California

ABT just sent out e-mail about the spring season, but I'm not seeing anything that isn't on their web site: An Important Message to Our ABT Community _______________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Friends and Fans of American Ballet Theatre, As you and your family navigate the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, we wish you good health, strength, and resilience. This is not the way we envisioned celebrating ABT’s milestone 80th Anniversary year. Just two weeks ago we premiered a glorious new production, Of Love and Rage, to standing ovations in Orange County, California, and tonight, there are no standing ovations anywhere in America. We wanted to share with you some updates on how COVID-19 has impacted ABT's activities so far: March and April Tours to Chicago, Durham, Detroit, and Abu Dhabi have been cancelled. We are working closely with our presenters to see if rescheduling will be possible; ABT’s studios and offices at 890 Broadway are closed, with staff working remotely through at least April 20; The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School is closed, and students will be participating in livestreamed classes via Zoom and Instagram Live; Patron events in April and early May have been postponed; and Single ticket sales for performances during our 2020 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera have been postponed. Please stand by for new dates for Members Advance Sale, Subscriber Exchange Week, and Single Ticket Sales.* *At this time, a decision on if and how we can proceed with American Ballet Theatre’s Spring Season, May 11-July 4, is currently on hold. We are awaiting further guidance from government officials and health experts, and we ask you to please continue to check ABT.org for further updates. The safety of our dancers, staff, students, donors, and audience members will always remain our paramount concern, and, as a result, the well-being of our community is driving our decisions. One of the most important things we can do as a society during times of uncertainty is to rally behind the organizations that matter to us, to our country, and to our world. The cultural treasures that sustain us and the artists who will help us heal on the other side of this crisis should be a top priority. To maintain your connection to our brilliant dancers during these challenging times, we are finding creative ways to share their artistry and optimism with you across our online platforms and beyond. Some of you have asked how you can help ensure the Company’s vibrancy and resiliency. One way is to support ABT’s commitment to providing a crisis relief package for our artists – dancers, production crew, pianists, and ballet masters – to help them through this challenging period. Here are some ways for you to be a part of this effort: Renew your support as early as possible and be as generous as possible here. Send an additional gift to the ABT Crisis Relief Fund here. Advocate for government support for cultural organizations and artists here. Finally, but most importantly, we want to thank you for your friendship and your generosity. We are so grateful to you for protecting America’s National Ballet Company®. ABT was founded in 1940 and survived the Second World War. The Company has weathered many crises over the past eight decades, and we will celebrate together, exuberantly, when we survive this pandemic and return to the stage. We hope that you will find American Ballet Theatre a source of inspiration in the weeks and months ahead. With warm regards, Kara Medoff Barnett Kevin McKenzie Executive Director Artistic Director P.S. If you would like to make a donation to the ABT Crisis Relief Fund, please visit our site. With our offices temporarily closed, we are unable to accept and process checks at this time. We are grateful for your support, now more than ever.

Alina Somova does Diamonds. It's worth watching!

That link works - thank you!

I'm having trouble finding the actual video. Has anybody else found it?

One bright spot in the midst of this global catastrophe: Colorado Ballet has decided to pay its dancers and artistic staff through the end of their contracts, even though the final program of the season was cancelled. Colorado Ballet's board and leadership recognized the financial impact this would have on the various artists of Colorado Ballet and unanimously decided to pay all Company and Studio Company dancers, ballet mistresses and the Colorado Ballet Orchestra through the remainder of their original contracts, which would have concluded on April 12, 2020. https://www.broadwayworld.com/denver/article/Colorado-Ballet-to-Pay-Dancers-Through-Season-Contract-20200320

Here's the announcement: http://lincolncenter.org/covid19-statement?_ga=2.138699638.490389915.1584736641-1101182085.1584736641 "all performances and events" Nothing yet on the NYCB or ABT web sites. ABT was supposed to open May 11.

Vail Dance Festival still hopes it happens, but they just announced a new policy on tickets refunds. (Single ticket sales opened recently and I wonder if they're worried about lack of sales at this juncture.) Dear Vail Dance Festival Patrons, The Board of Directors and staff of the Vail Valley Foundation place the health and wellbeing of our employees and their families, our supporters, our guests and the people we serve as our highest priority. In light of current news relating to the spread of COVID-19, we understand that many of you may be wondering about the status of our summer 2020 Vail Dance Festival, and carefully considering your future planning. We hope each of you are safe and healthy. At this time, we believe it is still too early to cancel or postpone our beloved Vail Dance Festival, but we are closely following the updates from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the Colorado State and Eagle County Health Departments, to stay on top of any new developments. Historically, our ticket policy has not allowed for refunds or exchanges, but we wanted to inform you today of a revision to this policy. For our summer 2020 Vail Dance Festival, in the case of a cancellation or postponement of the Festival that prohibits your ability to attend, we will provide either a full refund or a ticket credit for a future Vail Dance Festival performance. If there are no changes to the current 2020 Vail Dance Festival schedule, yet you feel uncomfortable attending due to COVID-19, we will be happy to extend a ticket credit towards a future Vail Dance Festival performance in summer 2021. We hope this creates some peace of mind for all of our valued patrons. In the event of a cancellation, postponement, or an inability to attend due to COVID-19, we of course would be grateful if you elected to allow the Vail Dance Festival to retain your ticket revenue as a fully tax-deductible donation. We cannot thank you enough for your continued support of the Vail Dance Festival. We are prepared to navigate through these challenging circumstances with you, and with your health and safety at the forefront of everything we do. Now more than ever, we can all benefit from the power, beauty, creative energy and sense of community, that is inspired by the performing arts, and projects like the Vail Dance Festival. We look forward to celebrating with each of you this summer as we welcome the greatest dancers, musicians, and choreographers in the world back to Vail. Please visit vaildance.org for the most up-to-date information, to view the full schedule and to purchase tickets. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you this summer. Best, Sarah Johnson Senior Vice President, Education and the Arts, Vail Valley Foundation e performances from the Vail Dance Festival. Tune in to Facebook on Friday to watch!

The Joyce Theater has cancelled performances through April 5, including: Scottish Ballet (March 13 - 15 - CANCELLED) Lyon Opera Ballet (March 18 - 22 - CANCELLED) Malpaso Dance Company (March 24 - 29 - CANCELLED) Limón Dance Company (March 31 - April 5 - CANCELLED) http://www.joyce.org/coronavirus-updates

The Kennedy Center is cancelling all performances through May 10, extending its earlier cancellations through March 31. https://www.playbill.com/article/kennedy-center-extends-closure-more-washington-dc-theatre-organizations-cancel-performances

Opera Colorado has cancelled all four performances of Tosca in early May. https://www.operacolorado.org/covid-19-response/

I like that idea! I was so disappointed that my (normal) schedule this spring made it impossible to get to PNB's Giselle. This is something I'd definitely fly to Seattle for if they can reschedule to next season.

It was just announced that the NYC schools will close until Monday, April 20. NYCB is scheduled to open its spring season Tuesday, April 21. Of course, this could all be "over" by then, but who knows! I wonder if the delay in ABT ticketing has something to do with concerns about people standing in long lines at the ticket office, as well as uncertainty about the spring schedule.

Wow -- thanks for this. I just hope it's not geo-blocked! I love what SFB is doing for their ticket holders for MSND. Heck, I'd buy access if they had a way to do that for the rest of us. Of course, they needed to get a lot of people on board to make that happen. The US is so far behind on this video technology, compared with Europe and Russia...

I don't want to take this too far afield, but the dozens of professional associations that have had to cancel spring meetings are having the same problems. Meeting cancellation insurance doesn't cover fear of disease. The "force majeure" clause in typical hotel contracts for these meetings is offering some relief, if a government agency orders them to cancel their meeting (but not if it's only a strong recommendation). My family members' travel insurance for a trip to London doesn't include fear of disease.

This was the last program of the season for Colorado Ballet and the dancers were expecting lay-off after that until July, when they return. Many teach in the summer. Some perform at Vail. But San Francisco and PNB have many more programs ahead. Dr. Fauci said this could go on for at least two more months, maybe more. I'm seeing discussion about the fate of the fall semester for colleges and universities that have abruptly gone on-line. This could all drag on a long time and "death knell" is probably sadly accurate for many arts programs, colleges, and more, not to mention small business, restaurants, you name it. Will everything be back to normal by April for NYCB and May for ABT? I don't think anybody should assume those are safe.

I'm seeing Facebook and Instagram postings from Vail and Kochetkova, e.g., of morning exercises. Of course, dancers know how to do their own classes, but it seems to me that this use of social media might help in reassuring people that they're not alone in this crisis.

Many symphonies and operas are live-streaming performances (Berlin, Jacksonville, Met). I'm wondering if ballet companies have dress rehearsals that are being live-streamed for free on Facebook. This could be a dramatic change in the way we access the arts on-line! Of course, Amazon Prime has a lot of great ballet in its collection, but not everybody can afford that.

I'm looking at how other companies are handling this. PNB says ticket holders will get email. No information that I can find on their web site. I'm wondering if we have ticket holders here who could tell us what options they are offering. http://www.pnb.org/aboutpnb/health-update/ SF Ballet is offering two options: donation and credit toward a future performance (but not Nutcracker!). No mention of a refund. Is this what ticket holders understand? https://www.sfballet.org/a-message-regarding-the-covid-19-virus/

I wonder if there is an unspoken option for all of these cancellations, viz., a full refund. It might be that they are not eager to encourage it, for understandable reasons. It probably depends on their original ticket terms and local statutes. On a related note: the American Philosophical Association just cancelled their San Francisco meeting. Although they hope registrants will donate their registration fee, you can get a refund -- minus a 15% processing fee! This is not going over well on social media. http://dailynous.com/2020/03/12/apa-cancels-pacific-division-meeting/

Colorado Ballet is giving people three very reasonable options. Patrons have to take the initiative to decide what they want to do. Nothing is automatic. From the Facebook responses, it looks like many will donate the ticket value and get a tax deduction. =============== Ticketholders may: Turn their ticket(s) purchase into a donation to help Colorado Ballet finish the season strong. All ticket donations are fully tax-deductible. Receive an on-account credit that can be applied to tickets for the 2020/2021 season. This credit can be used for subscriptions or single tickets when purchased by phone. The credit will be good for one year for the value of the tickets, if purchased through Colorado Ballet. Exchange their ticket(s) for a gift certificate for a performance during the 2020/2021 season. As a nonprofit arts organization with 55% of our operating cost covered by ticket sales, Colorado Ballet thanks all patrons who will consider donating their ticket(s) purchase.

ABT just sent this email. Single ticket sales are postponed, including Member Advance Sales, which was to start this Sunday. Dear Friends, The safety and well-being of our audience, employees and dancers will always be of the highest importance to us. Following the advice of public health officials and the Center for Disease Control, we will be delaying the on sale dates for single performance tickets for the 2020 ABT Season at the Metropolitan Opera House. We will announce the new dates for Members Advance Sale, Subscriber Exchange Week, and Single Ticket On Sale soon. At this time, there are no changes to the performance schedule for our 80th Anniversary Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, May 11 to July 4. Thank you for your support of American Ballet Theatre and for your understanding during these uncertain times. Please stay safe and healthy, and we look forward to seeing you at the ballet soon! Sincerely, American Ballet Theatre

The Denver Performing Arts Center (home of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, where the Colorado Ballet performs) has cancelled all events through Sunday, April 13. Unfortunately, that includes the Ballet's final program of the season (Theme and Variations, Petite Mort, In the Upper Room). As per an Instagram story from Yosvani Ramos, the dancers are now all on lay-off. I am devastated -- but I am truly heartbroken for the dancers. https://www.coloradoballet.org/covid19 https://www.denvercenter.org/response/

I have to wonder if the rights these companies get from the copyright owners of the ballets include limits on distribution on video and especially distribution for revenue. Perhaps they'll include that in future contract negotiations.

Kennedy Center is cancelling everything through March 31, including NYCB and the Washington Ballet. https://www.kennedy-center.org/press-releases/covid-19/ Washington Ballet's Swan Lake has been postponed until June 13-21. https://www.washingtonballet.org/

I have seen ABT do Upper Room dozens of times over the years and it never grows old. Knowing the Colorado Ballet dancers and coaches, I'm optimistic they will do a fabulous job. My worry now is cancellation due to this awful pandemic. Colorado has a few cases, but we also have a very pro-active governor who has been out front on these issues, so I will hope for the best.