Building the ballet bandwagon
Plus, the Washington National Opera strikes back.
I was at a party on Saturday, late to viewing the Knicks game after attending a dance show in midtown, a presentation of the emerging choreographer Ariel Rose’s work, featuring dancers from Miami City Ballet and New York City Ballet.
In explaining my whereabouts, I found myself presented with a question which I am frequently prompted: what’s on right now that’s good?
American Ballet Theatre’s summer season starts this week, I said, and while, as usual, I’m still figuring out my game plan (I have tickets to four shows, but inevitably I’ll attend more), this is one of the best summer rituals the city has to offer. It’s not just the allure of the big story ballets—Swan Lake, Eugene Onegin, Don Quixote, and Silvia—but rather the possibilities that the summer season has to offer. Will anyone get a promotion?
I have my predictions (which may be more informed wishful thinking): Jake Roxander, who got a relatively last-minute Don Q show thanks to Isabella Boylston’s maternity leave, seems long overdue for a push to principal. Michael de la Nuez, who debuted his first principal role last summer, performing Siegfried in Gillian Murphy’s second-to-last Swan Lake, is similarly cast as Basilio. With Cory Stearns retiring after 22 years, it seems like there is, at the very least, a slot open for his ascent to soloist. SunMi Park, performing Odette/Odile for the first time, could very well become a principal, especially after Cassandra Trenary’s departure last year to the Vienna State Ballet. And Zimmi Coker, playing Olga in Onegin, should be on the path to soloist.
Can you see how this is like sports to me?
I’ll admit that I joined the Knicks bandwagon last Monday, but I feel that’s my right as I approach year 14 in the city. I easily felt the appeal of joining in the excitement; especially with a compelling backstory (the first victory in more than 50 years!) it’s easy to get attached to, or at least excited about, the outcome.
I think a lot more people would care about ballet if they had this kind of context—the background of the comings and goings, the insight into who is most overdue for a promotion and the assumptions of what could be holding them back. If you heard the screams that Jake Roxander gets when he pulls off an impossible-seeming jump sequence into a perfect pirouette, you’d feel electrified, too.
It does take repeat exposure to develop these kinds of personal preferences, but it’s easier than you think to develop opinions once you get into it. With a little extra information, any perfomance gets more exciting. You also gain the benefit of having what feels like insider information. I felt incredibly smug last week seeing Cero Magazine’s gorgeous feature on ABT’s Chloe Misseldine and NYCB’s Mira Nadon—two dancers who I’ve been promoting to everyone in my general proximity for the last year or two.
Much has been said and written about the death of the arts because of the death of the connosieur, but I wonder if it might help us to think about these things more in the way that sports fans think about their teams—the trades, the controversies, the stakes. If sports betting existed for dance (and if I had the risk tolerance for gambling), I think I’d make a killing (or, you know, lose it all).
In today’s edition you’ll find:
The Washington National Opera’s lawsuit against the Kennedy Center
The art world shows up for the World Cup
The danger of “pop creep”
New attacks on the Bauhaus
The Danish city enjoying a major museum moment (it’s not Copenhagen)
Pay-what-you-wish performances at Lincoln Center
And 11 more things to know about art and culture today.
