News

Having only raised a fraction of the funds it needs to stave off bankruptcy, every patron of Ballet BC's The Nutcracker, which opened last night, is being asked to pledge $15.

The troubled Vancouver-based, 22-year-old company is hovering on the edge of bankruptcy, carrying a reported debt of $450,000.

Adding to its litany of woes, it recently announced cancellation of a planned five-city spring tour of A Streetcar Named Desire, a contemporary ballet by its artistic director John Alleyne. The troupe was scheduled to dance the work – based on the play by Tennessee Williams – in a three-week national tour next April, in Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon and Thunder Bay – before staging it in Vancouver. But the undertaking proved too costly. “We just can't afford it,” said Ballet BC president Graeme Barrit.

Indeed, last month the company was forced to lay off all 38 staff and dancers, saying survival would depend on its run of The Nutcracker, performed by the Moscow Classical Ballet. Strong ticket sales (more than 12,000) for the event averted immediate closure.

Now, Ballet BC is awaiting the verdict of some 210 creditors on a restructuring proposal. That decision is due Jan. 9.

In the interim, the board needs to quickly raise $200,000 in order to rehire Alleyne and its dancers. The season is scheduled to resume in February with a new version of Carmen, by choreographer James Kudelka. By Christmas, the company had raised only $25,000-30,000 in pledged donations toward the $200,000. “It's very dicey,” conceded board member Stephanie Freidrich. “We're hoping for angels.”

Earlier, Ballet BC announced it had cancelled its presentation of the January performances of Swan Lake by the Universal Ballet of Korea.