Ballet down, not out

For two humiliating years, the Atlanta Ballet couldn’t afford an orchestra, and the dance company suffered public scorn, a freeze in artistic quality and a slight erosion in ticket sales.

When two donors gave a $250,000 gift in September and brought musicians back to the pit, the arts community cheered. But it had zero effect on tickets.

In fact, “Swan Lake,” its season-opening show with orchestra at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, was a critical success but a whopping 30 percent below expectations for box office revenue —- an early indication of the financial problems arts groups face during a prolonged recession.

The ballet’s “Nutcracker” was performed with live musicians its opening weekend, Dec. 5-7, and runs through Dec. 28 at the Fox Theatre. The run is projected to be off 9 percent, with no uptick for shows with the orchestra.

“The orchestra has a major impact artistically,” said ballet executive director Barry Hughson, “but a negligible impact financially. ‘The Nutcracker’ isn’t high art. People come for the total experience. The orchestra is just one element of many.”

Calling “The Nutcracker” “almost recession-proof,” Hughson puts Atlanta Ballet’s show in perspective of Broadway’s reported drop of about 16 percent and an average fall of nearly 15 percent for “Nutcracker” performances across the country.

John Munger, director of research for Dance/USA, a service organization, said Atlanta’s poor financial showing for “Swan Lake” fits the national trend. “In late October, the worst of the financial news was arriving, and there were some catastrophes, some scaling back of seasons, canceling performances.

“Atlanta’s ‘Nutcracker’ seems to be doing as well as or better than most,” he added.

Yet the ballet’s current woes are buffered by subscriptions for the 2008-09 season, which are 12 percent ahead of last season, Hughson said. He notes that most subscription orders came in well before the economic tsunami hit.

The Atlanta Opera, which also gave two shows this fall, felt a similar sting.

The opera’s “Madama Butterfly” and “Cinderella” were down significantly in projections of box office (14 percent combined) but not so much in total attendance.

“People were more price-sensitive than we’d planned for,” said opera marketing director Cristina Herrera, offering as evidence the opera’s projection —- made before the economic downturn —- that the average ticket price for “Cinderella” would be $70. It turned out to be just $53 —- leading to a 9 percent drop in revenue.

The ballet’s “Nutcracker” faces a similar situation: almost as many patrons as expected, but they bought cheaper tickets, leading to the 9 percent shortfall.

After the “Swan Lake” drop, ballet leaders trimmed 2.5 percent from each department budget, finding savings without much pain. They won’t shoot new publicity photos, for example —- with specific dancers in specific roles —- and will instead reuse stock images. Also put on hold: the creation of a pre-performance “donor cultivation” lounge.

With an annual budget of almost $8 million, the Atlanta Ballet is Georgia’s only fully professional dance company and, at 79, the nation’s oldest in continuous existence. The “Nutcracker” is its biggest revenue-generator, the only production that covers its own costs.

Even before the economy fell, the ballet planned to announce a new, multiyear business model that includes an orchestra and moves the company cautiously forward. It will be finished and announced in January.

While the sooner-than-expected return of the orchestra is a morale boost for the company and will appeal to dance sophisticates, Hughson says the arts community took away the wrong message from the episode.

“Not using an orchestra was never an artistic decision,” he said. “It was about keeping our doors open and saving an institution in crisis, but that message spiraled away from us. It pushed a lot of buttons in the community.”

Courtney Necessary, a 24-year-old principal dancer, described the return of the orchestra as “a huge relief.”

“A recording might sound perfect,” she said, “but we’d rather dance to live musicians. It’s a deeper collaboration, and we dance better for it.”