I dance for Mr. Mateo, and have been working with him now for almost three years. I know very little about Boston Ballet, I have never studied or worked there. I hope this post helps build further understanding to SusanB's original observations. I am always willing to discuss these things further.
Compare and Contrast: Mateo & Nissinen
I don't know about the tone of Mr. Nissinen's statements; that is a matter of great subjectivity and personality. I can say that, as far as factual matters go, Mr. Mateo could have said much the same thing. For example, both directors expressed a reverence for the score.
All of us [his dancers] agree, Mateo is
very demanding. He demands in a soft-spoken way. The demanding standards are developed and applied from within each of us, rather than imposed from the outside. I think some of this came through in Mateo's quotes in the article. But let there be no doubt about it, in the end Mateo gets what he wants from his dancers. He is very much in control, right down to the details.
Like Nissinen, Mateo also frequently alters long-standing partnerships. In fact, he will pair up dancers differently within just one show, because he doesn't want the same two dancers being seen together in separate unrelated pieces (in the repertory performances).
In contrast, there are some things of Nissinen's that Mateo would never say. He would never attempt to build a Nutcracker that goes beyond any other in scope and size; he simply does not have that kind of funding. Our Nutcracker is frequently called "warm" and "intimite" in the press. That is partly because of our smaller size, and partly due to certain conscious choices Mateo made. For example, even in the context of a Victorian set and costumes, Mateo sought to make the interactions between characters in the party scene more "American". That is, somewhat less formalistic. This is a subtle difference, I'm sure, one I do not completely understand. But look at the Kirov's Nutcracker video tape, and you will see a very different approach from ours.
A New Classicism
I can understand that Alexandra, having grown tired of the "stop, drop, roll" routine of "Ballet Moderne", would be distrustful of change for the sake of change. But I think that if she were familiar with Mateo's work, she would find it quite relevant to her own well-publicized concerns about ballet today. I quote from this very web site (and apologize in advance if the elipses have changed the overall meaning of the writing):
QUOTE
"Real ballet." What a dangerously reactionary, titillatingly revolutionary idea. Clarity of composition. Serenity of style. Line. Placement. Tutus--dare we put it in print? Classicism. As dance has becme more and more hybrid, and, in many cases, pop, "real ballet" has less of the spotlight. We agreed with our reader, and thought it was time to shine the light on ballet again...
There's no use pretending that everything is as it was, or as it should be.. Croce's original piece was... a warning that the overheated, starstruck atmosphere, the attention to the short term at the expense of posterity, would have a price. We are paying that price now.
Why have the dire predictions some (all too few) critics made during the '70s and '80s (no choreographers, no stars, no style, no standards) come true? Is this reversible? If so, how? Can ballet survive as an specialty art (as Spanish character dancing once did) in companies that more and more seem to be dance companies rather than ballet companies?
Without being familiar with Mateo's work, it is unfair to claim that Mateo just "takes what he doesn't understand and chucks it." Mateo is a brilliant and thoughtful man. While he was a dancer, he saw many things he would like to change, and he is now changing them under the title of a "New Classicism". He has a reason for every change he has made, just as Alexandra has a reason for every change she would like to see. In many cases, he is not the first person to be making these changes; some go back to the Ballets Russes. I can discuss specific changes with anyone who is interested. In any case, the critics like the results; these are the same critics who watch the Boston Ballet.
But in case anyone thinks otherwise, this Nutcracker is
not some type of deconstructed "Notcracker". It is a truly classical Nutcracker. Mateo is more like Fokine than Eliot Feld. Fokine called for reform and fresh approaches in the paridigm of classicism. Mateo is deeply interested in classicism, that is all of what we do. We are not "classically trained dancers doing modern dance." Mateo may be one of the few post-Balanchine choreographers seeking to carry forward Fokine's original mandate.
Other Points
The single authorship Mateo points to really is a distinctive characteristic of his Nutcracker. He is a ballet master in the 19th century meaning of the word: teacher, choreographer and rehearsal director. There is a tight integration between our training, the choreography and the execution of the dance. That integration is possible because it is all done by one man. This integration is much harder in a large ballet organization, in which one person simply cannot serve as teacher, choreographer and rehearsal director.
Do we enjoy the ballet as Mateo claims? Beyond the inevitable griping and expressions of dancer anxiety, I'd say most of us really do. One of his principle dancers told me once that she stays with him because he really cares about us. I would second that assessment. If you feel cared for, you come to genuinely enjoy what you're doing and you give it your 110%. I would certainly think long and hard before dancing for someone else.
Mel Johnson is absolutely right: each approach attracts different dancers and audiences. Dancers who are more used to big ballet companies often can't stand working with Mateo. As for audience: Mateo's Nutcracker can sell about 20,000-30,000 tickets (and that number has been growing over the past decade), whereas BB's is at about 130,000 (and shrinking over the past decade). But it's not a matter of subscribers "switching Nutcrackers". Mateo's audience is a different demographic: younger, more family-oriented. It includes many people who are new to ballet. I think that is ultimately a good thing: to attract people who have never seen ballet before, and to do it with real classical ballet.
PS
That is great news to hear that Eva Evdokimova is now a ballet master at Boston Ballet. She has a spectacular and deep background in Russian ballet. I unfortunately never took her class in New York.