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"The Devil Ties My Tongue" by Amy Seiwert performed for the SKETCH Series, 2013. Photo by David DeSilva. Courtesy of Amy Seiwert's Imagery

A New Day and Change of Culture for NYCB? Long Overdue Focus on Women Choreographers & Emphasis on Safe Atmosphere

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After a year of interim leadership by a team of four, New York City Ballet has selected Jonathan Stafford and Wendy Whelan as the company’s new leaders. Stafford has served on the team of interim directors over the past year, alongside Rebecca Krohn, Craig Hall, and Justin Peck. Whelan retired from her role as principal dancer with the company in 2014 and has since developed a wide range of freelance projects with artists like Kyle Abraham, Joshua Beamish, Brian Brooks, Alejandro Cerrudo, Lucinda Childs, Daniele Désnoyers, Javier De Frutos, David Neumann, Annie-B Parson, and Arthur Pita.

Stafford will serve as the Artistic Director of the New York City Ballet and its affiliate school, the School of American Ballet (SAB), while Whelan will serve as Associate Artistic Director of the New York City Ballet. Justin Peck will also tackle a new role as the company’s Artistic Advisor.Whelan’s statement in the press release recognized the rare responsibility of a woman moving into the artistic leadership. She said, “The magnitude of what my appointment represents for female dancers, and all women, is of critical importance to me. The moment for change at New York City Ballet is now, and I am excited to help welcome it with Jonathan Stafford.”

Whelan’s primary role will include “conceiving, planning, and programming NYCB’s annual performance season; commissioning new work from choreographers, composers, and other artistic collaborators.” Whelan’s control over new commissions and NYCB’s repertoire is likely to lead to more commissions of female choreographers, whose representation has been largely absent from the majority of the company’s seasons.

Protecting the female artists that were punished by Peter Martin’s continued influence following his departure is also essential to the reaffirmation of the company as a leader in America abroad. Ashley Bouder, the principal dancer who was recently pulled by the former artistic director from the company’s first-cast of his Sleeping Beauty, released a statement on Instagram, writing, “It was a long and often difficult road, but finally NYCB has a solid direction. I cannot express how THRILLED I am to have such a strong woman, Wendy Whelan, as part of the new era. With this news, our team is as optimistic as ever that the culture at New York City Ballet will change to emphasize safety, transparency, and equity both on and off the stage.” 

The need for a change in the company culture has been made clear to the Board during this year of dramatic scandal and division at NYCB. The union of Ms. Whelan and Mr. Stafford is one marked by optimism, as, according to the New York Times, the pair campaigned independently during interviews with the search committee for a management partnership. Their desire to balance the roles of an Artistic Director was apparently convincing, though it is notable that the pair’s titles do not reflect the equal partnership the company’s statement describes. 

Dance Magazine contributor Lauren Wingenroth, who, along with the publication, has been at the forefront of truth-telling amidst talks of inequity in the dance community, pointed this out. Wingenroth wrote, “The set-up begs the question: If the two leaders will truly be ‘partners,’ why are they not co-artistic directors? Considering the company’s recent scandals — and the troubling historical gender dynamics of the company — the arrangement sits just a bit uncomfortably.” 

Oversight on which title to give which leader seems unrealistic from the esteemed organization. Therefore, only time will tell whether or not “associate” will indicate an imbalance of power between these two leaders. If the Board has played its cards right, Whelan will possess equal control, and NYCB will turn a new page towards equity.

Read the company’s full press release here.

Read the New York Times article “City Ballet, Shaken by Turmoil, Chooses New Leaders” here.

Read The Washington Posts article “City Ballet names its #MeToo-era leaders: a man-woman team” here.

The Washington Post: Former ballerina takes legal action against managers of Balanchine’s ballets

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By Sarah L. Kaufman

28 February 2019

One of George Balanchine’s former ballerinas has filed legal action contending that the choreographer’s legacy is in jeopardy.

Susan Gluck, a trustee of the George Balanchine Trust, which administers the rights to perform Balanchine’s ballets, filed a 136-page petition Thursday in the surrogate court of the state of New York seeking a full accounting of the financial management of the trust. Gluck was a member of New York City Ballet, the renowned company that Balanchine founded, from 1978 to 1986. 

Her petition landed on the same day that New York City Ballet made its long-awaited announcement that Jonathan Stafford would be its new artistic director, with former ballerina Wendy Whelan taking on the new position of associate artistic director.

…

Gluck alleges in her petition that “over the span of 20 years, Horgan has leveraged the trust to consolidate her power over Mr. Balanchine’s works and maximize her income to the detriment of other trust beneficiaries.” Gluck further accuses Horgan of crafting “a web of partnerships” that led to more income than she was entitled to.

Neither Horgan nor anyone at the trust office immediately returned calls and messages seeking comment.

Read the full article in The Washington Post.

Forbes: Where Are All The Women Artists? NMWA’s Latest Campaign Aims To Find The Answer

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By Erin Spencer

1 March 2019

Sometime in the 1970s an art collector and patron by the name of Wilhelmina Cole Holladay began asking people in her circles: “Where are all all the women artists?” Some thirty years later she would indirectly get the answer most weren’t willing to say out loud from a man who spoke to a reporter at Art Basel in 2014:  “I just curate what I like, and I like art by men better.”

Fortunately, Holladay didn’t wait that long to get her answer and in 1981 founded The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA)—the only major museum in the world solely dedicated to championing women in the arts. Since its doors first opened, Holladay, alongside the museum’s staff, have worked tirelessly to find those women artists—those that history forgot and those still working that are deserving of a platform. By putting in advocacy work, by hosting a lectures and panels or simply by lending some state-of-the-art wall space, they hope to ensure women artists of the past and the present can hold a place in the future. Though many in the industry will sing praises to the work the museum has accomplished, it’s clear that they still have their work cut out for them.

According to the National Endowment for the Arts, 51% of living visual artists in the US today are women and, on average, those women earn 81 cents for every dollar made by their male contemporaries. A recent study by the Public Library of Science found that of the permanent collections of 18 prominent art museums in the US, 87% of the represented works were completed by men. Most recently, a joint study conducted in 2017, by artnet Analytics and Maastricht University in 2017 found that just 13.7% of living artists represented in galleries in Europe and North America are women.

Read the full article in Forbes.

Laurent Liotardo/The English National Ballet

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Protagonist a ‘Badass Boss’ on Tour for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal

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Annabelle Lopez Ochoa created a work, Vendetta – Storie di Mafia, on Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, which was featured on the company’s international tour. The Canadian Jewish News interviewed Ochoa, who said to the publication, “Ballet is evolving and not just by stretching the body out and kicking one’s legs higher and higher. That’s already been done. I want to cast the woman in a stronger role – one that isn’t so frail and fragile. A badass boss.”

The publication continued to touch on the theme of a woman creating a story ballet and the risk that comes with that:

When asked if she thinks whether Vendetta could eventually earn a spot alongside the great classics, Ochoa responds: “It’s a big risk to present a new story to an audience, but the audience is hungry for new stories. They want them, it’s up to us to find the courage to present them. I’m sure this hunger will only grow. The second time that Vendetta comes to town, people will know its story – hopefully one day as well as The Nutcracker. It would be a huge honour to be able to introduce something new into the canon of ballet repertoire that empowers women. All I can do now is keep writing.”

Ochoa is one of the few women taking this risk and garnering appropriate attention today. She is breaking companies out of the “12 rotating story ballets” they are known to perform. The DDP team is happy to see her Vendetta on tour to cities as far as Isreal. The respect the community has for Ochoa’s work should lead to an open-minded approach to commissioning full-length, dramatic work from women choreographers for companies. Vendetta is just the beginning of a long list of works that could be incorporated into big-company repertoires.

Read The Canadian Jewish News’ article about Vendetta here.

The Listener: Why Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Choreographic Series is a defining moment

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Read the following excerpt from Sarah Catherall’s February 28th article for The Listener:

Usually, Shaun James Kelly is on stage dancing with the Royal New Zealand Ballet. On a hot weekday in February, though, the Scottish-born dancer is at the front of the company rehearsal studio, directing his first large-scale choreographic work, The Ground Beneath Our Feet.

Principal dancer Mayu Tanigaito is mesmerising to watch as Kelly leads the dozen women learning the piece.

Having joined the RNZB six years ago, after graduating from the English National Ballet school, Kelly has been one of three company choreographers in residence for the past two years. Groundis set to Bach’s Violin Concerto in G minor and has ballerinas en pointe and five couples dancing together.

“My work is about growth,” says Kelly. “I have this image of a seed growing into a beautiful flower and that’s what is taking me through the work. The idea of time, distance, and working with gravity.’’

Kelly’s piece may have classical touches, but it is part of the four-part Choreographic Series, a contemporary programme of new local works that marks the beginning of the RNZB’s performances for the year.

Along with Kelly, the series will feature the choreography of James O’Hara, Sarah Foster-Sproull and Moss Patterson – all “new-generation dance-makers’’ whom RNZB artistic director Patricia Barker engaged for their unique approaches, hoping they could give the company something that would set it apart.

Dance Data Project has seen Patricia Barker continuously engage female choreographers in every position. From Grand Rapids Ballet to New Zealand, clearly Barker is prioritizing advocacy and equity in her programming. She is doing just what she hopes for – setting her companies and repertoires apart.

Read the full article in The Listener.

SBNation: Nike’s incredible new ‘Just Do It’ campaign gives women the spotlight

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By James Dator

24 February 2019

Nike’s new “Just Do It” campaign will air during the Oscars on Sunday night with an ad titled “Dream Crazier,” narrated by Serena Williams.

The campaign focuses on the pejoratives lobbed at women in the world of sports. Passion becomes unhinged, angry becomes hysterical and daring to be different is “crazy.” Told through 24 different women, the ad spans the sports landscape to show us the athletes who are daring to do what people thought impossible.

In the order of their appearance the athletes are:

  • Sarah Reinertsen – paratriathlete
  • Victoria Azarenka – Tennis
  • Sam Gordon – Football
  • Alex Morgan, Julie Ertz, Alyssa Naeher- USWNT Soccer
  • Megan Rapinoe – USWNT Soccer
  • Li Na – Tennis
  • Sue Bird — WNBA
  • Caster Semenya -Track & Field
  • Diana Taurasi – Basketball
  • Cheryl Reeve – Basketball coach
  • Simona Halep – Tennis
  • Marlen Esparza – Boxing
  • Lisa Leslie – WNBA
  • Becky Hammon – NBA coach
  • Ibtihaj Mohammad – fencing
  • Simone Manuel – Swim
  • Chloe Kim – Snowboarding
  • Serena Williams – Tennis
  • Sam Kerr – Soccer
  • Tatyana McFadden – Paralympics
  • Sky Brown – Skate
  • Simone Biles – Gymnastics
  • Olivia Moultrie – Soccer

Read the full article and watch the video on SBNation.

BalletX: Christine Cox’s February Letter X

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Artistic Director of BalletX and choreographer Christine Cox shares an update on the company. Watch the video below or visit the company’s website to learn more about the company’s season, programs, and history.

BalletX is Philadelphia’s Premier Contemporary Ballet Company. The company publishes an e-newsletter called the Letter X, beginning with a message from Artistic Director Christine Cox. This video contains February 2019’s message from the director. Be sure to return to the Letter X to finish reading this month’s e-newsletter! For more info visit BalletX.org.




Nantucket Dance Festival

Nantucket Dance Festival: Austin Goodwin Gets a Shot to Choreograph, But No Women Premieres

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The 2019 performance program at Nantucket Dance Festival will feature a decent roster of choreographers, with Melissa Barak, Crystal Pite, and Pam Tanowitz pieces included in the roster of five other choreographers (all male).

Artistic Director Tyler Angle comes from New York City Ballet, so Balanchine no doubt makes his program. A new choreographer, Austin Goodwin, will present a world premiere with the festival’s support. While the 3:5 ratio is not terribly inequitable like many festivals and company programs tend to be, Angle could do better to invite a young woman to choreograph a premiere for the program to appear alongside the other wonderful work the festival features.

In 2018, the Joyce Theater notably highlighted women during its Ballet Festival, which led to praise throughout the dance world and strong reviews in the New York Times. Nantucket could benefit from the diversity and respect a festival earns when taking the lead in advocating for female choreographers.

See the full program details on the Nantucket Dance Festival website.

Nederlands Dans Theater’s Female General Director Leaves

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Amsterdam’s resident company with an internationally renowned reputation is saying goodbye to its female leader. In a statement from the Supervisory Board of the company, Pauline van der Meer Mohr wrote:

Janine Dijkmeijer, General Director of Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) since 2014, will resign from her position after this season 2018/2019.

The Supervisory Board is grateful for what has been achieved under Janine’s management. The company is in good shape, with a solid financial position, excellent occupany rates and visiting numbers, and a world-class reputation.

Janine Dijkmeijer

Janine Dijkmeijer: ‘It was an honor to work for this beautiful, passionate company and I look back with pride and satisfaction on what has been achieved in recent years. I leave the organization with peace of mind and will spread my wings on my way to a beautiful new challenge.’

More information about Janine’s successor will be shared in due course.

This comes during the company season that features a surprisingly small amount of female work. The Settle for More performance features no young women choreographers on its roster, instead providing choreographic opportunity to two young men in the company. The two world premieres by Bryan Arias and Felix Landerer will accompany a piece by associate choreographer Marco Goecke and a quartet by Hans van Manen. The Up & Coming Choreographers in June/July will feature three young male choreographers and no females. The program will allow Juliano Nunes, Ihsan Rustem and Dimo Milev to create their own ballets with full control and resources provided.

As the company turns a page to new leadership, we hope to see another woman take the role of General Director and a more equitable production in next year’s Up & Coming Choreographers performance. In a year when companies are doing so much to give emerging female choreographers an equal shot, Nederlands Dans Theater falls behind.

See the resignation announcement on the company’s website.

See the Up & Coming Choreographers description here.

AP Photo

Daily Sabah: #MeToo – Emma Thompson refuses to work with disgraced ex-Pixar exec John Lasseter

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26 February 2019

In a letter to Skydance Media, Emma Thompson outlined why she refused to work with the former Pixar executive John Lasseter and was withdrawing from the animated film “Luck.”

Thompson departed the project last month shortly after Skydance chief executive David Ellison hired Lasseter, the Pixar co-founder and former Walt Disney Co. animation chief. Lasseter last year was forced out at Disney after acknowledging “missteps” in his behavior with female employees.

In her letter to Ellison , Thompson said she felt it was “very odd to me that you and your company would consider hiring someone with Mr. Lasseter’s pattern of misconduct given the present climate.”

“If a man has been touching women inappropriately for decades, why would a woman want to work for him if the only reason he’s not touching them inappropriately now is that it says in his contract that he must behave ‘professionally’?” wrote Thompson. “If a man has made women at his companies feel undervalued and disrespected for decades, why should the women at his new company think that any respect he shows them is anything other than an act that he’s required to perform by his coach, his therapist and his employment agreement?”

A representative for Thompson confirmed the letter Tuesday, which was first published in The Los Angeles Times. A spokesperson for Skydance declined to comment.

Lasseter’s hiring provoked a backlash from some who said the animation executive didn’t deserve a second chance so quickly. Time’s Up, the nonprofit organization formed to combat sexual harassment and gender inequality in Hollywood and elsewhere, said his hiring “endorses and perpetuates a broken system that allows powerful men to act without consequence.”

Read the full article on Daily Sabah.