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foundation (1991–1993) ........ .............................................................................. ........ case three american ballet theatre (1995–1998) .............................................................................. .............................................................................. .............................. .............................................................................. .............................. After the rigors of running Ailey, I decided to renew myself by spending some time consulting to other arts organizations. I received a call shortly after I started my consulting business from Gary Dunning, the very talented executive director of American Ballet Theatre (ABT). He had recently been asked to take the helm of this troubled dance company along with the artistic director Kevin McKenzie. Gary had done a superb job running the Houston Ballet and Kevin had retired from dancing and had been associate artistic director of the Washington Ballet. In many ways Gary was the “golden boy” of dance management. He was smart, successful, and attractive and was hugely popular. He was chairman of Dance USA, the national dance organization, and had the respect of everyone. I was deeply honored that Gary called me and was excited just to meet with him; consulting to ABT would be a dream come true. Gary explained the huge challenges facing ABT. There were similarities to Ailey: cash flow was a major problem and revenue had to be increased. There were substantial differences as well: while fund-raising could be improved, it was relatively strong. But ticket sales were not adequate for the New York season and touring activity was extremely weak. This was not surprising. The collapse of dance touring had hit large ballet companies particularly hard. While many presenters could afford modern dance companies, with limited personnel and taped music, it was harder to pay large ballet companies and orchestras. When Ailey toured, we took about 45 people on the road; ABT traveled with 125. And the local presenter had to find and pay an orchestra. Its cost could be prohibitive. Yet ABT was founded in 1940 as a touring company; it could not survive on only eight weeks at the Metropolitan Opera House each spring. 62 ....... the art of the turnaround The contract with the ABT dancers required the company to pay for thirty-six weeks of work, of which one was a vacation week. This meant that the company, in addition to eight weeks at the Met and twenty weeks of rehearsal, had to find seven other performing weeks each year. This was proving very difficult and the company was forced to cut deals that had it losing substantial sums on each tour week. I felt, as I always do, that the central problem had to do with the nature of the art and the marketing of the product. ABT had always been the company of stars. The list of ABT principal dancers was a roster of the stars of ballet of the latter half of the twentieth century. From Alicia Alonzo to Erik Bruhn, Natalia Makarova to Mikhail Baryshnikov, Cynthia Gregory to Fernando Bujones, ABT was laden with celebrity dancers of the highest caliber. When Mikhail Baryshnikov became artistic director in 1980, he had a different vision. He wanted to improve the general level of dancing and aimed to build a corps of unparalleled excellence. He wanted to establish an ensemble and move away from star-driven casting. While he remained with the company, this policy worked because he was a star of such great magnitude. Donors and ticket buyers were eager to see Baryshnikov’s company at work. When he left in a dispute with the board in 1990, the company lost its greatest star. Although there were other dancers of renown and great ability, the company no longer had the long list of famous principal dancers that audiences were happy to pay to see and that donors wished to support. As a result of the lack of “star power,” ticket sales and contributions fell and the loss of tour income further damaged the company. By 1994, the organization was in dire need of cash. As I always do, I started my work by interviewing staff and board members. I had a particularly interesting discussion with Kevin Mc­ Kenzie, the artistic director of ABT. I asked him my standard questions: What would make you happy? What would you like to do? Kevin gave me a long list of his ambitions: creating more new works, extending the New York season, securing more touring, engaging more guest choreographers, commissioning new music, hiring a music director , and so on. I worked with Gary to write a plan that would help Kevin achieve these goals. The plan involved a huge increase in marketing and a focus [3.128.199.210...

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