24 replies to this topic

[YouOverThere]

vrsfanatic, on Jun 27 2006, 02:13 PM, said:

YouOverThere, you do sound like a truely compassionate, involved audience member. The dancers for the most part are the same as they were prior to the firing of mr. Fredmann and the resignation of Mr. Pakri. Try to give them your support through this very difficult time. As the dust settles more will become clear.

As a practical matter, the future of the Colorado Ballet is hardly dependent on my small donation.

[vrsfanatic]

Mostlikely you are correct, but then the proclamation and discussion has no value beyond yet again another discussion...

Quote

...I have absolutely no interest in giving money to an organization that keeps everyone in the dark about what's going on. When things are kept secret, I assume the worst.

Ballet is life for dancers, choreographers, ballet masters/mistresses, directors, teachers and many more who make their livelihood through the artform. A ballet company is not a passing fancy to those of us who have invested our lives in it.

[Golden Gate]

Good point about not wishing for the demise of the company... no one wants that, but this company has been through some staggering blows that seem endless... perhaps it will have an opportunity to heal now - one would hope, for the dancers and for the benefit of the community.  I just don't see that happening, however.
The board is mostly made up of people who have money but not a passion for dance, or a good working knowledge of it (much to my chagrin) and they frequently make poor decisions, in my humble opinion.  The executive staff running the company are partly well educated in dance and dance companies, but mostly oblivious to the patrons and remainder of the staff... which cannot be, as the patrons and donors are the backbone of the organization.  It runs like an old machine with missing parts... somehow getting along but who knows for how long.  Definitely broken.  It makes me so very sad to see that and experience it on many levels.
As for Jocelyn and Andrew, they are doing well and moving on with their lives - I wish them the very best in all their aspirations.  Meelis Pakri and his wife Carol will be going to England to join the Royal Ballet in August... I also wish them every happiness and many blessingsWe will see where Gil tries to take this company in the coming season, but it doesn't look good from here.

An aside to Kyle MacMillan about his article in the Sunday Denver Post... you complete fool; I can't believe you took the CB press release and just printed it - with the headline that Gil Boggs didn't have to let anyone go because they all resigned, that is just 100% false.  Start doing your job and research a little bit.  Labsan and Thompson were fired on June 6th, 2006 and that's it.  At least Marc Shulgold of the Rocky Mountain News contacted them and interviewed them... and wrote it correctly; they were fired, and for no good reason.  I highly recommend reading Shulgolds two articles on the subject.
Even in the face of all of it, I will say go... support the dancers, experience the shows, let's do our best to try to keep the thing afloat, as much as can be done.  Youoverthere... don't give up on them yet.  Please...


Golden Gate

[fandango]

vrsfanatic, thank you for your comments, which I found balanced and fair.

As a relative outsider to the issue, and a ballet lover, I will continue to support Colorado Ballet.  All organizations that survive undergo changes, and many are political and controversial.  This is certainly proving to be the case here.  

I very much want Colorado Ballet to grow to be very successful.  I have chosen to trust that Mr. Boggs is doing the best he can and wish him and the Company a positive outcome for all their struggles.

[Golden Gate]

Perhaps my last missive was a bit strongly worded... I agree Fandango, I too will continue to support it as much as I can, and I too wish to see it grow and become one of the best companies in the nation.  Perhaps that will happen under Gil's direction.

Thanks for the positive direction, I can get overly focused on situations sometimes  

Let's keep it going.

Golden Gate

[YouOverThere]

vrsfanatic, on Jun 27 2006, 06:55 PM, said:

Mostlikely you are correct, but then the proclamation and discussion has no value beyond yet again another discussion...

Quote

...I have absolutely no interest in giving money to an organization that keeps everyone in the dark about what's going on. When things are kept secret, I assume the worst.

Ballet is life for dancers, choreographers, ballet masters/mistresses, directors, teachers and many more who make their livelihood through the artform. A ballet company is not a passing fancy to those of us who have invested our lives in it.

OK, I relented and tried to donate some money to the CB. When PayPal still listed the donation as unclaimed 15 days later, I cancelled it. For tax purposes, I wanted to donate that money to someone before the end of 2006, and I didn't have time to try to get things straightened out.

[YouOverThere]

I guess the strains of change are continuing. The week before the final weekend of the season, their website disappears. No matter. One can always go to the Ticketmaster website and look for tickets. Except that at least since Sunday the Ticketmaster website has said that there were no tickets on sale for the Friday performance. This didn't prevent me from purchasing 2 of the many remaining tickets tickets for the Friday performance from the CB's box office on Monday afternoon. I informed both people that I talked to on Monday that there was a problem with Ticketmaster. Their response was that they don't work for Ticketmaster.

If you try to buy tickets by phone during a busy period and get asked to leave your phone number so that they can call you, don't count on it. It took them 24 hours to get back to me, which was approximately 21 hours after I purchased my tickets. When I purchased them, I got right through without being put on hold.

I tracked down my inability to make a donation to the CB last December to their PayPal account being set up to notify someone who had long since left the CB.

All this lends itself to some concern about the future of the CB.

[YouOverThere]

YouOverThere, on Mar 22 2007, 06:48 PM, said:

The week before the final weekend of the season, their website disappears.

The website re-appeared this morning with a new URL, www.coloradoballet.com (it had been www.coloradoballet.org).

[bart]

Thanks very much, YouOverThere for continuing to report on this story.  All arts companies have periods of travail, but this one seems to be suffering more than its share. Yet there seem glimmers of hope, too.

What do some of our other Colorado Ballet posters and fans thing?

[YouOverThere]

bart, on Mar 23 2007, 12:33 PM, said:

Thanks very much, YouOverThere for continuing to report on this story.  All arts companies have periods of travail, but this one seems to be suffering more than its share. Yet there seem glimmers of hope, too.

What do some of our other Colorado Ballet posters and fans thing?

Egads, I hope that I'm not coming across like a newspaper reporter. I'm just hoping that my posts will be seen by people who have the capacity to make a different. Denver has a far better performing arts community than it deserves (Coloradoans don't seem to have much interest in anything where they don't keep score), and it's not a given that a high-level dance company can survive.