Ohio ballet bids farewell.

Four months after the death of its founder Heinz Poll in April (see "Transitions," Aug.), Ohio Ballet bid its own farewell with a series of free concerts for hometown audiences at Akron's Goodyear Heights MetroPark.

Citing a budget shortfall of more than $100,000 last December, the company cancelled its programming and began laying off dancers and staff. Behind the company's financial woes, said artistic director Jeffrey Graham Hughes, were reduced contributed income, a decline in single-ticket sales, and underdeveloped corporate support.

Efforts to meet the company's annual operating budget of $1.2 million and to pay back an estimated half-million dollars in cumulative debt by the Ohio Ballet's board of trustees proved fruitless. As did efforts by the ballet's single largest contributor--the city of Akron and mayor Don Plusquellic and deputy mayor Dave Lieberth--who last fall advanced $50,000 to help with cash flow problems and the development of a plan to strengthen the company. As a final blow, Ohio Ballet board president George Petrenko, the architect of the company's plan for a turnaround, died in January, and his plan was never implemented. Although no official statement has been issued, Ohio Ballet, as it has been known, has ceased its operations.

"If nobody is going to rehearsal and there are no plans for rehearsal and no one is up onstage," said Hughes, "it doesn't bode well that the company is going to continue."

Founded in 1968 as a resident company at The University of Akron, Ohio Ballet was the oldest professional dance company in Northeast Ohio, having outlasted the former Cleveland Ballet, which relocated to San Jose, California in 2000, also due to financial problems.

"The artistic product was not at issue here," said Hughes. He said that during his seven-year tenure the company had offered an array of some 60 classical and contemporary ballets by over 30 respected choreographers. Hughes laid part of the blame for its demise on Cleveland's Plain Dealer dance critic Wilma Salisbury, who he felt created an unfair representation of the company over the years. Her negative reviews, he contended, weakened support for Ohio Ballet in Cleveland, where the company had its second home season.

Deputy Mayor Lieberth sees the ballet's closing as more of a combination of forces. "People's entertainment habits have changed, and there is a lack of audiences who buy tickets to live performances," said Lieberth. Add to that a downturn in corporate support and problems with the ballet's management, and a turnaround became increasingly difficult, said Lieberth.

Victoria Morgan, artistic director of Cincinnati Ballet, said she was distressed by the situation. "It sets a horrible precedent. I feel surrounded because Ballet Internationale in Indianapolis folded, too. It makes me feel even more urgent that not only the work be good--both of [those companies] did do good work--but also that the infrastructure linking the company to the community, marketing, and fundraising, be good."

This past August, before leaving for his new post as Ballet Tucson's executive director, Hughes organized the company's farewell performances as a final goodwill gesture to the city of Akron. For the company's dancers and fans, the event brought a sense of closure to one of the region's beloved dance companies.