The New York City Ballet, Part 1: Peter Martins

0:00What I'm about to say might seem off topic at first, but bear with me. Over the last few years, a handful of documentaries about K-pop have debuted. They dive deep into the rise of certain Korean bands. That's how a lot of people in the U.S. learned about so-called K-pop academies, schools where young kids go to essentially be groomed into pop superstars. These schools sound a little culty. The kids barely have any control over their own lives. Because they're not just trained in music and dance, they're molded from clay. in the worst ways. They're told what to eat, what to wear, and who they can socialize with.

0:40Not everyone who goes to these schools actually makes it into a band. And even many who do suffer from mental health issues they developed as a result of these schools, not to mention the struggles they face once in the public eye. That's kind of brutal. I mean, a lot of these stars are just kids when they're put on this assembly line. American audiences were shocked to learn the dark side of a pretty universally beloved genre. But there's another institution that's been operating in a similar way, right here in the U.S.

1:31It's the world of ballet. Specifically, the New York City Ballet and its pre-professional division, the School of American Ballet. This world-famous company was founded by one of the most iconic choreographers in history. It set itself apart not just by pushing artistic boundaries, but stepping into the worlds of fashion and pop culture. But in 2017 and 2018, the beloved ballet company was hit with two major scandals. At first, they seemed like separate situations. But soon, people realized that this widely admired institution had problems brewing for years. As sketchy financial documents were uncovered and protesters gathered outside theater doors, people started to wonder, was the curtain closing on the New York City Ballet?

2:30This is The Opportunist, an original podcast from Podcast One. I'm Sarah James McLaughlin. Today, we're looking at how the leaders of the New York City Ballet failed to rise above problematic attitudes about beauty and femininity, and how a star in the ballet world allegedly exploited this toxic culture with impunity.

3:06You know how when COVID-19 started to ease up and we all started looking for new hobbies? We've been cooped up for so long and we're sick of trying to make sourdough. We needed creative outlets and group activities. Personally, I got into group hiking trips and mushroom forays, saw some plays, and went to author readings. Anything just to be around people again. Of course, doom scrolling was a big part of my coping mechanisms that lingered well beyond lockdown, and I noticed a lot of people on social media trying ballet for the first time, or getting back into it after years away. I definitely get the appeal.

3:48It's a creative outlet and it's a group activity. Kind of the perfect antidote to the post-lockdown blues. I'm actually still noticing it, and maybe you are too. Hashtag ballet talk seems like one of those niche things that made its way into more mainstream algorithms. There wasn't always a widespread interest in ballet. In the 30s and 40s, the art form wasn't as popular in the US as it was in Europe. but a department store heir named Lincoln Kirstein wanted to change that. He had his eye on George Balanchine, a dancer who had fled Soviet Russia and re-established his career in the West. Together, they founded the American Ballet Theater, which to this day mainly performs classical works.

4:37They also founded the School of American Ballet, a pre-professional youth academy. Almost 10 years later, Kirsteen and Balanchine embarked on a new project, the New York City Ballet, or City Ballet for short. It was Balanchine's flagship company where he honed a more modern abstract form of ballet. The School of American Ballet was then attached to City Ballet, sort of a pipeline for youth dancers to become professionals. Both the school and the company were super successful under Balanchine. It became the gold standard of the ballet art form. That's Robin Pogobren, a culture reporter for the New York Times.

5:22Certainly the Nutcracker is the piece that is most widely known. Everyone knows the Nutcracker, even if you've never actually seen it. It's a classic Christmas story about family, love, and magic. A ton of companies perform it every winter. And not just professional companies. ask anyone who grew up dancing, they were probably in the Nutcracker at some point. Lots of people make a tradition out of seeing it every year, whether it's a professional performance or a local one. Suffice it to say, Balanchine's iconic work helped universalize ballet. And here's the thing, Balanchine wasn't even the original choreographer.

6:03That was first done in Russia in the late 1800s, but in 1950s New York, Balanchine updated the performance to make it more enjoyable for modern audiences. He added more children to the cast, threw in his signature abstract movements, and picked up the tempo in a lot of the pieces.

6:37He didn't stop with the dancing itself. Balanchine also redesigned the set and costumes. The original costumes were more Victorian. Think big fluffy skirts and lacy bodices. Balanchine simplified them. He opted for short tutus, which made it easier to move, and focused on details that would highlight the dancer's physicality. This was all in favor of something called the line, an idea that Balanchine popularized. The line is essentially the physical shape a ballerina makes with her movements, from her fingertips all the way down to her toes. Balanchine wanted his dancers' lines to look clean and even.

7:19In other words, he wanted them to be skinny. Wayfish, almost ethereal-looking women were his idea of beauty. Balanchine defined an aesthetic in dance that endures to this day. There was a body image that was extremely slim and very white at the time and didn't necessarily tolerate a lot of variety. Alice Robb, the author of Don't Think Dear, on loving and leaving ballet elaborated on this some. She danced at the School of American Ballet in the early 2000s. I think sometimes people who aren't as familiar with ballet think of the stereotype of like, oh, dancers, ballet dancers are thin, they have to be thin, that must be so hard.

8:08But it's so much more than that because it's so specific, right? It's like the Palanchine ideal from what I gleaned was that you had to have a very long neck and you had to have a small head, How can you control that? The things that my classmates were told were wrong with them. It's as specific as physical ratios that you certainly can't predict how they'll develop and you just can't control them. It's not that our teachers were sitting there being like, you need to lose weight. But it was kind of in the air because you could see who was being promoted. And you go watch New York City Ballet and see, oh, everyone here looks a certain way.

8:47and, you know, you intuit that that's how you have to look. By the 1960s, Balanchine had become a true icon. He modernized ballet and brought it to the forefront of popular culture, just like Lincoln Kirstein wanted. One way he did this was by riding the wave of beauty standards already present in the U.S. at the time. His dancers were under a lot of pressure to stay extremely thin. Which, in my opinion, seems antithetical to the athletic demand, but... Balanchine was a star who made stars, so they did what they had to for their careers. There's a whole story behind the standards imposed on women, which I won't get into right now.

9:36I'll just focus on one broader shift. In the 40s and 50s, the pin-up girl look was sought after. You know, large breasts, a tiny waist, and thicker hips and thighs. Then in the 60s, extreme thinness became more and more idealized. That's when supermodels like Twiggy hit the scene. She was a teenager when she became famous. She had long, thin limbs, a slender torso, and a long neck. She was basically the quintessential image of a modern supermodel. So Balanchine certainly wasn't the first to fetishize extreme thinness, but he did capitalize on the fetish, which wasn't that hard to do. I mean, think about it.

10:22He knew most of his dancers from the time they were young, dancing at the School of American Ballet. It was easy for him to start enforcing certain diets and telling girls that's what they had to do to be quote-unquote real ballerinas. So down the road, it was a matter of career. Professional dancers restricted their diets, and even forwent pregnancy, just to keep dancing for the world-class choreographer. This might not have seemed like an unusual sacrifice for many dancers. Extreme thinness was being normalized all around them. By that time, New York City was the fashion capital of the world.

11:04Supermodels weren't just in magazines. They were walking the same streets. Restrictive beauty standards didn't just apply to women. Balanchine wanted male dancers to have a certain aesthetic too. Think Greek God or Disney Prince. Handsome, chiseled, and tall. Their height wasn't just about attractiveness. If a man was tall, he could partner with a female dancer of any height. He could lift them higher and carry them through a larger range of motion. Tall men brought a level of acrobatics to ballet that helped set Balanchine's neoclassical works apart from ballets of yore. In 1970, a man entered the studio who had everything Balanchine was after.

11:50I danced. I did the sexy one, I suppose. His name was Peter Martens. Peter Martens was a dancer in City Ballet. He was certainly very accomplished, widely admired, handsome and dashing. He embodied the Balanchine man. Apparently, in the eyes of George Balanchine, Peter Martens was the whole package. Martens himself had pretty romanticized views of dancing in the U.S. He'd started his career with the Royal Danish Ballet and was there for just over a decade before officially joining City Ballet in 1970. He talked to PBS about his decision to come to the States. Basically, my primary reason for coming to America was West Side Story.

12:39I was 15, 14, 15, something like that. I couldn't believe what I saw. it's actually was interesting about this is what I it's what I had imagined America I had this image of America and there was and and it just captured all my dreams this is not only did I want to be a dancer like that I suppose to ballet dancer I want to live in that city want to wear that clothes that's That's how I wanted to spend my life. Go down West 64th Street or whatever it was. It might sound like a fantasy, but Martin did kind of get what he wanted. I mean, he wasn't literally snapping his fingers down 64th Street. But on stage, he came pretty close with the whole macho guy chasing girls kind of thing.

13:34Here he is again talking about dancing and the ballet Fancy Free, which is about three sailors on shore leave in New York City. I loved dancing fancy-free. I loved the idea of being a sailor on leave in New York City and floating with the girls and having a beer with the guys. I just loved it. And people loved watching him do it. He became this larger-than-life, iconic, somewhat worshipped figure. Martins eventually worked his way up to soloist. He grew an enthusiastic fan base. He was lauded for quote, technical perfection, musicality, and breathtaking leaps. In 1981, the New York Times called him the prince of the dance.

14:20He told the Times that ever since he was 14, he wanted to be the director of a ballet company. He said, quote, some people need a private life, time off. But I don't. I don't need anything else. In 1983, Martins got what he wanted. Almost. That year, George Balanchine passed away. Martins and a choreographer named Jerome Robbins became co-heads of the company. But the transition wasn't easy. There were rumors that before taking his last breath, Balanchine appointed Robbins to the role. But then Martins elbowed his way in. If that was true, it didn't really matter. Martins had a fan base. People were enamored with him, audiences and dancers alike.

15:08Robbins remained in his position for a few years, but eventually stepped down to work on other things. And in 1989, he became the sole ballet master-in-chief. Peter Martins was now the one in charge. Balanchine's legacy was pretty cemented. his ballets are still widely performed all over the world, so Martin's got to work carving out his own legacy. He wasn't the choreographer that Balanchine was. In fact, a lot of his ballets got pretty bad reviews. That's because his style pushed boundaries, to put it lightly. The New Yorker described one of Martin's ballets as a, quote, depiction of female sexual demands provoking male violence.

15:55I won't waste time picking apart Martin's artistic work, because the thing is, his artistry didn't really matter anymore. Did his choreography live up to his dancing? No. But he was still the tall, dashing man who swept so many off their feet. And what do wealthy, arts-loving New Yorkers do with handsome ballet masters? throw money at them. Martin's raised a ton of money for City Ballet and not just one-time donations. He secured endowment funds, including one to fund the creation and production of his own works. In the 90s, Martin seemed to have hit his stride as ballet master. He choreographed a production of Sleeping Beauty that was a huge success.

16:44Then he spearheaded the filming of City Ballet's Nutcracker, which was probably one of the first examples of how he thought outside the box to make money. But as Martin's stature grew, the shadow behind him did too. And in 1992, he started showing his true colors. His wife, Garcy Kistler, pressed charges.

17:15By 1992, Peter Martins had been ballet master for the New York City Ballet for about three years. He gained a reputation as a record-setting moneymaker. But that year, a darker side of him made headlines. To the surprise of many, the so-called Prince of the Dance was charged with third-degree assault for attacking his wife, Darcy Kistler, who was a principal dancer at the company. But Martins didn't have to answer to the law. She initially pressed charges and then withdrew them. At the time, a spokesman for City Ballet said the assault was a, quote, personal matter between two people who work here.

18:00The board supported this position. One member said the incident wouldn't affect Martin's career. He insisted it had nothing to do with Martin's competency or his support in the ballet community. So it was business as usual at City Ballet. But then a year later, another dancer came forward. A soloist named Jeffrey Edwards filed a complaint with company management and the Dancers Union, the American Guild of Musical Artists. We don't know the details, but Edwards alleged that Martins was physically and verbally abusive toward him. Unions are meant to protect the workers they represent, and company management is expected to take these kinds of claims seriously.

18:43But Edwards' complaints were basically ignored. This wasn't a surprise to Liza Eintema, president and founder of Dance Data Project, a research organization that promotes gender equality in the dance industry. We didn't talk about city ballet specifically, but she gave us a lot of insight in general. Here's what she said about the American Guild of Musical Artists. Agma, Agma, Agma. I'm net neutral on unions. They can be really useful in certain cases. Where I have issues is that over and over and over again, when a man has been accused of harassment, Agma's rushed to the defense of the harasser.

19:29So basically, Eliza's seen this time and again, accusers not even really being heard. One reason for this could be the fact that male ballet dancers are historically hard to come by. In fact, Peter Martins and George Balanchine both got their starts because of this. Here's how Martins explains that fateful day in his life. I was exposed to ballet when I was seven years old. My sisters were auditioning for the Royal Danish Ballet. I sat in the hallway and I was reading Donald Duck. What? And somebody walked by and asked me to point my feet. and I pointed my foot and they went, let's take him. And my sisters didn't get in.

20:21So literally just being male gets people like Martins on the path to stardom. But it also means it's a bigger blow when male dancers leave. And Edwards, the dancer who alleged Martins was abusive, was the one who ended up leaving. But then it turned out Martin's alleged abuse wasn't a one-off incident. Apparently during one rehearsal a 12-year-old boy named Viktor Ostrovsky was horseplaying with some other dancers his age. Martin's got frustrated with Viktor, grabbed him by the back of the neck and started yanking him back and forth. Viktor said it felt like Martin's was quote piercing his muscle and he started sobbing profusely.

21:04This went down in front of the entire cast The shock and embarrassment led to the young dancer's depression But as far as we know, neither he nor his parents made a formal complaint at the time But, just like Edwards, he left the company And the Peter Martin show went on If any of the adult cast members were bothered by Martin's behavior Their feelings have been lost to history It's pretty disappointing to think that none of the adult cast members came to Victor's aid or spoke up for him. But at the same time, I can only imagine the level of shock people would have felt. Robin elaborated some on how the culture within the company, and in ballet overall, may have contributed to this level of abuse.

21:54There are certain disciplines, like dance, that are extremely physical and that do involve touch. That means sometimes physical adjustment, certainly in classes, hands-on adjustments are par for the course. Ballet has a lot of partner dancing with women and men, and now even in some cases, same-sex or same-gender partnering. and people need to feel safe. I don't think there was any question in the past about asking whether or not people felt safe or if in some way the touching felt inappropriate at times. I think only recently did people start to question this even in yoga classes. I know this is true now where you sometimes have to raise your hand if it's going to be okay with you to be touched.

22:40That was just not part of our kind of cultural vocabulary for many years until quite recently. There's real debate within the dance world as to whether or not we've gone too far in that direction because dance is such a physical enterprise and it's sometimes really important and I think some would argue essential. So there can be a tricky line. Choreographers and partners need to be able to touch each other. It's completely normal to do so. Like Robin said, necessary even. But it's still a professional environment. Here's Liza again. She's got a background in labor management. This is not insolvable.

23:28Again, this is a workplace. Whether it's fiscal transparency, fair pay for work. There are rules there. There are rules, there are procedures, there's HR. A lot of these problems would be solved by having a sit-down meeting of one hour where you go through your policies. Everybody has to initial it. Pretty hard to argue with if you ask me. But when Martins was in charge, board members were more concerned with his ability to raise money. And as the years went on, they were more than happy with the results. Over time, City Ballet became very much identified with him. It's interesting, choreography wasn't necessarily his strong point.

24:11His ballets that he did himself were often, at least in the New York Times, criticized somewhat harshly. But he ran a company that felt dynamic and was overall acclaimed. And he was also extremely facile and elegant with donors. He had a powerful effect with board members and with attracting new trustees and donors and kind of presiding over the galas. Almost 20 years after Jeffrey Edwards left the company, City Ballet made huge strides, not just in terms of dollars and cents, but in celebrity. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker played a fashion icon in the hit show Sex and the City. By proxy, she also became one in real life.

24:59This isn't news. You all know this about her. But something a lot of people don't know is that Parker used to dance at the American Ballet Theater before leaving to pursue acting. She still stayed involved in the world of ballet. Here she is talking to Peter Martins. There are lots of wonderful dance companies in this country and certainly across the globe. But what makes New York City Ballet so special? What I like to talk about is all our choreography, all our ballets are created right here. On the premises. We don't import ballets. We make them. Home-cooked ballets. Yeah. The two didn't just talk about ballet.

25:43Martin's had ideas brewing. Here is an interview with Parker from 2018. How did you find your way to being the New York City Ballet Vice Chair? How did you find your way to the dance world? Well, I was a dancer with ABT for many years. And Peter, gosh, I guess about maybe less than 10 years ago, rang and asked would I consider joining the board. I didn't think I had anything to contribute outside of my great affection for this particular company. But he's a very persuasive fellow. and we had long conversations about what it is I might be able to do to be helpful and have just worked hard to be deserving of that seat.

26:24And I love this company. I think it's inarguably the greatest dance company in the world. Absolutely. Together, Peter Martins and Sarah Jessica Parker launched City Ballet's annual Fall Fashion Gala. The event became a huge success. it combined fashion and ballet on stage in a way that hadn't been done before. There is incredible storytelling. It is romantic and it is beautiful and it is sexy. And there is costumes and lights and artistry. We are a company that's always looking to the future. And I think the Fall Fashion Gala is a fine example of that. I think part of it is just being in the middle of New York City.

27:09It's such a glamorous, aspirational place. It's the center of the fashion world. The gala leveled up City Ballet's fundraising and, like Parker said herself, helped set the company apart as a cultural institution. Martin's got a lot of credit for getting her on board. He was a figurehead who was very effective in his role. Part of the change he's leading is kind of just making ballet glamorous and attracting New York City's high society and rich people. That's what you need is sort of this confluence of celebrity and culture that really makes an organization seem vital and sexy and happening. You're kind of taking it to a level where it can appeal to a mass audience, and it can also penetrate the popular culture.

28:01City Ballet has this fashion gala every year. that party is covered in People magazine and Sarah Jessica Parker is the chair. That means it has a national audience rather than kind of just a niche dance following. And that's what every organization aspires to. It's no wonder that Peter Martin's charm and influence was so valuable to executives and board members. But Liza explained that when a company has an influential figurehead like that? Everything associated with the role, like pay and power, gets siloed there. Performing arts continue to promote the idea of a rock star, a rock god, a genius who's this artistic force.

28:46They need to meet their financial obligations. So you hire a rock star who has a grand vision. That grand vision can fall short, though. I had never seen a ballet by a woman. I'd never seen a company led by a woman. Dance Data Project was formed with a mission to improve salaries and opportunities for dance in general, ballet in particular. It's not just boards and donors who are guilty of these oversights. As Liza put it, rock stars often don't think they have to follow the rules. Martin's was no exception. He'd been at the helm for over 30 years when something happened that finally caused the company to re-examine his status.

29:35It was made in an anonymous letter, a single accusation of sexual harassment against him.