44 replies to this topic

[Jane Simpson]

The Danish newspaper Politiken this morning carries a story - confirmed by comments from the Theatre Director and others -  that the Danish Royal Theatre organisation has to cut its total workforce by about 100 people as part of the savings which were a condition of the four-year deal on funding made with the government  last month. The cuts are to be split between management, technical/administration, and performers; the paper gives the total number of performers to lose their jobs as 35, which - if the cuts are spread evenly over the different art forms - would mean around 9 dancers. The artists were told before Christmas that this was going to happen and the decisions are to be made by January 16th.


The compulsory retirement at 40 will somewhat reduce the immediate pain but won't cover it all, and the Director also says that the ballet, the theatre and the opera will each have to cut one major production next season.

[Helene]

Bah humbug to that news

[Jane Simpson]

Today is decision day, when the Royal Theatre's leaders decide on how many redundancies they need and where they will come from.

Meanwhile the leader of the dancers' union, Byron Mildwater, is saying that the dancers are prepared to negotiate about 'everything' - including taking a pay cut - to avoid layoffs. He is also coming up with other suggestions, such as that the ballet should only perform in one of the three theatres, that less should be spent on costumes etc, and that the management should look at options such as sponsorship of individual dancers.

The actors' union, on the other hand, thinks the management should bear the brunt of the necessary cuts.

Difficult times - desperate, even, for those whose jobs may go - and some very hard decisions to be made...

[innopac]

A blogger's "Ode to the Royal Danish Ballet", Tuesday 27 December 2011

http://rhymeswithdar...ish-ballet.html

[checkwriter]

Tonight at the opening of the RDB's run at the Palais Garnier in Paris - and on the occasion of an EU gala - dancers handed out flyers to the attendees expressing their concerns at the planned layoffs.  

From Politiken (translated via Google):

"Ballet dancers at the Royal Theatre conducted this evening an unusual action in Paris turned against planned layoffs and cost savings of ballet.

"Before a performance on the occasion of the Danish EU presidency attended by among others Queen Margrethe and several peaks from France and the EU were ballet dancers dressed in costumes and training wear right out on the stairs in front of the French National Opera at the Palais Garnier, where they shared out leaflets to Prominent among the guests."

View the translated article here.

[Anne]

The number of jobs to be cut down has now been reduced from 100 to 50 according to a press release from the theatre January 5:

Press-release(in Danish, I'm sorry - maybe google translate can help)

[checkwriter]

Plus some 38 additional jobs to be lost due to attrition.  The management appears to be treating the job cuts as a fait accompli, instead of really working to find ways other than cutting artists to deal with their budget issues.  (For example - does a facility located in the heart of Copenhagen really need its own fully-staffed canteen providing discounted meals to performers and theater workers?)  

Today the Opera chorus (which stands to lose 16 singers) held a free concert at the Old Theater that, by all reports, was packed to the rafters and included an impassioned plea from the director to save those positions.  Nikolaj Hubbe, on the other hand - who as recently as this past summer was in very hot water as a result of a leaked management consultant's report - has been strangely silent about the proposed cuts.  Of course, he just signed a new 5-year contract, so his nest is nicely feathered no matter what happens.        

The tactic of starting with a big number when a smaller one will do, then announcing the smaller number and declaring victory is a common one in negotiations.  It allows the management to give the illusion of progress when in reality all they've done is arrived at the number they intended to get to all along.  Very often 'negotiations' such as these are just an illusion.

[Anne]

Maybe you are right in these assumptions, I don't know - it is very difficult to judge from outside what happens in a hermetically closed and bureaucratic institution like the Royal Theatre. I'm not sure, though, that the silence of Hübbe has to be an indication of lack of will to fight for his company, that would be hard to imagine with his fiery temperament and normally very non-compromising nature. I think all 4 directors (of respectively ballet, opera, drama and orchestra) are subject to strong rules of not going public with anything and of  staying loyal to the government of the theatre, including the political government, no matter what happens. That is part of having a leading postion in the state or in a municipality (I suppose it is like that in most countries, but I don't know...).

The political pressure on the theatre administration seems to be rather heavy, though. Lately the Minister of Culture has announced that none of the members of the board will get their membership renewed this year, which means that for the time being the theatre is without a board, and therefore all decisions now lie with the theatre management. Even in good times it must be a problem to have this fundamental break of continuity in the work of the board, and in a situation like this it must even more difficult.

[checkwriter]

Today the theater performers published an open letter to

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller asking for help.  Mærsk-related foundations spearheaded and funded the construction of the new opera house on the island of Holmen, across from central Copenhagen.  It's a gorgeous facility, but has proven expensive to maintain.   As the letter points out (Google translated version): "In this desperate situation we can not help but think about what you, Mr.

Møller, I wonder feel to see your house on the other side of the water quietly languish, see the lights turned off and hear the music silenced."

Link to the letter, and to a related article.  

Meanwhile, the silence, at least in the press, from Mr. Hübbe is deafening.  

[Jayne]

I think the words against Mr.

Hübbe are without foundation.  We do not know what his actions and words are within the organization.  Complaining to the press is merely sound and fury.  For all we know, he is banging the drum behind closed doors with upper management, politicos, and private funding sources.  He may have a handshake agreement with the dancers to allow them to be in the press (after all they are the real victims here if there are layoffs), while he works behind the scenes.  

[checkwriter]

It is interesting to contrast the public behavior of the head of the Opera (on his knees in front of a concert audience asking "Please, can I save my choir?") with that of the head of the Ballet.  Here is what one dancer had to say about that:

"People are scared, insecure, nervous and worried. We have not been informed about what is going on. There have been more in the newspaper, than management has told us. And we have the feeling that there is no fighting spirit of the ballet management. Our management has not even taken the initiative to talk with us, Nikolaj Hübbe came to a meeting shortly before Christmas, because Ballet Association demanded that he came. But he did not say much, although it would be natural that he tried to reassure and inform us about what will happen."

If Hubbe is doing anything behind the scenes, he's keeping it a secret even from his own company.  All of the public statements about the firings at the ballet have come from the dancers - mostly via their spokesperson, veteran dancer Byron Mildwater, some via interviews in the press.  And while the dancers are doing a great job of promoting their own cause, they don't seem to be getting help from their own management.  Which is unfortunate.

[Natalia]

How ironic that the A.D. who minimized religion in his stagings of Bournonville Ballets could use a little prayer or two nowadays. Just sayin'.

[bingham]

Natalia, on 10 January 2012 - 06:55 AM, said:

How ironic that the A.D. who minimized religion in his stagings of Bournonville Ballets could use a little prayer or two nowadays. Just sayin'.

    Unfortunately, prayers are only remembered when one is at need of something.

[Anne]

In the Danish national paper "Morgenavisen Jyllandsposten" it is today confirmed that 7 dancers are being sacked, and 4 dancers will retire. No names are mentioned, only the announcement that among the fired are 1 principal dancer, 1 soloist and 5 corps dancers. Among the retiring are 1 principal, 1 character dancer and 2 corps dancers.
There are no comments from either Nikolaj Hübbe or theater director Erik Jacobsen so far.

[Anne]

The names of the 11 dancers, who are going to leave the RDB have now been announced in Politiken:

Article (I couldn't find out making it appear in English translation, but maybe you can help yourself to a google-translation)

I can't help feeling very sad today, and I feel very sorry for the seven dancers, who are leaving the company against their own free will, some of whom I remember vividly from many fine performances during the years.