It would have been interesting to hear whether there had been any changes to the company procedures for dismissing/not renewing contracts. For instance, the one in force at POB, where there is a warning and a performance review by a committee before any action.<P>For the sake of their overdraft and the Company generally I hope something has changed.

I hear that the insurance company has insisted upon new employee review policies for the NBofC. No more taking someone into a room and saying goodbye without a paper trail. Welcome to the 80's James. As for Firebird it better be a big improvement on Gould or that emperor will have to get yet another suit of clothes. No way I will see Swan Lake again..classical ballet requires magic to keep the audience returning and the Kudelka production doesn't have it. By the way what James can take credit for is the 4 million dollar debt. The company was in the black when Reid left. The COC and TDT have done fantastic in the same timeframe. Am I bitter or what?

it does sound like you are a trifle...annoyed. But then so are many other folks.<P>I will watch the upcoming performances carefully, bringing along my 2 young critics.<P>Should be interesting!

Overall, I wasn’t very impressed by Hampson’s article. I could think of a million things I’d like to ask the Prince of Darkness (sounds very familiar). I wonder who tagged Kudelka with that moniker? This may sound like I’m picking on them BUT I counted an astounding 17 buts (8 by Kudelka, 9 by Hampson) in the article. That was a little bit much. I’d also like to point out that Giselle is spelt with two l’s not the Hampson spelling with BUT one l! I admit it. I’m jealous. I also applied to the Globe & Mail and they didn’t even give me the dignity of a rejection letter. <P>Hampson does deserve credit for actually getting an interview with the Dark One. I did find it very, very, very interesting that Julia Drake (Director of Communications) not Senior Publicist, was present at the interview. Presumably she was there to prevent Kudelka from stuffing both feet in his big cake hole! She obviously didn’t do a very good job given Kudelka’s insulting comments about Sleeping Beauty: “It tends to be a ballet you think is good for you or something, but it shouldn’t put people to sleep.” I assume he is commenting on the NBoC’s production choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev. A Sleeping Beauty which toured North America to rave reviews.<P>Moving on to another Petipa ballet, Sarah Hampson asks: “If Kudelka feels vindicated by the critical success of Swan Lake given that Glasco felt she was being punished for voicing concern about the amount of money spent on the new production?” She conveniently forgets to write that Globe & Mail ballet critic, Deidre Kelly, gave it a resounding thumbs down!<P>Somebody who actually responded to one of my letters was Hubert Lussier, Director General of Arts Policy for Heritage Canada. See below:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> “Thank you for your letter of March 16, 1999 concerning the National Ballet of Canada. Your deep concern for the organization and for principal dancer Kimberly Glasco is admirable.<P>With regards to your questions about the Department of Canadian Heritage’s position on the dispute between Kimberly Glasco and the National Ballet of Canada, I must state very clearly that the department takes no position whatsoever on the matter and does not involve itself in any way with the internal operations of arts organizations.” <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>At least I can post my views for the entire world to see on Criticaldance. Happy Birthday Criticaldance!<P><P>------------------<BR>Michael Goldbarth

All that stuff about the elimination of the star system is 100% pure baloney. If Kudelka can eliminate the position of principal and soloist, he can go with a 100% corps de ballet and pay everyone elephant wages.<P>------------------<BR>Michael Goldbarth<p>[This message has been edited by Michael Goldbarth (edited November 05, 2000).]

Michael is right on the money with this one. All the economies are on the backs of the dancers here in Canada. What corps member would not accept a principal role at a corps de ballet salary? The word is exploitation. All the fancy offices and corporate titles would not exist if there were not first the dancers who put their very souls on the line to create beauty. I can't stand the way this huge corporate monster rewards itself while paying its creators -the dancers- a pittance.