Supporting a local ballet company?

[perky]

Ari posted a link today about The Fort Wayne Ballet's new program "Murder at the Ballet". This is the ballet company closest to me, and my husband and I generally go to the performances. They're a pretty decent small ballet company as far as a regional company goes, however in the last few years thier programming has left much to be desired. I know that we've had some discussions on this board about the direction some regional ballet companies have been taking toward more "populist" ballets. Last year they did a dreadful production of "Frankenstien" that was so awful I don't want to talk about it. Ever. And now this year we have a themed night with productions like "Combat" and "Showdown at the Hoedown."

I don't want to go but yet I feel an obligation to support my local ballet company at a time when many are barely hanging on by a thread. What should I do? What's really funny is that when the company sticks to a classical piece they really shine.

Their Coppelia is bright and entertaining and a few season ago they did a Les Sylphides that was really quite lovely. The crowds for a classical ballet are just as full as for "Blue Jean Nite at the Ballet". What to do? :shrug:

[carbro]

Oh, poor Perky! Sounds like the company, instead of specializing in ballets blancs, prefers to go for ballets noirs.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

A letter along the lines of your post might help, or you might lauch a petition drive. I know that you want to support them, but if the directors understand that they are alienating the core of their audience and *donors*, they might think twice before staging their next crime.

[Alexandra]

Showdown at the Hoedown sounds really special!

Perky, great post -- it's becoming a real problem. Instead of the time-tested model of programming -- something for everyone -- companies in general have bifurcated the audience: the pop ballet vs. the classical ballet audience. And I don't think you can please both audiences, when they're defined in that way. (This is the Marketeers' doing. It works with widgets, but it doesn't work in art.)

I think what carbro suggested would be worthwhile doing -- especially if you have like-minded friends. One intelligent letter will help; ten or twenty will help even more. Sometimes an artistic director programs pop ballet because that's all s/he knows, and sometimes because that's what he reads, or is told, that that's what audiences want to see.

Are there others who are in a similar situation?

[Juliet]

I understand your position perfectly, perky. I'm in the same boat.

Ballet in Maryland is an elusive thing. Repertory comprised of classical selections and neoclassical or contemporary ballet is almost impossible to find. Especially on a professional level.

The company based in Annapolis went through years of hardship, both financially and in buidling an audience base. The dancers were fine, the calibre improving every year--the dedication and verve obvious in alll performances. The company still has the dedication, but the repertory has drifted away from ballet.....

Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Carmen (set in the southwest), Scarlet Letter.....all worthy of performance, but they're not ballet.

I think it is important to support the company, but I also think it is incumbent upon an audience to tell a director or board what we'd like to see. It can't hurt.

Better than not attending or sitting silent and seething.

[chauffeur]

Great topic! This is such a Catch-22 scenario for us in Ohio with BalletMet. They've been veering for many years towards a more pop-ballet (great term) lineup, and that makes it so hard for our family to want to spend our precious few entertainment dollars on them. They're also all over the physiological map with their hiring so you never see a really cohesive look to the company.

The situation here is compounded by behind-the-scenes political turmoil, and I feel like, if we support everything they put on, that only helps bolster the case for the popsters currently in control. So I research carefully, figure out what's most likely to suit our tastes, and go only to those shows. But we take a bye on the Draculas and dumbed-down Cinderellas. Although I must say I DO appreciate the reasoning behind these pop ballets: They are trying to pull in much-needed new audiences, but it seems to me it's a strategy that is failing because it alienates the true ballet lovers.

the other problem here, as in many markets I suspect, is they've got a board chosen more for their social connections than aesthetic sensibilities, and little apparent interest in educating themselves. Writing a letter or even talking directly to these people accomplishes nothing. Very frustrating, although things may finally be starting to change. We shall see.

[Alexandra]

Chauffeur wrote:

They are trying to pull in much-needed new audiences, but it seems to me it's a strategy that is failing because it alienates the true ballet lovers.

Yup! If you lure people in with repertory that isn't ballet, what you'll have is an audience of people who don't like ballet. Mission accomplished? It's a problem all over.

[perky]

Chauffeur you wrote about the boards apparent lack of interest in education themselves. I agree but I also worry about the dancers education.

"Dracula" and "Frankenstein" are to classical and neo-classical ballet what Fritos, Big-Macs and Coke are to home cooked gourmet food using fresh ingredients. One is popular, fills you up fast, and is easy to access, the other requires more time, thought and devotion. But we all know which one is better for you in the long run.

I realize that not every company can afford to aquire or has the talent level needed to put on a Balanchine, Robbins, Ashton, or even a little Bourbonville but wouldn't it be better to feed your dancers bodies and minds with this than junk ballet? Wouldn't the money spent on a yuck production of "Dracula" be better spent on bringing in some quest artists to dance say Balanchine's Tschaikovsky Pas De Deux?

I remember sitting in the audience last year waiting for the curtain to rise on BalletMet's premiere of Balanchine's Jewels. I was excited not only for me getting to see it again after a long while but I was thrilled that BalletMet's dancers were getting a chance to dance this ballet. What a treat for them! Even if they didn't dance it perfectly their creative minds were being engaged in something worthwhile.

And by the way I read in that article on the Fort Wayne Ballet, that next year they are going to do a "Bad Girl's at the Ballet" night. Imagine this conversation around this time next year:

Young Dance Student: "Mom, I got a part in the new ballet!"

Mom: "That's wonderful dear, what part is it?"

Young Dance Student: "The second hoochie-mama on the right!"

[Brioche]

I would think (or hope anyway) that a "Bad Girls" ballet them would be Carmen (she's not bad, just misunderstood, heh heh) Black Swan Pas de Deux and The Cage ........or something similiar. B)

Best regards,

Bri

[Alexandra]

I think you could put on a program of "bad girls" (as Brioche suggests). The problem there is the marketeers. Where do they get them? The whole notion that if you had a "Good Girls" night no one would come, but a "Bad Girls" night would pack the house is .... what's a nice, moderate, intellectual way to put this?...... just sick.

I agree with the junk food analogy, perky. I think it's very apt. One of the problems with smaller companies is that it's hard to take a piece like "Jewels," because most people won't want to see it year after year, when there are only three shows and a Nutcracker in a season. And if the dancers don't get a chance to dance a difficult work often over a long period of time, they get cheated too, I think, because they're exposed to it, but they never get to master it. Same with "Giselle" or "Swan Lake." When there are three shows and three casts, then bye-bye for five years, when there will be a new and improved production.

[Helene]

I think it is important to support the company, but I also think it is incumbent upon an audience to tell a director or board what we'd like to see.  It can't hurt.

Better than not attending or sitting silent and seething.

I've found that a great audience for any kind of feedback is the telemarketing group that calls to renew or sell subscriptions or additional tickets or for fundraising, particularly, "I can only find one program [insert program] this entire season that holds any interest for me, so I'm not interested in a subscription/don't see enough to support [fill in company/org] compared to other arts organizations. But I will re-subscribe/donate again if that situation changes."

There is the old customer service conventional wisdom that if one person goes to the trouble of writing it, X people think the same, but won't bother to tell you, and if one person says it to your face, it means 2X people think the same, but won't bother to tell you.

[chauffeur]

ah, perky, "Jewels" is exactly the kind of program we do spend our money on, and we saw it last year, too. And I'm sure you could appreciate the difference between how the BalletMet dancers executed those exquisite steps and how much better most of the Cincinnati Ballet dancers executed them. It was very obvious which company has stayed in greater touch with its classical roots and training -- though I agree, in a silver lining sort of way, that it was better for the BalletMet dancers to have had the opportunity to dance Balanchine than to endure another Nixon "masterpiece."

I think because of attending that particular performance we are now on Cincinnati's mailing list and, I'll tell you, their season excites me far more than BalletMet's does. We may just make a couple trips down I-71 this year. I'll have to put my money where my e-mouth is!

[Jack Reed]

Great thread!

Where do the marketeers come from? Does the board of directors hire the manager who hires them? I wonder how often boards are dominated by a few people with lots of money but little sense, or taste. It might be very hard for small contributors with taste to "educate" them, but wouldn't a few letters give them a lot of help? Can it hurt?

I've only written a couple of times, and then on a different matter, the sound quality when amplification is used, as it is more frequently. It worked once - the sound the following season was so good I had to check that the pit was still empty - and the second time (a different company, when there even was an orchestra in the pit!), the jury is still out.

On the other hand, I oppose on principle a board telling the director or ballet master what to do. It's like art by committee.

[Treefrog]

Yes, great thread!

As for boards, one can hope to educate and instill good taste in a person of means, but it is much harder to instill means in a person whose sole asset is good taste and a sense of aesthetics. I'm afraid that companies, of necessity, have to travel the former route.

[BalletIsLife]

I too live in the Northeast section of Indiana, and Fort Wayne Ballet is the nearest performing arts organization. I attended "Murder at the Ballet" and was basically horrified by the choice of ballets, and the commercial quality of the dancing.

However, I also attended their matinee show of "Peter and the Wolf", put on by the Fort Wayne Ballet "Youth Company". "Peter and the Wolf", was lovely, clean, age appropriate, and the audience seemed to love it. But, it will not bring in ticket sales when billed side-by-side with a sensational title like "Murder at the Ballet"!! Had "Peter and the Wolf" been the main attraction, with some clever marketing to family audiences, and without competing against a title like "Murder at the Ballet" - It would have been much more successful!!!!! Next year I think I will skip the scandelous evening show and just attend the matinee. Perhaps others will do the same.

I am sure the young dancers benefitted more from learning "Peter and the Wolf", then learning excerpts from "Cell Block Tango". There is a place in the world for strong Broadway performances, but what these local dancers need is a stronger base of classical and neoclassical repertoire that will develop their technique, their artistry, and appeal to the community as well. I firmly feel there can be a balance found here, and in other regional ballets, as well.

[perky]

BalletIsLife, thanks for your reply. I saw "Peter and the Wolf" a few years ago and it's a charming production.

What I've decided to do is see Fort Wayne Ballet's spring production only. It's usually a full length classical. In March 2005 they're doing "A Midsummer Night's Dream". I'm going to avoid the Fall series entirely. And I will write a letter to them explaining my reasons. Will they care? Who knows.

To make up for the live ballet performance drought in my life, I'll have to go out of town. Miami City Ballet is coming to Kalamazoo MI in April 2005 with a bill that includes "Stavinsky Violin Concerto" and "Nine Sinatra Songs". American Ballet Theatre will be in Columbus OH in March 2005 (although the tickets seem very expensive!). It's a fact of life for a ballet fan living in the "ballet boonies" that in order to see quality ballet performances we sometimes have to travel a bit. It also cuts down on the number of performances you see.

[BalletIsLife]

I already have tickets to see both MCB and ABT ..... and will be going to see the IU Nutcracker and traveling to Chicago this Spring for Joffrey.

It requires some traveling to get good ballet in our area, but I manage every year to find those great performances that are 3 hours or less of a drive away. I am JEALOUS of those of you that live in NYC or other metro areas with plenty of ballet.