Ottawa Ballet is in suspension.

TORONTO--Ottawa Ballet (OB) has announced a suspension of its operations because the company could not meet its financial obligations. The announcement, made in a press release sent by board chairman, Gregory Kane, on October 14, also stated that the board was using this hiatus to explore possibilities for monetary restructuring.

The crisis was precipitated by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which reduced the company's line of credit to $100,000, the amount of its existing debt. Says Kane: "We were taken by surprise by the rigidity of the bank because the previous week we had paid down the line of credit by $50,000. Suddenly we were considered a bad risk, yet we had a good record for repaying loans."

The company has had its problems, however. The Canada Council withdrew OB's operating grant at the end of the 1992--93 season on the basis of negative peer assessment. "We got copies of the reports," says Kane, "and there was as much good as bad. There's no question that the council destabilized the company by both withholding grants and giving the impression throughout the country that something was wrong with us." Nonetheless, informed sources say that the council grant was only a fraction of the company's overall budget. And OB had planned tours of both Ontario and Western Canada this season.

In the Canadian dance community, there is a strong feeling that OB's board and management have failed its artists. Founded in 1981, OB had been under the artistic direction of former National Ballet of Canada principal Frank Augustyn since 1989. In August 1994 Augustyn resigned, however, without making public a reason for his decision. When contacted, he said only that his letter of resignation had been accompanied by one from his lawyer. Informed sources have suggested that Augustyn is suing the company for nonpayment of his salary, and that he was also angry with OB's administration and with a board that was not meeting its fund-raising obligations. According to the same sources, guest artists including National Ballet of Canada star Karen Kain had also not been paid.

With Augustyn gone, the board, after a month's search, announced the appointment of choreographer Jean Leger as interim artistic director. Leger, a former director of Calgary City Ballet, gave up lucrative freelance work in Europe to help out the company.

"I was assured by the board that OB was viable for at least a year," Leger says. "And I hired the staff I needed. None of us has been paid, and we're considering legal action. What really hurts is that after the company was suspended, the dancers and I, as volunteers, put on two free performances in our studio and $9,000 was collected at the door. With other donations, almost $48,000 was raised in two days; yet, without consulting us, the board sent money back instead of capitalizing on our efforts and embarking on a vigorous fund-raising campaign to save OB."

Both Augustyn and Leger are grieving for the dancers, some of whom have not worked long enough to qualify for more than two weeks of unemployment insurance. They are also grieving for the company. "Jean was obviously not told the whole truth," says Augustyn.