Texas Ballet Theater has cut its 2020-21 budget by $2 million and will reduce the salaries of its 79 full-time employees when the new fiscal year begins July 1, company officials said in an interview. Live orchestral accompaniment also has been eliminated from the new season.
No layoffs are anticipated and benefits won’t be cut in the fallout from COVID-19, but dancer contracts will be reduced from 40 to 38 weeks, said executive director Vanessa Logan. “We’ve had to make some challenging and difficult decisions.”
The decrease in the budget to $8,850,000 reflects a decision by the company to push back the start of the new season from September to late November and to cut the number of productions in 2020-21 from five to four. The current year’s budget is $10,779,000.
Salaries of dancers and the rest of the staff will be reduced on a sliding scale by between 5% and 20%, with higher paid workers taking the bigger hit, officials said.
Logan said Texas Ballet Theater has operated in the black for eight years but will be left with a revenue gap this season even if no other shows have to be canceled or postponed. A relief fund has raised $115,000 so far, and the company brought in another $33,000, including a $10,000 matching grant, during a special North Texas Giving Day on May 5.
“We feel loved and supported by the community,” Logan said.
In April, the company received $902,500 from the federal Payment Protection Program to help cover payroll and other expenses after it had to cancel the last two productions of the 2019-20 season, the mixed repertoire Image/Imbue/Bartok and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Before the coronavirus shut down live performances, the new season was set to open with Beauty and the Beast at Winspear Opera House on Sept. 11-13 and at Bass Performance Hall on Oct. 2-4.
The season is now scheduled to start with The Nutcracker on Nov. 27-Dec. 6 at the Winspear and Dec. 11-27 at Bass Hall. The Nutty Nutcracker, a pop culture parody of the holiday favorite usually performed for just one night in Fort Worth, will now play the Winspear for the first time on Dec. 4, then Bass Hall on Dec. 18.
Beauty moves to the end of the season, May 14-16, 2021, at the Winspear and May 21-23, 2021, at Bass Hall.
In between, a mixed repertoire of Balanchine’s Serenade and world premieres of new works by artistic director Ben Stevenson and associate artistic director Tim O’Keefe remain on the schedule. In addition to performances Feb. 5-7 at Bass Hall, the company has added shows Feb. 13-14 at the Winspear.
Then the canceled Image/Imbue/Bartok, with choreography by Stevenson and Garrett Smith, has been rescheduled for March 5-7 at Bass Hall, replacing a previously announced mixed program of works by company member Carl Coomer, Alexei Ratmansky and Fei Bo.
The company’s Dallas and Fort Worth ballet schools remain closed. Plans are to offer online ballet basics classes for small children beginning in June. The summer program slated to start in July will likely also be virtual, Logan said, though in-person classes for small, socially distanced groups are under consideration.
Company dancers have been taking classes on Zoom. To make up for the lack of live performances, they have been creating choreographic content and sharing their personal lives through social media. Texas Ballet Theater also has streamed past productions of The Firebird and Henry VIII.
