When Abi Stafford Lillo took her last curtsy final fall after greater than twenty years at New York Metropolis Ballet, it appeared like a typical dancer retirement, with colleagues handing her bouquets because the viewers applauded wildly.
However her smile that afternoon masked what had change into a bitter dispute behind the scenes between the ballerina and the corporate.
Ms. Lillo, 40, stated she determined to go away as a result of she felt she had been sidelined since her estranged brother, Jonathan Stafford, turned Metropolis Ballet’s inventive director. Then, she stated, she was minimize from the opening night time forged of her last ballet, “Russian Seasons,” by its choreographer, Alexei Ratmansky. He advised her in a textual content that “the boys have been struggling” to companion her — which she thought-about “physique shaming,” she stated in an interview.
Metropolis Ballet officers countered that Ms. Lillo had been supplied a number of roles in recent times that she had declined, and stated that Mr. Stafford had no say in her casting as a result of his contract prohibited him from selections involving both her or his spouse, the dancer Brittany Pollack. They stated Ms. Lillo had been faraway from the “Russian Seasons” opening not due to her weight, however due to “points along with her stamina and along with her energy.”
The dispute supplies a window into the complicated, typically fraught dynamics of Metropolis Ballet, a close-knit firm through which family, spouses and romantic companions typically share a office. And it’s a reminder of the steadiness ballet firms should obtain as they search to maneuver previous a long time of unhealthy give attention to the burden and physique form of dancers, whereas persevering with to demand the energy, flexibility, athleticism and artistry that outline the artwork type.
A Household Break up
Metropolis Ballet has lengthy been one thing of a household affair. George Balanchine, its co-founder, was married to 2 of its main dancers. The spouse and son of Peter Martins, the corporate’s ballet grasp in chief for many years, have been each principal dancers underneath his management. And several other pairs of siblings have danced within the firm collectively, together with the Kirklands, the d’Amboises, the Fairchilds and the Angles.
The Staffords joined the ranks of Metropolis Ballet siblings, initially learning on the Faculty of American Ballet, its affiliated academy, after which becoming a member of the corporate. However they grew aside, whilst they continued to work collectively.
Rising up in central Pennsylvania, Ms. Lillo was the primary in her household to begin ballet, she stated in an interview. She recalled being pissed off when her brother and sister adopted her lead. “I wished ballet to be my factor, even after I was 6,” she stated. “I used to be simply all the time very resentful of them encroaching on my exercise.”
In 2000, Mr. Martins employed her, at 17, to bounce within the firm’s corps de ballet after six weeks as an apprentice — an unusually fast promotion. As she established herself critics praised Ms. Lillo’s method, with one writing that she “defines each step with exceptional readability.” At different instances the opinions have been extra middling, with some critics suggesting her dancing was lacking depth.
Her relationship along with her brother, which had been robust, began to deteriorate. She stated that she had been offended on her thirty first birthday when Mr. Stafford bought engaged. “I used to be like, OK, he’s actually making an attempt to make my birthday about him,” she stated.
In 2017, Mr. Martins, the corporate’s longtime chief, left after he turned the topic of misconduct allegations, which he denied and which the corporate later stated weren’t corroborated. Mr. Stafford took over, first as interim chief after which as inventive director, with Ms. Whelan as affiliate inventive director. In an effort to keep away from conflicts, Ms. Whelan was given oversight of the casting and employment of Ms. Lillo and Ms. Pollack. However Ms. Lillo got here responsible her brother for what she noticed as fewer alternatives.
Mr. Stafford declined an interview, however stated in an announcement that Ms. Lillo had impressed him to change into a dancer and that he had been “saddened” by the breakdown of their relationship, which he stated deteriorated after he was promoted to principal dancer. “I’ve made many efforts since then to reconnect, however our relationship has by no means been the identical,” he stated.
The Resolution to Retire
Lower than a 12 months after Mr. Stafford was formally named inventive director, Ms. Lillo went on a psychological well being go away. In an interview, she attributed the go away to the rift and her perception that she was being ignored in casting selections.
It was in March 2020, simply earlier than the pandemic halted dwell performances in New York for a 12 months and half, that she advised the corporate she wished to go away. She charged that after Mr. Stafford took over she had been relegated to “understudy roles at the back of the room,” as her lawyer, Leila Amineddoleh, wrote in a letter to the corporate.
She requested for 3 years of severance pay, a launch from her contract so she might dance elsewhere, and a solo curtain name at her last efficiency.
In written responses to Ms. Lillo’s allegations, Kathleen McKenna, a lawyer for Metropolis Ballet, rejected her declare that she had successfully been “demoted” after her brother turned inventive director, itemizing 13 ballets that she had been forged in since 2019, and noting that she couldn’t carry out throughout spring of that 12 months as a result of she was injured. Ms. McKenna wrote that Ms. Lillo had additionally declined some alternatives after which had gone on go away.
“In reference to that call, she confided in Ms. Whelan that she now not liked dancing however fairly liked ‘the legislation,’” Ms. McKenna wrote.
Ms. Lillo, who began courses at Fordham’s legislation college in 2018, acknowledged that she had declined to carry out some roles due to accidents, her go away and different points, however maintained that she was not getting forged equitably with different principal dancers.
In an interview she stated that she had grown pissed off after she requested Ms. Whelan to be taught new roles, and was advised she was not proper for them. “The one factor that she stated to me was that was actually disturbing or upsetting was, she stated, ‘We’re making an attempt to do what’s proper by the ballets.’” Ms. Lillo stated she retorted, “What in regards to the dancers?”
In an interview, Ms. Whelan stated she had labored arduous to seek out Ms. Lillo roles.
“I don’t assume she was handled unfairly,” Ms. Whelan stated. “I went out of my method to give her alternatives.”
‘The Males Have been Struggling’
Final fall, as Metropolis Ballet ready to return to its theater at Lincoln Heart, Ms. Lillo made plans to bounce the ballet “Russian Seasons” for her farewell efficiency.
However after early rehearsals, its choreographer, Mr. Ratmansky, requested for her to be minimize from its opening night time forged, Ms. Whelan stated. Ms. Whelan referred to as her and gave her the information, Ms. Lillo recalled, telling her that Mr. Ratmansky didn’t assume she was “robust sufficient” or prepared for the primary night time however that she might nonetheless dance it for her farewell efficiency.
Ms. Lillo adopted up with a textual content message to Ms. Whelan and Mr. Ratmansky, writing “I want you had given me two extra weeks earlier than you made your resolution” and including that she was “persevering with to work and push,” in accordance with screenshots of the textual content messages.
“I’m very sorry it harm you,” Mr. Ratmansky replied. “I really feel dangerous about it. I’m additionally sorry I didn’t handle to speak to you.”
He went on: “However please perceive. There’s a number of partnering within the piece and it ought to look easy. The lads have been struggling.” (Mr. Ratmansky didn’t reply to requests for remark.)
Ms. Whelan stated that she was by no means advised that the choice was about Ms. Lillo’s weight, and that she interpreted Mr. Ratmansky as saying Ms. Lillo was lacking the energy and technical talent that feminine dancers have to make partnering look easy.
However Ms. Lillo learn that textual content as indicating that it was “about how my physique appeared and never about how robust I used to be.”
“It’s solely as a result of I’m now saying it’s physique shaming that they’re altering the narrative,” she stated. Her lawyer wrote to the corporate that the ultimate weeks of her ballet profession triggered her “intense emotional misery” and requested for $200,000 in compensation along with the standard exit pay she had already obtained. (Metropolis Ballet has not agreed to that demand.)
Metropolis Ballet has spoken in recent times of making an attempt to vary the dialog about weight and dancer’s our bodies — and to maneuver previous a tradition has generally appeared to prize thinness above different attributes, to the detriment of dancers’ bodily and psychological well being.
The soloist Georgina Pazcoguin wrote in her 2021 memoir that her thighs have been criticized, driving her to get surgical procedure to take away fats from them. And Ms. Lillo stated Mr. Martins had as soon as criticized her weight and eliminated her from a season.
Ms. Whelan stated the corporate has new protocols about weight points: a wellness director is to be concerned in any conversations with a dancer, and dancers are to be supplied entry to a nutritionist, bodily remedy and psychological well being providers. “We have now to deal with our dancers as human beings and with dignity,” she stated, noting that she didn’t see the conversations about Ms. Lillo’s last efficiency as being about weight.
Metropolis Ballet maintains that it labored to provide Ms. Lillo the farewell that she wished however that she was not ready for that first efficiency, and famous that she had not attended firm courses in the course of the pandemic. Ms. Lillo stated that the courses weren’t necessary, and that she had skilled at dwelling and on the health club.
Ms. Lillo was allowed to bounce in “Russian Seasons” for her farewell efficiency, on Sept. 26. Mr. Ratmansky agreed to some adjustments in his choreography to “accommodate” Ms. Lillo’s talents, in accordance with Metropolis Ballet’s letter to Ms. Lillo’s lawyer. Ms. Lillo stated that some lifts had been modified, nevertheless it had been her understanding that the adjustments have been made as a result of her companion was injured.
After her last curtain name for “Russian Seasons,” Ms. Lillo modified out of her costume and right into a selfmade T-shirt. It learn: “I survived NYCB.”
