News from Beantown: Boston Ballet downsizes but plans to grow.

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By the end of Boston Ballet's 2007-08 season, executive director Valerie Wilder had resigned, and nine members of the corps de ballet were cut from the roster for financial reasons. Then came the surprise news that Boston Ballet had negotiated a lease at the Opera House, pulling out of its longtime home at the Wang Theatre. Bloodletting aside, Mikko Nissinen, the troupe's artistic director, says he's "optimistic for the first time in five years."

Nissinen is thinking ahead with positive energy because he's that kind of a guy. Affable, talkative, and accessible, while holding dual roles as artistic director and interim executive director until Wilder's replacement is hired, Nissinen considers this period a "bridge initiative. We are taking one step back to take two or three steps forward."

Despite budget constraints, he has reasons to be proud. For the May staging of Swan Lake, the company garnered high marks for its dancing, anchored by a corps de ballet of swans of stunning artistry. The season saw a striking addition to the Boston Ballet repertoire: Cranko's Romeo and Juliet. The subscription base swelled by more than 3,000 new subscribers. On the creative side, A-list choreographer Jorma Elo, introduced to U.S. audiences by Nissinen (see cover story, April 2007), continues his Boston Ballet residency with plans to stamp out his own Rite of Spring for a May 2009 premiere. The successful 2007 tour to Spain--the company's first international travel in 15 years--was followed by BB's performances this May and June at the Spoleto Festival and the Ballet Across America series at the Kennedy Center, and a tour to Korea next month. Moreover, the Boston Ballet School, with more than 5,000 students, arguably the largest ballet training institution in the country, will open its fourth satellite branch next year.

When Nissinen came to Boston in 2001, he was not quite 40 and an unknown among directors of the larger national ballet troupes. He hired Wilder, former executive director of The National Ballet of Canada, in 2002, and a strong team seemed in place. But calamity struck in 2004, when the Wang Theatre made the decision to replace BB's The Nutcracker with The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. The Nutcracker was forced into the smaller Colonial Theatre, taking a $4 million loss. Although the situation improved when The Nutcracker transferred to the Opera House in 2005, the company still carries a $1.9 cumulative deficit on an annual budget of $24 million. (The remainder of each annual season has been at the Wang.)

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By this past spring, even after deleting 40 percent of administrative costs, it became imperative to cut nine corps members out of 50 dancers. BBII, the second troupe, stays intact. "The concessions are temporary. That's in our new union contract," says soloist Melanie Atkins, AGMA company representative.

Soloist Jared Redick admits it has been a hard year. "As a dancer, it's difficult to see your peers let go. But the nine dancers have been picked up by other top companies," he reports. And shortly after her precipitous departure midseason, Wilder landed the plum post of executive director at the Australian Ballet.

Plans for 2008-09 include additions of Balanchine's full-length Jewels, an evening of five ballets by Jiri Kylian, and a Diaghilev Ballets Russes program. The following season will find the company at the Opera House for all performances on a 50-year agreement. Soloist Sabi Varga is looking forward to the change. "It will be nice to be in one place. And because it has fewer seats, we'll do more performances."

As for Nissinen, he's planning ahead for the company's 50th anniversary in 2013, but there are challenges. The Opera House pit needs to be enlarged to accommodate the Boston Ballet orchestra, a shared cost between the company and the landlord; the endowment must be grown; and a new agreement needs to be negotiated with the Boston Center for the Arts for the Boston Ballet studios, which are currently owned by the company on land rented from the BCA. "We are trying to take control of our own future," Nissinen says. "My dream is to build a skyscraper of a company."