A Dancer’s Farewell, Not as Choreographed

When Abi Stafford Lillo took her last curtsy final fall after greater than twenty years at New York Metropolis Ballet, it regarded like a typical dancer retirement, with colleagues handing her bouquets because the viewers applauded wildly.

However her smile that afternoon masked what had turn 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, grew to become Metropolis Ballet’s inventive director. Then, she stated, she was reduce from the opening evening solid of her last ballet, “Russian Seasons,” by its choreographer, Alexei Ratmansky. He advised her in a textual content that “the lads had 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 provided 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 choices 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, usually fraught dynamics of Metropolis Ballet, a close-knit firm by which kinfolk, spouses and romantic companions usually share a office. And it’s a reminder of the stability ballet firms should obtain as they search to maneuver previous many years of unhealthy deal with the burden and physique form of dancers, whereas persevering with to demand the energy, flexibility, athleticism and artistry that outline the artwork kind.

A Household Cut 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, had been each principal dancers below his management. And a number of 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 finding out on the College 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 annoyed when her brother and sister adopted her lead. “I needed ballet to be my factor, even once I was 6,” she stated. “I used to be simply at all times very resentful of them encroaching on my exercise.”

In 2000, Mr. Martins employed her, at 17, to bop 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 approach, with one writing that she “defines each step with outstanding readability.” At different occasions the opinions had 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 obtained 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 grew to become 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 guilty 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 turn 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 Determination to Retire

Lower than a yr after Mr. Stafford was formally named inventive director, Ms. Lillo went on a psychological well being depart. In an interview, she attributed the depart to the rift and her perception that she was being ignored in casting choices.

It was in March 2020, simply earlier than the pandemic halted dwell performances in New York for a yr and half, that she advised the corporate she needed 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 may 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 grew to become inventive director, itemizing 13 ballets that she had been solid in since 2019, and noting that she couldn’t carry out throughout spring of that yr as a result of she was injured. Ms. McKenna wrote that Ms. Lillo had additionally declined some alternatives after which had gone on depart.

“In reference to that call, she confided in Ms. Whelan that she now not beloved dancing however slightly beloved ‘the legislation,’” Ms. McKenna wrote.

Ms. Lillo, who began courses at Fordham’s legislation faculty in 2018, acknowledged that she had declined to carry out some roles due to accidents, her depart and different points, however maintained that she was not getting solid equitably with different principal dancers.

In an interview she stated that she had grown annoyed 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 concerning the dancers?”

In an interview, Ms. Whelan stated she had labored exhausting to seek out Ms. Lillo roles.

“I don’t suppose she was handled unfairly,” Ms. Whelan stated. “I went out of my approach to give her alternatives.”

‘The Males Had been Struggling’

Final fall, as Metropolis Ballet ready to return to its theater at Lincoln Heart, Ms. Lillo made plans to bop the ballet “Russian Seasons” for her farewell efficiency.

However after early rehearsals, its choreographer, Mr. Ratmansky, requested for her to be reduce from its opening evening solid, Ms. Whelan stated. Ms. Whelan referred to as her and gave her the information, Ms. Lillo recalled, telling her that Mr. Ratmansky didn’t suppose she was “robust sufficient” or prepared for the primary evening however that she may 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 determination” and including that she was “persevering with to work and push,” based on 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 plenty of partnering within the piece and it ought to look easy. The boys had 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 regarded 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 had 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 provided 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 needed however that she was not ready for that first efficiency, and famous that she had not attended firm courses through the pandemic. Ms. Lillo stated that the courses weren’t necessary, and that she had skilled at residence and on the health club.

Ms. Lillo was allowed to bop in “Russian Seasons” for her farewell efficiency, on Sept. 26. Mr. Ratmansky agreed to some modifications in his choreography to “accommodate” Ms. Lillo’s skills, based on 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 modifications had 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 home made T-shirt. It learn: “I survived NYCB.”