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Controversy Hits DCB

By D Magazine |

A controversy has been brewing in recent months since Dallas Civic Ballet, granddaddy of the five state-chartered ballet companies in Dallas, announced it had become a “professional company” to the sweet sound of media publicity.

At a fall meeting in Lake Charles, La., the Southwestern Regional Ballet Association (representing civic ballet companies in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arkansas and Colorado) unanimously passed a resolution censoring Dallas Civic Ballet for “misleading” advertising, and wrote a letter to DCB artistic director George Skibine (who did not attend the meeting), asking him to clarify the position of the DCB.

Back in Dallas, many Dallas Dance Council members are seething, insisting that DCB is no more “professional” than are several other area civic companies, most of whom compensate their male dancers and guest artists for performances. Many longtime ballet activists here privately call DCB’s “we’ve gone professional” publicity everything from an “unwise but understandable” to “unethical” move of oneupmanship in the mad scramble for more financial support from Dallas patrons. DCB is generally acknowledged to have had the lion’s share of such support for some time.

While contradicting facts and criteria for what constitutes a professional company are flying in all directions these days, Skibine says the line of distinction is quite hazy in professional ballet. “We are trying to become a professional company and have been advised … that we are taking the right steps in that direction,” he says.

All this may sound like an artistic tempest in the old teacup, but it raises some serious questions. What about other local ballet companies such as Dallas Metropolitan Ballet or Dance Repertory Theater? Are they as artistically worthy of recognition and financial support?

Meanwhile, though it may or may not have direct bearing on the current situation, the venerable Skibine reportedly is considering an offer from a ballet company in France.

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