Re-reading Joseph Mazo's book about of the NYCB spring season in 1973, I was surprised by the following. Even though Balanbchine and Robbins were still actively producing new ballets. Despite a top ticket price of $8.95 for regular performances, " ... attendance has been falling off since 1963. For much of the spring season, the company played to half-filled houses." Half-full in the barn of the New York State Theater wass pretty grim indeed. I remember.

A numer of reasons were suggested: expanded competition from visiting troupes and alternate dance styles, a larger number of dance venues, suburban sprawl, the audience's desire for new companies, new experiences.

Whatever the sources of funding for a ballet company, the old measure of "bums in seats" still seems to be very important.

What's the recent box-office situation for classical ballet in your area? How does this compare with recent years or even decades? Any thoughts about the reasons for the ups and/or downs?

I'm thinking about all the places with a resident professional classical ballet company -- and with a Ballet Talk member in the audience! Europe, the U.S. -- anywhere you live and attend. It can be just your impression -- or based on published information, if such is available.

Ballet Talkers are everywhere. Your imput will help us put together a world picture of ballet attendance today.

After a very well sold debut City Center season, Morphoses second season is not selling well. I don't know how it looks from the Orchestra; Grand Tier and Front Mezzanine seem to have sold well, but Rear Mezz, on the two nights I attended, seemed less than 1/3 occupied.

Thanks, carbro. Did people "move down" to the better seats at intermission the way they used to when NYCB danced there long ago.

My impression of Miami City Ballet (in their West Palm Beach appearances anyway) is that they area actually selling better than a few years ago. A couple of smashing programs, better publicity locally, and national attention seem to have had a good effect. The company is currently "hot," and potential audiences seem to know it.

Higher priced sections seem to be more full than lower-prized sections higher up.

I did NOT notice a huge increase in interest during the weekend of the much-publicized new Tharp/Elvis Costello piece last season. Perhaps this worked better in the trendier Miami market. But Swan Lake Act II (Balanchine's) this fall will almost certainly be a big seller in West Palm. Balanchine's work is well-known and loved by the many winter people and retirees from New York City.

Edward Villella, who introduces every performance, has a big following going back to the 60s and early 70s. He, personally, seems to be a factor in the company's success in this market. Additionally, the "Villella" brand is taken as a guarantee of high aspirations and quality. Correctly, I think.

Well, bart...i would like to make an exception here to refer, again, to my pre-exile ballet-related experience, instead of my current one, which i think would be more or less a common denominator to all of US-based BT's. Ballet in Havana. Empty houses...? NEVER-(far from that, ALWAYS extremely hard to get a hold on a ticket, so i shamelessly confess to have achieved the 80% of my years of attendance by sneaking in, along with my friends... )...Box Office..? a totally nonexistent, unimportant and completely unknown/uninteresting term over there. End of the story..as simple as that.

cubanmiamiboy, will you explain that a little? No box office? So, when you weren't sneaking in, how did you go? Did you buy a ticket in advance or at the door? Were prices nominal, because of state subsidy? Or free? First come, first served? We had a little festival like that here in Chicago a couple of months ago: 1500 free tickets for one performance. But that's unusual. Did you show up the week before and draw lots?

P.S. The Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet sold the main floor of the Auditorium Theatrer here pretty well last week, at $125 a seat! People were happy, Vishneva showed up and wowed us! (My remarks are somewhere below.)

Only nominal. It doesn't make any profits.


If i was lucky enough to get me hoocked up with a ticket via some friends inside the Company. The other option would be making horrible lines that would go on all night long before the "box office" would open in the morning...(and no...i never did that)


There are NEVER tickets left the day of the performance at the door


Totally nominal...sometimes free for students.

Ballet companies in the US are incorporated as not-for-profit ventures, and historically speaking, they run at a deficit. Ticket sales and government support alone are not enough to sustain them. Does BNdeC receive support from private individuals and foundations? Do foundations even exist in societies driven by the notion that the government can meet all of society's needs?

No, no private foundations. Actually no private NOTHING. Centralization has been the word there since 1959, and that includes the Educational System, which the National School of Ballet is part of.

There are obviously very different forms of funding for ballet -- and other classical performance arts -- in different countries and economic systems.

Cristian mentions the full-houses in Havana. I assume that much of this has to do with very low (subsidized) ticket prices, a relative lack of comparably high-level classical performances in other arts, and enormous local pride in the quality -- and the international recognition -- of Alicia Alonso's company.

My original idea about the matter of "box office," however, had more to do with just how many people are actually attending ballet performances -- regardless of their reasons, which will of course vary from place to place.

For example, during the early 70s, at a time when the NYCB was highly subsidized by City Center (even though dancing at the NY State Theater) and ticket prices were relatively low ($8.95 top?), it wasn't uncommon to find yourself in a vast theater that was only half full, and sometimes even less. And this was a time when Balanchine and Robbins were still creating for the company! Things got better in the 80s and 90s -- but there were still evenings and programs that simply didn't bring out the audiences.

I'm not talking about galas or special performances, or the favored subscription nights, when turn-out was much bigger. But evenings when whole sections of seats were almost empty did occur on a regular basis. I can't imagine how discouraging this must be for dancers, not to mention the company money people.

The ballet performances I've attended recently (both in my own region and in several European cities) have been given to much fuller houses, despite high ticket prices. (Prices are lower, of course, due to subsidies -- overwhelmingly private in the U.S. with a bigger government input in Europe.)

I still don't know, however, what the "size of the house" is like in other places. We have regular posters from:
New York (especially NYCB and ABT),
Seattle,
Washington,
Toronto,
Boston,
Philadelphia,
San Francisco,
Phoenix,
Portland
and other companies here in North America.

We have regular posters familiar with:
Paris,
London,
Copenhagen,
St. Petersburg,
Moscow,
Madrid,
Milan,
and a number of other cities in Europe.

Are ballet audiences turning up in great and consistent numbers in each of these?

I don't have broad experience, but I'd say things are in decent shape here in Seattle.

I have a few pieces of evidence for this:

1. By chance one evening last season I sat next to PNB's board President. I asked her about this question. She said that revenues including overall ticket sales were just fine. The one thing she wished for (besides for the moon) was increased numbers of full subscriptions. We didn't get into it, but I assume such a circumstance would provide more stability in terms of knowing a certain number of seats will have butts in them, and thereby reduce risk in their planning.

2. Essentially all our performance days are subscription days, so that provides a base. However, during festivals or other special performances, attendence still seems good. There have been a couple of times during a festival when I've seen a 40% full house (we seat about 2500 I think).

3. We had 1700 attend the Tharp Demo/Lecture the other nite which Peter Boal said he was thrilled at such a turnout (this is not a financial measure tho since tickets were free for subscribers, but it does show tremendous interest).

4. One of the Board's and Boal's goals is to grow the younger end of the audience. I believe I've noticed definite evidence that this is happening as I glance around at intermission.

5. PNB went from 46 dancers to 51 dancers this year (I think those numbers are correct; if not, they are close).

6. The after performances Q&A sessions are often near "standing room only" -- even at matinees. I'd say that the Q&A room holds 200-300 people, so that's probably something like 15% of the attendees.

7. I often buy single tickets to attend extra performances. I am often amazed how tough it is to get my favorite seats in whatever section a few days before performance.

If I had to guess I'd say that a typical night at PNB is 70% sold with most of the remaining 30% being seats in the nose bleed areas. Of course that's probably 50% for more adventurous programs, and 80-90% for a Swan Lake. I think we even sell out occasionally.

So, how is ballet box-office in Chicago these days? I can't account for the Joffrey but ABT's spring visits always sell well. As much as I roll my eyes about the unadventurousness of the repertory ABT brings to Chicago (Swan Lake, Giselle, Le Corsaire, Romeo and Juliet and Sleeping Beauty), it does put rear ends in seats. (Whether they will sell quite as well this Spring in light of everything that is going on in the financial markets -- I cannot say.)

The first night of the Chicago Dancing Festival, with three ballet companies and three modern companies, was also very well-attended. (Of course, it was free so that surely had something to do with it.)

As recently as 10 years ago, Seattle audiences (arts overall, not specifically dance) trended towards subscriptions rather than single tickets. That has changed since then -- the last statistics I heard were that single tickets were up and that subscriptions were down, especially full season subscriptions. To be fair, many of the organizations that offer subscriptions have been increasing the number and variety of packages in the last few years, so a certain amount of shifting is expected, but the trend to single tickets in an interesting one.



Opening nights are generally good, other evenings more variable. Matinees are better in the winter than the early autumn or spring (competition with outdoor activities)

Meany Hall, which presents a modern/world dance lineup at a university-based theater, has been doing very well the last few years, with some sold-out houses (capacity around 2000)



I don't think the capacity of the room is quite that large, but the sessions are very well attended and sometimes I learn things there that I don't find from any other source.



Those numbers seem about right from where I sit too.

On the Kennedy Center website you can click on ticket availability and it will breakdown by percentage tickets left and at what price. For the Suzanne Farrell Ballet this week only the rehearsal on Friday was sold out. Tickets were still available for all other performance times.

Years ago, well maybe it was decades ago, I was very involved in bringing dance companies to Los Angeles. That involvement sparked my interest in estimating "houses" - i.e. the number of seats filled as a percentage of the seats available. I also like to reason out what the average price is - which means are there discounts, rush tickets, etc? It has become an unconscious habit with me.

Recent estimates are that ABT did well during its MET season, NYCB had seats to spare in June.

Out here in California, Mark Morris Dance Group averaged 1,500 patrons in a house of 2,000 / no rush, no special discounts / average price around $55. Four performances...suspect there had to be a donor subsidy as a full orchestra was used.

Kirov is due here next week. My premonition from the amount of last minute advertising is that the box office may be sucking air. Will know more on Tuesday at the opening of he triple bill. SF Lobby talk is about 401ks and the stock market rather than who is dancing. (One of the ushers where I was last night - not dance - was questioned by patron as to why with the economy in the tank he was smiling as he welcomed folks!)

The smaller dance companies (local and visiting) in the Bay Area are drawing houses of 50 - 60% (750 seat houses). Lots of comps to be found and lots of discounts.

One source among the bigger presenters mentioned to me that the largest concern is that the donors were cutting back and that annual pledges are dropping off.

If I had more time, I would start to check out on-line ticket availability. The better sites allow one to see what seats are available...that can lead to some constructive at these sites hold guesswork...remember these tend to hold back 5% of the better seats for last minute patrons or contracted tickets for the artists which if not claimed are released before the performance.

My hunch, and for many reasons I pray it is wrong, is that the next year will be a tough one for the arts in general and dance in particular.

If I was in NYC at the moment, I would be instinctively counting SF Ballet's empty seats and ABT's - I've received several email blasts for discounts to ABT.

Thanks for all the responses so far.

Cantdance, any thoughts about why a Friday rehearsal would sell better than regular performances? Were tickets cheaper?


A despressing thought, but one which seems to have held true in previous economic/financial slumps and bubble-bursts. I wonder if it will hold true for Europe and Asia as well?

I was at the Suzanne Farrell Ballet rehearsal from 230pm to ending around 520pm for $12 and sat next to the Presidential box. I am estimating that they only released 150 tickets . It was general admission and everyone sat in the box tier and rear orchestra sections. Suzanne Farrell ran the rehearsal with her narration before each Pas De Deux and two 15 min orchestra intermissions. The only other pauses were for missed stage cues and orchestra instruction. The rehearsal was for the Balanchine Couple performance at 8pm that night. Got to watch Suzanne Farrell coach Natalia Magnicaballi in Diamonds pdd. Miss Farrell performed the steps and port de bra with Momchil Mladenov and Natalia followed the instruction. Just seeing Miss Farrell do that bit of choreography herself was the best $12 spent. She is still beautiful. The ushers were clearing the theatre and I had to leave then.

I mostly go the the rehearsals and studio performances since I spend my dance budget on ballet class. Some of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet dancers are my teachers. Kristen Gallagher, Runqiao Du and Erin Mahoney Du teach in the Wash DC Richmond area. I will be at the San Francisco Ballet, ABT, Bolshoi and Royal Ballet rehearsals.

What a marvellous opportunity, cantdance. I'll bet I'm not the only one to be envious! As one who saw Diamonds in the first year ('67), I'm really thrilled that Farrell can still demonstrate it to her dancers over 40 years later.

I attend 2-3 times a week to the met /nyc during abt's spring seasson.
Friday and Saturdays usually sell very very well. Many times you have a sold out house (about 4000 seats)
Monday-thursday, depends on the performance, but in general they sell very well too (80-90%)

People in nyc know very well who they want to see. You will find, for example, Ananiashvili's performances sold out
very fast (especially after her come back). Especial performances, like a farewell, are usually sold out before the seasson begins. wed and sat matinee are usually pretty full as well.

I attended to San Francisco ballet at City Center. It was pretty bad, friday night the rear mezzanine was pretty much empty. Same thing with morphoses. Its actually the 1st time that I ve seen the city center that empty during a ballet performance (i have been here for 5 yrs now). Kirov sold very well last year and abt usually sells pretty well too. The young america grand prix gala is always sold out 1-2 months before the show.

I will be attending to abt tonight and during these 2 weeks, w'll see how it goes.

I too would be most curious to see some statistics regarding bart's query. In the meantime, there are always 990's to cross-reference. Below, are my most recent experiences...

1) BOSTON
The first thing I noticed in Boston some years ago, was that BB did not make balcony tickets available for any performances at the Wang Center, only the front Mezz (same top price as front Orchestra). So a major reduction in seats available, and probably because of a lack of attendance? However, finally this past May, I was able to sit upstairs in the balcony section again, with ample opportunity to move forward if I wanted to into the front balcony. (The Mezz section was full, and at least the first 10+ rows of front balcony.) Whether BB anticipated better attendance and opened up the balcony section or saw early subscription returns and did it, I'm not sure. Or maybe it was a better rep.? I know they did a big push for Cranko's R&J, but not living in Boston now, I don't see any other media/p.r. so can't determine its impact on the b.o. The fall Gala night usually does well, as I suppose the spring Ball does too?

But despite the above, BB is leaving the Wang Center after this coming season to go to a smaller venue. They are putting a happy face on it, but it is still a demotion. Of course, two years ago (or is it more now?) the Wang Center had supplanted BB's Nutcracker, (despite it supposedly being the largest/best attended one in the USA--take that NYCB), with those NY interlopers: The Rockettes Xmas Show. Nothing new about that: A similar fate befalling other companies across the USA.

Actually, I do wonder how BB is doing financially? Their AD's previous position received accolades for rep, but also groans for excessive expense and leaving a large deficit. BB has always had a great rep, (though I could do with less Elo), and I've seen more smiles than before, so maybe they are ok. But with the state of the present economy, and MA's rather precarious finances, it may not be all smiles this year.

2) NY:
I've attended ABT regularly each summer, and 2-4 times (though this year 1-2) at City Center, and have observed the same things other BT'ers have posted.

3) EUROPE:
London (2007)- for ABT (Feb.) and Morphoses (Sept.) - I was up in the balcony for both companies, and it seemed to be quite full. The one time I was able to attend the RB at the ROH, it too was very full (I had to get a very expensive orch.ticket, which was all they had left.)

Spain (2008): At all times (Barcelona, Madrid, elsewhere on tour) the performances were either sold out or very nearly sold out. Also, there was no such thing as a "cheap" ticket; prices were DOUBLE what they are in NYC, Boston, Chicago, or Los Angeles (all of which I visited in 2007-08).

4)THE GOOD OL' DAYS:
I remember ABT filling Shrine Auditorium in L.A. at least 3/4 full (almost 5600 seats) for three weeks at a time in the late 70's - mid 80's. (sigh).

The economic woes have definitely hit The Washington Ballet. Their shows used to fill to capacity on all nights. At last night's initial performance of their Genius2 program, the usually-packed balcony was about one-half full at the start of the evening and emptied to about one-third full by the second intermission, presumably because a lot of folks could easily move to either Box Seats or Orchestra? I was shocked by the change. I've been a Wednesday night subscriber for years -- the preview openers, usually lower priced -- and the theters were always packed in previous years. Something is definitely going on. Sad.

I can only attest to Oregon Ballet Theatre's attendance and it was a full house the night I attended in early October. They were doing "Swan Lake" and they seem to be consistent with selling out with this ballet. They have really reasonable subscription prices, which my tickets were, which makes me feel privileged to see this ballet and to hear their resident orchestra for the pittance that I pay.

Support live theatre!

This is technically but I think it's pertinent. The New York Times reports today that the Metropolitan Opera's board will
Presumably if the Met feels the need to take an extraordinary measure to boost ticket sales, its fellow Lincoln Center constituent at the State Theater is suffering some too, although maybe not yet since it's Nutcracker season.

The San Francisco ballet rehearsal tickets were sold out which I did attend. The Kennedy Center did send me an email offering discounted orchestra seats for their Giselle performance. Right now the Washington Ballet has some Nutcracker tickets at 50% off.

The good news is that San Francisco Ballet has added one performance of the full-length Jewels and two of its new Swan Lake for the upcoming 2009 season. On the down side, if you look at the available seats chart for the mixed rep programs, many look no more than half sold.

I have two ballet-loving co-workers who both gave up their season tickets this year (it should be pointed out that we work for a bank ). I renewed my subscription this year, but next year is iffy.

Just updating...SF Ballet has had a 50% Nutcracker offer on its website for subscribers...it might also be out to its email list.

While not a national company, a staff member at Ballet Austin told me that their Nutcracker performances are close to sold-out. The two that I attended were certainly full.

I went out this evening, arriving at the box office a few moments before curtain, to buy standing room for NYCB's Nut. I had never failed to get a stand right before curtain for the Nut -- until tonight. The man behind the glass told me that the house was sold out. Good news for the company (especially since there was a fair number of unsold 4th Ring seats for my earlier Nut), but not for me.

This goes back a bit, considering all the Nut-related reports here just now, but, as miliosr reported above, the first night of the Chicago Dance Festival was well attended, with 1500 free tickets going out, i.e. in the mail for callers-in, in two days, or so the box office told me when I inquired rather tardily (my guardian angel got me in, she knows who she is). The item I wish to add at this point is that we found on our seats notice of a two-for-one sale on SFB tickets for their brief appearance shortly after. (With no Balanchine at all on their program, this busy Chicagoan sat out this one.)

Whenever I read about another company canceling part or all of a season, I get a knot in my stomach. Is there any good news about any company? Any uplifting news about large, small, regional?

PNB in Seattle went from 46 dancers to 52 dancers (I think those are the right numbers) this season. There were 5 promotions (I think) too this season.

Not that ticket sales and charitable contributions aren't down, because they are. Also, Peter Boal recently said that PNB picked its just announced 2009/2010 ballets in large measure based on what they thought they could sell. For example, the wildly popular Maillot R&J is coming back next season (I'm confident right about this time of year ).

Re: printcess's question. Does anyone know if there is an organization (of ballet or performing arts professionals) that actually gathers this kind of data from a variety of ocmpanies and publishes it?

Sometimes it seems that each of these small companies -- and even NYCB and ABT are "small" in the context of the national market -- works pretty exclusively on its own or in its own locality. When it comes to handling ups and downs in ticket sales, subscriptions, and contributions, this must lead to a lot of "reinventing the wheel."

I have heard of Michael Kaiser's efforts to provide some sort of centeralization for expertise. For example:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/giving/11ARTS.html

and
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/giving/11ARTS.html

But don't we need to collect and compare the data first?

Here is a link to http://www.artsincrisis.org/ based at the Kennedy Centre to help those arts organisations who are feeling the pinch and a link to their Press Statement at
http://www.artsincrisis.org/press.cfm

This news from my little corner of the world (Madison, Wisconsin):

Madison Ballet has cancelled its Evening of Romance performances scheduled for this weekend (Valentine's Day weekend) at the Overture Center's Capitol Theater. The troupe has already cancelled its scheduled Pure Ballet performances in April and the next performances won't occur until next December with The Nutcracker. Madison Ballet executive director Valerie Dixon cited declining corporate giving: "We had exhausted all measures to bring in funding to make this event lucrative. Companies are either tightening their purse strings or not giving at all."

Times are tough for the arts here in Madison -- Madison Repertory Theatre has suspended its season and the Overture Center has laid off workers.

Finally some good news:

OBT received a $300,000.00 grant and donations in December equaled 30% of all donations since July. I don't know what that means in terms of total dollars, but when things are looking bleak, that seems like good news.

HEALTH WARNING: This post carries the beginning of a tale of impending woe in respect of the ballet and other arts. Faint-hearted readers should stop now. Those who are realists will of course continue. Those of a certain age like me have seen it all happen before in some way or another.

The arts both sides of the Atlantic are an attraction for dollar and pound spending by local people and tourists which in turn generates employment and billions in national income.

The current recession is already impinging on the arts and news from both of our governments so far, looks gloomy. In the worse case scenario ballet companies may have to adjust programmes to perform popular works to ensure ticket sales and cuts in staff and performers may take place.

UK

Some time in the not too distant future one hopes, the arts in the UK may look back upon the current period as “Now is our winter of discontent…” or as Margo Channing says. “Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!” day, week, month, year(s) as far as some predictions go.

Our government Culture secretary Andy Burnham with an unfortunate surname in this context, has stated, that in the UK the, “Arts must prepare for 2010 funding cuts” (The Stage 9 January 2009).
“Britain's leading art galleries and museums, including Tate Modern and the Victoria & Albert, will have to scale down their exhibition and expansion plans as recession threatens millions of pounds in business sponsorship. Colin Tweedy, chief executive of the organisation Arts & Business, said that scaling down shows would be”inevitability". He said: "I'm trying to be optimistic but these are incredibly worrying times for people trying to raise money. If this recession is short and sharp and projects can be delayed or extended, all will get their money. But if it drags on, I can't see they will all do it."
“His warning came as figures revealed business sponsorship was down by 7 per cent in 2007-8.” (The Independent 9 February 2009).
The Telegraph newspaper on 28 January 2009 reported that the Arts Council of England got cold feet on a major arts project and pulled its annual funding agreement as the project had hit technical problems. But has offered a one off sum to get it on its feet.
The Royal Ballet had extreme difficulty in selling tickets for its “La Bayadere” production in the last two months and had to offer discounts. The double bill of “Isadora” and “Dances at a Gathering” opening on 11 March is woefully under selling. Ticket sales for the ABT’s visit to London next month are sticky at present. English National Opera bookings for early March for ‘Jenufa’ and John Adams ‘Doctor Atomic’ are very slow but the Royal Opera is almost sold out for everything in the next month or so.

USA

In the USA, The New York Times on 25 January 2009 carried, “Arts Leaders Urge Role for Culture in Economic Recovery” in this article, “In Congress the American Recovery and Reinvestment bill, approved last week by the House Appropriations Committee, includes a $50 million supplement for the N.E.A. to distribute directly to non-profit arts organizations and also through state and local arts agencies.”
And then, on Friday, February 6, the U.S. Senate, during their consideration of the economic recovery bill, approved an egregious amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) by a wide vote margin of 73–24 that stated, “None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theatre, art centre, and highway beautification project.”
In an interesting report The Recession & the Arts January 2009 available at http://www.allianceforarts.org/images/EcIm..._2009report.pdf examines “The impact of the economic downturn on Non-profit Cultural Groups in New York City”
An American Chloe Schama, writing in the UK’s Guardian newspaper on 04 February 2009 makes a forceful Argument for arts funding in the USA. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/ci...g?commentpage=1

NYCB’s’Nutcracker’ has been described as “near recession proof” reporting about 90 percent paid attendance — only 2 percent down from last year, when the Broadway stagehands strike brought more people than usual to the ballet. Today I checked seats for NYCB current performances and they appear to be available in some good numbers at present (I tested purchases of 14 tickets for various performances) but the ABT next week appears to have more than 40% unsold tickets for 3 performances.

It has already been mentioned on this site Edward Villella mention of the cuts to his company's budget and just recently it has been announced that he had to lose eight dancers. The picture painted in the Palm Beach Post is enough to make local ballet enthusiasts to sit up and pay attention. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/...=7&cxcat=76
The long established Connecticut Opera has closed down see http://ap.lubbockonline.com/pstories/enter...387290246.shtml this article also reports Baltimore Opera has declared bankruptcy; Los Angeles Opera is cutting staff.

BOTH

In any times of recession, arts and culture treasured in times of plenty are seen as soft targets by both governments and funders. Taking the high moral ground that the arts are not as important as more pressing considerations. True? In part yes, but if our artistic culture is sacrificed the whole of our society suffers. I am not going to explain why as I do not think any of our readers need such an explanation.
However although the going is going to get tough for many ballet and arts organisations, it is a fact that especially in the last decade, such organisations, especially those most prominent, have adopted business practices and developed relationships with significant funders committed to the arts that should enable them to ride the current storm. But a lot will depend on how long it will take, for a return to the seemingly balanced situation of the fairly recent past.

I see every reason for optimism as there is nothing to replace the arts in hundreds of millions of people’s lives throughout the world and I hope in this there is some power.
What I do not want to see is a government or funders giving, at anything less than arm’s length involvement.

Checking today in London ABT's Swan Lake and Birmingham Royal Ballet's Sylvia(Bintley version) both at the London Coliseum where they are offering two seats for the price of one in the top three seat price range for Swan Lake and the two top prices for Sylvia. These are performances between the first night of Swan Lake on 25 March and Sylvia's last night of April 18. That is for five Swan Lake Performances and the opening night of Sylvia. I tried to access total seat availability at the Paris Opera but it appears that you have to register to check this and Stuttgart Opera you can read in English until you want to book online or so it appears. Perhaps a German or French contributor could find out how bookings for the ballet are at the major Opera Houses. As mentioned elsewhere the Royal Ballet are up against it at the present with bookings.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, SFB added two performances of Swan Lake and one of Jewels for the 2009 season.

On the other hand, on February 4 a letter was sent to 'Valued Patrons' that says in part:

"Last fall, we began to take a strategic and very thoughtful approach to reducing operational expenses through the support areas of the organization..."

"Part of this contraction involved the regrettable, but necessary, reduction of some administrative positions. While we will be making adjustments to our touring schedule in fall of this year, our 2009 Repertory season remains as scheduled."

It's always unfortunate when someone loses his or her job. But I admire SF's decision (as of now, anyway) to focus on tightening the belt in administration rather than laying off dancers.

Well said.

I attended SFB Program I last Saturday afternoon. We decided to go at the last minute and had a choice of good seats. The downstairs had good attendance but there were some empty seats. By the lines at the ladies restrooms (always a measurement for me) it looked like a good house.

In the letter PeggyR quoted I do not see any mention of dancers employment at all. Perhaps someone with direct knowledge could comment on weather any layoffs have occurred.

Talk about adding insult to injury:

Five days after Madison Ballet's cancelled Evening of Romance performance (w/ Ethan Stiefel and Gillian Murphy) was supposed to have taken place, I received a postcard in the mail today promoting the event! Truly, this event was ill-starred!!

(On a side note, interesting that Ethan Stiefel was slated to appear with Madison Ballet given the (at least formerly) schismatic condition of ballet in Madison.)

Yikes! It sure does.

miliosr, you made me think about something I read in Opera News a few days ago concerning the now-bankrupt Baltimore Opera. It concerns their last production, Norma, with Hasmik Papian and Ruth Ann Swenson.

My heart really goes out to those who are struggling to keep these impoverished local and regional companies going.

WE NEED SUCH COMPANIES! ARTISTS NEED THESE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNTIES!

Imagine a future world -- after "survival have the fittest" has left us with only a small number of super-sized, wealthy Ballet Giants. Will it come down to a matter of, "Sorry there's no ballet or opera in your area, but you can always (a) fly to Paris (or New York, or Moscow, or Beijing), or, if you can't afford that, (b) buy the dvd."

Yes, for ten years I faced exactly that dilemma, except there were no dvds then, and videotapes were also nearly nil. Then, when I returned once to WNET and informed them, they were astonished that not all 380 pbs stations had chosen to show any arts programs at all; leaving me isolated, and bereft of both viewing pleasure and employment in the subject matter I cared most about. To see any ballet, I used to haunt 'master control' and look for satellite feeds when I thought a program might be airing in the more civilized world.

Some of you may have been following the long, slow decline of Ballet Florida this season, as posted in the BT Links column.

According to the latest story, Ballet Florida will now:
-- cancel the remainder of its performances (at three area theaters) for the season;
-- end the contracts of its 19 dancers (saving about $300,000).

According to the latest announcement, management plans to cut down to 10 dancers next year, performing smaller works in several smaller theaters onlyl. They do intend to return to the Kravis Center (2000+ seats) for their week-long run of Nutcrcker, though where they will find the dancers to perform it has not yet been explained.

My heart goes out to the talented dancers, whose work I've enjoyed and respected over the past years.

According to today's article in the Palm Beach Post:

I do not know the source if the above information, but my own impression was that the paid audience decline was much larger than 18%. This was notable from the first performance last fall. Subscribers simply didn't sign up, following last spring's announcement of near collapse. Similarly, donations -- especially at the levels high enough to be printed in the program -- were down by a lot more than 12%.

A rather striking feature of this sad story has to do with the Company's studio, located on prime real estate near the CityPlace shopping and restaurant neighborhood.

The Company already had the strong support of Mayor Lois Frankel, who has appeared each year in the first-night Nutcracker party scene, and a majority of Commissioners. The deal was that the city would pay the $1.5 milllion and allow the Company to remain in the studio for 5 years at a toekn $1-a-year rent. Apparently, the Company didn't bother to advise the City that it wase also expected to pay a large real estate commission for deal.

It's a sad story. In my opinion, managements own actions (financial, marketing, and artistic) played a significant role in bringing their Company to this pass. It isn't just the economy. Those who manage the arts have a responsibility, too.

So, what is the result of all this?
-- dancers lose their jobs and possibly their careers;
-- tech people, costume people, support staff, stage hands, etc., etc. lose their livelihood;
-- ticket-holders, especially subscribers, lose their money;
-- everyone (from the formerly supportive city government to potential board members to future subscribers and donors) loses their willingness to trust any longer.

Here's the Post story:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/con...letflorida.html

It is depressing...

What is really upsetting is that there is a new generation of ballet dancers who will never get hired due to the economic downturn and companies are laying off and not hiring. Some of these dancers will not have any opportunity to perform.