THEN LEAVE ALREADY!<P>There is nothing worse than whining without purpose. DO SOMETHING with your life. Find something that you CAN get behind, rather than whinging at what was. Get your little band of merry men together with Ms. Glasco or anyone else and START A COMPANY!<P>What? Won't do it because it's: too hard, too time consuming, not fun, etc.<P>REALLY! What a surprise.<P>The point is simple. You keep trying to revive this and while I personally feel terrible for a wonderful dancer such as Ms. Glasco, I think she is recovering better than you folks.<P>Sell your tickets if you like, but whine to people who give a hoot!

If I had the money I certainly would start my own company. Unfortunately, I do not have the money. I have to work 2 jobs to make ends meet. You may not be aware of this but this issue is still alive in Canada. I’m very shocked over your claims of whining. I thought I made many excellent points — Especially the above posting about the NBoC using a quote by John Coulbourn of the Toronto Sun. It’s embarrassing. <P>If you don’t give a hoot, you’re entitled to your opinion. I give a hoot. If the NBoC was a company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, James Kudelka and Valerie Wilder would have been ousted by their shareholders. I have some ideas to produce ballet that would actually break even without asking for donations. Without donations the top seats at the NBoC would cost $200. If I had the money I would make my ideas come to fruition. By the way, I’m not interested in sharing my imagination with the world beyond this prose. <BR><P>------------------<BR>Michael Goldbarth

i agree, babs.

Me too, Grace. <P>Michael, you made good points, but were the personal attacks necessary? <P>I liked what you said about the shareholders, this is a good issue to bring up: are dance companies like any other business? They are in the sense that the balance of power can shift with whomever sits on the Board. <P>Toronto has had its share of political upsets in the arts, as far as I know (it's well before my time so correct me if I'm wrong) David Earle, a founding member of Toronto Dance Theatre, was removed by the TDT Board and sent on his merry way. <P>I think we like to attach romantic ideas to artistic enterprises, ascribing them a gentle nature. Obviously people in the arts are just as ruthless as people in the business world and just like in business, there are casualties. <P>I, for one, would love to see dance companies get to a place where they made enough money to actually go public. <P>But then there's the crux, as a public company do you concentrate on artistic product or revenue? Shareholders are not kind to a company that doesn't increase its revenue substantially within the first two or three quarters (and I can't think of a dance company that could do that, even with established ticket holders) I suspect we'd be seeing the National doing <I>Cats</I> pretty darn quickly down at the Hummingbird Centre...<P><p>[This message has been edited by Marie (edited November 07, 2000).]

Michael Goldbarth said:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I would never say some of the things I’ve written here to Kain’s or Kudelka’s face simply because I have no interest in creating a confrontation. Given their status and thick hides I don’t think they would even care. I seriously doubt they even surf the web. If so, why wouldn’t they voice their opinion on criticaldance?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>You would be surprised at the number of dance performers and administrators who look at the web. By and large they choose not to take part. I know that some dancers have been hurt in a way that they have not experienced from newspaper/magazine critics. A couple of errors I have made have, to my surprise, been corrected by dance professionals by e-mail.<BR> <BR>I'm all in favour of criticism, I'd like to avoid 'confrontation'. I think you should write on the basis that you are prepared to say it directly to the individual concerned. In any case it may well be that you are, via a screen rather than air.

Point well taken. Let me rephrase what I said. I would only say any of the above or previous things I have written if I was in the position to interview them as a journalist. If I confronted them at the Hummingbird Centre I fear they would have me removed from the premises—even if I stated something in the most politically correct way possible. It’s that kind of atmosphere there. In a few chats I have had with patrons and volunteers of the ballet, many said: “She’s (Glasco) been given bad advice.” Well, she got between $1 or 1.6 million from the reports I have read.<P>Basically, the NBoC has created their own little world where the basic laws of economics do not exist. If it wasn’t for generous people like Walter Carsen, I’m sure the NBoC would be very close to closing its doors. The Canadian government has taken the position that the arts do not deserve the generous funding they have received in the past. Canada is a wrestling infested nation concerned only with its own microwaveable, artificial gratification. Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources Development, gave away millions to fund bowling alleys and bars. That’s just the way it is in Canada. <BR><P>------------------<BR>Michael Goldbarth

I’m not sure what Marie meant by “personal attacks.” I assume she means calling James Kudelka, the Prince of Darkness. I think he’s earned the moniker and would probably consider it a high compliment. <P>------------------<BR>Michael Goldbarth

By personal attacks I meant comments like "claps like a robot" - this has little to do with Karen Kain's role at the National, neither does whether she uses an orthopedic pad or whether she sat on a child's note. <P>James Kudelka, who may have read this, would probably never sign on to this forum again which is really too bad because this is a very effective way to reach people that you would like to be "a little more accessible to us regular folk". <P>I too think things need to change in arts funding in Canada but lets address the issues, ok? Beating the horse into a bloody pulp in this forum is not going to solve anything. Glasco and the National have reached a settlement, it's over. <P>Besides, the issues are deeper than the National Ballet of Canada. The fact that a dancer of Glasco's reputation can't find any other employment in her field is one of them. <P>Schnedier said: "She had no choice but to accept money because now, at age 40 with no ballet company willing to hire her, her career is finished."<P>So lets talk about why no one wants to hire a dancer of Kim Glasco's calibre who has "never had a bad review" just because of her age. <P>We could also discuss the "put up and shut up" attitude that is common among a lot of dancers, no one wants to rock the boat and risk losing tenuous employment. Why do you think dancers aren't unionized and musicians are? <P>Do we need or want the National? Is the day of the big ballet company over? Do we even care if we see a company large enough to stage Swan Lake? Should a large ballet company eat up most of the money from the Dance Section of the Canada Council?<P>I think there are a lot of things here that are worth investigating.<P>Btw, there are other ways to get involved in dance besides starting a company. Joining CADA (Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists) and working towards improving conditions for dance artists is just one of them!

Marie, you bring up many good points, most of which are quite universal. As responses are made to your questions, we may consider spinning them off into different threads. I myself have some comments to add, after I've had a good night's rest.

I agree with a lot of the above postings. I recently ran into Karen Kain while shopping and decided on the spot not to take her to task for what she has done. I felt it would be inappropriate to use that occasion to vent my feelings. That is what brought me here to this forum. I thought that this was the appropriate place specifically because I assumed it might be read by her or the NBofC and they could get some feedback on their behavior from some of us who have been helping to feed them.<BR>I know I need to get beyond the Glasco issue, but what is holding me back is the knowledge that the real human issues behind all this have not been addressed and that it will probably never happen. It was all a bullying situation and the bully won. The audience lost. If the NBofC had made a clean breast of it we could all move on expecting a better tomorrow. I still believe those of us who are long long time supporters are owed at least this much- a sincere apology for the company's behavior. Until that time comes I know I will be looking around for some other place to put my confidence. In a way its like a very unpleasant divorce. The continuing lack of integrity is untolerable so a divorce is necessary, yet you remember all the things you loved about your former partner. If only they would repent you could love them again.

I looked back to an earlier discussion on the issue and re-read the NBoC settlement statement. Here is part:<P>"Ms. Glasco is an outstanding ballerina in both classical and contemporary ballets who has many years left in her career as a principal dancer. She is a widely acclaimed artist of unique abilities who has performed a broad range of ballets and will continue to do so in the future. Neither the National Ballet's original decision not to renew Ms. Glasco's contract nor any subsequent public statements regarding the matter by the Ballet's representatives were intended to reflect in any way on Ms. Glasco's fine qualities as a dancer. The National Ballet regrets any adverse effects caused to Ms. Glasco." <P>Together with a large settlement that seems like an apology or as close to one as one sees these days, particularly the first and last sentences.<P>She won a famous victory for herself and on behalf of dancers everywhere, which established that Canadian artistic companies could not flout the employment legislation. I hope that Ms Glasco has now moved her life on and is using her great talents in ways that suit her. Time for us to move on as well, in my view. <P>I acknowledge that everyone will make their own decisions about which companies they support, but the dance world is not sufficiently strong to support too many feuds especially when something approaching justice has been achieved.

Wow! I didn’t think commenting on Karen Kain’s failure to detect a note written on high quality paper of about 7 by 4 could be interpreted as a “personal attack.” Most normal people can detect the presence of a note with their bum (I hope this isn’t too graphic for criticaldance)! Karen Kain clapping like a “robot” was a personal observation which I’m sure could be corroborated by other ballet fans. The only comment I feel bad about is any interpretation that I was making fun of Karen Kain using “orthopedic padding for her seat.” I should have used better judgment when forming my sentence there. The first time I saw Betty Oliphant struggle to make it to her seat, I was shocked. She appeared to be suffering from osteoporosis. I thought “the note” incident and clapping was both funny and sad. As for “personal attacks,” that is something which Karen Kain is very familiar with. See the below excerpts from arbitrator Christopher Albertyn’s report of temporary reinstatement.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> Ms. Kain says that Ms. Glasco never had a broad range of repertoire that suited her and that range had declined in recent years. She contends that Ms. Glasco’s physicality, articulation and strength in her dancing had diminished, with the result that her work lacked speed and endurance. In Ms. Kain’s view, Ms. Glasco’s dancing lacked dynamism and excitement. She says that the fewer roles assigned to Ms. Glasco in recent years are the consequence of the overall decline in her artistic ability.<P>Kain suggests that Ms. Glasco had trouble understanding, absorbing and retaining corrections. From her own experience, Ms. Kain suggests that Ms. Glasco was very slow in learning the ballet steps for Musings, with the result that she was not ready to perform in St. Louis, Missouri from April 4 to 7. 1998. Ms. Kain supports the suggestion made by other deponents on behalf of the Ballet that Ms. Glasco has not been cast often by choreographers in recent years. She suggests that Mr. Kudelka interceded on behalf of Ms. Glasco and that, had he not done so, she would have been given even fewer roles than she was.<P>Glasco points out that she has never been told that her dancing has declined. She says that Ms. Kain’s comments on her dancing have always been extremely positive. She has received no critical comment from Ms. Kain. Ms. Glasco has produced cards she received from Ms. Kain over the past three years, following Ms. Glasco’s performances of Onegin in 1996, A Month in the Country in 1997 and Musings performed in New York in October 1998 (shortly before Ms. Glasco was notified of the non-renewal of her contract). These cards are highly laudatory of Ms. Glasco’s performances. In the last, for example, Ms. Kain describes Ms. Glasco’s “beautiful movement quality” and her “understanding of this time in your life”, which Ms. Glasco understood to refer to the maturity she displayed, as was required to perform the role she did in Musings. <P>No other person in authority at the Ballet has suggested to her that her dancing has not been exemplary. She disputes any decline in ability and stamina, pointing out that La Bayadére, in which she performed some days before she was terminated, for which she received critical acclaim, is one of the most technically difficult and demanding of all ballets in the classical repertoire. Ms. Glasco disputes that she has been excluded from the performance of the works of George Balanchine or of Mr. Kudelka, and says she has recently performed works by both choreographers. The reviews Ms. Glasco received for her performance in La Bavadére on November 26, 1998 included the following: “The ballet itself is grand-scale minimalism; every step is a lesson in precision and economy. Glasco wastes nothing in her execution of them. She proceeds assuredly; her balances are long and languid, her feathery arm movements are measured and restrained. Every gesture is clear and radiant. She sparkles, a 24-karat ballerina.” (Deirdre Kelly, The Globe and Mail, Friday, November 27, 1998.)<P>“A magnificent showcase for 22 of the company’s ballerinas, led by Kimberly Glasco. It is also a breathtaking study in grace and precision, particularly when performed to the standards set by the NBoC.” (John Coulbourn, The Toronto Sun, Friday, November 27, 1998.)<P>Ms. Glasco points to the fact that in several ballets she performed in her most recent contract Mr. Kudelka selected her to perform on opening night, the ‘first cast’, when other principal dancers were available. She has performed virtually the entire repertoire produced by the Ballet: classical,<BR>neoclassical and contemporary, and she has rarely received a review which is critical of her performance.” <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Ms. Kain’s comments to arbitrator Christopher Albertyn make the ballet’s statement of Glasco being an “outstanding ballerina” a little hard to swallow. It was no apology. Just part of the legal settlement. Their words carry about as much weight as a review by John Coulbourn of the Toronto Sun. <BR>Frankly, I think anybody who actually believes Kain or Kudelka read or care about what’s said about them on a Web site to be naive. If they were not in the unique situation of creating their own reality, they would have been forced to resign. <P>If indeed Karen Kain’s comments were true, why did the NBoC sign Kimberly Glasco to a 3 year contract in 1996? Why? Why?? Why???<P>For me, justice won’t be reached until Kudelka and Wilder resign. <BR><P>------------------<BR>Michael Goldbarth

OK. I tried.

Firing Kimberly Glasco was like burning a living work of art. You don’t replace a living work of art with cash. <P>------------------<BR>Michael Goldbarth

Okay, lemme phrase my question THIS way.<P>If Ms. Glasco is going to need to put this HUGE chunk of publicity behind her, in order to hope of finding a company interested in hiring her, how does continuing the "battle", after she has stopped it, help her? The sooner this is a non-issue, the sooner her life can continue, it seems to me. If she is seen as a publicity nightmare, then she's gonna stay in the dark. Let the artist continue her work. Let the artists she leaves behind her continue their work.<P>A lesson hard learned, and even harder to remember for all people involved in it: It's a business. Above all, it is a business.