The Davis White of ballet

A few years ago (2015) Tessa Virtue's twitter excitedly noted Misty Copeland's elevation to principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre. I follow ballet only intermittently and half-assed, but recognize superior musicality and (hopefully "AND") technique when I see it, When I checked out Copeland after Virtue's tweet, it was clear Copeland didn't have either. Her core strength wasn't steady, she wasn't overendowed with grace, and she was, in the great tradition of recent World Champions in ice dance as well as in the tradition of the 2014 nominal Olympic champions in ice dance - iffy at transitions (transitions are the tell for every skating discipline).



Copeland eliminating nearly two thirds of the fouettes in Swan Lake - filling in the music with rehearsed "improvisation" - gave away the game. She can't do them - it wasn't just the night. This caused a lot of talk even though, in my impression, few observers were surprised.

Also very Davis-Whitey is this critique of Copeland's Kitri in Don Quixote:

Ballet Focus - Copeland's Kitri in Don Quixote

Unfortunately, her performance Saturday evening was an exercise in getting by, a cautious rendering that included shortcuts in certain steps allowing her to check the Don Quixote box as she works her way down the classics list.
An example is Kitri’s turn in attitude (leg bent behind her) after a supported promenade in the Act III pas de deux. Generally Kitri does at least one turn before going to a knee; Misty did about a quarter turn before quickly going to her knee. Another example is Misty’s fouetté turns, the punctuating mark in Kitri’s solos in Act III. Much has been written about Misty’s struggles with fouettés since her debut in Swan Lake, summarized in Gia Kourlas’s profile of her in The New York Times. On Saturday, she started her fouettés off-center at stage left rather than the customary center stage. The reason is that she, like Hee Seo in Swan Lake, consistently travels to the right as her turns progress. On Saturday, her rightward movements were pronounced as she started her turns. There was hope midway though the segment as she righted herself and did several turns in the same spot. However, she finished up moving dramatically to the right, punctuated by a single pirouette to finish.

It continues to grate that the only reason Virtue and Moir are retiring (or so I believe) is they're not allowed to fairly compete. Maybe it took two years for them to finally reconcile themselves that this was not going to change.

My impression has been that most legends of sport perform at a time - an era - where everything comes together to facilitate their success and nurture/reward their talent. Virtue and Moir competed at a time where the entire sport, including those who should have had their back - worked to undermine them and blatantly resented their capabilities. Even the run-up to 2010 was setting the table for the aftermath when V&M's talent would become as welcome as a skunk at a wedding.

The better they got, the more dumbed down the criteria, and even that wasn't enough as those who couldn't fulfill even dumbed down criteria got full marks while Virtue and Moir were frequently dinged for imaginary errors.

I think more veteran ice dance teams would be competing if Virtue and Moir were still in the game. It's different competing against a superior talent, scored fairly. They can always face splat on an element, get a terrible cold or fever (see Katia Gordeeva at the 1988 World Championships in pairs), get an injury that means sitting out a competition, but if not, at least you know it's fair dealing. In the current climate, it's predetermined. There's oxygen in the sport when actual ability is rewarded.