Ballet companies touring?

[Amanda_K]

How frequently do ballet companies tour nowadays? It seems to me that they used to a lot, but not anymore. Is this true and what would be the reason?

[Helene]

In general among the larger, well-established companies, to quote the corps in Caberet, "Money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money..." Especially if there's an orchestra contract that stipulates that the orchestra has to tour. Michael Kaiser at Kennedy Center made a landmark agreement with NYCB, in which the orchestra will play for only every other tour, which allowed them to swing the deal.

There are exceptions, but they seem to be companies like the Bolshoi and Mariinsky, which are large enough to break into touring companies and the home company.

Other exceptions are national companies for which part of their charter is to tour their own countries. Although you can hear the grousing in Australia and Canada from a continent away, as Australian Ballet and National Ballet of Canada perform mostly in one to a couple of major cities, leaving vast stretches of the country high and dry some seasons.