Dance Group’s Uncertain Future Threatens Tours

At the same time that the San Diego Foundation for the Arts is battling for survival by scheduling an emergency fund-raising campaign, other California dance presenters are beginning to worry that the organization’s demise could threaten future West Coast tours.

The foundation, which since 1982 has been one of the few West Coast stops for tours by major dance companies, including the Kirov Ballet, Martha Graham, the Joffrey Ballet and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, announced last week that it will cancel the rest of its 1992-’93 season and close for good if it can’t raise $200,000 in two weeks.

After disappointing ticket sales for performances on Oct. 2-3 of the Lyon Opera Ballet’s “Cinderella” at the San Diego Civic Theatre, plus several other recent financial setbacks, the organization faces a $265,000 deficit, according to executive director Fred Colby.

Colby said he had given layoff notices to his 10-member staff and decided to announce the possible cancellation of the season, which 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.

Responding to the crisis, two major dance presenters in Southern California emphasized the foundation’s role in sustaining a network of touring dance venues on the West Coast. “It takes a number of presenters to create a strong West Coast tour for major dance companies,” said Michael Blachly, acting director, UCLA Center for the Performing Arts. “The more cities that can be a part of a tour, the more likely it is that the tour can occur.”

Blachly called the San Diego foundation crisis “serious because they’re one of the strongest presenters of dance in the Southern part of the state. They’ve been an anchor on a number of tours.”

Tom Kendrick, president of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, said the foundation’s failure would cause “an impact on dance in general and on California in particular, which had limited venues to begin with.”

“It would further increase our difficulties,” he added, “and dramatically increase the difficulties of any company touring here. Already the (recession and lack of venues) has forced many companies to become their own booking agents, searching for halls that may have no (organizational) structure to present dance.

“If (the San Diego Foundation) goes under, it is one more presenter out of the picture and any presentation of dance of that magnitude in San Diego would have to be done on an individual basis.”

Meanwhile, Lyon Opera Ballet will return for a benefit performance in an attempt to raise $90,000 in ticket sales for the foundation. The benefit, which will take place Tuesday at the Spreckels Theatre, will include performances by the 35-member company of recent works by U.S. choreographers Bill T. Jones and Ralph Lemon, plus the French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj.

All of the costs for the performance are being covered by various donors.

The company hopes to raise the rest of the $200,000 goal through donations, but, as of Sunday only about $7,000 has been pledged, with the largest single donation totaling $2,000. The foundation finished its 1991-92 season with a $140,000 deficit; it has an annual operating budget of $1.4 million.

Yorgos Loukos, artistic director of 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.”

The foundation is doing extensive mailings for the benefit, Colby said, targeting “about 5,000 people, including our subscriber base.” By Sunday, ticket sales reached about $17,500.