OREGON BALLET THEATRE OPENS SEASON AMID CUTBACKS AND CHANGES.

PORTLAND, Oregon--Oregon Ballet Theatre's tenth-anniversary season began in October of 1998 in a state of siege over the controversial content of some of artistic director James Canfield's choreography and allegations of physical and emotional abuse in the company school. That season ended the first week in August with the company's New York City debut at the Joyce Theater, where some of the same choreography, performed by a pared-down touring company of twelve out of the roster's twenty-six dancers, was enthusiastically received by audiences, although critical response ranged from good to downright poor.

This year, the eleventh season began with the company in negotiation for a new home and in the midst of rehearsals for the October season opener of an all-Balanchine program. OBT has reduced the administrative staff and, after the first of the year, faces the prospect of a fifteen-member company and a temporarily reduced school program. Thanks to the completion of a four-to-one, $100,000 matching grant from philanthropist James F. Miller, the company has retired its long-term debts to banks and, while there are still short-term debts to be paid, "We finished the tenth-anniversary season in the black," says Canfield.

So why the cutbacks? They are not, Canfield emphatically states, because company revenues or school enrollment were affected by recent controversies, but rather because the company has lost its space in the Portland Art Museum's North Wing and is negotiating the purchase of its own building. While the space is being remodeled to accommodate both rehearsal studios and the school, Canfield says that it is necessary for practical and physical reasons to cut back on the number of people using the physical plant and to demonstrate fiduciary responsibility to banks and other potential funders.

Nobody is denying that ticket and subscription sales were down last year. While Canfield declines to give specific figures, he says, "Every ballet company experiences fluctuations in season- and single-ticket sales based on the repertoire being presented. [Our] experience has shown that when new works are presented, such as in the 1997-98 season, the company sees an increase. When we repeat works, we see a leveling off, or in some cases, a decrease.

"[Recently], as the number of dance performances in Portland has ballooned, we have also found ourselves competing for the same `dance dollar' with other presenting organizations," adds Canfield. There are some indications that White Bird, a recently established modern dance presenter in Portland, has attracted OBT subscribers. One longtime OBT patron says she and her sister are tired of the "emphasis" on Canfield's work but are not necessarily put off by its controversial content.

As for the school, Haydee Gutierrez, who has directed it since 1993, was at the center of allegations of abuse in 1998 [see Dance Magazine, February 1999, page 37]. In a recent exclusive interview with Dance Magazine, Gutierrez said that she is "working with more caring parents and more children than I ever expected in my entire life."

There are currently 323 students in the school, including thirty-five boys, and, says Gutierrez, "more talent, more dedicated children than I expected in my entire life." Out of those 323 students, 138 attend weekdays for three hours or more and Saturdays from 11 A.M. to 5 P.M. While policies prohibiting parents from being in the studio (similar to most professional ballet schools) have not changed, Gutierrez says she is "always available for the children and the parents."

In fact, she says, "the parents now in school are a lot more involved, wanting to understand more, [and are] coming to parent week, even when feeling jealous." Gutierrez attributes the allegations of favoritism and even abuse in the school in 1998 to parental jealousy. "Jealousy is supremely destructive, but you know, I can understand a mother fighting whichever way [she] can."

Asked about the much discussed taping of a student's mouth, Gutierrez responds, "First of all, [the student] had a terrible habit of getting her tongue halfway out of her mouth. She would even bite her tongue. It was [her] idea to use cloth tape with little holes in it, the kind some runners use so they can breathe through their nose and not breathe incorrectly. It was not intended for her not to breathe; it was intended for her not to bite her tongue off. This is a performing art. If you have a tic, it's not going to be pleasant onstage. And you know, it was done twice and sure enough she didn't bite her tongue anymore."

The student in question has left Oregon Ballet's school--as have several others at the preprofessional level--and is now taking class elsewhere. "Kids leave any school," Gutierrez says. "Their body changes, social activities come up, they may not achieve as much as they thought [they would] at twelve. The healthy ones put it in perspective, go on to college. Unhealthy minds feel they have to destroy what's behind." Because it was thought last fall that the company would be moving in the middle of the summer, the summer program was canceled and students were encouraged to apply elsewhere.