Cesar Corrales resigns from ENB

[Guest]

Cesar is that rare being – a unique, natural performer and a real star – who any company would surely want to celebrate and nurture. It is great that this spectacular and magnetic dancer will now be seen on the ROH stage.

However, it is understandable that people on this forum are struggling to get their heads around why he is leaving ENB now to join the RB.  Mention is being made of the rep., touring, feeling the need for a change and other possible factors. So, as we are being urged not to speculate, let’s look at what is in the public arena.

According to Kevin O’Hare in the ROH announcement, Cesar approached him in October about a move. This was 3 to 4 months after he was promoted to be an ENB Principal. ENB’s Press Release included a quote from Tamara Rojo which made no reference to Cesar while referring to the company’s investment in young dancers and having the best coaching team in the world.

In a joint Dance Europe interview with his wife, Laurretta Summerscales, Yonah Acosta, who resigned last summer, refers to his own difficulties at ENB.  In addition to Cesar, Laurretta (who is on secondment), Yonah, and Vadim Muntagirov (who has already been named in this context), the company has lost a number of other, critically acclaimed  young dancers during Ms. Rojo’s tenure, including three more who are Principals in Europe and others who have secured Soloist contracts abroad.

The winners from 5 out of the 8 years since the Emerging Dancer competition began have left the company. More than twice that number of other finalists have also moved elsewhere. In all, around 18 dancers resigned from ENB last season, including several Ms. Rojo recruited herself.  

Both the male Principals who were promoted to that level by Ms. Rojo (Yonah and Cesar) have now resigned, along with another male principal who was recruited externally in 2014 and left at the beginning of this year. Of the 8 female Principals, 2 (Laurretta and Shiori Kase) have come up through the company since Ms. Rojo became AD.

There were 13 internal promotions this year, including Cesar to Principal, 2 dancers to First Soloist, 3 to Soloist and 3 to Junior Soloist. Another Soloist was recruited from outside as were 2 out of the 3 male Principals (Aaron Robison and Joseph Caley) and 1 female Principal (Jurgita Dronina) who is sharing her time between ENB and Canada. ENB has used 3 male Guest Principals since the start of the season and a fourth is due to appear at the Coliseum in January.

I have tried to write down these various facts in a neutral way but it is difficult to avoid making some mental connections between the picture which emerges and Cesar’s departure.

 

[Guest]

Under Tamara Rojo's directorship, the repertoire has been more varied and diverse than at anytime at ENB since the Schaufuss era. (Perhaps also the Nagy era that followed, which I don't remember very well - so many dancers left with Schaufuss and I began watching the RB more). I can't believe that its ENB's current repertoire that's putting dancers off staying. A repertoire that consists of mostly fine stagings of the classics plus new creations: Khan, Forsythe, Pite, Ochoa,  plus works from Bejart, Bausch, Van Manen, MacMillan etc, looks rather good really. 

[BalletcoForum Moderators]

A number of posts have been hidden from this thread as they breach AUP or refer to posts that breach AUP.  The thread was temporarily hidden to allow the moderators to consider these postings and the general health of the thread.

 

We would remind members that the AUP does not permit posting of personal information about dancers (or others involved in dance companies) that is not properly in the public domain and posting unsubstantiated rumours is not permitted.

[Jan McNulty]

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[MAX]

I completely agree with Darlex concerning the repertoire. Tamara Rojo knows what she wants and she acts as a visionary for the company, pleasing the audience and some (most?) of her dancers.

Concerning this aspect it is really difficult to understand why L. Summerscales is blaming the repertoire (Pina Bausch, a new work by Akram Khan, a new work by Forsythe himself....) It is clearly a five stars repertoire !

That said and talking about the departures now, ENB is not a school which means we should not take it as normal if some dancers are leaving only a few months (or weeks) after having been made principals. This position should be reserved to dancers committed to their company, the beginning of something even if it is normal in this job to move but come on not that quick !  Something in the procedure of nominations is not working...

 

[SwissBalletFan]

43 minutes ago, MAX said:

 

Concerning this aspect it is really difficult to understand why L. Summerscales is blaming the repertoire (Pina Bausch, a new work by Akram Khan, a new work by Forsythe himself....) It is clearly a five stars repertoire !

 

 

When you compare the repertoire with Munich, I think it is clear what the difference is. ENB may be pushing boundaries, but it is very much on the contemporary side. Munich has wonderful classics in which would be a dream for a classical ballerina, or ballerino. Royal also maintain a good repertoire of classical pieces too which could be the reason for the change.

 

It should also be mentioned, that for classical dancers, classical technique needs to continue to be maintained with a balanced repertoire, that is even without considering that a fantastic classical repertoire can very much enhance and improve technique. So for a young dancer, there is a point where 'pushing the boundaries for audiences' is not pushing the limits for their bodies. 

 

Also, the control factor mentioned by Tamara Rojo would be a big factor for expressive dancers, as they will be very highly sought after on the gala circuit, and if she did not allow them to go (not many galas are attended by ENB dancers outside of Tamara Rojo), although admittedly they do guest for other companies). This could also be a point of frustration regarding the financial benefits of galas vs low pay (relatively) at ENB.

[Ivy Lin]

Hmm I don't know about the personality of Rojo but historically dancers who take on management positions while still being the big dancing star of the company have a poor track record of either longevity at the job and/or good relationships with dancers. I think a lot of boundaries get blurred when she's both ENB's boss and its prima ballerina. 

See: Mikhail Baryshnikov's stormy tenure at ABT, Nureyev's equally stormy (and shorter) tenure at POB.

[Ian Macmillan]

Everyone:  As LinMM says, this thread has run its course and I am closing it.  What some of you say you know, what Company members know - none of that has been disclosed in any public way of which I am aware and, as it has been our policy not to permit posting of information about dancers that is not properly in "the public domain," we cannot allow this situation to continue.  Let's wish Mr Corrales well when he moves on and leave it at that.