Save Ballet BC

On this New Year's Eve, I rushed off to Queen Elizabeth Theatre just in time to make it for the last show at 1:30pm of the Nutcracker by the Moscow Classical Ballet presented by Ballet BC. I was not going to miss the last show of the year presented by Ballet BC. If Ballet BC staff doesn't come back in January, this show may even be the last show for a very long time.

The last show of 2008 was opened with an introduction by Simone Orlando, one of the Ballet BC dancers who was laid off. In November, Ballet BC laid off 38 staff and dancers in order to save money. It seems the only hope to bring back Ballet BC laid on the ticket sales of the Nutcracker and the generous support of the public through donations/sponsorship. Simone Orlando announced as of today that Ballet BC still needed to raise $200,000 in order to bring back the staff and dancers to continue production of "Carmen" scheduled in February and "A Streetcar Named Desire" in April. The attendance at the Nutcracker has been phenomenal showing the public support for Ballet BC. Simone said if everyone who attended the Nutcracker donated $15, it would help cover $200,000 to bring back the staff and dancers in January. The fabulous Ballet BC dancers themselves, eventhough laid off in November, generously gave their time to rally support, circulating during intermission collecting pledges and donations. Please visit Ballet BC website to make a donation to support your ballet: balletbc.com

I enjoyed the Nutcracker immensely today. The Stage, Costume design, Make-up, Sound, Artistic direction and dancers were beautiful. I even got to see breakdancing by grandpa, spanish dance, middle-eastern dance and asian dance in the ballet. I didn't realize the Nutcracker by Moscow Classical Ballet would have so many multi-cultural influences. The Nutcracker reminds us all that dreams do become a reality.