YouOverThere

I guess that I am a little disappointed that they chose to do Giselle, which has been performed frequently in DC the past few years, including by ABT just a few weeks ago. Should we infer that it's still the case in DC that WB audiences and the audiences for the out of town companies that show up at the Kennedy Center don't have a lot of crossover? I'm looking forward to the all-Ratmansky show.

The run is scheduled to last into September, so unless this crisis lasts well into the summer they would likely be able to get in a lot of performances. One theory that has been tossed around is that the Kennedy Center is desperate for the revenue that Hamilton will bring in and are furloughing employees just in case they have to cancel a substantial number of performances.

The Washington Ballet has cancelled their production of Coppelia which had been scheduled for the middle of May. A piece of trivia: Coppelia was the first ballet that Julie Kent danced in at the Kennedy Center (not sure what role she danced).

Why am I thinking that these are the numbers if everyone were to be paid in full for 2 months rather than what it will cost to pay most of the employees for 1 month and 150 or so for 2 months?

According to the Kennedy Center website, both the Bolshoi Ballet and Scottish Ballet productions have been cancelled. https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/explore-by-genre/ballet/

The Kennedy Center stated that about 90 percent of holders of tickets to cancelled performances have asked for a refund rather than donating the money. I'm guessing that other organizations are finding similar results,

The Kennedy Center director claims that they need $6 million a month to pay those members administrative staff who aren't being laid off and for office and warehouse rentals. This does NOT include the cost of maintaining the building because the building is owned and maintained by the government.

Despite being given $25 million in the bailout program, the Kennedy Center is going to layoff the musicians in the National Symphony Orchestra.

The small Denver-based dance company Wonderbound posted on their Facebook page that they will also pay their dancers and staff.

We'll have to keep our fingers crossed that this is the last extension, since it would still allow the Scottish Ballet to perform.

The Kennedy Center has cancelled all performances through May 10, so this isn't going to happen.

I did little searching around the Internet, and found that it is apparently possible for performing arts organizations to purchase insurance to protect themselves against having to cancel performances. However, I got the impression that protection against cancelling performances due to an infectious disease outbreak isn't usually a part of the basic policy but instead requires an additional premium, and it wasn't clear if the insurance company has to pay if the organization makes the cancellation decision or only if the government forces the cancellation.

They included the statement "Patrons who have tickets to this performance have three options to enable them to continue enjoying Colorado Ballet performances.", so it isn't clear that this list is exhaustive. I can easily see this crisis being the death knell for many performing arts organizations, especially since it seems quite possible that cancellations will have to be extended.

The Colorado Ballet has posted on Facebook that they have cancelled Masterworks. Not that they had any choice since Denver has prohibited gatherings of more than 250 people through April 12. Totally infuriating, as this disease did not have to happen. SARS and 2 deadly strains of bird flu developing out of Chinese wildlife markets should have given the Chinese government more than enough motivation to close down the markets.

The WB has adjusted their schedule, moving Swan Lake to June 13-21. As of right now, the Kennedy Center has only cancelled performances through the end of March, but I guess they didn't want to take the chance of a last-minute cancellation.