Silicon Valley Ballet (formerly Ballet San Jose) has folded

[kbarber]

more in this article in Dance Mag:

http://dancemagazine.com/news/silicon-valley-ballet-closes-its-doors/

[Jayne]

Boooo!!! Boooo!!!! I think the loss of Denis Nahat really was the start of spiralling the drain. On the other hand, the Associate AD position at ABT will come open very soon, could Carreno move back to NYC?

[pherank]

Obviously very sad, but the San Jose Ballet has long experienced financial difficulties, and management 'issues'. I was wondering if they would cannibalize any of SFB's audience, but that didn't really seem to happen.

There used to be pie-in-the-sky talk about making Silicon Valley Ballet an adjunct to ABT, which, for Bay Area people, seemed a little presumptuous, and needlessly competitive - the more obvious thing to do would be to create an SFB II company that could provide soloist opportunities/experience to promising younger dancers, and perhaps be slanted towards development of contemporary ballet choreography.

[stuben]

Obviously very sad, but the San Jose Ballet has long experienced financial difficulties, and management 'issues'. I was wondering if they would cannibalize any of SFB's audience, but that didn't really seem to happen.

There used to be pie-in-the-sky talk about making Silicon Valley Ballet an adjunct to ABT, which, for Bay Area people, seemed a little presumptuous, and needlessly competitive - the more obvious thing to do would be to create an SFB II company that could provide soloist opportunities/experience to promising younger dancers, and perhaps be slanted towards development of contemporary ballet choreography.

I second this idea and if so, it would be nice to find these dancers joining SFB ll, it is always sad to see these situations come up with dancers having no voice about it, I wish the best to the company!

[dirac]

I don’t think the intent was ever to take audience share from San Francisco Ballet. Theoretically there’s room for two troupes in the Bay Area. However, attracting audiences doesn’t seem to have been the really big issue. The performing arts don’t hold the same interest and prestige value for the new rich than they do for the old money of San Francisco, so there’s no reliable pool of donors. This has been a problem for the orchestra and theater groups based in San Jose as well.

[ABT Fan]

Very unfortunate news, but not surprising given their many woes. I feel really bad for the dancers who missed audition season and may be jobless for awhile. I also wonder if Carreno will come back East to ABT.

[miliosr]

The performing arts don't hold the same interest and prestige value for the new rich than they do for the old money of San Francisco, so there's no reliable pool of donors.

I wonder if it goes beyond new money/old money and, instead, is an issue of some cities, because of their cultures, being inhospitable to ballet. You see it in Los Angeles where the Los Angeles Ballet does alright but its budget is shockingly low for the metropolitan area in which it resides. Chicago saw a lot of failed attempts to maintain a ballet company until the Joffrey managed to put down roots.

Maybe this is a poll question for Ballet Talkers -- is every city congenial for a ballet company?

[sandik]

Maybe this is a poll question for Ballet Talkers -- is every city congenial for a ballet company?

Let's spin this off...

[sf_herminator]

This was originally posted earlier this week on Odette's Ordeal's FB page - before the press picked up on it:

https://www.facebook.com/OdettesOrdeal/posts/1140365655996579:0?__mref=message_bubble

When I checked the SVB website on Monday, the link for tickets had been removed. The information for the remaining programs of the season had also been removed.

This is very sad indeed. I only saw them once (Giselle last October) but enough to make me want to see them again. And I think that there was room in the Bay Area for a ballet company. But it is another blow to the arts in the San Jose area.

[dirac]

I wonder if it goes beyond new money/old money and, instead, is an issue of some cities, because of their cultures, being inhospitable to ballet. You see it in Los Angeles where the Los Angeles Ballet does alright but it's budget is shockingly low for the metropolitan area in which it resides. Chicago saw a lot of failed attempts to maintain a ballet company until the Joffrey managed to put down roots.

Maybe this is a poll question for Ballet Talkers -- is every city congenial for a ballet company?

Good point - although the new money/old money split in California does reflect cultural differences. Also San Jose and Los Angeles are still in many respects more like really dense suburbs than traditional cities, even though both are technically larger than San Francisco.

[sf_herminator]

The school will remain. Here is the press release from Silicon Valley Ballet, courtesy of Odette's Ordeal - Teri McCollum's ballet page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OdettesOrdeal/posts/1142121842487627:0?__mref=message

This is good news for the students.

[pherank]

The school will remain. Here is the press release from Silicon Valley Ballet, courtesy of Odette's Ordeal - Teri McCollum's ballet page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OdettesOrdeal/posts/1142121842487627:0?__mref=message

This is good news for the students.

Yes, good news - I would think a school would be doable, and more manageable, since families and scholarships will pay for each dancer in attendance. Don't have to sell tickets to the public. And where there's a school, there's a way: "But first, a school".