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| re: Has the ballet world changed in terms of sexuality? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 12:59 pm EDT 09/06/18 | |
| In reply to: Has the ballet world changed in terms of sexuality? - portenopete 07:12 am EDT 09/06/18 | |
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| "(Whether looks play into who gets accepted at the top schools I don't know, but there certainly seems to be no shortage of very attractive young guys dancing these days.)" I am not a ballet aficionado but for whatever it's worth, it's never seemed to me that there was a shortage of attractive young guys dancing, at least not during the years I've had any awareness of ballet. |
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| re: Has the ballet world changed in terms of sexuality? | |
| Posted by: enoch10 07:45 pm EDT 09/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Has the ballet world changed in terms of sexuality? - AlanScott 12:59 pm EDT 09/06/18 | |
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| this is bad. this is really, really bad - and not just because of how heinous the actions that precipitated it are. chase finlay was the future of city ballet, at least in terms of male dancers. it's been decades since a male dancer shined that bright. he was the youngest principal dancer i can remember with the potential to be as big as david hallberg - maybe bigger. amar ramasar and zachary catazaro are wonderful dancers but they're just ... new york city ballet excellent. amar ramasar is in his mid 30s and isn't far from aging out. zachary catazaro is younger and "only" a soloist but was definitely on track to be made principal. but, wonderful as they are - and they are - both combined doesn't equal the loss of finlay. i was in the audience the night chase finlay first danced appolo. not even halfway through it felt like there was electricity in the air. the audience would not stop until he got a solo bow. I can't ever remember clapping louder or longer. people, including me, were scrambling for their program trying to figure out who this guy was. i saw him dance it after that and every time he was, somehow, just as good. martins bumped APOLLO way back up in the repertoire which meant others had to sometimes dance it . i felt so bad for them. i know of at least one woman who complained when someone else danced it and demanded her subscription be credited and, unbelievably, it was. in spite of the fact that he wasn't a substitution. it wasn't just APOLLO. he shined in everything he did but he shined especially bright dancing robbins. it wasn't just the centennial that had them - finally - scheduling more robbins.. macaulay, who rarely deigned to even acknowledge the ballet had male dancers, gave him a rave after that first performance. it was all very exciting. what a loss. what a waste. what a jerk. |
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| Some corrections and comments | |
| Last Edit: Marlo*Manners 11:03 am EDT 09/07/18 | |
| Posted by: Marlo*Manners 11:01 am EDT 09/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Has the ballet world changed in terms of sexuality? - enoch10 07:45 pm EDT 09/06/18 | |
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| Zachary Catazaro is 28 years old and was promoted to NYCB principal in October 2017. His participation in the disgusting chain of obscene photos and texts concerning female colleagues at NYCB and SAB is not as explicitly detailed or incriminating as what Finlay and Ramasar allegedly did. He is a very good (but not remarkable) dancer who is tall and hardworking but not a superstar. Chase Finlay looked like he was going to be a superstar but his promise very quickly dimmed. He had a very bad injury some years ago that took years to heal - he was on crutches with a foot cast for a long time. His return to ballet was not as impressive as before. Finlay's partnering came under criticism from Macauley in the NY Times. His brilliant early promise was not fulfilled and the recent Apollos weren't as impressive as his debut. He was in noticeably bad technical form when he came back from injury and only partially recovered his form. Amar Ramasar is 36 years old and definitely is in the last years of his career. What the bigger problem NYCB has is a shallow pool of outstanding male principals - some are just there like Jared Angle or Ask La Cour. The company is going to need to increasingly depend on up and coming corps and soloist men like Joseph Gordon, Roman Mejia and Harrison Coll to beef up the male roster. Macauley certainly noticed David Hallberg in his NYT reviews and was a vocal admirer of his dancing though Hallberg also is technically diminished by multiple injuries over the last five years. Marlo Manners (Lady Barrington) |
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| re: Has the ballet world changed in terms of sexuality? | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 09:43 am EDT 09/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Has the ballet world changed in terms of sexuality? - enoch10 07:45 pm EDT 09/06/18 | |
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| And Kevin Spacey is an amazing actor. And Charlie Rose is a superlative interviewer. So what? We seem to be coming to a place where brilliant, exciting talent is no longer an excuse to treat people poorly and be an asshole. Great. I think that's the direction we need to be heading. I know so many brilliant, talented people in many fields who are also amazing people, but who can't seem to get their break or get ahead in a tough business. Let's clear out the brilliant and talented assholes and make room for the brilliant and talented good people. And maybe a business known for chewing up and spitting out people will become a bit more humane in the process. If Finley is found to be guilty of what he's been accused of and loses his career, well...that'll be a lesson to both him in his future endeavors and others coming up in the future. If the company has a few rebuilding years ahead of it due to losing a shining talent, so what? Won't be the first time. |
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| re: Has the ballet world changed in terms of sexuality? | |
| Last Edit: PlayWiz 05:44 pm EDT 09/07/18 | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 05:41 pm EDT 09/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Has the ballet world changed in terms of sexuality? - JereNYC 09:43 am EDT 09/07/18 | |
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| Well, by your reckoning they should also jettision all the Jerome Robbins and Peter Martins (and maybe George Balanchine) ballets between the 2 leading NYC ballet companies. They'd hardly have any repertoire left to dance, as they were known to be really difficult to different degrees. I understand your point, and it's a good one, but some of this outrage and reckoning should also have been directed at the top choreographers and directors over the years as well. Btw, when I've hired singing teachers and acting coaches, etc.,I always ask other people if my prospect is easy to deal with, because frankly, while there are excellent artists who are jerks to deal with, life is too short, and there are many equally wonderful people to work with who are going to build your self-esteem and talent and not try to diminish you as a person. Of course, here we are talking about people in power who are jerks doing the hiring and running the company; I'm in favor of them being held accountable so that they will change their ways and/or be replaced by people who respect their artists and treat them well. |
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| re: Has the ballet world changed in terms of sexuality? | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 11:14 am EDT 09/07/18 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 11:13 am EDT 09/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Has the ballet world changed in terms of sexuality? - JereNYC 09:43 am EDT 09/07/18 | |
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| We seem to be coming to a place where brilliant, exciting talent is no longer an excuse to treat people poorly and be an asshole. I don’t think so. Treatment on the job has gotten worse for most working people. What we’re talking about here are cases from glamorous or high paying professions. It’s a start if it means that these concerns trickle down to the world of working people without lawyers and a social media following. I don’t see that happening except for the work of a very small segment of politically active people. |
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