Category: dance

Colorado Ballet Director Director Sacked

An ugly fight has broken out at the Denver-based Colorado Ballet, with artistic director Martin Fredmann being ousted by a board he says is “trying to destroy the company.” The surprise firing is only the latest crisis for the company, which earlier this year had to cancel a major premiere after failing to raise the needed money to pay for it. The co-chair of the ballet’s board bizarrely described Fredmann’s ouster as being “part of the board’s long-term strategic planning.”

Can A Fresh Face Save ENB From Itself?

“All dance companies go through ups and downs, but English National Ballet seems to have spent more time at the bottom of the seesaw than fate or fortune should decree… So if you saw the job of artistic director advertised would you want it? Well, apparently many people did. This is, after all, a big company with an outstanding history, 64 dancers, a full orchestra, £5.5 million in Arts Council funding and the potential to bring quality ballet to audiences around Britain. Enter Wayne Eagling, former Royal Ballet star and the man handed the job of putting English National Ballet back on track.”

Ballet Pacifica Makes A bid For The Big Time In Southern California

The company has a new director, and the Irvine-based group has ambitious expansion plans. “Ballet Pacifica would make its debut in fall 2006 outside Orange County. The company’s first home repertory season would include three different programs performed in spring 2007 at the new $200 million concert hall. Again, dates have been ‘penciled in,’ but contracts have not yet been signed, Arts Center officials confirmed.”

Cash Crisis At Canada’s Nat’l Ballet

“The National Ballet of Canada is in financial jeopardy following a disappointing season that saw a significant drop in ticket sales… The ballet has a deficit of $448,000 for the 2004-05 fiscal year, bringing its debt to $1,140,000 — with the biggest source of the shortfall occurring at the box office. Combining ticket sales at Hummingbird Centre and box office from touring, the ballet was down $541,000 over the previous season. Audiences appear to have voted with their feet on the merits of last season’s mostly contemporary offerings. The 2003-04 season ended with a deficit of $690,000 — attributed to problems with fundraising and lower than expected government support.”

PBT Protests Grow In Size, Volume

The pickets organized by Pittsburgh-area musicians to protest the decision of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre to dance to canned music for the season is attracting support from musicians and union stalwarts nationwide. “Among the pickets [at last night’s performance] were 25 music students from Carnegie Mellon University; musicians from New York City, Toronto, and Akron; local stagehands; Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians in full dress with white ties; and T-shirt-clad members of the Service Employees International Union and Teamsters.”

Musicians Protest Pittsburgh Ballet’s Recordings

Union musicians in Pittsburgh plan a four-day protest of live music to demonstrate against Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s decision to replace its ochestra with recorded music. “Pittsburgh Ballet announced the elimination of the orchestra during unsuccessful negotiations with the musicians this past summer. The company says the move will save $551,000, which is in keeping with its overall 2005-06 budget of $6.4 million, down $1 million from the previous season. In January, PBT had a deficit of nearly $1 million.”

Between Theatre And Dance

“In theater, there has been a movement in recent decades away from word-driven narrative. Theater today – interesting theater, not formulaic Broadway commerciality – is as much about movement and image and multimedia and even song as the actorly articulation of text. Not that words still aren’t central to the art, but they’ve lost their arrogant monopoly. In dance, we live in a time of worldwide reaction against the excesses of pure abstraction.”