American Ballet Theatre has a big problem. To fill the cavernous, nearly 4,000 seat Metropolitan Opera House, the company needs stars. But with an aging group of male Principal Dancers with little depth in the Soloist ranks, putting together performances with compelling casts in the near future poses great challenges. The result will be the use of less talented dancers or guest artists to fill the slots.
The roster of male Principal Dancers at the start of the Met season was thin, but became weaker with the departure of Jeffrey Cirio to English National Ballet. Here is a list of male Principal Dancers at the start of the Met season and their current status:
- Roberto Bolle-performed in only two performances this season in Giselle. At age 43, he provided amazing performances that any dancer 20 years his junior would envy. However, he can’t dance forever and next year will likely be his ABT farewell, in Manon I hear.
- Jeffrey Cirio-a big blow to ABT as Jeffrey will leave for English National Ballet after only two years at ABT. On Instagram, he said that ENB offered more diverse rep like his former company Boston Ballet and ENB provides the opportunity to work with choreographers he has always wanted to work with.
- Herman Cornejo-one of the great male dancers of the past 30 years. I enjoyed his Basilio in Don Quixote, with skilled bravura. However, at age 37, Herman is in the twilight of his career.
- David Hallberg-great Met performances in Giselle and Romeo and Juliet. At age 36, David is in the latter part of his career and it is uncertain whether he will be cast in technically demanding ballets such as Swan Lake or La Bayadére.
- Alban Lendorf-missed the past two out of three Met seasons due to an injured knee.
- Daniil Simkin-dancing at a very high level, with great performances in Don Quixote and Giselle. However, his ABT fate is uncertain as he will join Staatsballet Berlin for the 2018-2019 season. “Simkin will continue to perform as a Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre as scheduling allows,” according to ABT. Hopefully, he will be fully available for the 2019 Met Season.
- Cory Stearns-always a steady performer but not a dancer I would go out of my way to see.
- James Whiteside-same comment as Cory above.
Marcelo Gomes resigned in December and was sorely missed. He was a workhorse in previous seasons, always dependable with many great quality performances. Marcelo’s departure was strange: an allegation of sexual misconduct not involving his work at ABT or anybody at ABT. Marcelo has been busy since he left ABT, dancing at the Mariinsky in Giselle and the Bolshoi; in Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain; choreographing a work for Washington Ballet in March; and guesting at Sarasota Ballet.
New York City Ballet has a similar issue with a number of male Principal Dancers near retirement. However, the situation at ABT is more dire as its Petipa dominated rep requires high level male dancers. In contrast, NYCB can thrive with merely adequate men as the Balanchine dominated NYCB rep is focused on women (Balanchine: the woman-a garden of beautiful flowers; the man-a gardener).
Where are the Male Stars?
In the 1990s, ABT was extremely successful in shaping young dancers into stars that would ultimately make a mark on the dance world. Dancers that joined ABT in their teens in the 1990s included Angel Corella (age 19), Herman Cornejo (18); David Hallberg (19); Marcelo Gomes (18); also add Julio Bocca who joined ABT in 1986 at age 19. However, the “farm team” pipeline went dry recently, with only Cory Stearns making it to Principal Dancer in 2011 after joining the ABT Studio Company in 2004 at age 19. At other companies, male dancers have risen to prominence during the same period such as Kimin Kim (age 25)-Mariinsky Ballet; Vladimir Shklyarov (33)-Mariinsky Ballet; Vadim Muntagirov (28)-Royal Ballet; and Denis Rodkin (27)-Bolshoi Ballet. For some reason, ABT has not developed a star male Principal Dancer since Hallberg was promoted to the highest rank in 2006.
For some reason, ABT has not developed a star male Principal Dancer since Hallberg was promoted to the highest rank in 2006.
Why the dearth in star men? Looking over the backgrounds of the current crop of male Corps members reveals a number that have distinguished training, excelling in ballet competitions such as Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP), Lausanne, and Varna. For example, Andrii Ishchuk and Gray Davis took 1st Place at the YAGP New York finals; Sung Woo Han and Zhiyoo Zhang won the Silver and Bronze Medal at Prix de Lausanne, respectively; Joo Won Ahn took third place at Varna, with numerous other high finishers at prestigious competitions. I don’t have access to bios from 10 years ago, but think the backgrounds of the Corps members were probably similar with numerous ballet competition winners. Why none of the Corps members have risen to stardom recently given the ABT track record in the 1990s is a mystery to me. Hopefully, the development of young males will improve with the Monday appointment of Sascha Radetsky as the Director of the ABT Studio Company.
Making matters worse is that there are no male Soloists in line for promotion to Principal Dancer. The male Soloist rank consists of Thomas Forster, Joseph Gorak, Alexandre Hammoudi, Blaine Hoven, Calvin Royal III, Arron Scott, and Roman Zhurbin. Only Gorak and Hammoudi have danced principal full-length roles (both as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and Hammoudi in Swan Lake). While proficient and solid technically, none of the current Soloists are destined to be promoted.
Two Corps members showed potential in the Met season. Joo Won Ahn had a successful debut in La Bayadére, displaying skillful partnering and smooth solo work. Aran Bell as Rothbart in Swan Lake had the steps down, but needed more dramatic energy. I didn’t have the same overwhelming reaction to Aran’s dancing as I did seeing young Corella, Hallberg, Cornejo, or Gomes, who made great first impressions. I hope to be proven wrong and he follows in their large footsteps.
2018 Met Season in Review
ABT in the early 2000s provided double barrel star power in the form of Paloma Herrera/Angel Corella; Diana Vishneva/Marcelo Gomes; Nina Ananiashvili/Julio Bocca or Marcelo Gomes; Xiomara Reyes/Herman Cornejo. The frustrating thing about the 2018 Met season was the one-sided partnerships in favor of the women. There were great performances from Christine Shevchenko, Gillian Murphy, Devon Teuscher with solid but not distinguished work from their partners, generally Cory Stearns or James Whiteside. The women made compelling statements that rivaled their early 2000s counterparts while the men were just plain solid (although the reverse is true with the pairing of Misty Copeland and the consistently great Herman Cornejo). A piece of the puzzle is missing and it is dynamic work from the men. Met highlights:
- Christine Shevchenko’s Odette/Odile Met debut in a Wednesday matineé was stunning, danced with great maturity, confidence, and authority. If this was her second performance in the role, I wonder what her future work will be like after more seasoning. Her dancing reminded me of former ABT great, Irina Dvorovenko with long neck and limbs, great extension, and high leaps.
- Isabella Boylston and David Hallberg danced with great passion and vigor in a wonderful Romeo and Juliet. The pair was imbued with giddy love, displayed with great joy and affection. Jeffrey Cirio as Mercutio was the best that I have seen in a while. Jeffrey was fully in control, with nice turns and high leaps. His dramatic touches in his death scene projected throughout the cavernous Met Opera House. A great performance from Jeffrey.
- Mariinsky Guest Artist Kimin Kim was spectacular as Solor in La Bayadére, filled with sky-high leaps and fluid turns. Kimin’s biggest asset is his great leaping ability, making even simple assemblés look riveting. His double assemblés en manége (first done by Rudolf Nureyev) were executed with great precision and energy, a difficult feat given how taxing the step is. He was consistent throughout his eight assemblés with great elevation. Dramatically, Kimin has great stage presence and portrayed Solor with authority.
- In one of the few times this season, Lincoln Center was electric with a full house (some paying $250 or more for orchestra seats) to see the birthday duo Natalia Osipova and David Hallberg in Giselle. Approaching the Metropolitan Opera House, there was a buzz that reminded me of ABT 10-15 years ago when the company fielded superstar studded casts with regularity. Many were anticipating this performance for months and were holding their breath in anticipation due to David’s much publicized injury issues. Natalia and David did not disappoint, with a memorable performance.
- I opened up my ABT Met season with a great Giselle Wednesday afternoon performance featuring Sarah Lane and Daniil Simkin. With her small stature, Sarah was quite believable in Act I as a bashful young girl; she portrayed Giselle in an informal “aw-shucks” peasant demeanor as she encountered the dashing Count Albrecht. Daniil was an assertive count not lacking in self-confidence as he won over the young Giselle. Daniil was impressive on the dramatic side, with an energetic portrayal of the count that ranged from a cad chasing Giselle to a despondent soul that mourned her death. The two are an ideal pair, with effortless high-quality dancing. Daniil’s solo was outstanding as his tremendous technique commands the stage. Not a wobble on any of his difficult steps. Daniil was also in fine form later in the season in Don Quixote, with one of the best Basilio performances I’ve seen. Daniil is a joy to watch with his powerful, controlled steps. Sarah’s debut as Kirti with Herman Cornejo surprised me, with high leaps and very good turns. Note: The last three sentences corrected from the original. Thanks to Beth CP for pointing out my mistake. I also forgot to include Blaine Hoven’s name in the Soloist ranks above. Thanks to Betsey for pointing this out.
2019 Met Season
ABT has great young women: Christine Shevchenko, Devon Teuscher, Skylar Brandt, Cassandra Trenary. ABT needs to put these dancers at the front of the pack in terms of casting; they are that good. Christine is the most exciting dancer at ABT, on the path to stardom in the mold of Irina and Nina. Skylar is a technical whiz, ready to lead full-lengths such as Don Quixote. Devon and Cassandra impressed in the 2018 Met season. It would be a shame if ABT waited until their mid-to-late 30s to feature them as the company has done with previous dancers…only to realize their best days are behind them. Putting these women at the forefront would also shake up the monotonous lineup. I won’t go out of my way to Hee Seo or Misty Copeland in more technically challenging works as I have seen them in these roles (particularly Hee) over the past several years.
As for the men, ABT must figure something out with few young dancers coming to the rescue.
A (fairly big), correction. Sarah Lane’s debut performance as Kitri in Don Quioxte was opposite Herman Cornejo, not Daniil Simkin.
Thanks Beth. I made the correction.
Very insightful views and wondering if there is a shortage of artistic staffing and coaching compared to the 80s and 90s?
Very insightful review and agree with deductions here, wondering if shaping the next generation within the current crop is due to lack of artistic staffing and coaching?
I was never a fan of James Whiteside in the past, but much to my own surprise, I actually enjoyed his performances this year. For instance, I thought he saved Don Q (his partner that night, Hee Seo, was an adequate but rather dull Kitri). Considering ABT’s male Principal problem, I’m rather puzzled by the just-announced promotions of Zhong-Jing Fang, Catherine Hurlin and Katherine Williams. While I’m happy for the new Soloists and glad that Kevin McKenzie is finally promoting from within, does the company really need three new female Soloists?? I’m sorry, but I don’t think so. What ABT desparately needs is at least one additional male Principal–someone with talent AND charisma, which shouldn’t be impossible to find.
I suppose Kevin will end up hiring a man from the outside. But surely, surely… ABT should be able to find a way to groom the men who are already in-house to take on starring roles. I’m on the fence about them, but maybe Soloists Thomas Forster and Blaine Hoven (who you left off the list) could be promoted in the next year or so. They may not have the charm of a Marcelo Gomes, but with the proper grooming, I think have potential. And didn’t Blaine dance a Principal role in “Sylvia” a couple of years ago?
Kimin Kim’s performance in La Bayadere this season was too supreme to use as an opportunity to criticize the politics of Kevin McKenzie and ABT with regard to failing to hire greater numbers of terrific male dancers. We want him coming to New York as a guest artist as often as possible. Cultural exchange is lifeblood of casting in ballet. People are upset because McKenzie wants to restore ABT to its American roots and want to see the return of the Russian celebrity dancers. If you discourage him from bringing Kimin Kim to fill in for David Hallberg you discourage what people really want which is to see great artists at work. Who cares what nationality, race, background, etc. In its earliest days ABT was using guest artists from around the globe–Erik Bruhn, Alicia Alonso, Carla Fracci, etc. You can’t have it both ways. People are suffering because of the absence of Russian celebrity dancers. Their presence raised up the company, raised the bar, and now this new policy, which for all we know may be the influence of Vladimir Putin telling Russian dancers there will be penalties for dancing in the west for more than a night or two…McKenzie has to do the bidding of the Head of the Board of ABT. It all comes down to economics. They have been producing these extremely expensive ballets for Ratmansky–the reconstructions and revivals–the costume ballets. The cost has got to be exorbitant. Between that and importing Russians they may have gotten into financial difficulties around the time of the Crash that we’re paying for now. They plan this stuff years in advance — like baseball. What is sad is that people came to blame Misty Copeland for the “exodus” of Russian celebs from ABT, when clearly McKenzie had a new policy about inviting them–No more, in a nutshell. So no more cheap shots at great artists like Kim, OK, Kent? You’re a wonderful critic but have respect for the really truly great artists and leave them out of the politics.
Thanks for your comments. I’m not sure what cheap shots I took at Kimin Kim, having called his ABT performance “spectacular,” praising his “…great stage presence,” portraying “Solor with authority.” In my review earlier in the ABT season on Kimin’s La Bayadére performance, I didn’t criticize ABT for using Kim as a guest artist; rather, I lamented the fact that ABT has not developed any great male dancers recently. I’m not sure why ABT has had difficulty developing men, but some readers provide possibilities in the comment section. Kent
I agree, you praised Kimin Kim to the hilt and gave a detailed account of his tour de force in one of the most demanding solos in La Bayadere. And because I respect you so much as a critic–and count on you–please consider the seemingly small point I am making carries weight in the larger context of things. You resorted to using Kim’s appearance as a guest artist with ABT as an excuse to bring up the sordid topic of the inadequacy of male dancers at ABT. You were itching to talk about it and worked it in. Later you covered it in full in a separate article at the end of the season. It would have been ideal to give Kim center focus and red carpet treatment–unless you want to discourage dancers like him from wherever coming to ABT. Surely that is not your objective. Macaulay did a similar thing to Kim on a much bigger scale in 2015 when he came to dance Solor in La Bayadere. He praised him in the context of a long article about the history of La Bayadere, the changes in choreography to the descent of the Shades through time, and a dismissal of the choreographic merit of the ballet itself. (I saw Nureyev’s revision of the descent of the Shades for the Royal Ballet danced as an excerpt and it was sublime and superior–but that’s not the subject of the review of a live performance of a guest artist.) Macaulay wanted to dis ABT’s full length production staged by Makarova and used Kim to do it. (He likes to combine things–covered PA Ballet’s first full length Swan Lake inside a review of a modern dance company in PA in the same article. Very weird for each company.) Macaulay basically gave Kim a few compliments then said that ABT should NOT BRING HIM BACK if only to perform La Bayadere because of it’s lack of choreographic merit. That’s a horribly dismissive way to praise a dancer. Kim is such an outstanding artist that he raises La Bayadere into a realm in which the subject clearly becomes the internal journey of the brave warrior born with a fickle heart–he has to conquer this flaw before he can become a hero on the battlefield of love. In Act II he plumbs the depth of his love for Nikiya in the spiritual realm of Kingdom of the Shades. At the end of Solor and Nikiya’s first pas de deux he follows her offstage with those slow, luxurious strides, eyes raised to the sky–and Kim didn’t rush this like so many male dancers do. The slow pace is terribly important–Minkus’ glacial tempo mimics the hypnotic pace of an opium induced dream. The eyes are raised to the sky because Solor has finally made a spiritual connection to Nikiya–he no longer needs to see her or touch her to follow her. He has surrendered–the first step in mastering the art of learning how to love. It’s simply gorgeous. The beautiful choral dancing that follows and the multiple pas de deux that contain, specifically, some of the most challenging variations for male dancers in the history of ballet, convey Solor’s increasing sense of exhilaration after committing to Nikiya in this esoteric realm. His joy knows no bounds, figuratively and physically–this is what Kim so cleary conveys. That one solo that is so incredible expresses the joy and ecstasy that a person only experiences when they are touched by profound human emotion. It may have been choreographed by Chabukiano in 1941–who cares? Kimin Kim made it a celebration of Solor’s victory in love. Amazing! Act II is meaningful and beautiful, in addition to all its glorious history as one of the first “white” ballets and Petipa’s anticipation of the wonders of plotless dancing pioneered by George Balanchine in the 20th century. I praise you, Kent, for covering Kimin Kim at all. But we need to encourage Kim come as often as possible! I’m being very protective of him because, as an Asian male dancer, he won’t get the kind of attention he deserves in the first place. It’s not racism precisely. It’s a lack of exposure to Asian heroes in western culture–all we have is Jackie Chan and, before that, Yul Brenner. The incredible Chinese ballet dancer, Li Cunxin, danced 16 years with the Houston ballet before moving to the Australian Ballet. He only became well known in the ballet world after he retired and they made a movie out of his autobiography, “Mao’s Last Dancer.” He doesn’t even dance in it.Try finding clips of him on Youtube. There are only about 4 or 5 of very bad quality. Try finding a review published in a major western city while he was dancing; I assume the Australian Ballet toured from time to time. Nobody was talking about him. He was not embraced and celebrated in the international ballet world even during his most vital years. Correct me if I’m wrong. I hope I’m wrong. I’m not saying his life isn’t an incredible achievement and that he wasn’t a glorious dancer. I never saw him live. I’m saying that Western ballet goers have a long way to go before they get used to the presence of a strong, heroic Asian male on stage. The stereotype of feminine Asian beauty as being mysterious, serene and exotic is firmly in place in our culture, making it easier for ballet audiences to admire the grace and beauty of female Asian dancers. The relatively more inscrutable features of the Asian male (as opposed to any other racial type of male) tend to make westerners perceive Asian males as impish, secretive, untrustworthy, even unfeeling or callous. At worst, they can’t “read” their faces because they don’t get any practice. (It’s a problem in business in the U.S.–major law firms almost never promote Asian attorneys to partner and so on because they don’t fit in with the defensive, foul-mouthed boys club that even Caucasian women are better at imitating.) In an interview a few years ago Kim said that when he first arrived in Russia people would ask him if he was Chinese. When he said “no” they said “Are you Japanese?” and when he said “no” they just stopped asking. He always had to volunteer the fact that he was Korean. He shared this with a sense of humor but it strikes me as terribly significant. In New York we like to think that we can recognize whether or not a person is Chinese, Japanese or Korean, at the very least. But does that mean we are so unsophisticated that we easily embrace the Asian male stage persona? We have a slippery grasp of it and don’t wish to project stereotypes at the same time–so we just don’t deal with it. And we never get any practice. Which is why no major dance critic covered Kim’s 2 performances in New York this year. And why there was practically no hype and no publicity. I know it was short notice but SO WHAT. When a dancer of that caliber shows up word usually spreads like wild fire. Remember when Nunez came to town a few years back to do a few performances of Ashton’s Cinderella with ABT? Standing room was packed. Look. When Nureyev defected in 1961 it was big news for a reason. He electrified the western world and popularized ballet through it–brought young people to the ballet for the first time since Diaghilev and Nijinsky. (WWI and WWII put a serious damper on what they accomplished.) Over the next 10 years as a result of Nureyev’s urgent need to continually tour and dance with as many companies and ballerinas as possible in addition to dancing full-time with Margot Fonteyn and the Royal Ballet, the seeds for the huge audience for ballet that we have now were planted. All of the ballet studios that opened and all of the students who came to class and determined to become ballet dancers that followed in years to come–the whole explosion of the ballet boom–is the result of those first ten years of Nureyev’s arrival in the West. I saw him and Fonteyn in their prime from 1968 on. They toured all over the western world repeatedly. People were mesmerized by them, transported to a place of rapture and ecstasy. They gave 200% every performance. There’s been no partnership like it before or since. The audience that the NYCB has today was in part created by Nureyev because of his popularization of ballet. The State Theater was half-empty during the late 60’s and 1970’s. They didn’t have the audiences they have now then. Nureyev danced too long, unfortunately, so many young people today have no appreciation of what he did. But his defection was a major turning point in 20th century ballet. So, now, today, when we see the flood of importation of Russian dancers that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 drying up…we should not discourage ABT from inviting an extraordinary male dancer who has emerged at the Mariinsky to dance at the Met. Kim promises to be one of the greatest dancers in the world. He already is. We should never discourage guest artists from coming to ABT. It is not the NYCB. It does not not have the legacy of George Balanchine. It has always been an ecclectic mix of some of the best dancers in the US plus guest artists. When you review a dancer of Kim’s caliber please leave out the politics of exclusion. You were itching to discuss the thoughts you got around to discussing on male dancers at ABT at the end of the season in a separate article. You just jumped the gun, that’s all. I think you’re a great critic.
I miss the international star dancers in ABT spring season. The close door policy and non-dance ballets produced by Ratmansky is destroying ABT. The most recently promoted the female principals do not have the quality for a regular ballet lover to appreciate. They all have natural limitations to be a super dancer and the skills are not super enough to overcome those. ABT is at its lowest level. However, the newly promoted female soloists are very promising. They will become big stars. They have no limitations, I mean the best body proportion for a dancer, the flexibility and the artistic movements that the new principals do not have. Copeland and Boylston are the only stars in the women. They are able to complete the movements in the best quality, not like the new ones that just runs through. I look forward to the soloists to become principals. There are too few good principals dancers to choose. Without Maria, Polina, what a difference!