Benefit Scheduled in Baltimore for 59 Stranded Soviet Ballet Dancers

A benefit performance by 59 Soviet ballet dancers from the Soviet Union’s Donetsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre will be held at Baltimore’s Lyric Opera House tonight to aid the dancers, who have been stranded in Baltimore since their tour of 15 Midwestern U.S. cities collapsed last weekend.

The tour is facing severe financial problems, and according to California producer David Hermon, between $200,000 to $250,000 must be raised before the tour can continue.

According to Hermon’s partner, Bill Merriman, the tour’s problems began when Soviet officials refused to allow five of the tour’s stars, including ballerina Lubov Kunakova from the Kirov ballet, to leave the Soviet Union. This caused American and Mexican backers to pull out of the tour, which had been billed as “Stars of the Russian Ballet.”

“Everyone was calling fraud,” Merriman said. “These are young dancers, not the stars we advertised. To continue with the tour, we would have to start a new advertising campaign.”

Merriman said Tuesday that his Santa Rosa-based organization, Heart of the Art, Inc., had already invested about $500,000 in the tour and could not continue to back it unless “a financial angel” was found.

Hermon said he had met with the Soviet officials, and that every effort would be made to get the tour back on track. For the meantime, however, the tour’s Detroit dates (they were to have opened there Thursday) have been canceled, with other Midwestern dates remaining uncertain.

“We’ll be staying in Baltimore through Friday, but beyond that, I don’t know (what will happen with the tour),” Hermon said. “We re all very anxious to continue the tour, and we’re still hoping to be able to do so, but the money is going to have to come from a third party.”

Hermon said he did not know how much would be raised by the last-minute Opera House benefit, but that those funds would be the start to getting the tour back on track. The dancers opened their tour at Opera House, performing for a sparse crowd during five weekend appearances.

Preparations at the Opera House for the benefit were far from completed on Tuesday.

“Right now we’re just trying to put the stage back in working order,” said the Opera House’s building manager Tim Kroneberger. “Then we’re just going to say the company will be performing in (an 8 p.m.) benefit and anyone who wishes to come or wishes to make a donation can do so.”

Hermon said he did not know what the dancers would be performing at the benefit.