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Los Angeles Ballet Company


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I was reading other posts on another web site and come upon a post that mention Los Angeles Ballet. I live in LA and I don't ever remember there was a time when LA had its own company. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the history of LA Ballet.:confused: I am amaze that with a city this size that LA can't support a major ballet company.:)

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I think John Clifford tried that a few years back and it ended badly before the season ever really got off the ground.

Its amazing to me too that LA can't support their own company. I guess they feel they get enough guesting companies during the year to fulfill their cultural diet. But then I live near a large city with a world class symphony, and Baltimore can't support a ballet company either!

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Hi!

The Los Angeles Ballet that was directed by John Clifford lasted for several years in the eary 80s and in fact toured to NY at one point (late 83?). The star of that tour was 16-year old Damian Woetzel, who would come to SAB full-time when the LA Ballet folded, study for at SAB for six months and join NYCB after the 1985 Workshop. The rest is history.

Kate

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Doris, there was an LA Ballet directed by Clifford in the early 1990s -- I don't remember how long it lasted, but it wasn't long.

Good question about why L.A. can't support a company. Is the city too hip, pop and movie/rock oriented for ballet? Or would there have to be a BIG, all-star company to make it there? (I'm just guessing.)

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I think that a part of the LA problem is that much of the potential core audience for ballet are involved in industries which make them effectual transients, involved in projects out-of-town much more so than in other metro areas. And speaking of metro areas, LA's far-flung sprawl makes it harder to locate geographic areas of possible support. Corporate sponsorship is based on demographics and track record, and if a "ballet center" can't be located demographically, and no company has lasted very long in the past, then corporate interest in supporting a ballet company is going to be mild, to say the least.

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Thanks for the replies. I agree with Mel and come to a concludion that LA is too spread out for any ballet company to pull in the audience it needs to make it profitable. But I still think that LA needs a homegrown company and not rely on hand-me-down from touring companies for cultural need.:)

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It's been awhile since this post started, but I thought I would go ahead and respond . . .

I think the company you may have been thinking of was the LA Classical Ballet under the artistic direction of David Wilcox. This company was around in the 90's but is now gone. Their school is still around and is located in Long Beach.

As a resident of So Cal, I agree with the comments about urban sprawl and various other distractions keeping us from being able to successfully support our own company out here.

There are a couple smaller, regional professional companies who I believe are realizing good success - Ballet Pacifica and Inland Pacific Ballet.

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In the current issue of Ballet Review, the topic of a company for L.A. arises in Francis Mason's interview with Christopher Wheeldon. The latter remarks that he thinks a company is a fully viable option for the city, if only there was a – I don't have the issue in front of me, so the following is approximate – visionary, charismatic, forceful individual with a capacity to create varied works that would appeal to all "strata of the populace." It may be just me, but I had the distinct impression that he was pointing to himself and clearing his throat, not for immediate consideration but for the future. More power to him, of course, although I thought his remarks perhaps a little cavalier toward previous efforts made in this direction.

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