California Remains the Key for the Joffrey : Ballet: The company must strip away vestiges of the past, and its permanent ties to New York.

“The dancers come first,” was Robert Joffrey’s exhortation when the going got rough. No matter how difficult the financial condition, the art of the dance was first and foremost. It was his most endearing quality as well as his singular fault, as surrounding him was a constant administrative turmoil that was a daily threat to the company’s existence.

I served as executive director of the Joffrey Ballet, the eighth in 13 years, from 1983-1986. With artistic management fittingly in the hands of the company’s founder, Robert Joffrey, my mission was to increase fund-raising and improve management, while creating a bi-coastal Joffrey Ballet. I quickly realized that even with the determination and financial support of West Coast board members David Murdock, Armand Deutsch and Bill Kieschnick, Robert Joffrey’s ties were to New York. So were the allegiances of Gerry Arpino (who resigned last week as artistic director, taking his and Robert Joffrey’s ballets with him), the general manager, marketing director, public relations director and the East Coast board. The move to California, however, was the key to survival and success.

The underlying problem of the Joffrey Ballet has always been that it has no permanent home. It claims New York, yet finds itself running a distant third in a city already rich with the New York City Ballet, the American Ballet Theater, many other talented city-based companies as well as visiting ballets. The Joffrey simply cannot continue to perform at the City Center Theater, where it perpetually loses money, and yet that is the only theater in Manhattan open to the company.

In addition, the Joffrey Ballet has no extensive subscriber base from which to draw on either coast. It has a limited donor base and a New York board that is incapable of financially supporting the company to the degree that is needed.

Last week, the first steps were taken to turn this situation around. A nine-member panel has been chosen to operate the Joffrey. If this leads to a home for the Joffrey and continuity of professional leadership--both artistic and administrative--it is an encouraging step indeed.

David Murdock is demanding financial integrity and security. He will get it only if the following is done:

--The two bi-coastal boards are merged into one smaller board with the leadership vested in Los Angeles;

--The company moves to California and resides permanently at the Los Angeles Music Center;

--The permanent ties to New York are severed (while retaining semi-annual visits, of course, in a suitable location); and

--The current administration is replaced by professionals who believe in the company and its future in Los Angeles.

Then, and only then, will the Joffrey survive. A home, a solid board and a professional staff will once again achieve Robert Joffrey’s dream of a company dedicated to the art of the dance: a company “for and about dancers.”

Now is the time for the board to realize Robert Joffrey’s dream--to strip away vestiges of the past, and to move confidently, with new leadership, into the future.