What we’re covering here: Gargouillade Gate (aka Garg Gate)
- The very nature of social media’s success is built around sharing. You can’t get views, likes, comments without a first initial share.
- But with that comes the option for others to repost, reshare, and remix. And with no true “copyright” on ideas floating around social media, the topic of “who did it first” can become heated.
- But the outcome between American Ballet Theatre and Dutch National Ballet couldn’t have been farther from a cancel culture moment when a dancer at DNB realized he may have “copied” ABT’s popular interview-style videos.
- What resulted was a journey of humility, humor, and international camaraderie.
Updated 7:08pm CET, December 16, 2022 8 Posts
This is a developing story and will be updated as it unfolds.
Note: Gargouillade Gate is borrowed from ABT and Connor Holloway’s recap of the feud called “Garg Gate”
December 16, 2022
Garg Gate Goes Global
American Ballet Theatre and Dutch National Ballet tell everyone to “Dance with us in our final chapter with the #LeastFavBalletStepChallenge! Use our audio and tag @ABTOfficial @NationaleOperaBallet and #LeastFavBalletStepChallenge 
”
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They’ve nominated ballet companies around the world to show them their “gargs” including The Royal Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Wiener Staatsoper Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Stuttgart Ballet, and Boston Ballet. We can’t wait to see how gargouillade continues to bring dancers together.
December 6, 2022
Here’s a recap of where Gargouillade Gate stands today.
December 3, 2022
Connor helps Daniel face his fears in what might be the biggest production in the series yet, including a cameo from principal dancer Olga Smirnova, Daniel singing a new rendition of I Will Survive, and a Dancing Queen montage of the two showing off their skills.
The dancers close with a sweet message of camaraderie: “A very accidental, artist-led, dancer driven social media production… Making the ballet world tighter one tag at a time.”
And of course, director, editor, and participant credits are appropriately given for each episode.
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Nadia: Do you think it’s important for ballet dancers from different companies to come together?
Connor: I think it’s incredibly important (and fun) to unite with our international counterparts. In the scheme of the world, we are such niche professionals and no matter where we’re based, we share so much in common. The best part of this interaction for me was to share and collaborate on all of the insider ballet jokes. It was entirely dancer driven and produced and we rarely get that type of self-empowered opportunity.
Nadia: What do you hope other companies and dancers will learn from this series?
Daniel: I started making these type of videos at the theater for that 19-year-old me that would go to work very excited and also unnecessarily anxious. I don’t want youngsters in this art form to feel that level of internal intimidation, so I hope that by taking things to a ridiculous and creative place, they can feel more comfortable at work and see a wider range of possible and healthier mindsets.
In ballet, the way power and tradition have been distributed often leads to a disconnection with the world as it is today. We are behind in many, many things… I dare to say that we (ballet companies) could interact with each other so much more than just once a year for World Ballet Day. It is overwhelmingly incredible to see how this kind of accidental and very improvised interaction between two big ballet companies has been received.
I just hope this keeps the ball rolling because there certainly is a very hungry audience!! And what I love the most is that this audience is formed by people of absolutely ALL AGES!
Let this be an example for a possible future way of entertaining with our craft online so that we can see a more diverse variety of people in the theater.
November 20, 2022
ABT claims that Dutch National left them “no other choice” and Connor Holloway FLIES TO AMSTERDAM but not without a cameo from the quick-footed Tiler Peck for some gargouillade tips first.
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Nadia: Whose idea was it for you to fly to Amsterdam?
Connor: It was mine! ABT was on layoff during November when all of this unfurled and it was truly the only thing I could think to do to level up with Daniel’s video.
Nadia: Did you and the other DNB dancers know Connor was going to show up that day?
Daniel: I HAD NO CLUE! I was warming up in the gym when I look by the mirror and I see two dancers approaching me with their phone filming. I then suddenly see Connor with their tiny mic and surprised the 💩 out of me. We instantly realized we both are crazy. We hit it off right away and we decided to shoot the second part of Episode 2 that same day.
Nadia: Had you met each other prior to Garg Gate?
Connor: Daniel and I had never met. I’ve admired his content from afar but we’d never connected online or IRL before that moment.
Daniel: Connor and I didn’t know each other at all. I had seen their videos for ABT and it is also true (and now kinda funny) that Connor is friends with a dancer in the company and almost a year ago she told me, “You need to meet my friend Connor. You two stand for exactly the same stuff.”
November 11, 2022
Dutch National posts this masterpiece, zeroing in on the shared horrors of performing a gargouillade.
Daniel says he had to “go big or go home and respond with a video, but not a video of a gargouillade. It needed to be special, ridiculous and very extra (I’ve done that kind of video for the company before. I am ridiculous and extra myself 😋) and it had to hopefully motivate them to make something in response to it.”
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November 9, 2022
Daniel Montero Real, a Grand Sujet dancer at Dutch National Ballet, did an Instagram takeover for the company. At one point, he used a butterfly wand to imitate a microphone as he interviewed his colleagues.
At the end of his takeover, he wrote:
“As I hit the bed I come to realize that I totally copied @abtofficial & @conholl’s way of interviewing dancers. I seriously thought I was being original and my brain failed me massively. If you liked that kind of videos, please give theirs a view. They def know how it’s done.”
ABT officially accepts Daniel’s apology but challenges him to show everyone his gargouillade.
Nadia: What was your first thought when Daniel apologized for “copying” your interview-style videos?
Connor: Honestly, I loved it! Our mini mic series – created by yours truly and my ABT social media partner in crime and fellow dancer Cy Doherty – has been getting duplicated all over the world so I was truthfully flattered he owned up to his plagiarism 🙂 But also I couldn’t let it slide without a little cheeky fun!
Nadia: What went through your head when you realized you had mimicked Connor’s video style?
Daniel: I then had two options: ignoring it and pretending like that wasn’t the case… or owning up to it all the way. Since I still had the login of the company’s profile, I was too curious to know and checked if we had had some IG chat or interaction with ABT before. The chat was empty. I then went to the Royal Ballet’s IG chat with us, Paris Opera’s and another big company… all empty. A part of me was like: “WWWhhaaat? We have never ever interacted with each other??!?”
That made me fully decide: Okay, let’s go for it.
October 16, 2022
ABT returns with a “What’s your least favorite ballet step? Part 2”.
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September 16, 2022
ABT posts an interview-style video where corps de ballet dancer, and half of the genius behind ABT’s social media handle, Connor Holloway goes around the studios with a tiny microphone asking dancers what their least favorite step is.
The majority chose gargouillade.
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Featured image for this up-to-date timeline of Gargouillade Gate drawn by the author of this article, Nadia Vostrikov. The sketches are representative of the two principal warriors in this friendly social media battle: Dutch National Ballet‘s Daniel Montero Real and American Ballet Theatre‘s Connor Holloway.
All photos are from ABT and DNB’s Instagram videos.
