Misty Copeland at American Ballet Theatre
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Spring 2016 Ballet Review From the Spring 2016 issue of Ballet Review Robert Johnson on Misty Copeland at American Ballet Theatre On the cover: Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild in Balanchine’s Who Cares? Photograph by Paul Kolnik, NYCB © 2016 Dance Research Foundation, Inc. 4 New York – David Vaughan 6 New York – Karen Greenspan 8 New York – Nancy Reynolds 9 Stuttgart – Gary Smith 11 Washington, D. C. – George Jackson 12 New York – Joseph Houseal 14 Paris – Vincent Le Baron 16 New York – Karen Greenspan 19 Hong Kong – Kevin Ng 21 New York – Karen Greenspan 22 Vienna – Gunhild Oberzaucher-Schüller 25 New York – Eva Shan Chou 26 New York – Harris Green 56 29 Stuttgart – Gary Smith 31 Jacob’s Pillow – Jay Rogoff 33 New York – Karen Greenspan Ballet Review 44.1 34 Jacob’s Pillow – Jay Rogoff Spring 2016 36 Chicago – Joseph Houseal Editor and Designer: 37 Saratoga Springs – Jay Rogoff Marvin Hoshino 39 Brooklyn – Karen Greenspan 41 New York – Harris Green Managing Editor: 43 Chicago – Joseph Houseal Roberta Hellman 44 Miami – Michael Langlois Senior Editor: 46 New York – Karen Greenspan Don Daniels 84 47 Chicago – Joseph Houseal Associate Editors: 48 New York – Harris Green Joel Lobenthal Henry Danton Larry Kaplan 50 Alla Sizova (1929-2014) Alice Helpern Webmaster: Robert Johnson David S. Weiss 56 Misty Copeland Copy Editor: Joel Lobenthal Naomi Mindlin 67 A Conversation with Pat McBride Lousada Photographers: 96 Michael Langlois Tom Brazil 72 A Conversation with Roberto Bolle Costas Associates: Merilyn Jackson Peter Anastos 84 Julie Kent Robert Gres kovic Leigh Witchel George Jackson 88 A Conversation with Myles Thatcher Elizabeth Kendall Paul Parish Elizabeth Kendall Nancy Reynolds 96 Night Shadow James Sutton David Vaughan Peter Porter Edward Willinger 88 103 Jurassic Beauty Sarah C. Woodcock Daniel Jacobson 106 A Conversation with Tiler Peck 116 London Reporter – Clement Crisp 124 Creative Domain – Susanna Sloat Cover photograph by Paul Kolnik, NYCB: 126 Music on Disc – George Dorris Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild in Who Cares? 132 Check It Out Misty Copeland in Romeo and Juliet. (Photo: Rosalie O’Connor, American Ballet Theatre) 56 ballet review Misty Copeland nership. These two look wonderful together. As if this once-in-a-generation shuffling of personnel were not enough to makeABT’s sev- enty-fifth-anniversary season historic, there was the added drama of racial politics. It has Robert Johnson escaped no one’s attention that Copeland is black, and the first woman of color to earn Whatever else we may take away from 2015 principal status at ABT, in a nation and an in- (and at this writing, the year has not yet end- dustry where racial bias runs deep. Overcom- ed), ballet lovers will recall it as the season ing the race barrier is unquestionably a part dancer Misty Copeland saw her dreams come of this ballerina’s triumph; and it is a victory true. After making high-profile debuts in for ABT, too – not only on moral grounds, but Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake during Ameri- also for practical reasons. can Ballet Theatre’s spring engagement at the When Copeland appeared in starring roles Metropolitan Opera House, the company an- this season, the composition of the audience nounced in June that it was elevating Cope- changed markedly. Suddenly black spectators land to the rank of principal dancer. appeared in large numbers, packing the Met- The promotion took “only” fourteen years ropolitan Opera House stalls where before for Copeland to earn. She joined ABT in 2001 there had been a sea of white faces. Many of and now, nearly thirty-three years old, she is those newcomers might never have purchased approaching an age when many ballet dancers a ticket to see Swan Lake or Romeo and Juliet, retire. Yet any frustration she may feel must were it not to admire one of their own. Cope- be outweighed by a sense of relief. A scarcity land’s thank-you gift to ABT, in exchange of principal openings is typical at ABT, where for her promotion, is this fresh and excited careers often advance at a snail’s pace and public, which is arguably the best gift that a young dancers must have luck timing their venerable arts institution could receive. This entrance into the company. Copeland’s pro- expansion of the audience likely will be the motion might not have been possible, even now, crowning achievement of the seventy-fifth without the retirement of three senior anniversary season. dancers including Julie Kent, who was named The subject of race is still not a happy one a principal in 1993 (then aged twenty-four) to raise, however, because inevitably Cope- and who became a fixture. land’s success will fail to satisfy everyone. Whether bydesign or by coincidence, Cope- Those who hope the number of black dancers land’s debut as Juliet was originally scheduled at ABT may grow to reflect the proportions of to take place on the afternoon of Saturday, American society as a whole will not be con- June 22, with Kent’s farewell perfo rmance in tent with asingle promotion– nor should they the same ballet to follow that evening – be. Less justifiably, others are arguing that poignantly juxtaposing Copeland’s arrival Copeland enjoyed an unfair advantage because with Kent’s departure. Unforeseen circum- of her ethnicity and because of the publicity stances advanced Copeland’s debut toTuesday, attending her rise,including anadvertisement yet the casting of the Saturday matinee, with airing on national television. And while Cope- dashing young Joseph Gorak as her Romeo, land is an eloquent and beautiful dancer, her still seemed like a changing of the guard.View- talent is not of the kind that will silence such ers came away feeling they had caught a skeptics definitively. glimpse of ABT’s future; and the pairing of Meanwhile, the problems bedeviling mi- Copeland and Gorak, who share a silken move- nor ity representation in ballet will remain ment qualityand a way of kindling in the spot- entrenched, and are also likely to remain un- light, suggested a potentially brilliant part- discussable: the ways in which the ballet body ©2016 Robert Johnson 57 represents a European ideal of beauty; the already makes room for “little swans” and “big aforementioned problem of job scarcity; and swans.” the insidious way those two factors entwine. Drawing undue attention to oneself as a Ballet is unquestionably elitist, like every corps dancer or intentionally distracting the activity that requires skill and professional audience from the performance of the stars training. would be frowned upon. Yet fans with binoc- Yet ballet is not racist in the manner of the ulars know that even in the corps, each wom - wealthy country club whose members guard an’s charm or lack thereof resides precisely in their privileges behind closed doors. The bal- her individuality. Because complete unifor- let’s rules were not designed to exclude peo- mity is impossible to achieve, no one has both- ple of African descent out of greed or out of ered to consider how insipid, robotic,and even ignorance, out of fear or plain malevolence. monstrous the ensemble would be if everyone Its rules were written for a different society in it were truly identical – not to mention that in another time and place. In its original then, among the clones, it would be impossi- European milieu ballet discriminates against ble to identify anyone with superior talent. individuals the way any selective institution Spotting talent in the corps, which depends discriminates. It is a meritocracy that meas- upon noticing distinctions, is a ritual of bal- ures individuals against standards of beauty letgoing and aprivilege of regular attendance. as well as other benchmarks of excellence. Perhaps there really are some people who see Only when transferred to a multiethnic the corps de ballet as an undifferentiated society like the United States does this art be- (white) mass with arms and legs sticking out, gin to discriminate against whole classes of but those people need glasses. people on the basis of their physical appear- While they are twirling in the limelight the ance. Naturally, throughout the profession, soloists, of course, would prefer that viewers individual teachers and directors hold their ignore the other dancers in the background. own views on race, with some likely to be bi- Yet, again, one of the hallowed practices of ased and others not. Dance Theatre of Harlem, ballet going, a bittersweet mixture of conso- formed in 1969, has greatly expanded oppor- lation and revenge, is looking where one is not tunities for black artists, many of whom have supposed to look – studying the corps de bal- gone on to careers as teachers and artistic di- let when the soloists are boring, or when, as rectors enriching the profession. the late choreographer Marius Petipa is re- Nevertheless the uniformity of the corps de ported to have said, “Madame no good.” ballet,an ensemble sometimes deployed pure- In brief, the argument for a uniform corps ly as a decorative element, is still cited as a de ballet is a racist canard not only because it reason for excluding people of varying skin excludes dark-skinned people from most bal- tones from theranks of companies not specifi- let companies at the point of entry, but also cally devoted to minority representation.This because it thoughtlessly assumes all light- argument is misleading, however, since the skinned dancers look alike. Evidently the skin corps is composed of individuals most of tone of corps members is less important than whose differences are routinely ignored. The staying in line and doing one’s best to dance women simply dress alike and move in uni- well.