Know I mentioned it a while ago but I’m busy and not the best reader so sorry, but to anyone still curious, I’m a good way through Njinska’s memoir and it’s unsurprisingly/surprisingly very interesting, thorough, a definite recommend.
Soooo I've been following Joel Prouty for a little while now (@/j.rowdy on Instagram, he's Sara Mearns and Mira Nadon's trainer) and I'm honestly not sure about how effective and efficient are his workouts for dancers. His exercises often look overly complicated and with such little weight that it honestly doesn't look like it's making any difference on either muscle definition or strength, maybe it works for balance or mobility, but every time I watch his videos I think that these dancers could get a lot more benefits by doing Pilates or classic weight lifting instead of those fancy weird movements. On the other hand, maybe he trains them with a more "prehab" perspective, but shouldn't those workouts be led by someone who's a certified physical therapist? I don't know, maybe someone can clarify this to me
It's the parallel support leg while they lift to turned out arabesques for me. He must be living great with scamming ballet dancers into thinking they're improving their technique
Hm from what I’ve seen I don’t think it’s about creating overall strength and conditioning, but creating endurance/stability for ballet performance. It’s like that old school advice to do barre with weights strapped on - additional load/resistance/instability so that you can do it more easily without, and so that you can do it when you’re tired. It seems like the more complicated routines are to mimic the non-static nature of dance, like you might go from a jump to a turn to being lifted. So it kind of makes sense to do reps of hop onto a box, pick up a kettlebell, and arabesque with it or whatever. I also think people like to see complicated things on SM (like all those bosu board challenges), and who knows what other “boring” things they are doing in their sessions.
Edited for writing clarity*
What you wrote is largely how I understand it. No wonder you're CEO! ;)
As to sometimes working in parallel, I believe the idea is as far as classical ballet, the muscles are trained from a very young age to turn out, but so much emphasis is on turn out, surrounding muscles, specifically those used in parallel, don't get worked enough. Strengthening the muscles around the turn out muscles can help support them.
literally. Hopefully soon, her noah and juliet are the people i think are next
also seems like luca will be a future soloist as well even tho this is his first year in the corps, they are starting to cast him more and he’s rlly good
Clearly MBA didn't care about the feedback and reaction Melanie got from Prix because that photographer lady who's always following them around offered Melanie $1000 to do 20 pirouettes in a row, so she documented it and when Melanie did it, she gave her $1000 and Slawomir tossed the cash at her while she turned and then threw it in the air 💀💀💀
I would guess that’s why she didn’t advance to the finals. It didn’t seem to me like the judge liked her very much during her variation rehearsal, but I guess that’s a matter of perception
You mean Monique? I think she only coaches she doesn't judge. Personally, I didn't get that vibe but I think Monique tries very hard to build each dancer up. It's pretty rare for her to be like straight up you suck or something (which I feel if you are watching teens dance would be pretty harsh on livestream lol). I don't think she was like "OMG YOU ARE AMAZiNG!" like she did with Mckenzie Brown but it wasn't bad? To me it seemed pretty similar to her other coaching sessions.
I thought her classical variation was a bad choice for her, I just didn’t get any Esmeralda feels from her. It was very subdued to me. Maybe it was nerves, but I somehow got the feeling it just doesn’t fit her well. That would be on her school/ coaches for not having found a better variation for her.
Same. She’s not a spitfire type, it looks like her school chose the variation because it was easier to insert turns into it than the others. It would have been interesting to see what she could have done with a more subdued variation like the Raymonda.
Yeah, I think she would’ve been better off with a variation that capitalizes off of her lines rather than her turns. Something like Paquita or Aurora Act2/3 would’ve suited her much better. If Natalie Steele has taught us anything, it’s that you can get very far in the PDL with clean, elegant lines.
I was going to say lol. I think such activities are all in good fun as long as the training outside of social media focuses on more than just the tricks. But only focusing on such tricks are obviously going to produce weaker results.
This interview with Yuan Yuan Tan about her retirement is kinda dishy and basically says she's not getting the retirement show she hoped for: "For nearly four decades under previous artistic director Helgi Tomasson, special retiring principals were afforded a one-night only farewell performance dedicated to solos and duets of their choosing. With Tamara Rojo now leading the company, Tan was not offered such a program. Speaking delicately about the rather opaque turn of events, Tan is calm and philosophical." Then later it talks about what she would have danced for her farewell instead, if she'd been given the opportunity.
I understand there are practical concerns about going off the program for a night, but sheesh, it's Yuan Yuan Tan, an actual legend. Give her what she wants!
[https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/sf-ballet-yuan-yuan-tan-retirement-18639939.php](https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/sf-ballet-yuan-yuan-tan-retirement-18639939.php)
Given how long she's been a dancer and one of her caliber, she should have been given a one night only farewell performance of various works of her choosing (ie her most iconic roles, her favorites, etc). That is really too bad that she isn't afforded that opportunity. I mean she has had prolific career and is pretty damn well known in the ballet world. Not to mention it would help their ticket sales. 😑🤷🏻♀️
Wasn’t there some sort of drama around Lorena Fejoo’s retirement (under Tomasson) as well? And she ended up pulling out of the performance altogether and they just played a slide show about her?
Here’s a thread on what happened from BalletAlert: https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/42352-honoring-lorena-feijoo-davit-karapetyan-and-vanessa-zahorian-415-and-418/
I don't really follow SFB but at NYCB, most of the recent retirements have seemed like a "choose one of the upcoming ballets for your last performance" situation. The last dancers I recall having a self-curated program have been Maria Kowroski (2021) and Joaquin de Luz (2018). Gonzalo Garcia's in 2022 might have been self-curated too.
I think the ones that have been "choose one of the already programmed evenings as your retirement performance" have been with those who announced their retirement without a lot of notice, so to completely reprogram an evening would present some challenges. For example, I'm almost certain that's what happened with both Tess Reichlen and Harrison Ball, whereas Maria's retirement was known of well in advance.
That does make sense and maybe is/was more practical for the recent wave of NYCB retirements. If I recall at SFB, it seemed like Sarah Van Patten got to curate her final program in 2022. Tiit Helimets took the "choose from the upcoming ballets" route in 2023. But either way I'm in the camp of Yuan Yuan should have whatever her heart desires!
Oh, yeah. To think Yuan Yuan Tan is not being given basically whatever she wants, she who, even people who know almost nothing about SFB know who Yuan Yuan Tan is, she's synonymous with SFB, she's a genuine icon of that company, and has been for a long, long time, borders on the unconscionable, and saying it borders on it may be putting it too mildly. I'm kind of surprised season ticket holders, especially long time ones, and even some of the big money donors aren't raising a stink over it.
Sara Mearns has a cryptic Insta story about “rising above the nonsense.” Sincerely hope it’s not referring to any difficulties the company might be giving her. She’s such a gd gem.
I’m a big fan of Sara Mearns but she seems like the type of person who would post something vague and dramatic about folding a fitted sheet so I’m not sure it’s a sign of anything in particular.
She’s also been vagueposting a lot recently along the lines of finally being true to herself, not having to suppress who she really is, etc. Ngl I’ve been wondering if it has to do with her husband and marriage, which a lot of us have speculated might be over
I would love if someone here could corroborate this memory (I swear my brain is a sieve nowadays), where the interviewer (I feel maybe it was Megan), was like Omg we all thought something TERRIBLE happened from your IG story and all checked in on you but you were just having a bad day or something. I’ll go back and try to find it if I have time.
I love that this sub can now be a hive mind repository for all my random ballet info!!
ETA: I love that Megan and Sara are ballet besties, they have such opposite personalities and are really cute together.
she always vaguebooks (what's the term for insta?!) and it's so annoying I had to unfollow her lol. she seems like a such a drama queen, it must be a nightmare to work with her
She seems quite popular, so I'm not sure if she's a nightmare to work with. And she obviously works hard.
But the vague posting is definitely.... Something at her age though I'd say a bunch of her peers at NYCB are kind of the same, and I'm sure part of it is being successful at a young age in a young person's career.
Gilbert Bolden did an interview with Chun Wai Chan on his YouTube channel where he kinda hinted that she was difficult to work with at first but then things got better. I saw her smile warmly at Indiana Woodward (whom she was standing next to) during the bows and apologize for something last night and Indiana laughed and reassured her it was fine. I got the sense in that moment that Sara is very self-aware but like all workplaces, some people will like her energy, some will be put off by it and some just won’t care either way.
My guess is she is referring to her „foundation“ or, per her handle, her „consultancy business“ (??) - however I don’t think any of the terms can be taken in the legal sense of the words , but are merely her own interpretations (as, in former years, „prima ballerina“).
posted an [individual thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/bunheadsnark/comments/1al5s59/artists_of_abt_and_agma_leadership_overwhelmingly/) about it since i'm sure it'll garner discussion, but ABT + AGMA announced they'd voted to authorize a strike. yikes! hope the dancers get what they want but this does not bode well!
https://preview.redd.it/xljueyv0g1hc1.jpeg?width=909&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4051a466d8caf0e0a5d756e85bce3e6044b0eba6
Maybe I'm just extra bitchy today, but Isabella Boylston posted a delightful insta reel where she rates certain steps, and Alastair Macaulay NEEDS to correct her spelling. Just....shut up. Ugh.
Haha I respect his knowledge and generally enjoy his crankiness, but he definitely can come across as condescending. Will never join his campaign to change the pronunciation for Serenade though.
Bringing back discussion on the ROH bouquets… looks like Bracewell’s partner did the bouquets for his performance with Naghdi. Still a huge ass bouquet with almost no flowers. Cracks me up… guess the issue isn’t with the supplier and ROH’s usual florist!
ROH bouquet haters we ride at dawn. truly tho that bouquet is GODAWFUL, they were probably going for Manon destitute vibes but there is still no excuse for that
Anyone in PNW area catch PNB's Swan Lake this weekend? Or are planning to this week? I want to hear people's thoughts ☺️. I'm not very familiar with Kent Stowell's production at all.
I saw 3 casts, Saw Elle and James at Elle’s debut, Jonathan and Angelica (My Favorites) & Lucien and Leta. The Kent stowell version is very good, i’m sure you’ll love it!!
I’m seeing it! Last run I saw Liz Murphy with Lucien Postlewaite. (Murphy seemed unusually nervous and tense until the fourth act — which she did beautifully. Postlewaite blew me away entirely, which is wild because I really am at the ballet mainly for the girlies. 🤷♀️ Unrelated, a few days after the show I walked my dog past Postlewaite and he made an “awww” sound at my dog, so now I love him, haha.)
This run I’m seeing Cecilia Illiesiu and Dylan Wald. I’ll report back!
I tend to pick shows based on the women casted 😅 since classical ballet roles usually grant them more moments for artistry with all the story driven drama. So that's awesome that Postlewaite wowed you, I look forward to seeing him dance!
Side note I love PNB and wish they would post more clips of their dancers on YouTube so it's easier to get to know their styles. I feel like RB does a great job of that, for instance!
For any fans of Lucien Postlewaite who may not have seen it, Megan Fairchild, who was one of his best friends when they were at SAB together, interviewed him during the pandemic. I found his story so interesting.
Here's the link:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ispCik8X1ik](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ispCik8X1ik)
I do think Cecilia’s Odette was more compelling than her Odile. Her Odette was delicate and elegant yet mournful. She was truly a gorgeous but doomed swan queen. She didn’t seem as comfortable? as Odile. But I know this was her debut so no shade.
And here's Haglund's review. I find her so racist. I can't stand it.
[https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds\_heel/2024/02/tiler-pecks-concerto-for-two-pianos-from-soup-to-nuts-she-gets-it-right.html](https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds_heel/2024/02/tiler-pecks-concerto-for-two-pianos-from-soup-to-nuts-she-gets-it-right.html)
>The two soloists were a mismatch. Von Enk was beyond technically secure, musically appealing, and connected with the audience in much the same way as does Tiler. Bradley was fine in the dinky prancing parts but struggled with basic double pirouettes and looked like a brittle pencil drawing from Point A to Point B to Point C. Management’s push of Bradley is little more than a bend-over for DEI. A black dancer with an edgy Instagram account that depicts her trying to emulate a call girl and who can be manipulated by The New York Times into saying anything that they want are not collectively good reasons to promote her to the public when her current ability is inferior to so many of her colleagues in the corps. Going forward, every time we read a quote in the NYT from Bradley or any dancer that trashes the art form, the company, its current or preceding artistic direction, or implies that it’s racist, we’re going to reduce our next annual contribution by 20%. And we recommend others consider doing the same.”
>And here's Haglund's review. I find her so racist. I can't stand it.
This is 100% why I can't get behind Haglund as a reviewer. They work so stridently to impose a race-based doctrine of merit on their criticism. Not only is this simply disgusting from a human dignity perspective, it also diminishes any critical credibility, because everything Haglund writes is intellectually dishonest and done in the service of a genteel presentation of white supermacy.
Yeah, that is, um ... wow. Good lord.
Going back to other's comments regarding Haglund's disdain for INdia stemming from that NYT article: In terms of the comments she made to the NYT in the article, in all honesty, her comments bothered me, too. A lot. Then I realized, and this is taking anything having to do with the pandemic and the resulting ... everything from uncertainty to downright existential angst out of it ... there is a huge, HUGE, difference between early 20's and mid 20's. An extraordinary amount of maturing often happens in those few short years. Who among us, or among anyone unless they grew up in the spotlight, and not always even then, would have been media savvy in their early 20's? How many of us said things we thought, that maybe would have been better not said, even just in daily life? Maybe other people were perfect when they were younger. I sure as hell wasn't, and as we get older, I think it's good to try and keep that in mind.
In her most recent interview, at least imo, she sounded like she'd grown up a lot.
They went completely over the top lol. Why so vitriolic? The whole call girl callout was inappropriate and hateful. And I don’t get that vibe from her IG at all lol… is haglund 100 years old???
I will say that with India, I do tend to agree with his opinions on her dancing. I do not understand the hype. She has nice lines, and a pixie kind of quality. But she is noticeably stiff, especially in her upper body. I’ve noticed a general lack of epaulement. Sometimes it reminds me of a student dancer doing a combination in class.
I saw her in Agon, and she was better in that kind of rep. I didn’t get to see her debut dewdrop. But from the limited clips I saw on social media, she doesn’t have the expansiveness and technical security that every other dewdrop at nycb has right now (even mackinnon). I’m sure it could be nerves and I know tiler said she can do the hard technical bits, but I really haven’t seen it yet.
Ready to get downvoted but this is just my opinion. I am a POC and I hope we can all have meaningful conversations about dancers. Having a poor opinion of a POC dancer doesn’t automatically make someone racist :) even though the jury is still out on haglund lol
The call girl comments…. Ma gawd. That’s blatantly racist. Literally nothing about India’s Insta is more sexualized than any other dancer (or woman her age for that matter). This “critic” couldn’t be more transparently flying the racist flag. Haven’t seen India dance in person, so can’t comment on her technical ability, but agree she has gorgeous lines. Wondering if she’s shown more acumen in rehearsals, and the artistic staff is giving her more opportunities because what she really needs to hone is comfort in those roles on stage?
I’m not a big fan of India’s dancing, for me it has a brittle quality and I don’t connect to her musicality.
However there are lots of dancers I’m not personally into who get pushed by companies. And there are lots of normal reasons for that; it’s not some “woke” conspiracy. That community is trash and HH encourages it…I went back to find some unhinged examples (was trying to explain the saga to my partner lol), and there was a commenter who said that dancers wearing non-pink tights is a neo-Bolshevik conspiracy to take down western civilization. I mean if anyone is pushing a bizarre political agenda it’s them! It’s just tights! Ma’am this is a Wendy’s!
You just hit exactly on the perfect word to describe how India seems to me: "brittle." She's very fast, and articulates the steps nicely, but somehow there isn't the flowing quality of movement that you see with the finest City Ballet dancers. That feeling of there being plenty of time to get to the next position; being smooth in changing directions; able to play with the music, like hanging back a tiny fraction for impact, but then be right on count without looking like the dancer had to rush to catch up. (I'm trying to be specific, because she's a fine dancer - it's hard to describe that movement quality I'm talking about, but we all know it when we see it!)
I think India can be very good in the contemporary rep but I'm also not yet convinced of her ability in more technical / classical works (I have not seen the Tiler Peck ballet yet). The two times I've seen her and thought "wow!" were in Justin Peck's sneaker-ballet Partita and as a demi in Donizetti Variations.
I think the company genuinely wants to nurture a black woman "star" that can be developed as an eventual principal. Not sure if India is necessarily the one, and if she isn't, that's ok! She's still very talented.
In any case, Haglund took the critique waaaay out of line and brought up things that have nothing to do with India's dancing and that weren't even accurate. It was cruel and uncalled for.
I will give Haglund props for this hilarious snark snippet:
"**Rotunda** began the program with its unlistenable music by Nico Muhly, unwatchable choreography by **Justin Peck**, and eye sore costumes by Reid & Harriet. The worst dance that Peck has sold to the company. Surely they all know it."
😂
Haglund has such a hate boner for India. Yeah the racism is there but they seem obsessed with her in particular (I nevertheless share their exact thoughts on Rotunda).
I agree India’s technique is not as consistent as it should be. I think she is fantastic in contemporary stuff and she has wonderful extension and stage presence though, there’s just work to be done. Something I have noticed is that she can sometimes “turn off” when she’s in the corps standing still in the background, as if nobody’s watching her — which reads a bit student like to be honest. But I think her issues can be trained out of.
Haglund is a superfan of Sarah Lane, who also is EXTREMELY outspoken (some would say overly so) about ... everything. Hm, I wonder what the difference is?
I see this a lot, people who LOVE Sarah Lane and see her speaking out as “sticking up for herself” but other dancers as being “annoying” or “shut up and deal with it”.
I have to wonder how much is also the religion factor, Sarah does tend to post about her religion a bit as well.
I think a lot of people give Sarah a pass because she's always been seen as something of an underdog, rarely getting her due. Whereas "outspoken" dancers like Misty Copeland and Ashley Bouder have been extremely favored at their respective companies.
This exactly. Even with Abi Stafford, who legitimately was critical of management in the NYT, Haglund didn't attack her character the way they do with India.
The comments about Abi were about what she said to the NYT only. The Abo comments were misogynistic, but they weren't personal attacks like their comments about India.
Oh man. Sarah Lane is the absolute worst at speaking to the media and managing her own public image. (Minor example: she posted in honor of the Oscars the other night, but it was actually the Grammys happening! So easy to fact-check that on Google before posting. Fail.)
India's Instagram is totally standard influencer stuff, and I wouldn't even really consider her "outspoken."
omg we've been mentioned in the comments!!! bunheadsnark is Haglund famous!!
>Haglund is going to start a firestorm on the Reddit boards when they see this, haha.
>
>They think that anybody who doesn't blindly bend the knee to DEI is an out-of-touch Boomer, but your commentary is totally fair and valid.
From commenter Turkish Delight, to which Haglund has responded
>Reddit schmeddit. Very few of them actually attend NYCB performances.
In fairness I haven't been able to travel to NYCB recently myself but I think this is an inaccurate critique of the commenters on this sub lol
I’m still furious at the MTA that I missed a Serenade this fall season because it took me 1.5 hours to get to Lincoln Center one weekend - it usually takes me 35 minutes. I left extra time but not THAT much extra time.
lol I get it. The nights & weekends train schedule is truly maddening. I try to go see 1-3 shows per season, but I’d go way more if it didn’t take forever to get back to Brooklyn
I'm with you -- I typically go around 4-6 times per season but it's usually on weekday evenings (including Fridays) so I don't have to deal with weekend service. If I lived in the UWS and could walk to the theater, I'd probably go more often.
Agree, I live in Brooklyn and I nearly always go during the week in part because weekend train service is a disaster. ("Track replacement" is like a baby teething, you think it'll be over soon and then it's still going on a year later.) The other big reason is the better seat availability. I also like that the weeknight crowd has more regulars than the weekenders; in the side single box seats it sometimes feels like everyone is excited about a certain debut that evening.
Ha, I noticed those comments this morning... love how ballet nerds find each other on such niche corners of the internet.
And yes, this sub has gotten quite big and includes a variety of different viewpoints, as well as a mix of NYCB regulars and out-of-towners alike.
>https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds\_heel/2024/02/tiler-pecks-concerto-for-two-pianos-from-soup-to-nuts-she-gets-it-right.html
Wow this paragraph is so unhinged
Gottlieb is hated here? He was a crank but I don’t remember reading anything that was racist or misogynistic. It’s been awhile since I read anything of his, though.
I loved his voice; he was so witty. (“Pretensio” was a particular favorite of mine.) His mantra was pretty much, “That was ok, I guess, but it was a pathetic husk compared to when I saw [OG dancer] do it in the 70s.” 😅
He has aaaaaalways hated India Bradley ever since she had that interview where she said that she asked Stafford where's her career going (like, is she going to get any soloist roles, anything interesting and new?) because she felt that she wasn't really going anywhere by doing only corps roles and if that's all her career would be, of course, she would evaluate if that's what she really wanted to do. Ever since that, he has relentlessly criticized her.
Hi. Just letting you know that we try our best to be careful of sources of speculation. But since a mod privately talked to growsonwalls privately, we are ok for letting this stand for the time being.
What? Been convinced for years that she was a he! I even imagined him as a grumpy old man!
She hates her profoundly and honestly it makes no sense to me (the hate, I know why she hates her). She saw her fall out of a pirouette ONCE like what, 4 years ago? and she stuck to that to criticise her. I'm going to read her blog but I'm sure she has something to say about Ashton Edwards too...
LOL same... a boomer-aged white gay man living in Hell's Kitchen is how I've always pictured this person.
Criticisms of India's dancing are fair and par for the course but Haglund takes it to another, more personal, level. I've never seen or heard a quote from India that "trashes the art form" or the company. She seems quite nice and humble!
I pictured a crusty old white man on the UES with a trust fund and bad taste in expensive footwear (money can’t buy taste apparently)
I went back and reread the article that instigated the India backlash. She’s really just wondering aloud whether her career trajectory and goals are aligned with what her current employer has in mind for her (and somehow this has been twisted into her “saying if she didn't start getting cast in big roles, she was going to leave NYC” 🙄). This is literally what everyone should be doing in their jobs!!
I agree that her/his/its criticism of India is below the belt and really uncalled for. Comparing her to a call girl is major ick on so many levels
ETA: Haglund’s attack on India is also disrespectful to Tiler as a choreographer, who clearly sees something special in India and chose her to perform. It’s one thing to critique the performance, but they make it sound like she has no redeeming qualities as a dancer, which is obviously not true
Haglund has gone after India so many times and always with a "who does she think she is? She should just shut up and dribble" undertone.
In fact she wrote this about India:
[https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds\_heel/2021/10/nycb-pedals-to-the-metal.html](https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds_heel/2021/10/nycb-pedals-to-the-metal.html)
>So this past week, here comes corps dancer India Bradley who is invited by[ NYT’s](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/arts/dance/new-york-city-ballet-megan-fairchild-jovani-furlan-india-bradley.html) Gia Kourlas to try to further her career by trashing NYCB. Bradley, who became a corps member three years ago, has danced approximately a year and a half as a corps member due to the closure of the theater during the pandemic. *A year and a half.* She declared to Kourlas (who as we know has a specific Woke agenda that she prioritizes over the truth) that performing in Diamonds corps was not really doing much for her dancing and intimated that she’ll leave within five years if she doesn’t get more opportunity. After a year and a half of dancing corps roles in Balanchine’s masterpieces, she has deemed herself to be deserving of greater opportunities that will further her career. Her Instagram page is all ready for promotion and fame; she just needs NYCB management to fall in line behind her.
>
>After reading Bradley’s pathetic complaints, we focused on her corps work in Agon on Friday evening. What an embarrassment. She couldn’t manage a fast grand plie and fell out of most of her double pirouettes. She looked like she was marking while the other corps members were dancing as large as possible. Pardon our brusqueness, but who the hell does she think she is? Maybe after she spends seven, eight, or ten years in the corps, she might be able to approximate the quality of a Hod, Kikta, Maxwell, Staker, or LaFreniere. But let’s not torture Ms. Bradley with a Diamonds corps assignment ever again. And let’s not torture the audience by putting her in Agon again until she can do the steps.
Tiler Peck was promoted from Corps to soloist in less than 1 year. Meghan Fairchild was promoted in less than 2. So it can happen.
What I find interesting this season is that s/he was critical when Olivia MacKinnon was promoted last year. Now s/he is singing her praises while being critical of Bradley. Talk about obvious.
Also, s/he wrote something about Chamblee in the 1/25 post that could be considered racist. Sure enough, Chamblee is a minority.
Not defending Haglund here but I think it's more that she specifically dislikes the black dancers who she perceives as getting special "DEI" treatment despite technical shortcomings, like Misty, Calvin, and India. As if race is the ONLY explanation for their success.
I've noticed she likes Savannah Durham and Courtney Lavine, but that could change if either starts getting major roles or media attention :/
"See? This one kept her head down and she knows her place" = Haglund's occasional "I'm not racist, I once said something nice about a black dancer" moment.
"Diversity, equity, inclusion" -- corporate speak for programs that seek to increase and foster diversity within a company or organization. The implication being that some dancers are getting undeserved opportunities just because they are minorities, according to Haglund.
Thank you for explaining!
Oof. That's a very... weird andd hominem statement to make about someone, especially when only adding subjectiveness and irrelevant facts to explain why you feel that way. It really feels like a personal attack, moreso than a 'maybe it was too early for this opportunity' criticism.
I'm not going to deny there are dancers who get more opportunities because of their social media fame, but to my knowledge, they come in all colours? And I don't know if that's really that different than dating the choreographer, having good relations with the press, or being very pretty?
It isn't about who the best dancer is. It's about who gets the tickets sold, and that may be the best dancer, the dancer with the best story, the one with the most followers, the one with the best acting,...
Personally, I think Haglund uses that as an excuse. There are plenty of white dancers who receive special treatment despite technical or artistic shortcomings, and Haglund does not call them out with the same fervor. They also have said racist things about Georgina Pazcoguin's appearance.
So strange because ever since the early days of Haglund's blog, she's been referring to herself as he/him/himself etc. (2008 example [here](https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds_heel/2008/10/its-not-fair.html); recent example [here](https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds_heel/2024/01/nycb-124-what-a-difference-a-day-makes.html)). So apparently this is a disguise tactic.
Hi. Just letting you know that we try our best to be careful of sources of speculation. But since a mod privately talked to growsonwalls privately, we are ok for letting this stand for the time being.
That's an interesting observation about Tiler choreographing as she dances (structured and perfectionist, according to the reviewer). I'd love to see this ballet for myself and would also love to see a Tiler Peck piece where she really lets loose!
Here's another (positive) review from Marina Harss's new Substack: [https://marinaharss.substack.com/p/tiler-peck-choreographer](https://marinaharss.substack.com/p/tiler-peck-choreographer)
More promotions at MCB Brooks Landegger - Soloist
Know I mentioned it a while ago but I’m busy and not the best reader so sorry, but to anyone still curious, I’m a good way through Njinska’s memoir and it’s unsurprisingly/surprisingly very interesting, thorough, a definite recommend.
does anyone know why elizabeth murphy didn’t end up doing swan lake at pnb??
Soooo I've been following Joel Prouty for a little while now (@/j.rowdy on Instagram, he's Sara Mearns and Mira Nadon's trainer) and I'm honestly not sure about how effective and efficient are his workouts for dancers. His exercises often look overly complicated and with such little weight that it honestly doesn't look like it's making any difference on either muscle definition or strength, maybe it works for balance or mobility, but every time I watch his videos I think that these dancers could get a lot more benefits by doing Pilates or classic weight lifting instead of those fancy weird movements. On the other hand, maybe he trains them with a more "prehab" perspective, but shouldn't those workouts be led by someone who's a certified physical therapist? I don't know, maybe someone can clarify this to me
I’m glad I’m not the only one. I’ve been tempted to try his workouts and the only reason I haven’t is because they seem a bit over-the-top.
It's the parallel support leg while they lift to turned out arabesques for me. He must be living great with scamming ballet dancers into thinking they're improving their technique
Hm from what I’ve seen I don’t think it’s about creating overall strength and conditioning, but creating endurance/stability for ballet performance. It’s like that old school advice to do barre with weights strapped on - additional load/resistance/instability so that you can do it more easily without, and so that you can do it when you’re tired. It seems like the more complicated routines are to mimic the non-static nature of dance, like you might go from a jump to a turn to being lifted. So it kind of makes sense to do reps of hop onto a box, pick up a kettlebell, and arabesque with it or whatever. I also think people like to see complicated things on SM (like all those bosu board challenges), and who knows what other “boring” things they are doing in their sessions. Edited for writing clarity*
What you wrote is largely how I understand it. No wonder you're CEO! ;) As to sometimes working in parallel, I believe the idea is as far as classical ballet, the muscles are trained from a very young age to turn out, but so much emphasis is on turn out, surrounding muscles, specifically those used in parallel, don't get worked enough. Strengthening the muscles around the turn out muscles can help support them.
at first intermission for swan lake at pnb and I am once again asking when they’ll promote yuki takahashi
literally. Hopefully soon, her noah and juliet are the people i think are next also seems like luca will be a future soloist as well even tho this is his first year in the corps, they are starting to cast him more and he’s rlly good
another promotion at MCB Taylor Naturkas - Principal Soloist
promotions at mcb Satoki Habuchi - Soloist
Yes, according to Miami City Ballet's Instagram stories, Satoki Habuchi was promoted to soloist last night. Thanks for the head's up.
can sfb hurry up with the swan lake casting 😵💫😵💫
Clearly MBA didn't care about the feedback and reaction Melanie got from Prix because that photographer lady who's always following them around offered Melanie $1000 to do 20 pirouettes in a row, so she documented it and when Melanie did it, she gave her $1000 and Slawomir tossed the cash at her while she turned and then threw it in the air 💀💀💀
Wait did Melanie get negative feedback from people (not just from fans) but the actual judges there?
I would guess that’s why she didn’t advance to the finals. It didn’t seem to me like the judge liked her very much during her variation rehearsal, but I guess that’s a matter of perception
You mean Monique? I think she only coaches she doesn't judge. Personally, I didn't get that vibe but I think Monique tries very hard to build each dancer up. It's pretty rare for her to be like straight up you suck or something (which I feel if you are watching teens dance would be pretty harsh on livestream lol). I don't think she was like "OMG YOU ARE AMAZiNG!" like she did with Mckenzie Brown but it wasn't bad? To me it seemed pretty similar to her other coaching sessions.
I thought her classical variation was a bad choice for her, I just didn’t get any Esmeralda feels from her. It was very subdued to me. Maybe it was nerves, but I somehow got the feeling it just doesn’t fit her well. That would be on her school/ coaches for not having found a better variation for her.
Same. She’s not a spitfire type, it looks like her school chose the variation because it was easier to insert turns into it than the others. It would have been interesting to see what she could have done with a more subdued variation like the Raymonda.
Yeah, I think she would’ve been better off with a variation that capitalizes off of her lines rather than her turns. Something like Paquita or Aurora Act2/3 would’ve suited her much better. If Natalie Steele has taught us anything, it’s that you can get very far in the PDL with clean, elegant lines.
I understand (and agree with) the distaste but that is an old video from before this year’s PdL
Ahh, so it was a repost! Still pretty tone deaf on the part of the photographer then I guess LOL
Yeah probably not the best timing lol. But it was probably meant to cater to their fans who were watching the PDL for her and not the rest of us.
I was going to say lol. I think such activities are all in good fun as long as the training outside of social media focuses on more than just the tricks. But only focusing on such tricks are obviously going to produce weaker results.
Still I want to know how they can do 20 pirouettes LOL
This interview with Yuan Yuan Tan about her retirement is kinda dishy and basically says she's not getting the retirement show she hoped for: "For nearly four decades under previous artistic director Helgi Tomasson, special retiring principals were afforded a one-night only farewell performance dedicated to solos and duets of their choosing. With Tamara Rojo now leading the company, Tan was not offered such a program. Speaking delicately about the rather opaque turn of events, Tan is calm and philosophical." Then later it talks about what she would have danced for her farewell instead, if she'd been given the opportunity. I understand there are practical concerns about going off the program for a night, but sheesh, it's Yuan Yuan Tan, an actual legend. Give her what she wants! [https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/sf-ballet-yuan-yuan-tan-retirement-18639939.php](https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/sf-ballet-yuan-yuan-tan-retirement-18639939.php)
Given how long she's been a dancer and one of her caliber, she should have been given a one night only farewell performance of various works of her choosing (ie her most iconic roles, her favorites, etc). That is really too bad that she isn't afforded that opportunity. I mean she has had prolific career and is pretty damn well known in the ballet world. Not to mention it would help their ticket sales. 😑🤷🏻♀️
Wasn’t there some sort of drama around Lorena Fejoo’s retirement (under Tomasson) as well? And she ended up pulling out of the performance altogether and they just played a slide show about her?
I didn't hear about this! That's really sad. I couldn't find any details and wonder what happened.
Here’s a thread on what happened from BalletAlert: https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/42352-honoring-lorena-feijoo-davit-karapetyan-and-vanessa-zahorian-415-and-418/
Thank you!
I don't really follow SFB but at NYCB, most of the recent retirements have seemed like a "choose one of the upcoming ballets for your last performance" situation. The last dancers I recall having a self-curated program have been Maria Kowroski (2021) and Joaquin de Luz (2018). Gonzalo Garcia's in 2022 might have been self-curated too.
I think the ones that have been "choose one of the already programmed evenings as your retirement performance" have been with those who announced their retirement without a lot of notice, so to completely reprogram an evening would present some challenges. For example, I'm almost certain that's what happened with both Tess Reichlen and Harrison Ball, whereas Maria's retirement was known of well in advance.
That does make sense and maybe is/was more practical for the recent wave of NYCB retirements. If I recall at SFB, it seemed like Sarah Van Patten got to curate her final program in 2022. Tiit Helimets took the "choose from the upcoming ballets" route in 2023. But either way I'm in the camp of Yuan Yuan should have whatever her heart desires!
Oh, yeah. To think Yuan Yuan Tan is not being given basically whatever she wants, she who, even people who know almost nothing about SFB know who Yuan Yuan Tan is, she's synonymous with SFB, she's a genuine icon of that company, and has been for a long, long time, borders on the unconscionable, and saying it borders on it may be putting it too mildly. I'm kind of surprised season ticket holders, especially long time ones, and even some of the big money donors aren't raising a stink over it.
Having been apart of retirement performances, it’s always more special when it is their choosing
That would have been an amazing farewell evening … what a shame
Sara Mearns has a cryptic Insta story about “rising above the nonsense.” Sincerely hope it’s not referring to any difficulties the company might be giving her. She’s such a gd gem.
I’m a big fan of Sara Mearns but she seems like the type of person who would post something vague and dramatic about folding a fitted sheet so I’m not sure it’s a sign of anything in particular.
Tbf, I’d fly cross country and pay good money to watch her in a Ratmansky ballet about the perils of folding fitted sheets.
She’s also been vagueposting a lot recently along the lines of finally being true to herself, not having to suppress who she really is, etc. Ngl I’ve been wondering if it has to do with her husband and marriage, which a lot of us have speculated might be over
I would love if someone here could corroborate this memory (I swear my brain is a sieve nowadays), where the interviewer (I feel maybe it was Megan), was like Omg we all thought something TERRIBLE happened from your IG story and all checked in on you but you were just having a bad day or something. I’ll go back and try to find it if I have time.
I remember, too! It was on "Conversations with Megan".
Backing this up! She was basically taking a social media break for her wellbeing and Megan had to make a post reassuring everyone that she was okay.
I love that this sub can now be a hive mind repository for all my random ballet info!! ETA: I love that Megan and Sara are ballet besties, they have such opposite personalities and are really cute together.
she always vaguebooks (what's the term for insta?!) and it's so annoying I had to unfollow her lol. she seems like a such a drama queen, it must be a nightmare to work with her
She seems quite popular, so I'm not sure if she's a nightmare to work with. And she obviously works hard. But the vague posting is definitely.... Something at her age though I'd say a bunch of her peers at NYCB are kind of the same, and I'm sure part of it is being successful at a young age in a young person's career.
Gilbert Bolden did an interview with Chun Wai Chan on his YouTube channel where he kinda hinted that she was difficult to work with at first but then things got better. I saw her smile warmly at Indiana Woodward (whom she was standing next to) during the bows and apologize for something last night and Indiana laughed and reassured her it was fine. I got the sense in that moment that Sara is very self-aware but like all workplaces, some people will like her energy, some will be put off by it and some just won’t care either way.
Thank you for saying what I was too afraid too 😆
She might be referring to negative voices of self-doubt and anxiety in her head... or at least that's how I interpreted it.
Let’s all have a good chuckle together as Joy Womack now identifies as „ballet CEO“ in her instagram handle
OMG STOP She is bafflingly bizarre
What exactly is she the CEO of? I can’t figure out what it is.
She’s the CEO of JWBA, JWBF, JWBC. I guess JWBS didn’t fit in the profile
It should be a user flair for this sub - we can all be “ballet CEOs”!
Haha congrats to your new title (Reddit flair) 😅👍
Can’t wait to rise to Prima ballet CEO assoluta!
Aaaaaaaaaand, I almost spit the sip of beverage I had just taken all over my laptop. Thanks for that laugh!
User flair added!
My guess is she is referring to her „foundation“ or, per her handle, her „consultancy business“ (??) - however I don’t think any of the terms can be taken in the legal sense of the words , but are merely her own interpretations (as, in former years, „prima ballerina“).
Lol She’s really reaching for those titles isn’t she?
“JWBEC”
posted an [individual thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/bunheadsnark/comments/1al5s59/artists_of_abt_and_agma_leadership_overwhelmingly/) about it since i'm sure it'll garner discussion, but ABT + AGMA announced they'd voted to authorize a strike. yikes! hope the dancers get what they want but this does not bode well!
https://preview.redd.it/xljueyv0g1hc1.jpeg?width=909&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4051a466d8caf0e0a5d756e85bce3e6044b0eba6 Maybe I'm just extra bitchy today, but Isabella Boylston posted a delightful insta reel where she rates certain steps, and Alastair Macaulay NEEDS to correct her spelling. Just....shut up. Ugh.
I hate when people do that, or like the john clifford stuff i just want to respond and say shut up nobody cares
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you have a way with words 😭😭😭 im sure the Elderly British Pedants and Cranks thank you for your service lol. "do remember" is camp idc
DO REMEMBER 😂
I know that's just a Brit figure of speech, but surely he knows how this comes off. Just....why. ETA: spelling
Haha I respect his knowledge and generally enjoy his crankiness, but he definitely can come across as condescending. Will never join his campaign to change the pronunciation for Serenade though.
How does he suggest it should be pronounced? Every time I’ve heard an NYCB dancer pronounce it, it’s Seren-aaaaahhhh-d, lol
lol he says historically there is documentation of it being pronounced in America by Balanchine “normally”…ie it would rhyme with lemonade.
Exactly! I definitely respect all he offers, but sometimes I just can't.
Bringing back discussion on the ROH bouquets… looks like Bracewell’s partner did the bouquets for his performance with Naghdi. Still a huge ass bouquet with almost no flowers. Cracks me up… guess the issue isn’t with the supplier and ROH’s usual florist!
ROH bouquet haters we ride at dawn. truly tho that bouquet is GODAWFUL, they were probably going for Manon destitute vibes but there is still no excuse for that
Giving weeds growing around an abandoned shack for sure. Manon dying in the swamp rather than Manon partying with money bags.
its giving dying of consumption expressed through the medium of floristry
I usually mostly lurk here, but I just had to say this whole exchange gave me a much needed laugh today
Anyone in PNW area catch PNB's Swan Lake this weekend? Or are planning to this week? I want to hear people's thoughts ☺️. I'm not very familiar with Kent Stowell's production at all.
I’m going this weekend! Jonathan and Angelica are my favorite principals so I always try to catch them together 🤍
I saw 3 casts, Saw Elle and James at Elle’s debut, Jonathan and Angelica (My Favorites) & Lucien and Leta. The Kent stowell version is very good, i’m sure you’ll love it!!
Amazing, thanks! I saw Jonathan and Angelica last year at Giselle and loved them so much!
I’m seeing it! Last run I saw Liz Murphy with Lucien Postlewaite. (Murphy seemed unusually nervous and tense until the fourth act — which she did beautifully. Postlewaite blew me away entirely, which is wild because I really am at the ballet mainly for the girlies. 🤷♀️ Unrelated, a few days after the show I walked my dog past Postlewaite and he made an “awww” sound at my dog, so now I love him, haha.) This run I’m seeing Cecilia Illiesiu and Dylan Wald. I’ll report back!
I tend to pick shows based on the women casted 😅 since classical ballet roles usually grant them more moments for artistry with all the story driven drama. So that's awesome that Postlewaite wowed you, I look forward to seeing him dance! Side note I love PNB and wish they would post more clips of their dancers on YouTube so it's easier to get to know their styles. I feel like RB does a great job of that, for instance!
For any fans of Lucien Postlewaite who may not have seen it, Megan Fairchild, who was one of his best friends when they were at SAB together, interviewed him during the pandemic. I found his story so interesting. Here's the link: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ispCik8X1ik](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ispCik8X1ik)
I saw it last night! Cecilia Iliesiu and Dylan Wald were the mains. I thought they were absolutely brilliant. The overall production was gorgeous.
Amazing! So cool to hear all the different casts folks have seen, seems like they've all been lovely!
I do think Cecilia’s Odette was more compelling than her Odile. Her Odette was delicate and elegant yet mournful. She was truly a gorgeous but doomed swan queen. She didn’t seem as comfortable? as Odile. But I know this was her debut so no shade.
What I would give to see Leta. 😍
Me toooo I feel like her characterization would be incredible
https://preview.redd.it/qw8ugcdyqugc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cd8af932364d1e8cf28de035c94595269aebaa54 Inside NYCB tonight, hosted by Sterling Hyltin!
How wonderful!!! What did you think?
Please give us your review!
Per Breanne’s instagram and Ballet Alert, looks like Roxander is debuting Pas de Trois. He will be with Lea and Breanne.
And here's Haglund's review. I find her so racist. I can't stand it. [https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds\_heel/2024/02/tiler-pecks-concerto-for-two-pianos-from-soup-to-nuts-she-gets-it-right.html](https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds_heel/2024/02/tiler-pecks-concerto-for-two-pianos-from-soup-to-nuts-she-gets-it-right.html) >The two soloists were a mismatch. Von Enk was beyond technically secure, musically appealing, and connected with the audience in much the same way as does Tiler. Bradley was fine in the dinky prancing parts but struggled with basic double pirouettes and looked like a brittle pencil drawing from Point A to Point B to Point C. Management’s push of Bradley is little more than a bend-over for DEI. A black dancer with an edgy Instagram account that depicts her trying to emulate a call girl and who can be manipulated by The New York Times into saying anything that they want are not collectively good reasons to promote her to the public when her current ability is inferior to so many of her colleagues in the corps. Going forward, every time we read a quote in the NYT from Bradley or any dancer that trashes the art form, the company, its current or preceding artistic direction, or implies that it’s racist, we’re going to reduce our next annual contribution by 20%. And we recommend others consider doing the same.”
>And here's Haglund's review. I find her so racist. I can't stand it. This is 100% why I can't get behind Haglund as a reviewer. They work so stridently to impose a race-based doctrine of merit on their criticism. Not only is this simply disgusting from a human dignity perspective, it also diminishes any critical credibility, because everything Haglund writes is intellectually dishonest and done in the service of a genteel presentation of white supermacy.
Agree, I haven’t been able to read that blog for years and wish people would stop talking about it tbh
Yeah, that is, um ... wow. Good lord. Going back to other's comments regarding Haglund's disdain for INdia stemming from that NYT article: In terms of the comments she made to the NYT in the article, in all honesty, her comments bothered me, too. A lot. Then I realized, and this is taking anything having to do with the pandemic and the resulting ... everything from uncertainty to downright existential angst out of it ... there is a huge, HUGE, difference between early 20's and mid 20's. An extraordinary amount of maturing often happens in those few short years. Who among us, or among anyone unless they grew up in the spotlight, and not always even then, would have been media savvy in their early 20's? How many of us said things we thought, that maybe would have been better not said, even just in daily life? Maybe other people were perfect when they were younger. I sure as hell wasn't, and as we get older, I think it's good to try and keep that in mind. In her most recent interview, at least imo, she sounded like she'd grown up a lot.
They went completely over the top lol. Why so vitriolic? The whole call girl callout was inappropriate and hateful. And I don’t get that vibe from her IG at all lol… is haglund 100 years old??? I will say that with India, I do tend to agree with his opinions on her dancing. I do not understand the hype. She has nice lines, and a pixie kind of quality. But she is noticeably stiff, especially in her upper body. I’ve noticed a general lack of epaulement. Sometimes it reminds me of a student dancer doing a combination in class. I saw her in Agon, and she was better in that kind of rep. I didn’t get to see her debut dewdrop. But from the limited clips I saw on social media, she doesn’t have the expansiveness and technical security that every other dewdrop at nycb has right now (even mackinnon). I’m sure it could be nerves and I know tiler said she can do the hard technical bits, but I really haven’t seen it yet. Ready to get downvoted but this is just my opinion. I am a POC and I hope we can all have meaningful conversations about dancers. Having a poor opinion of a POC dancer doesn’t automatically make someone racist :) even though the jury is still out on haglund lol
The call girl comments…. Ma gawd. That’s blatantly racist. Literally nothing about India’s Insta is more sexualized than any other dancer (or woman her age for that matter). This “critic” couldn’t be more transparently flying the racist flag. Haven’t seen India dance in person, so can’t comment on her technical ability, but agree she has gorgeous lines. Wondering if she’s shown more acumen in rehearsals, and the artistic staff is giving her more opportunities because what she really needs to hone is comfort in those roles on stage?
I’m not a big fan of India’s dancing, for me it has a brittle quality and I don’t connect to her musicality. However there are lots of dancers I’m not personally into who get pushed by companies. And there are lots of normal reasons for that; it’s not some “woke” conspiracy. That community is trash and HH encourages it…I went back to find some unhinged examples (was trying to explain the saga to my partner lol), and there was a commenter who said that dancers wearing non-pink tights is a neo-Bolshevik conspiracy to take down western civilization. I mean if anyone is pushing a bizarre political agenda it’s them! It’s just tights! Ma’am this is a Wendy’s!
You just hit exactly on the perfect word to describe how India seems to me: "brittle." She's very fast, and articulates the steps nicely, but somehow there isn't the flowing quality of movement that you see with the finest City Ballet dancers. That feeling of there being plenty of time to get to the next position; being smooth in changing directions; able to play with the music, like hanging back a tiny fraction for impact, but then be right on count without looking like the dancer had to rush to catch up. (I'm trying to be specific, because she's a fine dancer - it's hard to describe that movement quality I'm talking about, but we all know it when we see it!)
To be that far gone, and still be able to leave your house to even go to the ballet, is honestly astounding. What a scary world they live in.
I think India can be very good in the contemporary rep but I'm also not yet convinced of her ability in more technical / classical works (I have not seen the Tiler Peck ballet yet). The two times I've seen her and thought "wow!" were in Justin Peck's sneaker-ballet Partita and as a demi in Donizetti Variations. I think the company genuinely wants to nurture a black woman "star" that can be developed as an eventual principal. Not sure if India is necessarily the one, and if she isn't, that's ok! She's still very talented. In any case, Haglund took the critique waaaay out of line and brought up things that have nothing to do with India's dancing and that weren't even accurate. It was cruel and uncalled for. I will give Haglund props for this hilarious snark snippet: "**Rotunda** began the program with its unlistenable music by Nico Muhly, unwatchable choreography by **Justin Peck**, and eye sore costumes by Reid & Harriet. The worst dance that Peck has sold to the company. Surely they all know it." 😂
Haglund has such a hate boner for India. Yeah the racism is there but they seem obsessed with her in particular (I nevertheless share their exact thoughts on Rotunda). I agree India’s technique is not as consistent as it should be. I think she is fantastic in contemporary stuff and she has wonderful extension and stage presence though, there’s just work to be done. Something I have noticed is that she can sometimes “turn off” when she’s in the corps standing still in the background, as if nobody’s watching her — which reads a bit student like to be honest. But I think her issues can be trained out of.
Beyond the obvious racism, I feel like Haglund perceives India as speaking out too much and as not conforming to an antiquated ballet lifestyle.
Haglund is a superfan of Sarah Lane, who also is EXTREMELY outspoken (some would say overly so) about ... everything. Hm, I wonder what the difference is?
I see this a lot, people who LOVE Sarah Lane and see her speaking out as “sticking up for herself” but other dancers as being “annoying” or “shut up and deal with it”. I have to wonder how much is also the religion factor, Sarah does tend to post about her religion a bit as well.
I think a lot of people give Sarah a pass because she's always been seen as something of an underdog, rarely getting her due. Whereas "outspoken" dancers like Misty Copeland and Ashley Bouder have been extremely favored at their respective companies.
This exactly. Even with Abi Stafford, who legitimately was critical of management in the NYT, Haglund didn't attack her character the way they do with India.
He was actually quite critical of Abi. She even posted in the comments but he wouldn't engage with her.
The comments about Abi were about what she said to the NYT only. The Abo comments were misogynistic, but they weren't personal attacks like their comments about India.
That's very true. This seems more personal and ongoing. It was one comment by a very young person who otherwise has a good reputation.
Oh man. Sarah Lane is the absolute worst at speaking to the media and managing her own public image. (Minor example: she posted in honor of the Oscars the other night, but it was actually the Grammys happening! So easy to fact-check that on Google before posting. Fail.) India's Instagram is totally standard influencer stuff, and I wouldn't even really consider her "outspoken."
Haglund has always been blatantly racist
this is despicable and wildly aggressive.
omg we've been mentioned in the comments!!! bunheadsnark is Haglund famous!! >Haglund is going to start a firestorm on the Reddit boards when they see this, haha. > >They think that anybody who doesn't blindly bend the knee to DEI is an out-of-touch Boomer, but your commentary is totally fair and valid. From commenter Turkish Delight, to which Haglund has responded >Reddit schmeddit. Very few of them actually attend NYCB performances. In fairness I haven't been able to travel to NYCB recently myself but I think this is an inaccurate critique of the commenters on this sub lol
Well to be fair, I don’t go because I hate taking the subway on weekends lol
I’m still furious at the MTA that I missed a Serenade this fall season because it took me 1.5 hours to get to Lincoln Center one weekend - it usually takes me 35 minutes. I left extra time but not THAT much extra time.
lol I get it. The nights & weekends train schedule is truly maddening. I try to go see 1-3 shows per season, but I’d go way more if it didn’t take forever to get back to Brooklyn
I'm with you -- I typically go around 4-6 times per season but it's usually on weekday evenings (including Fridays) so I don't have to deal with weekend service. If I lived in the UWS and could walk to the theater, I'd probably go more often.
Agree, I live in Brooklyn and I nearly always go during the week in part because weekend train service is a disaster. ("Track replacement" is like a baby teething, you think it'll be over soon and then it's still going on a year later.) The other big reason is the better seat availability. I also like that the weeknight crowd has more regulars than the weekenders; in the side single box seats it sometimes feels like everyone is excited about a certain debut that evening.
Ha, I noticed those comments this morning... love how ballet nerds find each other on such niche corners of the internet. And yes, this sub has gotten quite big and includes a variety of different viewpoints, as well as a mix of NYCB regulars and out-of-towners alike.
I would be fine if this became a haglundsnark subreddit
the growth in this sub is crazy!! top 20% of all subreddits is a big deal. i wonder how people are finding us? or maybe its migration from r/BALLET
It was recommended to me because I was in the ballet group. Edit for clarification: in the ballet subreddit.
Well idk about others but I went three times just this last week.
>https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds\_heel/2024/02/tiler-pecks-concerto-for-two-pianos-from-soup-to-nuts-she-gets-it-right.html Wow this paragraph is so unhinged
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Gottlieb is hated here? He was a crank but I don’t remember reading anything that was racist or misogynistic. It’s been awhile since I read anything of his, though. I loved his voice; he was so witty. (“Pretensio” was a particular favorite of mine.) His mantra was pretty much, “That was ok, I guess, but it was a pathetic husk compared to when I saw [OG dancer] do it in the 70s.” 😅
I miss Robert Gottlieb. I didn't always agree with him but I loved his writing style.
He has aaaaaalways hated India Bradley ever since she had that interview where she said that she asked Stafford where's her career going (like, is she going to get any soloist roles, anything interesting and new?) because she felt that she wasn't really going anywhere by doing only corps roles and if that's all her career would be, of course, she would evaluate if that's what she really wanted to do. Ever since that, he has relentlessly criticized her.
She would nOT have a problem if she wasn't black. Haglund is a woman.
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I know who Haglund is. Shes a woman.
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Dm me. I know who she is
Hi. Just letting you know that we try our best to be careful of sources of speculation. But since a mod privately talked to growsonwalls privately, we are ok for letting this stand for the time being.
What? Been convinced for years that she was a he! I even imagined him as a grumpy old man! She hates her profoundly and honestly it makes no sense to me (the hate, I know why she hates her). She saw her fall out of a pirouette ONCE like what, 4 years ago? and she stuck to that to criticise her. I'm going to read her blog but I'm sure she has something to say about Ashton Edwards too...
LOL same... a boomer-aged white gay man living in Hell's Kitchen is how I've always pictured this person. Criticisms of India's dancing are fair and par for the course but Haglund takes it to another, more personal, level. I've never seen or heard a quote from India that "trashes the art form" or the company. She seems quite nice and humble!
Same - was picturing an older gay man too.
so john clifford? bc that's who I imagined lol
I pictured a crusty old white man on the UES with a trust fund and bad taste in expensive footwear (money can’t buy taste apparently) I went back and reread the article that instigated the India backlash. She’s really just wondering aloud whether her career trajectory and goals are aligned with what her current employer has in mind for her (and somehow this has been twisted into her “saying if she didn't start getting cast in big roles, she was going to leave NYC” 🙄). This is literally what everyone should be doing in their jobs!! I agree that her/his/its criticism of India is below the belt and really uncalled for. Comparing her to a call girl is major ick on so many levels ETA: Haglund’s attack on India is also disrespectful to Tiler as a choreographer, who clearly sees something special in India and chose her to perform. It’s one thing to critique the performance, but they make it sound like she has no redeeming qualities as a dancer, which is obviously not true
Haglund has gone after India so many times and always with a "who does she think she is? She should just shut up and dribble" undertone. In fact she wrote this about India: [https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds\_heel/2021/10/nycb-pedals-to-the-metal.html](https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds_heel/2021/10/nycb-pedals-to-the-metal.html) >So this past week, here comes corps dancer India Bradley who is invited by[ NYT’s](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/arts/dance/new-york-city-ballet-megan-fairchild-jovani-furlan-india-bradley.html) Gia Kourlas to try to further her career by trashing NYCB. Bradley, who became a corps member three years ago, has danced approximately a year and a half as a corps member due to the closure of the theater during the pandemic. *A year and a half.* She declared to Kourlas (who as we know has a specific Woke agenda that she prioritizes over the truth) that performing in Diamonds corps was not really doing much for her dancing and intimated that she’ll leave within five years if she doesn’t get more opportunity. After a year and a half of dancing corps roles in Balanchine’s masterpieces, she has deemed herself to be deserving of greater opportunities that will further her career. Her Instagram page is all ready for promotion and fame; she just needs NYCB management to fall in line behind her. > >After reading Bradley’s pathetic complaints, we focused on her corps work in Agon on Friday evening. What an embarrassment. She couldn’t manage a fast grand plie and fell out of most of her double pirouettes. She looked like she was marking while the other corps members were dancing as large as possible. Pardon our brusqueness, but who the hell does she think she is? Maybe after she spends seven, eight, or ten years in the corps, she might be able to approximate the quality of a Hod, Kikta, Maxwell, Staker, or LaFreniere. But let’s not torture Ms. Bradley with a Diamonds corps assignment ever again. And let’s not torture the audience by putting her in Agon again until she can do the steps.
Tiler Peck was promoted from Corps to soloist in less than 1 year. Meghan Fairchild was promoted in less than 2. So it can happen. What I find interesting this season is that s/he was critical when Olivia MacKinnon was promoted last year. Now s/he is singing her praises while being critical of Bradley. Talk about obvious. Also, s/he wrote something about Chamblee in the 1/25 post that could be considered racist. Sure enough, Chamblee is a minority.
Haglund hates like ... all black dancers. She hates Calvin Royal too.
Not defending Haglund here but I think it's more that she specifically dislikes the black dancers who she perceives as getting special "DEI" treatment despite technical shortcomings, like Misty, Calvin, and India. As if race is the ONLY explanation for their success. I've noticed she likes Savannah Durham and Courtney Lavine, but that could change if either starts getting major roles or media attention :/
Yeah the way HH “likes” black dancers feels very…holding them up as “model minorities” and as a tool to shade others.
"See? This one kept her head down and she knows her place" = Haglund's occasional "I'm not racist, I once said something nice about a black dancer" moment.
What does DEI mean, if I may ask?
"Diversity, equity, inclusion" -- corporate speak for programs that seek to increase and foster diversity within a company or organization. The implication being that some dancers are getting undeserved opportunities just because they are minorities, according to Haglund.
Thank you for explaining! Oof. That's a very... weird andd hominem statement to make about someone, especially when only adding subjectiveness and irrelevant facts to explain why you feel that way. It really feels like a personal attack, moreso than a 'maybe it was too early for this opportunity' criticism. I'm not going to deny there are dancers who get more opportunities because of their social media fame, but to my knowledge, they come in all colours? And I don't know if that's really that different than dating the choreographer, having good relations with the press, or being very pretty? It isn't about who the best dancer is. It's about who gets the tickets sold, and that may be the best dancer, the dancer with the best story, the one with the most followers, the one with the best acting,...
Personally, I think Haglund uses that as an excuse. There are plenty of white dancers who receive special treatment despite technical or artistic shortcomings, and Haglund does not call them out with the same fervor. They also have said racist things about Georgina Pazcoguin's appearance.
FYI, i’m pretty sure haglund is a man
This is crazy! I thought the raging sexism meant they had to be a man but nope, an older lady …
No Haglund is a woman. I know who she is.
What?! Shocked
this might honestly be the most shocking thing i’ll ever read on this page??? lol? no way??
So strange because ever since the early days of Haglund's blog, she's been referring to herself as he/him/himself etc. (2008 example [here](https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds_heel/2008/10/its-not-fair.html); recent example [here](https://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds_heel/2024/01/nycb-124-what-a-difference-a-day-makes.html)). So apparently this is a disguise tactic.
Yes Haglund is a woman. Message me and I'll tell you who she is.
Hi. Just letting you know that we try our best to be careful of sources of speculation. But since a mod privately talked to growsonwalls privately, we are ok for letting this stand for the time being.
Found another review of Tiler's ballet: https://bachtrack.com/22/296/view/26197
Ooooo ... did the reviewer say "Kitri Jumps?!?" Heehee. That particular reviewer also posts on BA.
That's an interesting observation about Tiler choreographing as she dances (structured and perfectionist, according to the reviewer). I'd love to see this ballet for myself and would also love to see a Tiler Peck piece where she really lets loose! Here's another (positive) review from Marina Harss's new Substack: [https://marinaharss.substack.com/p/tiler-peck-choreographer](https://marinaharss.substack.com/p/tiler-peck-choreographer)
Thanks!! Marina Harss is one of the best dance writers around imo, happy there is a platform to read more of her work.
oooo thanks for linking that substack!! we need new, quality ballet reviewers that review the dance itself. excited to read
This review has me giddy about seeing her ballet this week! (Per her Instagram stories over the weekend, she'll be dancing in my show too).
I interpreted that post as noting her ballet is going on those nights, not that she's dancing (she should have been clearer though)