Ballet’s Secret Scandals Colorado Ballet in Turmoil
On the outside it looks inno-cuous. After several years on the job, the Artistic Director of a ballet company is asked by the Board of Directors to resign. This type of thing happens in business all the time. Then why do people in the ballet world feel, that in far too many situations, it is scandalous? Looking closely at the October 10th firing of Colorado Ballet's Artistic Director, Martin Fredmann, an all too familiar scenario is exposed.
Executive Directors, Business Managers and Boards of Directors or Trustees of many Ballet Companies have felt the need to overstep their bounds and cross into the territory that should be occupied by an Artistic Director. Normally, a Board is made up of people with extensive financial resources, prestige and a love of the arts who have a strong sense of civic duty. The main purpose for a board of directors to exist in a ballet company is to raise money and to support its artistic staff in its vision for the company. Once the board, trustees or executive directors step outside their perimeters of raising money or running the day to day business of the company and disregard the artistic direction, it's severely problematic. There are, of course, variations on this theme, but this seems to be how the trouble begins.
Fredmann, Artistic Director of Colorado Ballet for nineteen years, was hired by co-founders, Freidann Parker and Lillian Covillo. He brought the company from a small group of dancers to a well-known and respected organization with a budget of six million dollars. Ms Parker died in 2002, but 84 year old Ms. Covillo is not only still with us, but works out at the barre for thirty minutes every morning.
As reported in the Rocky Mountain News on November 14th, 2005, "fiercely loyal to Martin Fredmann, Ms Covillo angrily resigned from the board of trustees the next day (after he was fired) and demanded the removal of her name and that of fellow company founder, Freidann Parker, from any company materials. 'I resigned because of the way [Fredmann's firing] was handled. Martin developed such a wonderful collection of dancers, but they have no place to go. Everything will disappear without him.'"
The article also discusses several sit-uations that have proved disastrous for the company due to a string of missteps: an alliance with Kroenke Sports Enterprise and the Paramount Theatre that dissolved with the completion of the Ellie Caulkins Opera house; an ill-fated attempt to create a season-opening production of [Christopher Wheeldon's] "Alice in Wonderland"; failed efforts to purchase the Temple Events Center as a home; the departure of key administrators and board members. Now the company faces a debt of $700,000.
From Fredmann's perspective the story is laced with words like ego, arrogance, ignorance, and betrayal. In his opinion the charismatic Executive Director, Rick Tallman, misled them all by charming the board, the Mayor and the community into thinking that he had raised money for the above-mentioned projects when, in fact, he had not. In addition, he was overstepping his bounds by creeping into Fredmann's artistic territory. "I was being pushed out of everything, and Tallman was taking over. He became more arrogant and obstinate, and it got to the point where he was even choosing photographs for a potential company calendar. It became clear to me that his ego had grown to such an extent that he felt he should be making the artistic as well as business decisions. I knew he wanted me out." At the same time, with the exception of the Board Chair, there was little fund raising going on among the members of the Board of Trustees.
After the company's successful March 6th appearance at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts in New York, it became apparent to Fredmann that the money he thought they had for future performances was not there. After confiding this to board members, a meeting was set up in April in which a vote would be held; either Tallman or Fredmann would stay with the company, but not both. When the vote went in Fredmann's favor, Tallman, accompanied by two board members, walked out. According to Fredmann, that is when city officials and others who had been working with Tallman on several projects turned against him [Fredmann]. With these hard feelings, it eventually led to his firing in October. Fredmann says he was made the scapegoat for what he feels is a cover-up; a cover-up of the embarrassing fact that so many people had been conned.
Ms. Covillo says that she felt the way it was handled was underhanded. "They're covering up everything; they stopped following Martin's plan. They have no plan of their own."
One can understand Ms Covillo's loyalty. Not only did he take the company that she so lovingly created and bring it to international prominence, but along the way he gained a high degree of recognition for his extraordinary accomplishments. He received in 1996 the Denver Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts; in 1999 he was given the coveted Dance Magazine Award for his many contributions to the field; the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation award, also received in 1999, citied "for significant and unique contributions in the field of Arts and Humanities." This was capped in May of 2005 when Fredmann was decorated by the Emperor of Japan with an honor of the highest degree given to Japanese citizens and very rarely to Americans (never before given in the field of dance): The Order of the Rising Sun with Golden Rays with Rosette was for his contributions to the development of ballet in Japan and for facilitating an increased cultural exchange between Japan and the United States
A board co-chair has defended the firing of Fredmann saying the board is committed to take down the wall that previously existed between management and dancers. On Wednesday, November 30th, the dancers of Colorado Ballet voted to join AGMA. In the 19 years of Fredmann's directorship, they did not feel the need to be represented by a union. They came to their Artistic Director personally when they had concerns. There obviously was no wall in that situation.
Does this sound in any way like a man whom the Colorado Board accuses of not communicating with his fellow dancers? To many, it now appears as if petty jealousies, self-protection, amateur politics, as well as rampant ignorance were the powerful forces behind the Colorado Board's decisions.
In a November 25th article on "Nutcrackers" nationwide, New York Times dance critic, John Rockwell, noted that "The Colorado Ballet just announced the cancellation of six of its scheduled 30 "Nutcracker" performances, citing poor ticket sales. But chances are this is a sign of that company's larger financial and organizational problems; when a company has to curtail or cancel "The Nutcracker," it's surely in trouble."
What is so amazing in these situations is that after Artistic Directors have given so much to a company, how could Board members side with people they have only known for a couple of years? This recalls a recent situation at Ballet Theatre of Annapolis in Maryland when the original Artistic Director, Edward Stewart, was not supported by his Board in a conflict with the Executive Director after twenty-two years in the position and in addition, he was fighting terminal lung cancer. After his death, the board saw the error of their ways.
Kirk Peterson, former Artistic Director of The Hartford Ballet and now a ballet master, company teacher and choreographer for American Ballet Theatre experienced a similar situation in Hartford. Later he felt vindicated when the company agreed to a settlement, and also when he was asked to come back and set his "Nutcracker." At that time a number of board members apol-ogized to him, but he says, "it was too late for that."
Kirk explains, I think sometimes the board of directors will lose focus as to the primary mission of an artistic organization, and that is the art and the art form. The Artistic Director is the head and that is the person that one should go to for answers to artistic questions. When boards of directors start making artistic decisions, it is time to throw in the towel. They are people that we adore and love, but they are not qualified to make artistic decisions. When they start feeling that they should be a part of that whole process, there is a danger to the art form because it becomes a corporate decision rather than an art. You can't use non-artists to make those decisions because they are just not qualified for it."
Anna Marie Holmes, former Artistic Director of the Boston Ballet, now teaches at the Danish Ballet, The Royal Ballet and stages ballets for companies all over the world. At the moment she is staging "Le Corsaire" for American Ballet Theatre (this is but a few of her many accomplishments). Ms. Holmes says that it is always a very difficult situation when someone with a proven track record has for many years put their whole life into a company and then people who are not as knowledgeable as that person throws him/her away. "It's very painful, and it's not all that unusual. It's happening all over. I feel that there is a lack of communication between the business and artistic communities. I don't know if these business people are not qualified to make decisions, but they don't understand the artistic world enough."
She says that ballet companies' expenses are high. There are costumes, sets, live music and dancers. You have to have the whole package. It's not like an eight member modern dance company that is inexpensive to run. There are funds that have to be raised to produce classical work, and the funds should be raised by the boards of directors.
Both Ms Holmes and Mr. Peterson agree that the worst part of these sit-uations concerns not only the Artistic Director losing his/her job, but all the others such as dancers, costume designers, choreographers and mus-icians who are thrown into turmoil. Peterson explains, "dancers need stability and continuity to grow and develop. If you take that away, there is a huge disruption. It's a traumatic experience for artists whose careers are usually very short. To disrupt a career that way should not be taken lightly."
Concluding, Holmes explains, "to be an Artistic Director you have to work around the clock. It's not a 9 to 5 job, and you give your whole life to it. It's extremely difficult to have worked around the clock, and they just throw you away."
Janice Barringer is a former dancer and is now a teacher and writer. She is the co-author of "The Pointe Book" and "En Pointe" published by Princeton Book Company.