The Colorado Ballet’s attendance fell 16.8 percent in 2006-07 from a year earlier, a drop triggered in part by two canceled performances and the company’s efforts to scale back the number of complimentary tickets it distributes annually.
At the same time it disclosed its attendance results, the company also announced personnel changes for 2007-08, including the hiring of six dancers to replace departing company members, including well-known veteran Koichi Kubo.
The company’s turnout fell from 84,311 in 2005-06 to 70,114 in 2006-07. Lisa Snider, the company’s executive director, acknowledged the drop was disappointing, citing several reasons for it, including fall competition from “The Lion King.”
Two fewer performances were scheduled in 2006-07 than the season before, and the ballet was forced to cancel two planned performances of “The Nutcracker” because of a December blizzard.
At the same time, Snider said the company cut the number of complimentary tickets it distributes for marketing, educational and other purposes from 15,205 in 2005-06 to 12,030.
“We are making a very concerted effort to get the inventory right for the demand for paid seats,” Snider said.
Because of increased ticket prices and other off-setting income, Snider believes the drop in attendance will have little detrimental effect on the bottom line when the ballet’s fiscal year ends on June 30.
“Our financial situation is pretty good,” she said.
Gil Boggs, the ballet’s artistic director, called the departure of Kubo a loss. The Japanese native, who won a silver medal in the 1989 International Ballet Competition in Moscow and was featured on the cover of Dance Magazine in 1998, came to Denver in 1991.
Kubo and his wife, company pianist Ritsuko Shinozuka Kubo, are moving to San Francisco, where he will dance in the Smuin Ballet and she will serve as a pianist with the San Francisco Ballet School.
“I hate to see Koichi go,” Boggs said. “He’s a fan favorite here. Certainly, the company is going to miss Koichi.”
Among the five other departing dancers is Cara Cooper, who plans to join the English National Ballet.
Boggs said he was very pleased with the replacements the company recruited: Vyachesslav Buchkovsky, Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet; Harunaga Yamakawa, Nowa (Japan) Ballet; Christopher Ellis and Caitlin Valentine, Orlando Ballet, and Kevin Gael Thomas and Antoine Pros, Houston Ballet II.
In addition to those hires, Boggs promoted company members Shunsuke Amma, Dana Benton and Sayaka Karasugi to soloists and made soloist Chandra Kuykendall, a principal – the company’s top rank.
Kuykendall stepped in for departing dancer Maya Makhateli as one of three performers in the title role in the season-opening production of “Giselle.”
“She grew everyday into that role and just developed up to the point of ‘Bruch Violin Concerto,”‘ Boggs said. “I thought she gave such a ballerina performance in that ballet. Her growth throughout the year warranted that (promotion).”
