Ballet? What Ballet?
Back in December, the Washington Ballet Dancers walked out of a dress rehearsal for the Nutcracker. They said it was a lockout. Management said it was a strike. The union went buck nutty and passed out flyers on the street corners. Performances were cancelled. Negotiations were stalled. Now we have dancers leaving comments like these:
Look at everyone writing in on this Blog as if you all know something about what is going on. We the dancers know what we have done and have no problem with it because we are RIGHT!!!!!!
Either we get what we want or you won’t have the Washington Ballet anymore!!!!
We ARE the Washington Ballet, don’t ever forget it!!!!!
Posted by: LuisT at February 17, 2006 02:07 PM
Thanks Luis Torres for weighing in.
And, for the record? You’re not the Washington Ballet until you’re doing pirouettes in a theatre, not the alley outside of the Barnes and Noble/McDonald’s where you’re moonlighting.
Here’s the problem: the Washington Ballet is terrible. Absolutely terrible. I have seen performances of the freaking Nutcracker by this company with dancers running in to each other, falling down, displaying zero technique, etc.
If the Washington Ballet thinks they’re hurting the DC arts public by this then they have such inflated sense of importance it’s amusing.
I’ve forgotten all about them until I read this. I was too busy looking at the upcoming programs by the Kirov and Royal Ballet at the Kennedy Center in the next couple of months. So, who cares if there’s no more Washnington Ballet?
That is ridiculous, how could the dancers feel that way? Without the support of the community they would not be “dancing” in our community. They are not as they think “the washington Ballet” the community that supports them with donations and support is “the washington ballet”. The dancers can complain all they want about what they feel to be unfair treatment but they should never trick themselves into thinking that they ARE the “Washington Ballet”. They are only dancing in Washington because of the support of the community over the years. I hope some of the dancers are reading this because I just want to say, if you don’t like it then you can leave! Nobody is twisting your arm to stay in Washington DC. Additionally, their union needs to get out of town as well. They seem hell bent on getting what they want or completely closing the organization. Such a great example of negotiation tactics, no wonder the AFL CIO is such ruins! It just angers me to no end that a bunch of dancers whining about working long hours and not doing the roles they want brought this union in and all of the current situation to pass. We residents here in DC stand to loose a valuable community arts organization because of all this and have no say in it all.
Wow, it is almost March and still no word on any of what is going on with all this. Are they going to close or re-open or what??? The situation certainly does not look good and the public statements from the company management, dancers, and the union are getting more and more nasty, kinda like a political election. We know all about that here in the capital, HA!
Wow! How quickly these dancers forget that there is a 40 year history to the company. It really isn’t theirs to destroy. And could one of the dancers explain to me exactly what they’ve done and what they’re right about? Oh, and Luis, excellent use of the exclamation point…I haven’t seen it used so effectively since the publication of Harriet Miers’ love letters to W.