Today's Houston Chronicle includes an informative write-up about Houston Ballet's new Giselle which premieres next week with Yuriko Kajiya in the title role opposite Connor Walsh. This quote should be of interest:
Welch has thought about doing a major reboot of "Giselle" for years.
He committed to it two years ago after he hired the delicate ballerina Yuriko Kajiya away from American Ballet Theatre in New York. When he saw her perform "Giselle" there, he was especially smitten by the quality of "stillness" she brought to the dances of Act 2, along with her amazing sense of balance and her ability to move seamlessly from position to position.
Stanton Welch was so impressed after seeing Yuriko dance Giselle at ABT that she was his inspiration for staging a whole new production?! Of course, he had to have seen her dance the role on tour which she did a number of times as McKenzie would never allow Yuriko to dance it on her home stage because she would show up the guest artists and the dumpy riffraff that he was trying to push down everyone's throats at the time. Haglund and the other Yurikonauts had to fly to Chicago in order to see the best Giselle that ABT could field. When is someone on ABT's board going to start questioning the common sense and artistic values of McKenzie?
Here is a heart-stopping picture from the Houston Chronicle's collection:
Photo: Amitava Sarkar
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In about three weeks New York City Ballet lands on the stage of the Paris Théâtre du Châtelet for 21 performances of a half dozen huge programs of choreography. Parisians are in for big treat. Top ticket price is 109 euros, which is somewhat under the $149 top ticket price being offered to subscribers for next year. Paris is getting a big treat for a bargain.
Then at the start of September, ABT drops into the Opera Bastille in Paris for 10 performances of Sleeping Beauty. Brave or foolish? Top ticket price is 154 euros which is quite a bit more than the top orchestra price at the Met this season ($135) but less than the parterre center ($205). Hopefully, ABT will push its true classical dancers to the forefront. If they don't, let's hope the French balletomanes and critics do not spare their rods. It would be nice if Hallberg were back in action by then. That would certainly help the reception.
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Attention LAers: Just saw this on Dance Magazine – Robert Fairchild will be "Mike" (I can do that!) in A Chorus Line at the Hollywood Bowl from July 29-31. Who's going and will send us a report?
16 responses to “observations 6-3”
This wonderful little video snippet of Yuriko rehearsing and talking about her role in Giselle was posted earlier on Houston Ballet’s Facebook page. Some ADs have excellent taste.
https://www.facebook.com/houstonballet/videos
This wonderful little video snippet of Yuriko rehearsing and talking about her role in Giselle was posted earlier on Houston Ballet’s Facebook page. Some ADs have excellent taste.
https://www.facebook.com/houstonballet/videos
Thank you so much LLF. That is a charming video. Yuriko looks beautiful.
Thank you so much LLF. That is a charming video. Yuriko looks beautiful.
I fixed the link in the first line of the post. Everyone should be able to bypass the paywall and access the text and pictures now.
I fixed the link in the first line of the post. Everyone should be able to bypass the paywall and access the text and pictures now.
Out of curiosity I went to ABT’s web page and compared a list of the sponsors of principal dancer’s performances vs who is on the board. Out of 17 principal dancers listed, 11 of them were sponsored by someone on the board. I am not sure if this is the norm, but how can a board be objective when they have a horse in the race?
Marcelo Gomez – Sponsor: Monica and Ali Wambold, Board position: Ali Wambold, Chair Nomianting Committee
David Hallberg – Sponsor: Avery and Andy Barth, Board position: Andrew F. Barth, Honorary Vice Chair, Executive Committee
Maria Kotchetkova – Sponsor: Beth Chartoff Spector, Board position: Co-Chair, Development Committee
Misty Copeland – Sponsor: Valentino D. Carlotti, Board position: Co-Finance Chair
Daniil Simkin – Sponsor: Sharon Patrick and The Mattes Family, Board position: Sharon Patrick, President
Diana Vishneva – Sponsor: Theresa Khawly., Board position: Trustee
Veronika Part – Sponsor: Theresa Khawly, Board position: Trustee
Isabella Boylston – Sponsor: Linda Allard, Board position: Trustee
Cory Sterns – Sponsor: Howard S. Paley., Board position: Trustee
James Whiteside – Sponsor: Andrew J. Martin-Weber, Board position: Trustee
Roberto Bolle – Sponsor: William J. Gillespie and The ABT Golden Circle Council., Board position: William J. Gillespie, Trustee
Stella Abrera – Sponsor: Mary Jo and Ted Shan, Board position: none
Polina Semionova – Sponsor: Sheila Grant, Board position: none
Herman Cornejo – Sponsor: Sheila Grant, Board position: none
Hee Seo – Sponsor: Pamela and David B. Ford., Board position: none
Gillian Murphy – Sponsor: Mary Jo and Ted Shen., Board position: none
Alban Lendorf – Sponsor: exchange artist, Board position: none
Out of curiosity I went to ABT’s web page and compared a list of the sponsors of principal dancer’s performances vs who is on the board. Out of 17 principal dancers listed, 11 of them were sponsored by someone on the board. I am not sure if this is the norm, but how can a board be objective when they have a horse in the race?
Marcelo Gomez – Sponsor: Monica and Ali Wambold, Board position: Ali Wambold, Chair Nomianting Committee
David Hallberg – Sponsor: Avery and Andy Barth, Board position: Andrew F. Barth, Honorary Vice Chair, Executive Committee
Maria Kotchetkova – Sponsor: Beth Chartoff Spector, Board position: Co-Chair, Development Committee
Misty Copeland – Sponsor: Valentino D. Carlotti, Board position: Co-Finance Chair
Daniil Simkin – Sponsor: Sharon Patrick and The Mattes Family, Board position: Sharon Patrick, President
Diana Vishneva – Sponsor: Theresa Khawly., Board position: Trustee
Veronika Part – Sponsor: Theresa Khawly, Board position: Trustee
Isabella Boylston – Sponsor: Linda Allard, Board position: Trustee
Cory Sterns – Sponsor: Howard S. Paley., Board position: Trustee
James Whiteside – Sponsor: Andrew J. Martin-Weber, Board position: Trustee
Roberto Bolle – Sponsor: William J. Gillespie and The ABT Golden Circle Council., Board position: William J. Gillespie, Trustee
Stella Abrera – Sponsor: Mary Jo and Ted Shan, Board position: none
Polina Semionova – Sponsor: Sheila Grant, Board position: none
Herman Cornejo – Sponsor: Sheila Grant, Board position: none
Hee Seo – Sponsor: Pamela and David B. Ford., Board position: none
Gillian Murphy – Sponsor: Mary Jo and Ted Shen., Board position: none
Alban Lendorf – Sponsor: exchange artist, Board position: none
Thanks for the breakout, SM. It really seems like an environment that is rife with the potential for inappropriate influence.
Theresa Khawly was quoted in a Town & Country magazine article as saying “Whenever Russian dancers catch my attention at ABT, I sponsor them.” Russians and Ukranians are all she is interested in. At the time of the article, she was sponsoring Shevchenko, Vishneva, Osipova, Semionova, Dvorovenko, and Muntagirov. If McKenzie wants more money from her, he has to serve up an enticing Russian import or guest artist. It’s that simple.
The other obvious case of misuse of philanthropy is Carlotti buying out Copeland’s performances (reported in NYT) along with her other promoters who have vested interests in her success to make her look more successful and important than she really is. Hopefully his influence will decline because his unit at Goldman Sachs was identified as the one with the worst performance and greatest losses last quarter leading to layoffs and — catch your breath — reductions in entertainment spending for the GS bankers. Maybe Carlotti is spending a little too much on Misty. Hopefully, his dismal performance at GS will keep him out of the running for the next Chairman at ABT.
Thanks for the breakout, SM. It really seems like an environment that is rife with the potential for inappropriate influence.
Theresa Khawly was quoted in a Town & Country magazine article as saying “Whenever Russian dancers catch my attention at ABT, I sponsor them.” Russians and Ukranians are all she is interested in. At the time of the article, she was sponsoring Shevchenko, Vishneva, Osipova, Semionova, Dvorovenko, and Muntagirov. If McKenzie wants more money from her, he has to serve up an enticing Russian import or guest artist. It’s that simple.
The other obvious case of misuse of philanthropy is Carlotti buying out Copeland’s performances (reported in NYT) along with her other promoters who have vested interests in her success to make her look more successful and important than she really is. Hopefully his influence will decline because his unit at Goldman Sachs was identified as the one with the worst performance and greatest losses last quarter leading to layoffs and — catch your breath — reductions in entertainment spending for the GS bankers. Maybe Carlotti is spending a little too much on Misty. Hopefully, his dismal performance at GS will keep him out of the running for the next Chairman at ABT.
@SM
Thank you for what I suspected the whole time about the ABT Board favoritism.
Also notice how they can’t bury the non-Board sponsored dancers because they are established and audience favorites (Murphy, Cornejo, Abrera) It seems Lane has the short end of the stick because she hasn’t been allowed to become established and therefore immune to the hazing. The fact that Seo doesn’t have Board backing makes me think the better of her. I would have thought Part would have received more support but she is buried more often than not.
What is going on at ABT? They need a complete overhaul, EVERYONE needs to be cleared out from the bottom to the very top.
@SM
Thank you for what I suspected the whole time about the ABT Board favoritism.
Also notice how they can’t bury the non-Board sponsored dancers because they are established and audience favorites (Murphy, Cornejo, Abrera) It seems Lane has the short end of the stick because she hasn’t been allowed to become established and therefore immune to the hazing. The fact that Seo doesn’t have Board backing makes me think the better of her. I would have thought Part would have received more support but she is buried more often than not.
What is going on at ABT? They need a complete overhaul, EVERYONE needs to be cleared out from the bottom to the very top.
To return to Yuriko Kajiya for a moment, I am delighted to see this exquisite ballerina getting her due – and from the company director!
To return to Yuriko Kajiya for a moment, I am delighted to see this exquisite ballerina getting her due – and from the company director!
I second melponeme_k thoughts, I too had suspected this for many years, and don’t believe this was the case in the pre-KM years? Does this happen in NYCB or HB? If this is true I would think that many in the company like Lane and even in the corps will stand no chance unless they get a wealthy board member for a sponsor!? Guess money does talk! I would hate to think that is so, as it is robbery to me, robbing these talents of their youth and passion! Overhaul is in order for sure if so!
I second melponeme_k thoughts, I too had suspected this for many years, and don’t believe this was the case in the pre-KM years? Does this happen in NYCB or HB? If this is true I would think that many in the company like Lane and even in the corps will stand no chance unless they get a wealthy board member for a sponsor!? Guess money does talk! I would hate to think that is so, as it is robbery to me, robbing these talents of their youth and passion! Overhaul is in order for sure if so!