© John Slater Ballet into the 21st Century Conference Ballet.co magazine coverage Ballet into the 21st Century forum... to link with the second Ballet Artistic Directors conference. Go and have your say in where ballet should heading. Introduction to 2nd Conference

Background

The PPF Summit was the first summit meeting of artistic directors of large classical ballet companies ever held. Conceived by James Kudelka, Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada, as a forward-looking component of the company’s 50th anniversary Past Present Future celebrations, the four-day conference (May 17-20, 2002) included directors of ten major companies - Frank Andersen (Royal Danish Ballet), Reid Anderson (Stuttgart Ballet), James Kudelka (National Ballet of Canada), Peter Martins (New York City Ballet), Monica Mason (Britain’s Royal Ballet), Kevin McKenzie (American Ballet Theatre), Mikko Nissinen (Boston Ballet), Francia Russell (Pacific Northwest Ballet), Matz Skoog (English National Ballet), and Helgi Tomasson (San Francisco Ballet) - and was planned and facilitated by Penelope Reed Doob (chair and professor, York University Dance Department) and James Neufeld (chair and professor, Trent University English department).

Premised on the idea that directors of large ballet companies share both problems and opportunities created by their size, the conference was conducted primarily in closed sessions designed to encourage frank discussion of major concerns and the exchange of fresh approaches to the problems facing such companies and the dance world in general. An open session held on the afternoon of Saturday, May 18, 2002 at the Betty Oliphant Theatre permitted Canadian dance community input into the debate and featured a keynote address by former National Ballet of Canada dancer and Resident Choreographer Grant Strate, founder of York University’s dance department and president of the World Dance Alliance.

Final Communique
Past, Present, Future Conference
Toronto, Canada, 20 May, 2002

The first ever Past Present Future Summit of Artistic Directors of large classical ballet companies, held May 17-20 in Toronto at the invitation of James Kudelka, Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada, has proven to be both illuminating and useful to all participants. The confidential think-tank setting allowed us to speak freely about a wide range of mutual concerns and practices and established an excellent precedent for future meetings and joint initiatives. Subsequent meetings, to be hosted by other ballet companies in turn, will include directors who had hoped to attend this first summit meeting but who at the last minute were unable to attend (John Neumeier, Hamburg; Brigitte Lefèbvre, Paris Opéra; Ben Stevenson, Houston Ballet) as well as others in charge of companies of similar size and mandate.

Convinced that our companies are allies, not competitors, and that we are all united by a passionate commitment to the art of ballet as a spiritual, aesthetic, and educational force, we will meet annually as a group in order to continue to learn from both the commonalities and the differences in our situations, traditions, and modes of functioning. Informal discussions between meetings will continue electronically by means of a new listserv. We expect that our cooperative efforts and joint deliberations will strengthen not only the practice of ballet but also the broader arts of dance and the cultural life of all our communities.

Among the many topics we identified as worthy of intensive and ongoing discussion and cooperation were the following:

• Moving beyond the limited ideal of training to a far broader concept of education in developing professional dancers
• Combating inaccurate stereotypes of ballet as conservative, frivolous, and elitist, not only by outreach activities and programming choices but also by striving to expand the presence of dance on television and on the Internet
• Balancing the claims of artistic heritage (the works inherited from classical and specific company traditions) with the creation of new works to serve as our legacy for the future
• Providing opportunity for new choreographic voices and a climate within which dancers and choreographers alike can take the risks necessary to artistic achievement, fail occasionally, and learn from their failures how to achieve greater successes
• Speaking to new culturally diverse audiences by means of new works, new technologies, and new approaches to dance education and appreciation, as well as by continuing to seek for greater inclusiveness in the ethnicity of performers and choreographers and in the audiences we attract
• Intensifying already considerable outreach efforts to all groups and communities in partial compensation for the lamentably decreased presence of the arts in most European and North American educational systems
• Identifying and adopting best practices in arts administration
• Bridging the gap between two solitudes (North American and European) in aesthetic standards by bringing the best works and companies of each to audiences of the other.

We endorse New York City Ballet’s Peter Martins’ comment: “We don’t compete–there are too few of us in the ballet world. We have a common goal, a common mission; we must spread the word.” In that spirit, we expect future meetings to broaden in agenda and participation.

We wish to express our thanks to James Kudelka for conceiving and initiating a conference that promises to provide both inspiration and practical knowledge to all participants, and that will serve as an important renewable resource to all in the world of ballet.

List of Artistic Directors involved

Frank Andersen (Artistic Director, Royal Danish Ballet)

Reid Anderson (Ballet Director, Stuttgart Ballet)

James Kudelka (Artistic Director, National Ballet of Canada)

Peter Martins (Ballet Master in Chief, New York City Ballet)

Monica Mason (Assistant Artistic Director, Royal Ballet)

Kevin McKenzie (Artistic Director, American Ballet Theatre)

Mikko Nissinen (Artistic Director, Boston Ballet)

Francia Russell (Co-Artistic Director, Pacific Northwest Ballet)

Matz Skoog (Artistic Director, English National Ballet)

Helgi Tomasson (Artistic Director, San Francisco Ballet)