Haglund's Heel

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 9/10

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.

 

observations 8/5

You can now purchase the live digital stream of ABT's performance of Don Quixote in Minneapolis on April 7, 2021. No casting available yet. The gig is a one-performance "tour" at the Northrop Auditorium on the U of M campus.

The charge for "household" access is $25. AND – you're not going to believe this – there is no service fee. Truly remarkable.

Hopefully ABT will cast carefully with the realization that this performance will appear in bits and pieces all over YouTube for eternity. Will ABT put its best feet forward in casting Kitri? That would mean Christine Shevchenko, without a doubt. But as we've mentioned so many times before, McKenzie doesn't cast based on merit. So we can expect that fans who live for the highest levels of classical ballet will be disappointed – again.

There will also be a free online preview event the day before which requires registration.

Just wanted to get this out there so my friends at BA have something to copy and post.

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Unfortunately, old Hag was a little slow in getting out the camera to capture this Hell's Kitchen neighbor's face mask, but the backend tells the whole story.

Please wear a mask.

 

 

observations 7/26

Kennedy Center announced that it will rev-up to full scale performances in January 2021. The season includes ABT's Don Quixote in April, which, of course means that we will most likely see it during the shortened five-week season at The Met. NYCB will present A Midsummer's Night Dream in March. Alvin Ailey will open KC's dance card on February 2nd. Paul Taylor Dance Company and Ragamala Dance Company are part of the season, too. Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo makes its debut at the end of February with Jean-Christophe Maillot's Cinderella. You may recall that former NYCB dancers Christian Tworzyanski and Lydia Wellington now perform with that company. Subscriptions available right now.

Available here for $10:

How many new lame joke dances about wearing face masks do you think we will we see during the 2021 season? Hopefully none.

 

 

The red wine is flowing

Nina Ananiashvili recently posted a series of chats with her former colleagues including Giuseppe Picone and Julio Bocca. Both interviews are a combination of informative conversation and hilarious memories.

Giuseppe recalls touring Japan with Nina's gala group and hitting the town's bars, massage parlors, and cold plunges as the only Italian with a bunch of  Russian guys (Possokhov, Filin, Belogolovtsev, Uvarov). Giuseppe talks about his time at ABT and how he decided to leave due to the lack of coaching and preparation for performances. He recalls debuting principal roles without stage rehearsals which he considered unacceptable.

Julio recounts his audition with Baryshnikov, how he danced 200-220 performances per year by flying around on the Concord, how he credits his discipline and original training for his ability to come back quickly from injury, how to use class as a place to work on yourself as opposed to simply warming up for the day, and his farewell performance in Argentina when Nina danced with him.

Three artists who we miss seeing on stage:

Nina chats with Giuseppe Picone:

Nina chats with Julio Bocca:

 

 

observations 7/8

We may not ever see a celebratory PR release from ABT about this, but yesterday's data dump by the SBA & Treasury shows that the company received between $5 million and $10 million in forgivable loan funds from the federal government's Payroll Protection Plan to retain 226 jobs.

The School of American Ballet received between $1 million and $2 million to retain zero jobs. That's right -- zippo jobs. If they don't spend 75% of the money on payroll but opt to spend it on other eligible expenses, the portion of the loan forgivable will be reduced. Haglund's 2013 1.4 GHz Apple processor loudly labored through the 26 MB 661,219 lines of .csv data dump but could not find any mention of NYCB, although it was reported somewhere yesterday that the company did receive funds. Maybe someone out there with a faster processor can glean more from the spreadsheet which can be downloaded here. [Edited to add: We found a much better, more easily searchable database here. Plug in the state and all or part of the name for results. This database shows N/A when # of jobs retained is zero.]

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater received between $2 million and $5 million to retain 419 jobs.

Ballet Hispanico received between $350,000 and $1 million to retain 29 jobs.

NY Phil received between $5 million and $10 million to retain 250 jobs.

NY City Center received between $2 million and $5 million to retain 194 jobs.

Even the New York City Opera received between $350,000 and $1 million to retain zero jobs. That's right--zippo jobs.

The shows will go on...maybe.

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An HH PSA:

WE

ARE

SERIOUS.

 

 

Right here, right now

Theme and Variations, Les Syphides, Don Q PdD, Firebird 1978

http://lincolncenter.org/lincoln-center-at-home/show/american-ballet-theatre-at-the-metropolitan-opera-house-1978-109

Email sign-up required tonight 🙄

Reopening

As we already wrote somewhere in the comments, the Brooklyn Nets are dipping their toes back into training.

They are conducting training sessions at the new HSS Training Center in Sunset Park. The Hospital for Special Surgery created the 70,000 square foot facility atop a warehouse. It has all the requisite equipment plus a basketball court.

The first rule is that only four players are allowed in the building at one time. No coaches permitted. No scrimmages. No practice games. AND players are strictly forbidden from using non-team facilities such as health clubs or gyms.

(Rules courtesy of https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2020/05/26/a-return-to-normalcy-under-new-guidelines-nets-return-to-sunset-park-practice-facility/ )

One toe at a time back in the pool.

Let's hope NYCB and ABT are working on reopening plans. With regard to NYCB, starting with classes three or four days per week would be reasonable. Four or five dancers could be assigned to each of the many studios available at the Koch Theater and at SAB. One of those studios could include a teacher and pianist who would be transmitted via internet to the other studios. That's all very workable provided precautions are taken and the dancers remain disciplined with regard to social distancing and quarantining when not on site.

Let's assume -- because we're pessimists -- that there will be no fall season. Let's think ahead to Nutcracker season. What can be done to preserve that tradition and some of the income and also ignite the crazy joy that comes with the season?

How about 50 video streams of a shortened Nutcracker Suite of dances at $5 a swig? But these 50 video streams would have a different Sugarplum Fairy, Cavalier, Dewdrop, Tea, Coffee every time. That's right, every time. In fact, every single dancer in the company, right down to the newest apprentice, could run a principal role on some night thereby insuring plenty of repeat customers willing to slap a five down on the bar for another swig of Nutcracker. Everyone remembers how disappointing last year's Nutcrackers were with the same veteran dancers hogging the spotlight with fingernails dug into their tutus while side-eyeing all the talented up & comers. Enough of that!

But you also need a narrator to pull this hodgepodge of dances together. Let's say upfront -- not SJP, please. Someone like Tom Hanks or Nathan Lane or Elsa, Princess of Arendelle would fit the bill. Princess Elsa would be perfect, wouldn't she? Let it go. Let it go. It's time to see what I can do. To test the limits and break through.

Hopefully, NYCB is thinking outside the box. There could be a lot of excitement and instant focusing among corps dancers preparing their principal roles for a digital stream.

We're also noticing how the MariinskyTV is running some fabulous concerts of ballet music. Just today, they launched Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Gergiev, Denis Matsuev and the Mariinsky Orchestra. Isn't it time for our NYCB Orchestra to be on stage playing and streaming some of their fantastic music? There were rumblings some time ago about recording possibilities, but we're in the streaming age now. Time to step up the game.

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

observations 5/24

Today Governor Cuomo encouraged New York professional sports teams to start their training camps.

Let's find out how they are going to do that and how it can apply to our two New York ballet companies. The sports teams are building a functional model that might be applicable to dance. What will it take? Temperature checks, twice weekly COVID tests, antibodies tests, strict quarantining when not on the job? If we were to take a survey among NYCB and ABT dancers, we bet that we'd find at least 180 dancers willing to stick a swab up their noses twice a week in order to get back to dancing. Hell, they'd put the videos up on Instagram - you know they would. Actually, that could even turn into a Public Service Announcement movement. The quintessential New Yorker, "Yo, you wanna test me? Go ahead, test me, buddy."

 

observations 5/12

From the New York Post:

"You can’t make this ship up.

The American Ballet Theatre has thoughtfully planned an auction to help with COVID-19 relief. Less thoughtful: Some available lots include bookings for a cruise.

Of course, cruise ships were reported as an early spreader of the virus, and at one point in March the largest outbreak of the coronavirus outside of China was aboard the Diamond Princess, a British ship with more than 700 cases and 13 dead. Many ships were stranded at sea because nations refused to let them dock, fearing that their passengers would infect residents."

Honest to god, does this company's management have even one single nano-strand of common sense? They are basically auctioning off clusters of COVID to their patrons. And we'll bet that they'll find a way to coerce dancers -- that is, select dancers who they wish would retire or leave -- into climbing back on a cruise ship to perform. McMoron: "So you want to begin preparing Swan Lake? Here's your opportunity to show me how badly you want it and how much you will sacrifice to get it. Go dance on a filthy, pathogen-infested cruise ship."  This is the type of stuff that the dancers' union should spend its time on – rather than blocking video-streaming revenues.

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