An emergency plea: Save Oregon Ballet Theatre!
The bad doo-doo has just hit the fan. Art Scatter’s Barry Johnson, on his alternate-universe blog Portland Arts Watch, has just reported that Oregon Ballet Theatre has its back against the wall. It needs $750,000, and it needs it fast — by June 30 — or it could fold up shop and simply disappear.
Make no mistake: That would be a catastrophe. No doubt the sneerers will be out in full force, snickering about how the marketplace has spoken and it just doesn’t care about twinkle-toed terpsichores trouncing around in tutus. I’m sorry, but Just. Shut. Up. Even if ballet leaves you cold, if you care about Portland and believe it has both the right and responsibility to be a full-fledged city, this is important stuff.
The fact is, we are in the middle of an economic disaster — I just learned this afternoon of yet another friend who’s lost her job — and it is taking down both people and organizations with no respect for their talents or worth. “The marketplace” has failed the nation. Right now, it’s a lousy measuring stick for anything.
Why is it essential that Portlanders keep Oregon Ballet Theatre alive? For a lot of reasons, one of which is that this is the city’s most gifted performing ensemble — or at least right up at the top, along with the Oregon Symphony, Portland Baroque Orchestra and Third Angle New Music Ensemble — and a beacon, in every show, for the heights that any group, artistic or not, should strive to achieve. It is our target, our model, our proclamation that we can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best.
Under artistic director Christopher Stowell OBT has achieved a solid historical grounding, a mastery of technique and an exciting artistic personality. The best part is, it’s still growing, and promises to achieve much more if only given the chance. No financial crisis should put a stop to that.
It’s simply unthinkable that dancers with such zest and style as Alison Roper, Artur Sultanov, Anne Mueller, Gavin Larsen, Yuka Iino, Kathi Martuza and Ronnie Underwood should suddenly find themselves out on the street, unemployed and unappreciated. All of them, and their fellow dancers, have created something special, and it is Portland’s duty to help them when they need help the most.
As Barry points out, the ballet world has taken notice. People in the know, know that this is a company on the rise, and a company of increasing national importance. So on June 12 — shortly after OBT’s season-ending program of works by Jerome Robbins and Christopher Wheeldon — dancers from the New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, the Trey McIntyre Project and elsewhere will be in town for a giant gala benefit performance that promises to be a true bell-ringer. Buy tickets to Robbins and Wheeldon. Buy tickets to the gala.
And if you’re able, write a check. OBT is too important to fail.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Thanks Mr. Scatter. There are already comments on oregonlive.com of staggering stupidity about this. I’m not sure any other artistic director of a small company in the country could have pulled off this special event, which will include dancers from American Ballet Theatre. So I add my voice in urging Portlanders to come to the rescue. And agree with Mr. Scatter that because of what Christopher Stowell and the dancers and Damara Bennett and the school have achieved here, Portland has become a tourist destination for ballet goers. It has taken a very long time: Willam Christensen tried to establish a ballet company in the Thirties (times weren’t so great then, either), James Canfield and Dennis Spaight laid the groundwork for today’s company (it was James who spotted Alison Roper’s talent as well as Anne Mueller’s); let’s not lose it now.
May 28th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Some encouraging news: I was at the OBT offices this a.m. to get my tickets for the gala, and while I was the only one buying in person, they said the phones had been ringing all morning. I can’t imagine what the city would be like without OBT as part of its cultural landscape.
May 28th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
A clarification: Rachel Moore, the exec director of ABT, sent an encouraging comment about the company and its value, but the company is dancing its spring season and can’t spare any dancers to come and perform at the benefit gala. Nevertheless, that company doesn’t add its support to just anybody–even a quote from the e.d. is of considerable significance.
May 29th, 2009 at 5:32 am
Bob has done a beautiful job of stating the urgent case - we must save our ballet. I would only add that besides the exquisite principal dancers mentioned above, there is spectacular, world-class talent amongst the youth of the company. Keeping our eyes on that talent as Christopher nurtures it is another compelling reason to go all out for OBT.
May 29th, 2009 at 7:01 am
You’re so right, Ms. Shults! Those marvelous dancers are the future principals, just as the upper-level students at the School of OBT are the future company members…and not just at OBT: the school sends dancers to companies all over the world.
The company and school need to survive–indeed, to thrive–so that we can enjoy watching those dancers mature, develop, and advance through their careers, just as we have with Alison, Anne, Matthew, Karl, Tracy, and so many others who have recognized OBT as the best place to apply their prodigious talents.
They have all given so much to us and asked for so little in return…I just hope we can return the favor.
June 1st, 2009 at 10:20 am
[...] read here and elsewhere about the deep financial hole Oregon Ballet Theatre has stumbled into. Scatter [...]
June 8th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
[...] are nipping at its heels, eager to drag it down and devour it for a mid-recession munch. I’ve made the case that this is Portland’s finest theatrical troupe, a company on the rise nationally, and that [...]