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Friday, September 07, 2018
Details Emerge Over Three Dancer's Suspensions From NY City Ballet Over Shared Nude Photos
www.broadwayworld.com: As BroadwayWorld previously reported, just three weeks before its new season, following the departure of former leader Peter Martins - three male principal dancers were suspended from performing with the New York City Ballet this season.
11 comments:
Vanessa Ramon
said...
Every time I hear news like this come out of the Ballet world, it reminds me just how different it is from the theatre world. Not to say that the theatre world doesn't have it's own problems, but I would never describe the theatre as having a fraternity-like environment. I wonder what Alexandra meant when she said this. I'm guessing that she was alluding to the fact that these men probably thought they were doing nothing wrong by sharing nude photos of her. In an environment described like this, I am glad that these men were suspended. It is interesting to me how much the article talked about the leadership of the ballet company. I guess it is interesting that these dancers were suspended right after the departure of Peter Martins.
I hate that this isn’t even surprising. The #MeToo movement has made great strides against sexual assault an harassment in a variety of industries, but there’s still so far to go. Progress is only starting to be made towards bringing abusers to justice, but we’ve barely dabbled in prevention and eliminating abuse before it happens, and before it ruins peoples lives. I find it even sadder that this problem continues to surface in the highest towers of art: in Hollywood and prestigious ballet companies. It's found in ballet companies, movies, and theaters alike. How can these groups act as leaders of culture if they have such grave problems beneath the surface? And how can they continue to attract the world class talent that they do if they don’t fix their now apparent problems? I think it is absolutely the largest and most pressing problem that we face in the arts world today, and across-the-board reform needs to be enacted, from better sexual assault programs at schools to mandated employee training to independent watchdog groups.
This is terrible. I went ahead and read the larger article that this was distilled from and it's just disgusting. I've dabbled in ballet work and there's a joke that dancers (of all genders) are more promiscuous than other "performers." I don't know if this is necessarily true, nor do I think it matters, however considering it is the dancers that clued me into this joke, and the male dancers who got excited about it while the lady dancers rolled their eyes, hearing City Ballet has a "fraternity-like" environment does not shock me. I do know that there are significantly more ballerinas than ballerinos, and much like there's a lot of in-dating in theater companies (see: summer stock companies), ballet companies are just as prone to this as any other group that shoves a bunch of people in close proximity with little time to go out and socialize with new people in unfamiliar areas at weird times. The problem is that ballerinos are not as common as ballerinas and can be held up as "Special" by companies desperate to keep a hold of good male dancers to fill roles. That they would turn a blind eye to indiscretions of the ballerinos is not shocking, and just another example of male privilege in this world. I hope that Ms. Waterbury gets her justice.
Recently, there has been an incident of a New York City Ballet performer sharing sexually explicit images with other performers. The Woman, Alexandra Waterbusy, has been extremely strong to come out against the company. She says that their school allows and has a fraternity-like atmosphere, and does not do anything to the continually stronger growing negative opinion of women. This is extremely disappointing to hear, as I know a dancer in the NYC Ballet, and I hope she does not have to face this discrimination daily as she pushes her body to the limit. It is dismaying to hear that some of the most talented people in the world are receiving sexism just because people at the top feel above the law, and above respecting women. I am interested to hear how the ballet will react, they have an image to maintain. They already have made public notions by suspending pay for two of their employees. I hope they change their policies to actually support the ALL people who make all their money for them.
This is so sad. It’s frustrating how often lately I have felt disappointed by members of society and just want to scream “it’s 2018, how have we not figured this out yet?” Have we not figured out how to just be decent human beings? I don’t think it’s fair to say that dancers are any better or worse that actors or gymnasts or whoever. It doesn’t matter if they are more promiscuous or not. That judgment doesn’t matter and leans towards victim shaming whether intended or not. The truth is that this kind of behavior is prevalent in every field. Look at the #metoo movement which spanned across professions across the continent. You can be a cashier at a grocery store and still face gender discrimination and abuse. We’ve been screaming loud about the problem, but now we need to figure out how to fix it and protect those being harmed.
Reading about how these men acted towards and talked about the female ballerinas honestly disgusted me. It's so sad to read about the horrors behind the scenes of such a beautiful art. This article really just reminded me of all of the things wrong with this world. I can not believe the things I read in the full report connected to this article. To hear that the men of NYCB were referring to their female coworkers as "farm animals" and "sluts" for them to abuse is absolutely appalling to me. I really want to believe that the theatre community has not had issues like this as well, but from recent readings about the #metoo movement, I know that sexual abuse and harassment can happen literally anywhere, to anyone. I don't understand how we, as a society, have progressed as much as we have, and are still having some of the same issues that have been happening for thousands of years. How hard is it to understand consent? How do people still not understand that they are not entitled to anything from anyone else? Society continues to disappoint me everyday. I sincerely hope that the men involved in this case will actually be properly punished for once, as it seems to be more of a "crime" in this country to be a black man caught with drugs, than for a white man to dehumanize and sexually assault others.
The New York City Ballet has had a lot of problems recently and I don’t think this is ok what so ever. At first they had to fire some upper level staff for inappropriateness and clearly it trickled down to the dancers. One the story first broke over why they got fired I did not think this was the reason. It is so upsetting that someone what share someone else private photos. They are all grown-ups and should be mature enough to handle this, but clearly not. I am happy that chase finally resigned as he should not be working with the women who’s privacy he violated. I am happy that the women is suing him as no one has the right to do what he did. In her suit she said there was a frat like cultural. I hope with the firing of the upper level management and know this that more people will be aware of what they do and will stop themselves before they do something bad.
This is infuriating. I understand that these people are public figures so I am sure there is an expectation for them to behave a certain way on and off line but to lose your job based on a picture that is merely of your body, when your career surrounds your body seems crazy to me. New York City Ballet is going through some big changes this year it seems and they are all for the better but I would like to see someone new in upper management take a look at this situation and re-evaluate with a softer view. It is not the person who took the photo's fault that someone violated their trust for personal or career gain. I think we still have a lot of work to do when it comes to treating cases like these with the sensitivity and care they deserve.
The more comprehensive version of the report is, as Jess said above, disgusting. It is not surprising that male members of the company appraised the female members with sexual jokes and I get that there may be some gossipy aspects in any human gatherings. But the level of malice here is abominable here--a donor texting to the male principal dancer “tie some of the up and abuse them like farm animals or like the sluts they are” is unacceptable in so many different layers. What is even more disgusting is the irresponsible response from the New York City Ballet. In their own words, “New York City Ballet…vehemently denies the allegations that the company has condoned, encouraged, or fostered the kind of activity that Mr. Finlay and the others named have participated in, which were off-hours activities that were not known, approved, or facilitated by NYCB.” I just can’t help but ask, is this really the best response to publish as one of the leading ballet companies in this day and age?
I think that this is horrible and should be taken care of right away. If the photo was shared without her consent, it is not okay. Chase Finlay, as a principal dancer, should be held to standards of conduct as he sets the example for those below him. I find the "fraternity" comment particularly interesting because that is stereotypically where most sexual harassment and assault occurs. The New York City Ballet has a very good reputation for quality of dance, but not so good for workplace environment. I think that the female dancers should ask their management for better terms and more safety. The other two men, Amar Ramasar and Zachary Catasaro, should be examined more in their involvement. Being suspended with no pay for one year is going to be really hard on them and depending on their involvement may be too severe. I also think that they should have fired Finlay, not let him resign.
We were just discussing Me Too earlier this week, and now we once again having something to report on. It's interesting because it almost feels like these things are new, because before we weren't hearing about them. In the past ten years, I can think of 15 celebrities who have been the center of a nude photo scandal, or even leaked sex tapes. In fact previously a scandal like this would have had negative effects for the people who were being violated. I can remember many Disney or Nickelodeon stars who were fired for being the subject of one of these scandals. I appreciate that action has started being taken, but it still feels like too little too late. I have a feeling that once the hype dies down about Me Too, action will stop being taken by the general population, as has seemed to happen with many movements that have been deemed generation defining. Often times if we aren't directly affected by it we stop caring after a few months or years. I hope that all of the social movements currently taking shape in our culture stick with us in the ways that the Civil Rights Movement did, rather than falling away like so many others, because the conversations we are having are intensely important.
11 comments:
Every time I hear news like this come out of the Ballet world, it reminds me just how different it is from the theatre world. Not to say that the theatre world doesn't have it's own problems, but I would never describe the theatre as having a fraternity-like environment. I wonder what Alexandra meant when she said this. I'm guessing that she was alluding to the fact that these men probably thought they were doing nothing wrong by sharing nude photos of her. In an environment described like this, I am glad that these men were suspended. It is interesting to me how much the article talked about the leadership of the ballet company. I guess it is interesting that these dancers were suspended right after the departure of Peter Martins.
I hate that this isn’t even surprising. The #MeToo movement has made great strides against sexual assault an harassment in a variety of industries, but there’s still so far to go. Progress is only starting to be made towards bringing abusers to justice, but we’ve barely dabbled in prevention and eliminating abuse before it happens, and before it ruins peoples lives. I find it even sadder that this problem continues to surface in the highest towers of art: in Hollywood and prestigious ballet companies. It's found in ballet companies, movies, and theaters alike. How can these groups act as leaders of culture if they have such grave problems beneath the surface? And how can they continue to attract the world class talent that they do if they don’t fix their now apparent problems? I think it is absolutely the largest and most pressing problem that we face in the arts world today, and across-the-board reform needs to be enacted, from better sexual assault programs at schools to mandated employee training to independent watchdog groups.
This is terrible. I went ahead and read the larger article that this was distilled from and it's just disgusting. I've dabbled in ballet work and there's a joke that dancers (of all genders) are more promiscuous than other "performers." I don't know if this is necessarily true, nor do I think it matters, however considering it is the dancers that clued me into this joke, and the male dancers who got excited about it while the lady dancers rolled their eyes, hearing City Ballet has a "fraternity-like" environment does not shock me. I do know that there are significantly more ballerinas than ballerinos, and much like there's a lot of in-dating in theater companies (see: summer stock companies), ballet companies are just as prone to this as any other group that shoves a bunch of people in close proximity with little time to go out and socialize with new people in unfamiliar areas at weird times. The problem is that ballerinos are not as common as ballerinas and can be held up as "Special" by companies desperate to keep a hold of good male dancers to fill roles. That they would turn a blind eye to indiscretions of the ballerinos is not shocking, and just another example of male privilege in this world. I hope that Ms. Waterbury gets her justice.
Recently, there has been an incident of a New York City Ballet performer sharing sexually explicit images with other performers. The Woman, Alexandra Waterbusy, has been extremely strong to come out against the company. She says that their school allows and has a fraternity-like atmosphere, and does not do anything to the continually stronger growing negative opinion of women. This is extremely disappointing to hear, as I know a dancer in the NYC Ballet, and I hope she does not have to face this discrimination daily as she pushes her body to the limit. It is dismaying to hear that some of the most talented people in the world are receiving sexism just because people at the top feel above the law, and above respecting women. I am interested to hear how the ballet will react, they have an image to maintain. They already have made public notions by suspending pay for two of their employees. I hope they change their policies to actually support the ALL people who make all their money for them.
This is so sad. It’s frustrating how often lately I have felt disappointed by members of society and just want to scream “it’s 2018, how have we not figured this out yet?” Have we not figured out how to just be decent human beings? I don’t think it’s fair to say that dancers are any better or worse that actors or gymnasts or whoever. It doesn’t matter if they are more promiscuous or not. That judgment doesn’t matter and leans towards victim shaming whether intended or not. The truth is that this kind of behavior is prevalent in every field. Look at the #metoo movement which spanned across professions across the continent. You can be a cashier at a grocery store and still face gender discrimination and abuse. We’ve been screaming loud about the problem, but now we need to figure out how to fix it and protect those being harmed.
Reading about how these men acted towards and talked about the female ballerinas honestly disgusted me. It's so sad to read about the horrors behind the scenes of such a beautiful art. This article really just reminded me of all of the things wrong with this world. I can not believe the things I read in the full report connected to this article. To hear that the men of NYCB were referring to their female coworkers as "farm animals" and "sluts" for them to abuse is absolutely appalling to me. I really want to believe that the theatre community has not had issues like this as well, but from recent readings about the #metoo movement, I know that sexual abuse and harassment can happen literally anywhere, to anyone. I don't understand how we, as a society, have progressed as much as we have, and are still having some of the same issues that have been happening for thousands of years. How hard is it to understand consent? How do people still not understand that they are not entitled to anything from anyone else? Society continues to disappoint me everyday. I sincerely hope that the men involved in this case will actually be properly punished for once, as it seems to be more of a "crime" in this country to be a black man caught with drugs, than for a white man to dehumanize and sexually assault others.
The New York City Ballet has had a lot of problems recently and I don’t think this is ok what so ever. At first they had to fire some upper level staff for inappropriateness and clearly it trickled down to the dancers. One the story first broke over why they got fired I did not think this was the reason. It is so upsetting that someone what share someone else private photos. They are all grown-ups and should be mature enough to handle this, but clearly not. I am happy that chase finally resigned as he should not be working with the women who’s privacy he violated. I am happy that the women is suing him as no one has the right to do what he did. In her suit she said there was a frat like cultural. I hope with the firing of the upper level management and know this that more people will be aware of what they do and will stop themselves before they do something bad.
This is infuriating. I understand that these people are public figures so I am sure there is an expectation for them to behave a certain way on and off line but to lose your job based on a picture that is merely of your body, when your career surrounds your body seems crazy to me. New York City Ballet is going through some big changes this year it seems and they are all for the better but I would like to see someone new in upper management take a look at this situation and re-evaluate with a softer view. It is not the person who took the photo's fault that someone violated their trust for personal or career gain. I think we still have a lot of work to do when it comes to treating cases like these with the sensitivity and care they deserve.
The more comprehensive version of the report is, as Jess said above, disgusting. It is not surprising that male members of the company appraised the female members with sexual jokes and I get that there may be some gossipy aspects in any human gatherings. But the level of malice here is abominable here--a donor texting to the male principal dancer “tie some of the up and abuse them like farm animals or like the sluts they are” is unacceptable in so many different layers. What is even more disgusting is the irresponsible response from the New York City Ballet. In their own words, “New York City Ballet…vehemently denies the allegations that the company has condoned, encouraged, or fostered the kind of activity that Mr. Finlay and the others named have participated in, which were off-hours activities that were not known, approved, or facilitated by NYCB.” I just can’t help but ask, is this really the best response to publish as one of the leading ballet companies in this day and age?
I think that this is horrible and should be taken care of right away. If the photo was shared without her consent, it is not okay. Chase Finlay, as a principal dancer, should be held to standards of conduct as he sets the example for those below him. I find the "fraternity" comment particularly interesting because that is stereotypically where most sexual harassment and assault occurs. The New York City Ballet has a very good reputation for quality of dance, but not so good for workplace environment. I think that the female dancers should ask their management for better terms and more safety. The other two men, Amar Ramasar and Zachary Catasaro, should be examined more in their involvement. Being suspended with no pay for one year is going to be really hard on them and depending on their involvement may be too severe. I also think that they should have fired Finlay, not let him resign.
We were just discussing Me Too earlier this week, and now we once again having something to report on. It's interesting because it almost feels like these things are new, because before we weren't hearing about them. In the past ten years, I can think of 15 celebrities who have been the center of a nude photo scandal, or even leaked sex tapes. In fact previously a scandal like this would have had negative effects for the people who were being violated. I can remember many Disney or Nickelodeon stars who were fired for being the subject of one of these scandals. I appreciate that action has started being taken, but it still feels like too little too late. I have a feeling that once the hype dies down about Me Too, action will stop being taken by the general population, as has seemed to happen with many movements that have been deemed generation defining. Often times if we aren't directly affected by it we stop caring after a few months or years. I hope that all of the social movements currently taking shape in our culture stick with us in the ways that the Civil Rights Movement did, rather than falling away like so many others, because the conversations we are having are intensely important.
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