French Ballet Returning in Bid to Save Foundation

Simultaneously announcing a fiscal crisis and a rescue plan, the San Diego Foundation for the Performing Arts said Tuesday it will cancel the rest of its 1992-93 season and close for good if it can’t raise $200,000 in two weeks.

The dance foundation, which since 1982 has been presenting major dance companies including the Kirov, Martha Graham, the Joffrey and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, just last weekend presented the French Lyon Opera Ballet’s “Cinderella” for three performances at the San Diego Civic Theatre to critical praise but half-empty houses.

The endangered upcoming season includes the Mark Morris Dance Group, Nov. 17-18; the Kodo Drummers, Jan. 29-31; the Paul Taylor Dance Co., Feb. 26-27, and the Miami City Ballet, April 23-24.

After last weekend’s performances and several other recent financial setbacks, the foundation faces a $265,000 deficit, according to executive director Fred Colby. He said he had decided to announce the cancellation of the season and had given layoff notices to his 10-member staff when Yorgos Loukos, artistic director of the Lyon Opera Ballet, offered to present a return benefit performance by the Lyon company in an attempt to raise $90,000 in ticket sales for the foundation.

The show, which will take place next Tuesday at the Spreckels Theatre downtown, will include performances by the 35-member company of recent works by U.S. choreographers Bill T. Jones and Ralph Lemon and the French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj. All of the costs for the performance are being covered by various donors, including the theater rental, services by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and hotel rooms for the dancers.

The company hopes to raise the rest of the $200,000 goal through donations. The foundation finished its 1991-92 season with a $140,000 deficit; it has an annual operating budget of $1.4 million.

Colby said setbacks in the past week alone include the loss of a $40,000 promised donation by an anonymous individual; notice that the foundation would receive no funding from the California Arts Council, which has funded it in the past and on whom it had counted on for $15,000, and “a dramatic downturn in ticket sales.” Colby also said the foundation sold just 4,000 of the 9,000 available tickets to the Lyon performances.

The losses appear related to the recession, Colby said, noting that although subscription sales to the 1992-93 season increased over past years and now stand at 2,000, single ticket sales--usually ranging in price from $15 to $60--have been down.

“We were very concerned that our deteriorating situation would cause irreparable harm to local businesses we deal with and several nationally recognized dance companies,” Colby said at a news conference in the Spreckels lobby. “It was at this moment of greatest despair that we received an amazing and most generous offer of assistance which could serve as the catalyst to save our organization, its dance season and its community outreach programs for our city.”

Loukos said the Lyon company, which tours six months a year, offered to help because “we live in a very small world.”

“What happens today in San Diego will happen tomorrow in New York. Art can be very exciting, moving. It can also be very fragile.”

Loukos said the company developed a strong rapport with the foundation’s staff during “Cinderella.”

* Tickets to the Lyon Opera Ballet’s performance of “Love Defined,” choreographed by Bill T. Jones; “My Tears Have Been My Meat Night and Day,” by Ralph Lemon, and “White Tears” by Angelin Preljocaj are available by calling the San Diego Foundation for the Performing Arts at 234-5853 or at the foundation office at 625 Broadway, Suite 1006, San Diego, 92101. The performance is at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Spreckels Theatre. Ticket prices are $20, $40, $65 and $100.