Roy Kaiser © Brett Thomas Pennsylvania reviews David Mead reviews

While many people may know that Philadelphia was the birthplace of American democracy, what is little known is that is also has an important place in the history of American dance, and today is home to a very successful ballet company, Pennsylvania Ballet.

Although Pennsylvania Ballet was not founded until 1963, the history of dance in Philadelphia goes back to the eighteenth century and the first American danseur, John Durang (1768-1822). The mid-1800s saw a number of notable dancers emerge from the city, in particular, George Washington Smith, Augusta Maywood and Mary Ann Lee, all of whom later danced in Europe, Lee later returning to form her own company and to set the first American Giselle.

In 1935, the Philadelphia Ballet was founded by Catherine Littlefield, this being the first ballet company to be managed and entirely staffed by Americans. It was at this time that ballet in the city established a link with George Balanchine. Littlefield had first met Balanchine while training in Paris, and having established the School of American Ballet in 1934, he recruited many dancers from Littlefield, including her daughter Caroline, who subsequently became a member of his company and taught children’s classes at his school.

Barbara Weisberger, a one-time child student at the School of American Ballet and later at the Littlefield School had thought about forming a company in Philadelphia. However, it was only following a chance conversation with Balanchine at a cocktail party given by Lincoln Kirstein in 1961, that the idea began to take real shape. Balanchine was lamenting the lack of opportunity in America for all the talented dancers coming out of the now flourishing schools, when Weisberger told him about Philadelphia. He immediately offered his support with ballets, dancers and costumes.

Pennsylvania Ballet's Valerie Amiss and Jonathan Stiles in the world premiere of Kirk Peterson's Dancing With Monet (A Gathering at Argenteuil).
Photograph by Paul Kolnik

Initially, at Balanchine’s suggestion, Weisberger joined forces with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera, but with little financial support, things were a great struggle. By mid 1963 what little money there was had all but run out. It looked as though Weisberger’s dream had reached its end when Balanchine told her that he had asked Mac Lowry, director of the Ford Foundation’s Program in Humanities and Arts, to help. In December that year the Foundation announced an initiative to develop regional professional dance companies, and a gift to dance of $8 million. This was to be divided between seven companies, one of whom was to be Pennsylvania Ballet. The company was now born.

During its first decade, the Company equickly established a reputation for a diverse classical repertoire with a Balanchine backbone. Quickly becoming something of a leader in the regional ballet movement of the 1960s, they appeared in the national spotlight for the first time in 1968 at New York’s City Center. This led appearances on television’s Dance in America series, and a spell, during the 1970s, as the official company of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and to many years of large scale touring, as much as twelve weeks a year during the early 1980s, mostly to Canada and the rest of the USA. Later in the decade however, as the money available to the National Endowment for the Arts let to cuts in funding, and as other financial problems started to bite, this ceased entirely.

Roy Kaiser, the present Artistic Director, took up his post in 1994. Kaiser is a former company member, originally taken on as a dancer in 1979 by Barbara Weisberger, subsequently working under Artistic Directors Benjamin Harkarvy (1972-1982) and Robert Weiss (1982-1990), rising to Principal in 1990. Two years later however he retired form the stage, becoming Principal Ballet Master and Associate Artistic Director under Christopher d’Amboise until being appointed to his current position.

Financial difficulties periodically seem to afflict most regional American ballet companies. Indeed, earlier this year, Fort Worth Dallas Ballet became the latest to lay off dancers and to severely curtail its activities. Pennsylvania Ballet has not been immune to such problems, and experienced acute financial difficulties during d’Amboise’s tenure as costs rose, there was a $3 million mortgage on the new office and studio building, and the recession led to reduced ticket revenues and cuts in both national and local funding.

By 1990, as the total debt reached over $5 million, the board announced that the company’s activities were to be suspended. Kaiser recalled all to clearly the shock felt by the dancers and staff when, after class one morning, they were suddenly told that the company was to close, at least temporarily. However, the dancers agreed to work without pay to complete an imminent Balanchine and Tudor programme and a fund-raising plan was immediately put in place and incredibly raised effort raised $1 million in just two weeks. Donations came in all forms, one West Philadelphia sandwich bar even donating lunchtime sandwiches. Most though were small cash sums, although one anonymous benefactor gave $100,000.

The problems were not over however and again, in 1994-5, the company found itself in a state of disrepair. Kaiser recalls that there were major financial issues that had to be addressed and that the subscribers list was falling

Roy Kaiser Pennsylvania Ballet's Artistic Director photographer Brett Thomas

dangerously low. Under present Executive Director, Michael Scolamiero, however, appointed in 1997, the company has achieved financial stability. Scolamiero created major gift and planned giving programmes, developed and expanded sponsorship, and developed the Repertory Fund, a funding mechanism to create new work and continue the company’s artistic development.

Pennsylvania Ballet today has 40 dancers and is housed in modern building on Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts. This state-of-the-art facility houses several dance studios, artistic and administrative staff offices, wardrobe and costume department, the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Performing Arts Physical Therapy Center. The Nutcracker and other major full length works are usually shown in the city’s Academy of Music, the oldest grand opera house in the US, presently being refurbished and due to re-open in November this year, while mixed bills are usually shown in the more intimate Merriam Theater.

Although they would like to tour widely once again, cost is a major problem, and they remain a company essentially serving, and drawing its audience from, their local community and surrounding states. However, they have recently resumed touring again, recently performing in Wilmington and Harrisburg, both about two hours away, while last year they appeared at the Balanchine Festival at Washington’s Kennedy Center. This year they break new ground again by taking their production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker to Cleveland, Ohio, for nine performances, before opening for its main run of 28 performances in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, smaller groups from the company have recently toured to festivals in Santa Fe and Sintra, Portugal. Looking ahead, Kaiser said they hope to return to New York in the near future, but while they would like to tour more widely, and even abroad, funding remains a major issue.

The company remains true to its original aim of having a diverse repertory, presenting six programmes each season plus The Nutcracker. Each season is carefully programmed to balance classic ballets, newer full-length works, Balanchine, and new contemporary choreography. Such a range allows the Company to attract new audiences with still retaining their loyal following, while at the same time challenging and educating both that audience and his dancers.

The final programme of the 2001-2 season showed the range on offer, Kirk Peterson’s very traditional and classical Dancing with Monet shown alongside Margot Saddington’s very contemporary and visually stunning Rodin, Mis en Vie. Literally ‘Rodin, put to life’, this ballet begins where the artist ended, as many of his most famous pieces are transformed into spectacular movement. The audience was on its feet clamouring for more at the end of every performance.

The Company remains committed to presenting at least one world premiere each season, and during its 38-year history, has commissioned original ballets from such choreographers as Merce Cunningham, Christopher d’Amboise, Trey McIntyre, Matthew Neenan, Kevin O’Day, David Parsons, Val Caniparoli, Dwight Rhoden, and Lynne Taylor-Corbett. All this, Kaiser feels, is essential if the company, and indeed, the art form is to survive. He is very strong in his belief that ballet must not be allowed to become a museum piece.

The company’s 2002-3 season is typical of what they offer. The traditional all-Balanchine triple bill opener being followed by programmes including three world premieres. Besides the ever present Balanchine Nutcracker, the repertory also includes Paul Taylor’s Company B, Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella, and John Butler’s Carmina Burana, the company’s signature work. There is also a new Degas inspired ballet by Matthew Neenan. This latter work will coincide with, and be promoted alongside, a major Degas exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in a similar way to how Margot Saddington’s Rodin, Mis en Vie was marketed this year.

Like all companies in the US, small, medium and large, Kaiser freely admits to the importance of The Nutcracker. Of the company’s operating budget of approximately $9 million, some $2.1 comes from this one production. Overall some 55% of the company’s total income is earned through ticket sales and other commercial activities, the remainder coming from a variety of sources including city, state, federal, individual donors, funds and corporations.

The company appears to be particularly innovative in its marketing and scheduling, some performances being specially timed to be ‘family friendly’. While Kaiser admits it is hard on the dancers, on some days during The Nutcracker season, particularly between Christmas and New Year, there are three performances a day, at 11am, 3pm and 7pm. As he says, “this is when our audience can come, so this is when we have to perform.”

Meanwhile, throughout they year, a special Family Matinee Series encourages the whole family to attend by beginning performances at 11am or 12 noon. They have found that many families are much more willing to attend these than the traditional afternoon matinee. These early starts involve more than just a performance, the company working hard to create special events around them, such as breakfasts, games, craft activities, dance and other after performance events.

On a more general marketing initiative, the company recently launched a three-year branding campaign, the aim being to give the ballet a new identity that is easily recognisable and appealing. One aspect of this has been a series of billboard images emphasising the athleticism of the art form.

Returning to his theme of expanding his audience he says that “the most important thing, whether we are talking about adults or children is the initial exposure to ballet. These events help make it much more accessible.” He also feels that these early starts help parents thinking of taking their children, maybe for the first time, in that they know that there will be lots of other children present. Kaiser says that in some ways it’s a bit like going to a pantomime - you know there will be other kids there, you know they are going to cheer or hiss and boo, so you know that they won’t show you up in front of an almost exclusively adult audience.

To this end, the company’s education and outreach work forms and important part of its activity. Besides the Family Matinee Series, it has a Prologue Lecture Series, a programme of Thursday night pre-performance talks by Roy Kaiser, and educational outreach programs such as Accent on Dance, which reaches some 10,000 students a year.

Pretty much like all US ballet companies, Pennsylvania Ballet’s school is very important to the company, since it means they can train young dancers in their own image, at the same time helping to generate revenue. The Rock School may however shortly be separating from Pennsylvania Ballet, although Roy did not explain what implications this may have or why.

As seems to be the current vogue with many US companies, in February this year the company launched Pennsylvania Ballet 2. Kaiser explained that this operates as a completely separate entity for about 80% of the time, but augments the main company for the large-scale full-length productions. Pennsylvania Ballet 2 has its own daily company class, director and repertory, although this includes some excerpts from the main company’s repertory. Essentially they are a training company that has a performance and a major educational role, giving many lecture demonstrations. It helps the main company be seen in the community and as Kaiser puts in “lets people know what they are missing.”

Kaiser describes Pennsylvania Ballet 2’s dancers, six at present, as “pretty much somewhere between advanced students and full time professionals”, explaining that the company gives them hands on experience and provides professional opportunities. It also means they get to perform roles they would never otherwise do.

The overall impression of Pennsylvania Ballet today is one of a progressive company that clearly takes time to think about what it is doing and where it is going. From my, albeit brief viewing, it is a company with versatile dancers with lots of energy and exuberance. It is also a company that works hard to be seen as part of the wider community, and not just as an organisation operating within it.