A hopelessly crappy news week ends with some great news.
Congratulations to Patrick Frenette, Léa Fleytoux, and Fangqi Li on their promotions to Soloists at ABT! High quality promotions every one of them. Susan Jaffe got it right when she acknowledged that Frenette has been deserving of this promotion for a number years. We're very, very happy (and relieved) to see this happen.
Congratulations to the new ABT Soloists! Great news at the end of the week!
Posted by: Georgiann | July 19, 2024 at 02:56 PM
Congratulations to all! My fingers are crossed Zimmi Coker will be next.
Posted by: Cream Soda | July 20, 2024 at 03:23 PM
Zimmi has deserved this for a few years now. Come on, ABT! She was a highlight this season.
Posted by: Ginger Ale | July 20, 2024 at 09:34 PM
Zimmi is so talented but seems to be frequently injured and for extended periods? Not taking away from how deserving she is but suspect ABT don’t want to take the risk of promoting someone who won’t be reliably able to dance (through no fault of her own)
Posted by: Emma | July 20, 2024 at 11:59 PM
True what you say, Emma. Dancers have to prove that they can take care of themselves physically in addition to dancing brilliantly. Reliability has become increasingly important.
Posted by: Haglund | July 21, 2024 at 07:19 AM
Congratulations to the promoted. It is saddening the list omits several names which should be there, but c'est la vie, unfortunately for them and their fans. This podcast features Frenette who is an intelligent and interesting recounter of his experience growing up learning ballet: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ballet-help-desk/id1697773310?i=1000629523067
Posted by: Eulalia Johnson | July 21, 2024 at 04:48 PM
Thanks much for the link, Eulalia!!
Posted by: Haglund | July 21, 2024 at 04:52 PM
It's been posted for a few days, but for anyone that doesn't have Instagram, Zimmi Coker is out for the entire Fall season. Her left foot/leg are encased in a walking boot that comes just a bit below her knee....Encouraging to see that she's taking the setback head on, demonstrating a plucky resilience....
Posted by: Beth CP | September 05, 2024 at 05:09 PM
Thanks, Beth. I hope Zimmi knows that there are many, many fans rooting for her to come back quickly. She is a breath of fresh air that ABT badly needs.
Posted by: Haglund | September 05, 2024 at 05:17 PM