeply rooted in capitalist and white supremacist hegemony.” It, too, should change to “prioritize the physical and mental health needs of the student body.”

This crap has got to stop. Common people have found that the way to elevate themselves to attention and celebrity is to claim victimization. If they can't claim it for themselves, they'll claim it for someone else and completely take on all of the pain and suffering that they imagine others endured with a triple digit exponent.

Haglund may have to decline to publish comments received on this post which violate good taste or good sense or his own personal security.  Be sure to read the comments attached to the bottom of Ms. MacDonald's article; there are some gems, too:

How about banning all white theatergoers and all white donors too? After all, let's be intellectually consistent if we are going to be "principled".

You can hear all the worried white liberals saying: "We were just virtue-signaling. We didn't actually mean it. Now how do we go back in time?" Too late.

 

 

observations 5/22

Apparently 7:15 a.m. is considered a late arrival at the new Little Island in Hudson River Park. The place was crawling with locals who knew how to hustle to beat the slow-moving tourists out of a front place in line.

What a beautiful addition to Hudson River Park. There are so many different species of mature plantings that Haglund had to download a plant identifier app before he got up the first hill. White and purple wild garlics, phloxes, shrub roses, and this strange thing named Witch's Moneybags:

 

There's a little amphitheater that is supposed to hold over 600 people, but with New Yorkers' lingering fondness for social distancing ("Yo, man, stay outta my space. I get a full 6 ft all the way around. Do you know how much 6 ft costs in Manhattan?"), it's doubtful that many will agree to cozy up with strangers like they used to in the theaters.

The theater's stage is about the size of a basketball half-court. Very small. It would be more than adequate for two or three actors or a small collection of musicians. So, of course, ABT will be performing there at some point soon -- this according to the metropolitan New York travel correspondent for the online newspaper, The Times of India - India Times. If this is accurate, folks, you should expect a lot of posing, arm waving, and maybe a good amount of that famous ballerina hair-swinging melodrama 'cuz there ain't room to do much more.

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Thanks to Jeannette for alerting us to the Monday 1PM livestream from Queens Botanical Garden of NYCB dancers performing choreography by Clara Miller to live music performed by NYCB Orchestra musicians. This performance will be livestreamed at this link:

https://www.lincolncenter.org/lincoln-center-at-home/show/love-from-lincoln-center-livestream-on-may-24-119?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=052120JuneRSAnnouncement&utm_content=version_A&uid=&sourceNumber=

and at Lincoln Center's YouTube and Facebook pages -- not NYCB's website, YouTube or Facebook. There will be no repeat or opportunity to view it afterward.

Astro's Dog Run Reopening!

Yes, it's true, Astro's Dog Run in Hell's Kitchen will officially reopen on June 19th. All pooch social distancing restrictions have been lifted.

Oh and by the way, Gov. Cuomo announced that Radio City Music Hall is cleared to open at 100% capacity for vaccinated folks. There is nothing on the venue's calendar until August. Hello, NYCB and ABT?! Seize the opportunity. Seize it now!

Also James Dolan, head of Madison Square Garden, is busy booking summer concerts and shows for the venue which has also been cleared. The upcoming NBA playoffs will have vaccinated and unvaccinated seating sections.

Indoor venues like the Koch Theater have a 30% limit as of this Wednesday. That's 775 balletomanes who would make a houseful of joyful noise. And no kids under 12 allowed, because they can't yet be vaccinated. Oh joy!

Astro's Dog Run reopening is good news. A few performances at the Koch Theater would be even better. Somebody seize the opportunity!

 

observations 5/9

Damrosch Park is ablaze with these beauties as well as construction to get the stage and audience areas ready for Restart Stages at Lincoln Center. SAB will hold its Spring Performances at Damrosch in June.

Thankfully, our little pink renegade in the Rubies Corps de Azaleas has been flourishing this spring. Isn't she beautiful in all her individuality?

And then, my friends, there's this which officially opens tomorrow. Click on picture for full sized view:

If you like artificial turf, you'll love rolling around on this. The dogs can't wait to do their thing, either.

To quote Christopher Cross: "Well it's not far back to sanity, at least it's not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away and find serenity."

And so we will stand six feet apart and wait for sanity and serenity:

observations 5/6

The NYCB Gala video presentation directed by Sofia Coppola which was shown at last night's online gala will become available for everyone to view at 8:00 PM tonight on the company's website or YouTube channel. Excerpts from Duo Concertant, Liebeslieder Walzer, Divertimento No. 15, and Dances at a Gathering will be presented as will a new solo by Justin Peck for Anthony Huxley. The video will be available for viewing for two weeks -- for free.

We've read recently how the reopening of NYC is being somewhat accelerated. A full Broadway opening at 100% capacity is set for September. However, pols have said that in the months leading up to that date, performance venues around town will be tested with partial capacities. Let's go NYCB! Get something on the stage and some butts in the seats this summer.

Let's go let's go let's go.

 

Jacques d'Amboise RIP