The Miami City Ballet Transforms Itself and Presents Its 28th Season

The Miami City Ballet opens its 28th season in October with Romeo and Juliet. This season brings about many changes to the ballet. Artistic director Lourdes Lopez has asserted her vision with increasing authority since she took over two years ago from founder Edward Villella.

The most noticeable changes are in the company leadership and staff. From a new board president and new executive director to new teachers at the company school, there has been an almost complete turnover. New executive director Michael Scolamiero says, "I think Lourdes is gaining confidence. She's arriving at an identity for the company."

Changes at an artistic institution mean far more than new marketing strategies; they lead to differences in aesthetic, in character, in identity. For Miami City Ballet, the changes point toward a more contemporary style that's more similar to those of other U.S. ballet troupes; a more corporate organizational culture; and a new emphasis on community relationships.

In a recent interview, Lopez said she wanted to focus on new ballets - such as Heatscape, commissioned from New York City Ballet choreographer Justin Peck and a version of Carmen by British dancemaker Richard Alston, both slated for this season. Lopez said, "I wanted to change the repertory, introduce new works, both existing and continuing what Edward was doing, which is commissioning work that is new and exciting. Last year was a step in that direction, and certainly this year is as well."

"The ballet and the school are becoming more institutionalized," says former MCB school principal and head teacher Carter Alexander, who left last summer. "There will be wonderful things that come out of that, and there will be these wonderful things that get lost."

New board president Sue Kronick says, "There are transitions in any business. Some are messy, and some are good. The question is what is it that breeds success?"

According to company officials, the budget is $16 million this year, the company's largest ever. Debt of $3.5 million when Villella left in fall 2012 is down to $1.9 million. A $5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for the troupe's endowment, paid out in yearly installments, has brought that fund from almost nothing to $3 million. At the end of July, the company had sold about 28,000 seats and $1.9 million worth of subscriptions.

Many central staffers from the Villella era, as well as some from the transitional period when Lopez started, are gone. Scolamiero replaced Daniel Hagerty, a Kennedy Center fundraising executive brought in with Lopez who left in April, citing personal reasons. Phillip Neal, a former New York City Ballet principal close to Villella who had been coaching ballets and fundraising in West Palm Beach, left last year.

This spring the troupe got a new director of development, Eva Silverstein, and added a major new position, director of community outreach and special projects. The position was filled by Terry Schechter to oversee and raise money for community programs. The plan is for Schechter to expand it's outreach. Ideas include having dancers visit children's hospitals and shows by a new student ensemble in museums and schools. Lopez hopes to increase scholarships at the company ballet school and add programs in public schools. "We've done some outreach, we've gotten out," Lopez says. "I think we've become much more visible as a company, but not as much as I would have hoped, because our human resources are not in place."

A less visible but crucial shift is taking place on the company's board. Kronick is instituting a new professionalism and some badly needed changes, insiders say. Kronick, who is knowledgeable about the nonprofit world has overseen a rewrite of the troupe's bylaws, as well as setting up committees in areas such as fundraising and finding new board members. Such a setup, considered standard for a well-run arts board, had never been the case at the ballet. The group has often had difficulty attracting new members, and some did little besides pay dues. That helped engender a situation in which the troupe became overly reliant on a small group of board members and donors who gave heavily for years, leading to clashes with Villella over artistic control.

"There was donor and board fatigue," Lopez says. "They were used to not really participating. ... The way it was structured was not really conducive to a 21st century dance organization."

Kronick has been more selective about who the board accepts. There were 11 new members as of last spring, and the troupe recently added two more: Charles Adelman, a former chairman of Morphoses, the troupe Lopez headed in New York, and tech entrepreneur George Crowley. "My job is to build a high-level, high-functioning board that can build the sustainability of the company," Kronick says. "A board is not only about financial capacity, but also about ... adding to the long-term growth of the company. You need people who care about the art and the community."

But Kronick, a lifelong ballet lover who says she was a fan of Villella's during his dancing prime, says the important thing is that the company continue to grow. "Name a world-class city that does not have world-class performing arts institutions," she says. "I see this as part of community building. "I'm into moving forward. The city, the dancers, and Lourdes deserve it."

"I see my role as supporting the artistic vision and raising money to support that vision," Scolamiero says. "The longer I'm here and Lourdes is here, the more ... people will have the confidence to invest in the company again."

At the company's school, which has become a regular source of the troupe's dancers, enrollment and tuition are up for both the year-round program and the summer intensive. The focus of the training has shifted away from Villella's emphasis on energy, urgency and musicality - qualities that distinguished MCB from other companies. New teachers emphasize more traditional technique and a wider range of styles that will presumably prepare students for a different repertory, but also seem likely to make MCB's dancers more like those at other troupes.

"We need to make sure they're employable," Callaghan says. "We're looking for diverse dancers."

All those changes behind the scenes shape what happens on stage. There will be 50 dancers this season. Eight are newcomers, including principal Rainer Krenstetter, from Germany's Staatsballett Berlin; soloist Jordan Elizabeth Long, trained by South Florida-based Cuban teacher Magaly Suarez; and four graduates of the company's school.

There has been some normal turnover. Sara Esty, a frequently cast soloist, has joined a London production of the classic film musical An American in Paris, being choreographed by the Royal Ballet's Christopher Wheeldon and headed for Broadway next year. Several other dancers have left, including Skyler Lubin, a talented young corps dancer who was on the rise under Villella. Lopez is casting some dancers, such as principals Tricia Albertson, Reyneris Reyes, and Renan Cerdeiro, more frequently. Last spring, she promoted corps dancer Nathalia Arja to soloist; the young Brazilian will dance several leading roles this season.

Such moments of artistic pleasure and clarity are rare, as Lopez juggles the multiple changing parts that are transforming Miami City Ballet. "It is still a daily balancing job," she says. "The hardest part of my job is I don't have time to think ahead. To just daydream."

Read the original story here.

Photo Courtesy of the Miami City Ballet's Website

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