observations 8/14

Robert Hill has suddenly stepped down from his position as Artistic Director at Orlando Ballet citing a need to spend time recovering from knee surgery and to take some time off from his exhausting job. Yeah, right...

Let's just make sure that Hill, a crony of McKenzie, van Haml, Kent, and any number of former lackluster ABT principals, doesn't end up as ABT's next artistic director. This has been a fear since even before McKenzie announced his retirement -- that McKenzie would try to plant someone in his place who would continue his mediocre trajectory. We sounded the alarm early on. It would be like Trump getting Don, Jr. elected to succeed him.

ABT's board is going to screw this up -- no doubt about it.

NO to Robert Hill. NO to Julie Kent. NO to anyone who admires McKenzie's tenure. ABT will never be able to move forward unless and until it embraces ballet's classical standards--something that was never done by McKenzie.

 

Comments

[Haglund Fan]

Totally agree Haglund! The board must want someone they can manipulate and mold to what they want :( ABT is a company without a home, no AD, no leadership, and "too many chefs to spoil the broth"! It is like a house without a solid foundation, and we know how that works out most of the time.

[Haglund]

There's got to be more to Hill's resignation than what has been released. To resign right before the start of the season, giving no notice whatsoever, and then to have one's face, bio and name erased from the company website suggests some behind-the-scenes drama.

The Orlando Sentinel will sniff out the details in time.

Here's hoping that Irina and Max have hired a consultant to help put together an application for ABT's AD. And Bocca is being pretty quiet out there. Come to think of it, ABT is being pretty quiet, too, about who it has put on the search committee--no doubt every one of them will have a social agenda that takes precedence over concerns for artistic quality.

[Susan Peters]

Martine Van Hamel and Julie Kent “lackluster” ABT principals? Seriously?

[Solor]

Haglund, you're starting to sound too much like Tucker Carlson when it comes to ABT.

[Haglund]

LOL. ABT is a festering sore that won't heal. So much money and talent down the drain over the past 30 years.

[Ellen Mason]

I must respectfully disagree with Susan Peters, at least on the subject of Julie Kent. Kent may have been technically good, but I could never recognize her on stage or pick her out of crowd. To me she was the epitome of "no there there." No matter the role, I got zero sense of personality from Kent. Eventually I started avoiding Kent's performance; I just found her so boring.

[Haglund]

Who can forget Hill's "Dorian" for ABT which made Kent, Hallberg and even Marcelo Gomes look sadly lacking. Hill carried around Kent for years from one end of the stage to the other for her poses - because basically she needed to be carried.

[Diana]

Martine Van Hamel I remember as being a lustrous Swan Queen. Thirty-one fouettes but who cared? Better white act, if memory serves...

I saw Kent in the waning days of her career and I have to say that her 2nd act Giselle was surprisingly good. Surprising because the first was not. So we weren't disposed to be impressed in act two - but we were. She was fleet, otherworldly, and touching.

That said....

Neither are leadership material in the best of times, and as we know, these are not the best of times. I could not imagine either of these two nice ladies telling the crazies to go take it somewhere else.

[Jose Mansueto]

Martine was an impressive Raymonda in Nureyev’s staging and who can forget her Myrtha in Giselle..

[Georgiann]

One of my most memorable performances of Martine van Hamel's was her Aurora Pas de Deux when ABT performed in Chicago. She was so solid en pointe in her attitude balances that I could focus on the beauty and emotional aspects of the ballet rather than hoping she wouldn't falter. Loved her Myrta, too. Also her role in La Sylphide. I thought she was a strong and lovely Principal. I doubt that she would be chosen as an Artist Director at this point, or that she would want it.

[Marta]

I saw van Hamel in the Sylvia PdD back in the day, and she was wonderful. She was also a great Myrtha. I do agree that Julie Kent was bland and I echo the description of Ellen, above, that "there was no there there".

[Rachel P]

Haglund - just so you know, and can get a chuckle, ABT's server has been down for the past ten minutes upon sending an email announcing fall casting had been posted........

[Rachel Schulten]

That said, I am now trying to figure out how to attend both Brandt/Cornejo/Hurlin Giselle and Fumi Kaneko's Juliet with the Royal Ballet within two days of one another!